PLEASE READ: I'm very sorry for abandoning this story for a year and a half… Right now, I'm not sure if I'm going to continue this. I would like to, but inspiration is hard to come by for me. We'll just have to see. Anyway, I've actually had this chapter done for almost half a year… Sorry for not putting it up any sooner. I also edited all the previous chapters. Nothing major is different, but they are definitely improved.

My style of writing may have changed a bit during the time I've been absent. And about my… er… characterization of Mizuki… It was a spur of the moment kind of thing, but I do sort of like it. It's creepy, of course, and wrong and OOC, but to hell with that. I had fun writing such despicable character, and this is an AU.

I don't own Naruto.

For a Reason to Exist

Chapter Five — A Bad Day

[Wednesday:]

Umino Iruka had watched the Uzumaki girl for two and a half days now, and still the blond had shown no signs of letting go of that holier-than-thou attitude of hers. She had an aura that told him the same thing every time he tried to approach her: enter my personal space and I'll kill you. Or actually, the way Iruka would've rather described it had he ever dared to mention it to the other academy teachers, it would've gone something like this: look at me, and I'll cut off your fingers, peel off your skin, carve out your eyes, and feed the parts that remain to your students. It didn't quite make him soak his pants, but knowing what he did about her, it certainly urged him to. The horror stories he kept hearing from all the other teachers didn't help much either. Iruka wasn't afraid of the girl (no ninja academy teacher would ever stoop so low as to admit fearing their own students), but he unquestionably chose to respect her desire to remain by herself. And so, regrettably, Iruka couldn't say there had been any development in the matter of figuring out this little demon host named Uzumaki Naruto.

His students, however, did not share his sentiments. Well, they naturally wouldn't, because they knew none of the things he did, but Iruka had still sort of hoped that they would be able to read the warning signs a little bit better. Most of them couldn't understand her gestures in the correct way, for she had cut down her efforts considerably after it had attracted the attention of Uchiha Sasuke. For now, the girl seemed to have decided to prefer silent resentment from her classmates over apprehensive curiosity, and it appeared to be working in her favor thus far. The majority of the class had apparently already made up their minds about the matter of the new student, deeming the girl conceited and arrogant and antisocial, rather than a real threat. They found her obnoxious and unworthy of their time, and thus left her alone — so far at least. The only person interacting with the girl at the moment was Uchiha Sasuke — and Iruka knew that that too was against her will — though it wouldn't take too long for the others to set their sights on her again, Iruka predicted. It was a given because of the continuous attention she received from the Uchiha boy. Iruka wondered how the Uzumaki girl would deal with that situation when it came to be. It was nerve-racking, thinking of everything she might be capable of, if the others irritated her. So far she had not reacted violently to anything Sasuke had said or done, but were she to become the focus of the whole class's attention, she might snap. She was not used to these kind of things and situations, Iruka could tell.

The case of this girl was like a sleepy volcano — Iruka could feel the danger boiling under the surface, just waiting for the opportunity to erupt and cause destruction. Who would have known that children with their childish attitudes could be such risk factors? Though, when Iruka thought about it a bit further, he knew that it wasn't actually the children's fault that they were so immature. It was because they had, from the moment they were born, been taught to instinctively shun people who they deemed unworthy of any closer inspection. And probably Uzumaki Naruto specifically. Even if those of the children who had known her in the past didn't remember the girl very well anymore, Iruka was sure that the Uzumaki kid hadn't forgotten. And regardless of his students' memories of her, their subconscious most likely recalled the oddities of their parents' behavior towards her. They would, because of the horrible example set for them by the adults, simply go with the flow and continue the discrimination the jinchuuriki girl was forced to suffer day after day.

But despite all this, regardless of the inequity he saw before his own eyes, there was nothing Iruka could do. He had a duty; he was to teach the children the best he could and protect them in the face of danger. Their own foolishness, however, was a difficult thing to shelter them from. And as much as he wanted to tell the kids to stay away from the Uzumaki girl, he could not. It went against his orders. If he was to find out who would be in the least danger when put in the same team with the jinchuuriki girl, then he had no choice but allow the children to do as they wished and interact with her. But it was very difficult when they were going about it in the wrong way. They were, in the words of his loudest student (namely, Inuzuka Kiba), "cruising for a bruising". Or at least they would be by time they got to Thursday.

It might have been brief, but Iruka could still feel the threatening pressure of the girl's presence, and he had to wonder if Sasuke really had any idea of what he was doing and who he was dealing with. The boy had a dangerous tendency for arrogance and egoism, but Iruka couldn't deny that he was very talented. He should have been able to tell right away that the Uzumaki girl wasn't like the rest of the students, and was far from weak. Iruka only hoped that he would act accordingly and not push her buttons too much, but he feared it was a false hope. Sasuke was very resolute when he made up his mind about something.

But what had come as a surprise (even though he had very much hoped for it) was that Sasuke wasn't the only one of Iruka's students who had sensed the atmosphere the girl spread around herself. There were a couple of others, as well, who were aware of her uniqueness. That group consisted of four people: Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba and Hyuuga Hinata — who all had their own useful methods for gathering such information — and surprisingly Nara Shikamaru, whom until now had shown no exceptional talent for anything except sleeping in class or ditching it altogether. The boy was smart, but far too lazy to do anything useful with his intellect. But apparently, he was better than he let anyone know. Iruka would have to give him a bit more credit from now on.

And how had Iruka found out about his students' awareness? Well, simply put, they were the only ones who viewed the girl with respect and didn't gossip about why Sasuke had made a habit of hanging around her. Well, Shino and Hinata never gossiped about anything anyway, but they both kept giving the girl glances whenever she flared her presence even slightly.

But the real dilemma Iruka had to deal with wasn't his disability to figure out the jinchuuriki or his discomfort with her presence in his class, but the graduation of his students and how to divide them into teams. Truthfully, he had most of them already figured out, but there were some whom he was having trouble with. Even though he cared equally for all of his students, he didn't bother to think too much about the ones he knew would not be able to pass the final exam (the test given to them by their jounin sensei, that is), but the most promising of his students he truly did agonize over. And while it wasn't normally such a great difficulty to come up with apt teams, there was a bit of a predicament this year. And the core of the problem was, once again, the jinchuuriki girl.

Her name is Uzumaki Naruto, not "the jinchuuriki girl", Iruka quickly corrected himself. She, too, was a person. She, too, had feelings (as could be easily gathered from the way she so distinctly showed dislike towards everything around her), and it would be unfair of him to not give her a chance. Who knows what she had been through to develop such a horrid personality! It wasn't his place to judge her, seeing as (as Iruka bitterly noted to himself) he knew nothing about her.

Returning to his original dilemma once again, he turned his eyes from the files in front of him, which contained his students' records, and affixed his attention to the beautiful scenery outside. How he wished he could go out there and relax like all the others. But alas, he had to come up with suitable suggestions for the teams by the next day, and he was still nowhere near done. Yes, the core of his problems was Uzumaki Naruto. Really, how could he recommend anything for her when he had practically no information to grasp onto? Hokage-sama knew her much better than he did. Couldn't the man have at least given him a little bit of advice? Well, at least he wasn't the one responsible for the selection of the new genin's jounin instructors. Now that would've been quite the headache, having to deal with those... um, those unique qualities of the different personalities of Konoha's jounin population.

Iruka sighed and looked at the clock hanging on the wall. It was nearing six. While it wasn't anything unusual for people with steady jobs to be working late into the night, for Iruka, who had duties other than his teaching post to attend to, it was rather frustrating. Sometimes he truly hated his dutiful nature. Were he a slacker, like many of the young chuunins he knew, he would've been done with this ages ago. But no, Umino Iruka just couldn't bare the guilt of not doing something so important properly. Thus, he suffered the consequences.

"Uzumaki Naruto… what the hell am I going to do with you?" Iruka muttered and groaned. Why on earth couldn't Mizuki be the one to get stuck with this job? He wouldn't have stressed so much over it.

Oh, right. He'd just said it. The white-haired man most likely wouldn't have done it properly. And besides, Mizuki had other things to do. But so did Iruka, for god's sake.

---

[Earlier in the afternoon:]

Touji Mizuki indeed had other things to do, which to him were no more pleasant than the problems his "friend" was wrestling with at the academy. Actually, he would've found it more pleasing to switch places with the other chuunin, rather than sit here, stuck with a bunch of idiots and their precious Hokage, handing out rank D missions and the like for annoying genin brats and co. If it had been his choice, Mizuki would've preferred to ponder on the teams, since it wasn't such a big sweat for him — after all, he wouldn't be here long enough to actually see the results. He would already be gone.

And that reminded him of another irksome problem he would have to solve sometime soon, or otherwise his plans would be postponed. It was the single most crucial part of his plan, and Mizuki knew that if he messed it up, he would be dead before he could utter the words "I surrender!". Yes, he really was prepared to do even that, if it meant his life would be spared. For in the whole world, there was only one thing Mizuki truly valued — himself.

Mizuki had not always been such a selfish creature, but life and the harsh reality of it had changed him. For a man as young as himself, he sure knew how to hold a grudge. In his heart, Mizuki knew the truth. There was no need for a real shinobi to feel mercy for an enemy, affection for comrades or even true loyalty towards one's home village. No one could make him, and really, what reason did he even have for allowing himself such weaknesses? Konoha, with its overly sentimental leaders and sweet and naïve ideals, was weak and rotten. The village had once had a future filled with affluence and greatness ahead of itself, but the old Sandaime had given it up. And for what? For a stupid, childish dream of an everlasting peace between the hidden villages, and for the hope that his "will of fire" would be passed onto to the next generations with kindness and forgiveness instead of proper discipline.

Mizuki did not deny that the Yondaime had been an intelligent, charismatic and amazingly powerful leader, but even so… Mizuki would have personally preferred Orochimaru. Of course, he had been but a little boy when Sandaime had retired and chosen his successor, so at the time it hadn't really mattered to him either way, but now Mizuki had begun to see. Orochimaru had a vision and an ambition. He would do anything to achieve his goals, just like Mizuki. And if there was anything Mizuki could appreciate in another person, it was ambition.

It was not, however, stupidity and childish behavior. Mizuki could have never described, not even with all the words known to humankind, how much he disliked such behavior. How he could stand being an academy teacher was a mystery, because he really, really detested little children. Little obnoxious brats like the Hokage's grandson. Yes, that snotnosed brat especially. He hated that idiotic durge of a boy, that spoiled little monkey, who thought he could get to places just by randomly attacking his grandfather.

Even at this moment, the brat was shouting and running towards the Hokage, who looked only mildly interested in his grandson's emotional display of idiocy. Mizuki resisted the urge to throw a kunai at the boy and struggled to control his expression. How satisfying it would be to take a blade to that brat's throat and let all that life's sweet blood out… But no, it wouldn't do to think of such things in the presence of the Sandaime. And really, Mizuki actually wasn't even a very bloodthirsty man. He just had a thing for little kids.

Suddenly, his desire to attack was doubled as the brat pulled a technique he had dubbed as "Oiroke no Jutsu", and nearly all of the room's male occupants fell on their backsides, blood oozing from their nostrils. For a split second, Mizuki wondered if there was something wrong with his virility since he felt no stimulation whatsoever by the very much naked and terribly sexy female body in front of him, but forgot about it quickly as he concentrated on controlling his annoyance, lest it turn to killing intent which every single ninja in the room would notice in a blink.

But speaking of virility, wasn't it odd that the last time he had felt aroused by anything but his own hand he had been at the academy, watching all those young to-be-kunoichi sweating in exhaustion, floored by Iruka's rigorous training schedule? Interesting… Little kids seemed to really be his thing. He hated them and possibly felt sexual attraction towards them. What an interesting combination. Too bad he had no way of letting out either of his frustrations. Not in Konoha, anyway. But when he was gone — then he would find out more about his preferences.

Mizuki watched with sickly fascination as the spectacle neared its end and the brat's own private sensei (whose services the brat didn't even fully take advantage of, despite the fact that he was always shouting about how he wanted to beat his grandfather) arrived to drag the boy away. Konohamaru, he was… someone Mizuki could use, if no other alternatives presented themselves to him. Yes, Konohamaru was naïve and easily manipulated, and as the Hokage's grandson, he had access to places and wasn't suspected of anything fishy if he sneaked around a little. Mizuki would definitely have to approach the boy, if he didn't find anyone better by the end of the week. Konohamaru wasn't his first choice for what he was planning to make the boy do for him, but then again, who else was there? Who could he possibly manipulate or coax or somehow manage to make work for his gain, other than an idiotic little child? And how many children had the same opportunities as Sarutobi Konohamaru?

None.

Mizuki couldn't reveal his plans to any of the adults either, because in Konoha treachery wasn't very common and you could never really tell who was on which side anyway — not with his prestige, or more like the lack thereof. Mizuki wasn't very influential, and nobody was stupid enough to openly declare their dislike or hatred for their own home village, except —

Except… Yes, except for her!

Uzumaki Naruto, the jinchuuriki girl! The fox monster in human form, who openly loathed Konoha — who was at the academy for this one week. What an amazing opportunity! It was like the will of God. Maybe it was. Maybe Mizuki was meant for great things, after all… Or, despicable as the reality was, maybe he was just extremely lucky this time.

But still… Wasn't this why Mizuki had offered to sub for Iruka? He had wanted to observe the girl — a gift for the person whose cause Mizuki wished to join. But to use her for his plan… No, not use — the girl was dangerous, and Mizuki wasn't about to screw up or get himself killed because of a stupid mistake like that. Overconfidence would kill him quicker than a guillotine. But what if she was willing to join him? It would make things much easier for him and he wouldn't have to rely on idiots like Konohamaru either. And Orochimaru, his new master, would be pleased if he brought along not only the Forbidden Scroll but the jinchuuriki girl too.

Oh yes, now he was onto something… He would have to act quickly, there was no time to lose, but first he was going to think about this a little bit more. Uzumaki Naruto was not someone he was just going to improvise it with. Mizuki had no death wish. And thusly, he decided that he would figure things out tonight and then have a little chat with the jinchuuriki girl at the first opportunity. Yes, he was definitely onto something now…

---

[Thursday:]

Naruto was having an awful time. She had a positively enormous headache, and the fact that she was forced to stand outside in the sunshine without even the slightest of shade, did not help. Why exactly was she doing this, again? Oh, that's right — she had no choice in the matter.

Really, this was quite enough reason for her to turn into a homicidal nutcase for the rest of her life. And to think that the old goat Sarutobi actually thought this was supposed to turn her into his cute, loyal little pawn! Now that was a very likely thing to happen. Translation: when hell freezes over.

It was a few hours after midday at present. Morning lessons and theory were done for the day (and for eternity), lunch had had been eaten some two hours ago, and it was "time for a little outing", as the brown-haired chuunin sensei had worded it. In other words, it meant that the young genin candidates were going to get their asses whipped by the man's rigorous (sadistic, the students thought) exercise curriculum. Apparently, he wanted them to be on top shape at the "zero hour". "I'm not going to let you slack off just because your graduation day is tomorrow," the man had said, and doubled his efforts. Naruto's opinion was that he was taking things way too seriously. Not that she was having it tough, she was barely sweating, but the others' moans and pleads for mercy were getting on her nerves and her already enormous headache would, she suspected, probably brew inside her head until it twisted into a migraine the size of the whole continent. And it really wasn't something to look forward to.

Another thing that wasn't exactly lifting her mood any (not that it was possible to begin with) were the "discreet" glances everyone kept throwing at her. Why the hell did they have to stare? What the hell was so interesting about one blonde girl? Why couldn't they just leave her alone?

But no, these sheep just didn't have enough common sense to hide when the wolf arrived. And this particular wolf was extremely hungry for a big and bloody, tension relieving fight, right about now. Naruto was inching closer to her breaking point. Just a little provocation and she would blow up.

Unfortunately, her status within the village was a little shaky at the moment, due to an adventurous night from some weeks ago, and more bodies were not what she needed. Sure, it would liven up the day, but the consequences were not something she felt like dealing with. Still, these kinds of thoughts and actions were getting more and more tempting with each minute that passed.

Some people, Naruto had noticed, had gone beyond staring. They were actually examining her. They were looking at her up and down and observing how she moved and if she was breathing any harder than five minutes ago — which she wasn't — while either whispering to each other or trying to solve the puzzle that was her all on their own. It was hard for them to completely comprehend how someone their age could be so tough and durable, when even their precious Uchiha Sasuke wasn't. Because yes, their precious pretty boy, the prissy little Uchiha bitch (as Naruto had taken to calling him in her thoughts), too, was sweaty and tired and panting, though perhaps not as much as the others.

There were a few others too who were faring a little better, although none of them were girls, as Naruto had bitterly noted. No, the majority of these girls were more interested in the opposite sex and who got to be the queen bee of this pathetic little crowd, than they were in becoming true, skilled kunoichi. And it had Naruto appalled. She was so sick of having to look at their pretty faces and their nice clothes that she wanted to vomit. These girls were in for a big shock once they actually got out of this academy and entered the real world.

If they ever get out, Naruto thought spitefully.

Really, if this was the level of Konoha's ninja candidates, then the village would suffer for it sooner or later. It looked as if they would all be completely spent within the next hour, with only a precious few exceptions. How would these pathetic little babies ever grow to become the next generation of rulers and legends? In Naruto's eyes the future of Konoha looked dark. And it would've made her grin, had it not been for the gnawing headache attempting to eat her from the inside out.

Forty-five minutes later the chuunin sensei finally announced a break, and many of the students collapsed on the ground with relief. Uchiha Sasuke was secretly relieved, though none of it showed on his face. He was sweaty and somewhat tired, but he had an image to keep. Showing weakness for something so meager was inexcusable. Sasuke was still far from used up. Even so, Iruka's training curriculums were legendary among the academy students and true to his reputation, the chuunin succeeded in making even the most advanced of the kids break into sweat and gradually tire. Sasuke, along with Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba and another few boys, were in good enough shape to be able to take the strain and endure, but even they were silently grateful for this little bit of mercy.

The only person who didn't look even the slightest bit tired was the weird new girl, Uzumaki Naruto. Sasuke wanted to grimace, but forced himself to stay calm. It was extremely frustrating. Just a few days ago he had been the strongest in his age group, no questions asked, and then all of a sudden… Some gloomy kid, horribly egoistic and so very small in stature and a girl on top of that, just waltzed in without any explanation and dared to treat them all like some idiotic weaklings and fools. It did not sit well with Sasuke, not at all well, and he was becoming increasingly frustrated with how things were. It was completely against his will, but he felt challenged by the girl, and while challenges that helped him become stronger were always welcome, acknowledging this girl as a challenge would be the same thing as admitting that she was a real threat. And as much as Sasuke's rather good and accomplished common sense told him to do just that (and had already done), his pride would not let him. His pride was eating away at him. This girl was easy prey compared to what he was truly up against. Killing Itachi would be a hundred times harder than taking out one petite girl, and if even a small feat like that was giving him trouble… It was inexcusable.

Sasuke glanced around himself, noticing the looks the blonde girl was receiving from their class mates. It was just too bad that the one time that he didn't have to be the focus of everyone's attention, he would have to willingly become it. For he knew that the kind of interest that he kept showing for the new girl was bound to draw their attention, regardless of how Sasuke wished it didn't. But it was still the lesser evil. He much rather gave up the rare chance of privacy in favor of the satisfyingly vexing freshness that this new student/to-be-genin brought along with her. The time and trouble of gathering the information wasn't too big a sacrifice, and when Sasuke really thought about it, neither was the extra attention, if it meant that he would be able to solve this puzzle. He was rather impressed that a girl could outlast him, and so he considered his hands tied in the matter. He would, sooner or later, get to the bottom of this.

With these thoughts he marched inside the academy building to freshen up and fill his water bottle.

Naruto watched the dark-haired boy from the corner of her eye, mentally gloating over the fact that she was the reason for the scowl of irritation on his face. It was rejuvenating to know she was causing annoyance and confusion among this horde of headless chicken. Idly she noted that, for once, the Uchiha had actually decided to leave her by herself. It was a surprising but a more than welcome change.

Looking for a more secluded spot to stand in, Naruto strode towards a big tree, hoping that the shade it provided would help minimize the damage done to her brain and prevent the migraine she so dreaded. She was blissfully unaware of how many people actually were thinking about her at that moment. She closed her eyes and let herself fall into a meditative state in an attempt to get a better grip on her temperament. She really had some major self-control issues, even the fox had noted it. Those issues took form as a flaring temper, unpredictably random bursts of anger and sometimes rash decisions. None of them were good personality traits for a person with ambitions as grand as Naruto's.

As superior as her senses were, with her eyes closed and her mind so deep in concentration, Naruto missed the visible wave of restlessness that went through the other students suddenly. The cause for this was the approach of a girl threesome with jeering expressions on their faces. They had almost reached the edge of the tall tree's long shadow, when Naruto suddenly jerked out of her daze, caught almost off guard not by the approaching girls but her own lapse in awareness. She felt drowsy because sleep had been avoiding her lately, and that only added in to her ever-growing frustration. A nearly undetectable, pained frown forced itself onto Naruto's face, but her long, untamable bangs hid it from anyone who might have been able to notice it. Naruto was hungry and sleepy and had a headache. And now she was being stared at, too. There could've been no clearer signs of danger than those, but no one seemed to have the ability to pick up on them. The blonde prayed for patience and self-control as she heard the threesome halt not ten feet from her. She allowed herself a quick, unnoticeable glance at the girls standing before her, but gave no sign that they had her attention, wishing they that would go away if she ignored them. Unfortunately, she was wrong.

The three girls were the class's biggest female bullies, the fiercely disliked Ami, Fuki and Kasumi.

"Hey, new girl!" said the tallest of the girls, the one with a brown afro, and took a step closer. As difficult as it was, Naruto kept completely silent and motionless, still intent on ignoring the threesome. The afro girl, who Naruto remembered was called Kasumi (how she knew that was a mystery, because she never really paid attention to others), did not seem satisfied with her response, for she stepped even closer.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you!" she shrieked.

When Naruto failed to react, another girl, the violet-haired Ami, huffed scornfully and said: "She's got to be deaf, the stupid little bitch." The other two made agreeing sounds, although each and every one of them knew it was not true. "Just look at her," Ami continued loudly, causing everyone in the yard, even those who'd rather ignore her, to turn and stare. "It's better that she doesn't know what people are saying about her behind her back. I mean, what a freak!"

"Yeah," Kasumi agreed. "Have you ever seen anyone creepier?"

The third girl, whom Naruto had noticed had a hairdo similar to her own except for the color, gave a sniping giggle. "I'm so glad I don't look anything like her — she's so fugly. And her clothes too — just look at them. You'd think that we were in an emo convention or something."

Look who's talking, Naruto thought sardonically, trying to suppress her flaring anger. These three girls were less unfamiliar to her than most of the other kids, because they often made a spectacle out of themselves, and Naruto was quite aware of their appearance. Ami and Fuki were nice-looking enough though not the prettiest of the girls (this mantle belonged to either the pinky or the blondie fan girl of the Uchiha), but the Kasumi girl was ugly. And none of them had the perfect skin or the agile, feline build that Naruto had. Even if her features weren't pretty, the three were still in no position to make fun of her.

"Yeah," Ami laughed cruelly. "She really has the right look for it, what with all the black clothes and gloominess. The only thing missing is eyeliner and facial piercings."

"What a freak," Fuki leered scathingly. "What a fucking joke."

And this was the point where Naruto's rather short temper boiled over. Naruto's blue eye opened in a flash, glaring at the threesome menacingly — trying to relay a message, a promise of violence if the girls didn't stop, through the eye contact. The trio jumped back a little, somewhat shaken by the sharpness of her glare and the viciousness emitting from her, but didn't let it bother themselves for long.

The tall girl, Kasumi, stepped very close to Naruto and leaned over her, most likely attempting to look intimidating — she was their muscle power, after all. "Oh, look, she's still alive. Scary!" she exclaimed tauntingly.

"Got something to say, bitch?" Fuki asked snidely.

Naruto cast her gaze to the ground. She was a second away from taking out a kunai and finishing the job before it even had time to unfold. She spoke very silently, but made sure that they all still heard her.

"Yeah. Fuck off."

"Whoa!" Kasumi snickered, towering over her petite figure. "Did you guys hear that?" she asked, turning to look at her friends. "She wants us to leave!"

They laughed until the violet-haired girl quieted down, her two cronies quickly following suit. "I don't think so," Ami stated. "We're not done yet. I've got a bone to pick with you, new girl. So listen —"

Naruto promptly interrupted her speech, not bothering to hide her anger anymore. "Why are you still talking to me? What part of "fuck off" don't you understand?" she demanded loudly, garnering looks of surprise from the others who were still watching. For some of them, it was the first time they ever heard her speak, and they couldn't have been more obvious about it, Naruto noted bitterly.

"Shut up!" Ami shouted, suddenly on the defensive. "I don't know what your deal is, but you better stay away from Sasuke-kun!"

Ah, they were getting to the core of the problem now. This was about the prissy little Uchiha whom every single girl in Konoha seemed to be pining after.

"Did you hear what I said, you freak?" Ami exclaimed, her face turning unflatteringly red with her self-invoked fury.

Naruto snorted. "Or what? What would you do if I didn't?" She asked the question only out of curiosity, but the threesome, amusingly enough, were stupid enough to think that she was serious. Their rage was obvious and immediate, although the violet-haired girl was, for the time being, able to keep her composure.

"I've got ways of making your life hell," Ami whispered, in a voice that was obviously meant to sound threatening. Naruto was far from impressed.

"You don't even know how ridiculous you sound right now," she replied, rubbing her temples to soothe her headache. "Just go away. You people have no self-preservation instincts at all…"

If she had wanted to get rid of the three girls, then this was obviously not the right thing to say, because the moment her words reached their ears, they were on her, grabbing her from the arms and the hair. The struggle didn't last long as Naruto easily tore away from their grasp and leaped away from their reach. With the threat of physical harm (as ridiculous as her "tormentors" were), she crouched into a ready position, baring her sharp canines like a cornered animal (something which Inuzuka Kiba noted with interest).

Fight! Fight! Fight! was the only thought in her mind, violent intentions playing in her head, washing away all the control she had worked so hard to obtain.

"Do you have a death wish?" she snarled at the trio. "I'll gladly grant it to you. Free of charge, even. Would you like that?"

The first one to come at her was the tall Kasumi, Fuki not far behind her. Ami moved slower than her cronies, unwilling to put herself into direct danger. It was obvious now that she was the head and brains of their little gang.

Naruto felt the adrenaline in her blood and the anticipation was like medicine for all her ailments. She dodged the afro girl's attack effortlessly and skillfully danced around her, raising her right hand to grab the brunette from her hair. Both Kasumi and Fuki were too slow to react as Naruto positioned her captive before herself, and the two collided painfully, Fuki falling on her back and Kasumi bumping into the blonde behind her. Naruto did not budge from the impact, only pulled harder on the afro of the tall girl.

"Violence is my art," she spoke, her tone too vicious to belong to a girl so young.

"Coming at me is a suicide."

Kasumi struggled harder, fear creeping into her movements and making them shaky and reckless. Naruto took a strong hold of her arm and, not hesitating for a second, broke it like a twig. Ignoring the horrific cry of pain, she tossed the girl aside and went for the second one, who had only just managed to get up from the ground again. Fuki unsuccessfully attempted to evade the brutal right hook that was aimed at her, and went flying from the sheer force of the strike. She landed under the tree and remained motionless.

The other students were only now starting to react to Naruto's furious onslaught, for what had felt like plenty of time to her, was only a few seconds in reality. Ami had halted her approach and was shrinking away in panic now, not bothering to even spare a glance at her so called friends.

There was blood on Naruto's fist — Fuki's blood from the girl's broken nose — and it only excited the blonde more. Her left arm, which had so far remained unused, was seething under the bandages, demanding more violence. And Naruto was too far gone to notice that her opponents had already lost their fighting spirit. Or perhaps she just didn't care. The frustration and pent-up anger were getting the better of her. She licked the blood from her hand like a savage and grinned, ignoring all her coherent thoughts in favor of the blissful adrenaline rush. It had been so long since she had been in a fight. She wanted it and craved it, desired it like an animal desires its pray. She advanced, not bothering with any unnecessary speed. These babies of the academy were so slow. In a very sadistic way, it made the chase even more enjoyable for her.

But there was also something else, something that made Naruto stop all of a sudden, as a certain notion occurred to her.

This was the same feeling she had experienced not too long ago, the night she had saved that Ayame girl. The same malicious impulse that told her to kill, to terminate, to slaughter and make it rain blood. It was not quite as strong as it had been that time, having been set off by a less touchy subject, but regardless, Naruto felt alarmed by it.

Suddenly there was something grey at her left, heading for her in a considerable speed. Naruto was just in time as she moved to her right and dodged, managing to avoid the surprise attack aimed at her by only an inch or two. Looking up to find the boy with the puppy glaring at her, his animalistic expression very similar to her own, Naruto chided herself for letting her guard down so easily.

"What the fuck do you want?" she barked furiously, her head beginning to throb as her enthusiasm faded.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? Can't you see they're down already?" Kiba snarled furiously, positioning himself between Naruto and the three girls. His courage was hanging by a hair after the show the blonde had just given them, but Kiba was the kind of rash person who would impulsively risk himself to defend the underdog (no matter how much he felt personal dislike towards them). And so, since there were no adults present to step in and no one else seemed to be willing to do it, Kiba simply felt obligated to interfere.

Naruto measured him with her gaze, somewhat impressed by the boy, but finally just scoffed and disregarded him. She had no intention of going after the threesome now, but verbally she was not yet finished with them.

"Hey, you," she called out to Ami, who was staggering backwards in panic. "You're lucky I'm not on a particularly vindictive mood today."

Naruto heard the dog boy snort at her words and mutter a quiet: "Psycho freak…" She paid no heed to the insult, only to the fact that he still had the guts to insult her after the kind of rage she'd just displayed.

Rage, that was completely inexcusable after all she had done to keep herself calm and empty her mind of all the frustration and aggression she had bottled up inside her since the moment she had first set foot in this purgatory. She needed to have better control over her feelings, especially now that she was about to be placed in a three-man cell. She needed to do everything she could to avoid this kind of situations in the future, or her plans about the chuunin exam might be foiled. But how? How to avoid them? How could she keep her self-control when the others intentionally went out on their way to annoy and (god how ridiculous it sounded!) to bully her? So far she had preferred to ignore them all and just keep her distance while trying to make herself look as unapproachable as was physically possible, but was that really the best solution now? Her silent demeanor had been broken and people were more curious about her than ever. Was there any way to prevent another scenario like this from happening? Would her silence and hateful glares keep them at bay? Had this scare had a big enough impact on them?

Another question. Was she ready to let this go just like that?

Perhaps it was time to change her tactics. After all, they only had one more day and morning left, and then the number of possible future bodies would be reduced to only two, and those unlucky ones who were put in her team would learn quickly enough to stay the hell away from her. So, perhaps she should do something different to get her kicks and keep them from coming to her.

Slowly, an interesting thought began to take form in her head. Wouldn't it be curious if she, instead of keeping her mouth shut, actually talked to them? Not in a conversational way, of course, but made a little speech?

And now there were two different sides of Naruto's personality arguing with each other. The antisocial department was telling her that it wasn't worth the trouble; that she should be able to manage one day and morning without killing anyone, even if people approached her. The department of S&M on the other hand was telling her to go for it. The sadist in her wanted to make the little babies pee their pants, and the masochistic part wanted do it to prove to herself once again that people really weren't her thing, and that it was better for her to stay as detached as possible, because she would never be accepted by others.

A few words would hurt no one.

Briefly, then, and straight to the point, she decided. That seemed to be the right way to go about things. Naruto took a deep breath and scratched her jaw. Positioning herself so that she was facing the majority of the students, she clapped her hands together once, demanding everyone's focus, and sneered like the sight of them made her sick.

"I don't know what the fuck their problem was," she pointed at the fallen trio, "but if any of you other dipshits has a problem with me, then you better come out with it now. Don't think you can count on that mut-face to save any of you another time." The dog boy glared at her fiercely and his pup growled loudly, but Naruto paid no attention to this. She was just about finished with this horde. "And, not that it's any of your business," she added off-handedly, "but it's the bastard Uchiha who's practically forcing himself on me, not the other way around."

Naruto was just about to turn away and take off, but at that moment the world forced its fucked-up sense humor on her once again. Irony of life; how she loathed the whole concept then. Of course the Uchiha just had to return to the training field the very second she mentioned his name, and of course he couldn't even be alone! Following him, came the scarred instructor, whose name might've been Iru-something, along with another teacher, whom Naruto thought she had seen somewhere before. He was a man of about the same age as the other chuunin sensei and at first glance there seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary with him. He had whitish hair and average looks, but there was a hint of something disagreeable somewhere in there. His eyes were far too pleasant to be natural.

The two of them make quite a pair, Naruto observed with disgust. Friendship. How revolting.

She felt the echo of similar thoughts somewhere deep within herself, and knew that she had the Kyuubi's agreement with that opinion. The smiles on their faces were repulsively good-natured and effortless, and even the brooding figure of the Uchiha couldn't spoil the picture.

Ugh.

The two men and the Uchiha came to a sudden stop, however, as they took in the sight ahead of them. The frightened and wary students, the two injured girls, Kiba's protective stance and Naruto in the middle of it all — the two chuunin were instantly alarmed and grimfaced. Many expressions flashed on the Uchiha's face, among them surprise, annoyance and disappointment (which was probably due to the fact that he hadn't been there to see it all happen), until he regained the control of his facial muscles and settled for a guarded demeanor of cold interest. There was no love lost between him and his fan girls, and Sasuke was far from a kindhearted and caring person. He didn't even pity the three girls for their injuries — he only mocked them for not understanding their own weakness.

Naruto felt slightly awkward, feeling the stares of the others, but decided to ignore the idiots for as long as it took for them all to snap out of it. She snorted disinterestedly and took a step to the brunette girl's direction. The boy with the puppy looked like he wanted to stop her, but then decided that now that their instructor had returned, it wasn't his responsibility anymore. It only took a few strides for Naruto to reach the unconscious girl, and giving no heed to the scarred chuunin who was rapidly advancing, she crouched next to her and examined the damage she had dealt.

"Lovely," she sniggered, waiting for the explosion she predicted would follow. But to her great surprise, there was none, and the brown-haired man only glanced at her with sadness in his eyes, something which stirred a great many strangely confusing feelings of anger and defiance in Naruto's heart. Why was he looking at her like that?

"What happened?" he asked, his voice filled with something that Naruto could've easily mistaken for patronizing, had there not been that crystal clear emotion of deep disappointment in the man's eyes. "Why did you do this?" he asked again, and though Naruto felt just the slightest bit compelled to answer, her attention was suddenly caught by something else. The white-haired man was… was fucking ogling at the other girls' asses!

"Uzumaki?" the chuunin repeated, catching Naruto's attention once again. The girl noted the lack of the polite –san with cold amusement. So, of all the things, it was the action of hurting another student that had finally lost her his respect? Well, to hell if she cared. That man made her feel strange, almost just the tiniest bit remorseful, when he looked at her like that, but the emotion was small and pitiful and would be crushed and forgotten quickly.

"Take a wild guess, why don't you?" Naruto snarled venomously. "You know who those bitches are, right?"

"If you are referring to their reputation as bullies, it still doesn't excuse anything. You had no right to injure other students —"

"You don't even know what happened —"

"Regardless! In this academy, violence is never the answer. I won't tolerate it."

Naruto stared at the brown-haired man, confused. "This is a ninja school. How the hell can you say you won't tolerate any violence?"

Iruka, who was now frowning very openly, was just about to reply, but that was when the other chuunin stepped into the conversation.

"Okay, let's break it up here," Mizuki said, coming to stand between the two. "How about you tend to the girls' injuries, Iruka," he suggested, glancing at the trio, "and I'll take Uzumaki away and question her?"

The brown-haired chuunin looked at Naruto for a moment, before nodding and hurrying to his students. The blonde's gaze followed the man as he moved, her brains trying to work out the puzzle that his contradicting choice of career and personal morals posed. Naruto had never in her life met a ninja like him before. Even the Hokage, who carefully fostered his image as the caring, grandpa-like leader, understood that violence and bloodshed were unavoidable in the profession of a shinobi. Hurting others and suffering injuries was simply a part of the job description, and a piece of who they all were. It was naïve of the chuunin teacher to think that he could keep his students safe from that reality. Irresponsible, even. But then again, it wasn't Naruto's decision nor was it any of her concern whether the others survived beyond their first mission that included any real action. Even so, she was rather intrigued by this chuunin instructor's idealism. It was impractical but somehow… cute. It was almost amusing enough for Naruto to laugh straight to his face. But perhaps doing that wouldn't be in her best interest, considering that she had violated his rules rather crudely. Maybe later, then.

"Well then," Mizuki approached her and was about to grab on her shoulder, but Naruto dodged his hand angrily.

"Keep your hands to yourself, bastard," Naruto snapped, glowering. No part of this man would be allowed to touch her.

"Suit yourself," Mizuki replied, an infuriating smile brightening his face, and begun to walk away. Knowing what was expected of her, Naruto followed. But there was something wrong about it all. Somehow, she could sense it. But despite the consequences, she followed. Curiosity wouldn't be able to kill a cat like her, anyway. It was ridiculous to even consider such a thing. And knowing this, Naruto followed.

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