The scenery was a dull washed-out grey no matter where Naruto looked. The trees had lost their leaves some time ago and they stretched their bare limbs up to the overcast sky. The ground was devoid of vegetation and everything was covered with a blanket of snow. The black road they were driving on was the only contrast to the white world that stretched out as far as the blonde could see.

Naruto shivered to himself and pulled away from the cab window. The weather fit his mood perfectly, but he still wished the sun would peak out for a little bit to warm him up.

The older man sitting next to him with a small scar over his nose was his adopted father, Iruka. As of now, he had his brown hair pulled back into a small pony tail and was wearing a warm smile, despite the cold. It might have been Iruka's fault that they were moving to some unfamiliar out-of-the-way place, but Naruto couldn't find it in his heart to blame him. Iruka would now have a full time teaching job. Even if it was in a boarding school and the blonde would have to stay and learn there too, he was genuinely happy for Iruka.

Iruka reached forward and tapped on the glass separating them from the cab driver, startling Naruto out of his thoughts.

"How much longer till we get there?" Iruka asked the large, ruddy man.

"About another five miles and we'll be there, sir." the man replied, if a bit grouchily.

Naruto settled back into his seat and watched the white blur of the landscape go by. He wondered if his new school was going to be very strict. He smiled as he remembered some of the pranks he had pulled at his old school. The blonde had used some of the more traditional stuff like whoopee-cushions, but he had gotten more creative as the year went on. His last stunt has included a bucket of honey, a bag of feathers, roller-skates, and a yard of rope. He probably would've been expelled if he hadn't already been leaving.

The smile faded as he remembered that he couldn't get into any trouble at his new school. He couldn't get into another school. This place was his last resort.

Naruto let out a small sigh, wondering if there was anything to look forward to at his new school. He was transferring in the middle of the year, so he would already have the label "new kid" for some time. Nothing good to look forward to there. The grounds of the school were supposed to be huge, but it was so cold out, there was no way he was going outside. Again, nothing good to look forward to.

The blonde came out of his thoughts when the cab took a left and pulled off the road and onto a long graveled drive.

There were trees on either side, but they were packed together so densely that even without leaves they managed to block out much of the already little sunlight filtering through the clouds. Before too long they came to a large wrought iron gate. There was a small guard post made to look like a log cabin pushed off to the side and smoke was rising from its chimney.

A tall man came out wearing a dark navy blue uniform and a name tag. Also, on his head was a black bandanna. He was chewing on a huge toothpick as he walked over to the cab and Naruto had to wonder where he got it from, since he'd never seen a toothpick that had to be at least a foot long.

"I.D.," the man grunted.

He came closer to the car, suspiciously glancing at them as he walked.

Iruka opened his door, which was on the opposite side of the car that the man was on, and passed him a piece of paper over the roof. The guard looked at it briefly before handing it back and going to unlock the huge iron gates.

They swung open with much resistance, groaning like a wounded animal reluctant to move.

A chill went up Naruto's spine as the noise cut straight through his heart.

As if in on queue, it started to sprinkle as the cab drove slowly through the gate. The gate gave an especially load groan as it closed, ending in a load clang that seemed to hang in the dim silence of this strange white world.

It started to rain harder, but now little bits of snow were mixed in, creating sleet. The cabby put his windshield-wipers on and they created a rhythmic swooshing sound. The trees had thinned out little by little until they were driving along a long winding avenue bordered by huge, bare limbed oak trees. Out of the gloom emerged a hulking form that Naruto thought could possibly be a castle. He saw 2 maybe 3 towers, but that was all he could make out. As the car approached, more of the front wall emerged until they were finally at an elaborate gravel circle in front of a gigantic pair of wooden doors reinforced by blackened iron bars and bolts. A large school crest was emblazoned across the middle of the doors, but the blonde couldn't make any of it out.

Picking up a small and rather tattered umbrella, Iruka smiled apologetically at Naruto. The blonde smiled his biggest smile at him and motioned that he wouldn't use the umbrella. He would probably get just as wet with it than without it.

Iruka frowned slightly, but opened his door to get out. The change in temperature was immediate. Naruto clutched his rather thin coat more tightly around himself before gritting his teeth and opening his own door.

Both Naruto and Iruka were soaked and chilled to the bone before they had all of their luggage out of the cab and at the huge doors. The cabby hadn't even gotten out to help, but was sitting with his hands in front of the car heater. Naruto growled slightly because his hands were already frozen and clumsy with the cold. His shoes were soaked through, making it seem as though his toes were about to fall off from the cold, adding to his misery.

Iruka crunched through the snow back over to the cab holding his umbrella over his head. The cabby rolled down his window for less than a minute, snatched the offered money then rolled the window back up. Counting it carefully, the cabby nodded his head at Iruka and then drove back the way they had come, slowly being swallowed up by the mist.

Naruto and Iruka were left there in the sleet and cold wondering if they should knock on the huge doors. Before they could decide, a much smaller door opened in the middle of the door on the right. The only problem with that was that it opened directly onto where Naruto was standing. He was flung back onto the hard gravel, face first (the door hit him in the behind). Cursing, Naruto slowly moved his cold and bruised body off the ground and into a sitting position. Iruka rushed to help the blonde onto his feet before carfully examining the fresh cut on his face.

"Goodness, Naruto, we aren't even here for five minutes and you're already hurt." Iruka clucked at him.

Naruto grumbled to himself. He was now to tired and cold to feel much or care.

Iruka practically flew at the dark form that was huddled next to the door.

"You have to be more careful or else you'll hurt somebody." Iruka said sternly.

A boy of about Naruto age hung his head and mumbled an apology. He walked over to Naruto and looked the blonde over for himself, and then gave a nod, as though satisfied that he had not permanently harmed the blonde. The boy quickly ushered them through the door and into a cavernous hall. The room must have been a hundred feet high with arches that supported its vaulted ceiling. Naruto couldn't quite see because of all the shadows, but he was sure there were things painted up there. He resolved to take a closer look later, but for now, the incredible source of heat at his back was calling for his frozen body's attention.

A gigantic fire was blazing in an even more gigantic fire place. It looked like a large bon-fire and the flames had to have been at least six or seven feet high. Was everything to do with this school over sized?, Naruto wondered vaguely. Naruto quickly walked as close to the fire as the heat would allow, almost singeing his hair in the process.

"I'm going to tell Principle Tsunade you're here," the boy who had let them in announced. Naruto managed to catch a glance at his face in the firelight. He had dark brown hair and a red upside down triangles painted on each cheek. That was all Naruto saw before the boy turned around and jogged across the huge expanse of hall, past the door they had entered to and into a much smaller shadowy entrance on the other side of the hall.

Naruto turned his attention back to the fire and as soon as he was thawed enough he started looking around for Iruka. Because the fire was so bright it took Naruto a couple of seconds to realize that Iruka was only standing a few feet away from him. Like him, Iruka seemed to be frozen solid. He was holding his hands out towards the fire, inching closer and then falling back as the flames roared up and died down in their erratic way.

By the time the boy came back, Naruto could feel his toes and fingers again and his clothes were starting to steam a little. The boy handed over a band-aid and a warm wet wash cloth to Iruka, who immediately began to clean Naruto scratch, painstakingly cleaning off an amazing amount of dried blood and dirt. Finally putting the square band-aid on it, Iruka announced that he was done.

"Follow me," the boy said, "By the way, my name's Kiba." The boy gave a big grin as he said this. "I'm sorry about knocking you over like that. I probably should have opened the door more slowly, but I didn't think anyone would be standing behind the door like that."

Naruto could hear the implication behind Kiba's words, but he failed to think of a comeback, so he just glared.

"Hey man, I was only kidding. I, for one, should know about not seeing that door, the gardener's nailed me, like, three times already," Kiba announced, if a little sheepishly. "I know the doors there, I just forget, you know. It's built to blend into the bigger door on purpose. Don't ask me why."

Naruto listened to Kiba ramble and decided that even though he had gotten creamed with a door by this person, Kiba was an okay guy. Naruto noticed that Kiba was starting to walk away and urged his legs to follow. It was a struggle. Naruto could see Iruka was even having difficulty, his smile only staying in place because it takes more muscles to frown.

They sluggishly moved after the brunette, reluctant to leave the warmth of the fire.

"I'm sure Principle Tsunade's secretary, Shizune, has some coffee and hot chocolate ready in the main office," Kiba said encouragingly.

He had just enough time to wonder if this statement would have any effect before he was being forcibly tugged forwards from both sides by Naruto and Iruka. Both had faces that were set in determined frowns as they struggled against their own wariness, cold, and hunger. Plus aches and bruises in Naruto case.

Even so, it still took a good twenty minutes before they reached the main office, gratefully sitting in large, squashy red armchairs, sipping hot drinks. The main office turned out to be a waiting room like place with a long counter. Behind the counter were four hallways that led to offices. Kiba, Iruka, and Naruto had met the secretary Shizune and followed her down the hallway all the way to the left. Principle Tsunade's office was at the very back of the hallway, but it had a fireplace and plenty of room.

When they had walked in, they had seen a young woman sleeping on the desk, using a stack of very important looking document for a pillow and drooling all over them. Shizune had given a very loud and disapproving cough, promptly waking the lady, who Naruto guessed was Tsunade, up.

"I wasn't sleeping!" the lady shouted, half awake. This might have been more convincing if 1. They hadn't seen her sleeping and 2. She didn't have a piece of paper stuck to the left cheek of her face.

Kiba gave a snort of laughter but quickly turned it into a weird cough. Naruto, not seeing Kiba's warning looks, laughed openly. All of a sudden Naruto was on the floor. Not far away lay a very sharp and heavy looking paperweight. What happened? Naruto thought dazedly (he'd obviously had the sense knocked out of him). Shaking his head, he carefully climbed back to his feet, not noticing the strained face Kiba was wearing laughing or the shocked beyond belief look on Iruka's face. Tsunade looked strangely satisfied, Naruto did manage to note.

Things calmed down after that and Iruka and Tsunade began to discuss many things. Shizune had politely brought coffee and hot chocolate and Naruto had managed to burn his lips and tongue about five times before it was finally cool enough to drink. Even the hot chocolate did not give him enough energy and he began to dose off. Kiba soon followed suit.

Naruto and Kiba both woke with a jolt at the sound of firm knocking at the door.

"Ah, there he is now," Tsunade said with the slightest hint of glee in her voice.

"Who's here?" Naruto mumbled groggily, his back and neck stiff from sleeping in the chair.

Leaning forward with an evil smirk, Tsunade whispered, "Your roommate."