Heya. Okay. So, I've had this idea for a long time, but I haven't had any time to write. But I've been stuck in the house for the past few days with nothing to do, so I started it. Enjoy :D

Chapter 1

It was snowing. Naruto hated the snow. It made the walk to school completely miserable. Not that the walk was ever un-miserable. But the cold, icy weather always made him feel more down than he already was.

It was the first day of the new semester, which was why the blonde had ventured out into the early morning. With the new semester came new classes, as well as new teachers. Naruto never did well with the new.

A few people said "hi" to Naruto as he passed. He answered them with a sad smile. It was the one thing he liked about his neighborhood. After getting over the initial shock of the worn down buildings and the constant violence, the people were actually very friendly. As long as you weren't a troublemaker at least.

Staying out of trouble was an art that Naruto had nearly perfected. He knew when to come and go from his small apartment as to avoid running into the wrong people, and he was pretty good at talking his way out of a potentially deadly situation if he didn't manage to avoid the wrong people.

Naruto glanced at his watch. He pulled his worn black jacket around him tighter as he quickened his pace. School started in an hour, but it would take him longer than that to get there unless he hurried. His school was on the other side of town.

The people that knew he went to Konoha Elitist Prep, or K.E.P. for short, seemed to think he was both very lucky and very smart. K.E.P. was the hardest school to get into in a fifty-mile radius. A graduate of K.E.P could go nearly anywhere and do nearly anything just because of the school's reputation. Graduating from K.E.P was guaranteed acceptance into any university.

But getting into K.E.P. was nearly impossible. Only parents with insane amounts of money could afford the tuition, and the only scholarships that were offered were to kids whose parents were really well connected with one or more members of the school board.

So, people thought that Naruto was very lucky and very smart. They knew he wasn't loaded, otherwise he wouldn't be living in the absolute worst part of town, and that left only brilliancy and the assumption that he had friends in high places.

That false reputation alone was enough to earn him plenty of respect, something that Naruto never resented. He needed all the respect he could get. He couldn't count the number of times he had gotten out of a sticky situation just because he was wearing the Konoha Elitists uniform.

Naruto was out of breath and freezing by the time he got to the school, only two minutes before the bell rang. He had enough time to run to his locker before his first class.

Once in class, he sat in the back of the room, waiting for the teacher to get started. No one paid any attention to him, which was perfectly fine. Naruto liked being ignored at school, because the respect people had for him on the street didn't continue on campus. At school, no one had any false delusions that he was some boy genius. They knew he was a screw up. And it was popularly accepted that Naruto had gotten into K.E.P. by a fluke.

And it was the truth. Naruto had accepted this years before, when he was still in elementary school. He wasn't smart. He could barely make the grade. The only reason he had gotten into K.E.P. was because he had a distant family relative who knew a lot of people. And his godson happened to be on the school board.

The teacher stood up in front of the class. He cleared his throat and started talking. Naruto only half paid attention. Ebisu was his least favorite teacher. He had always looked down on Naruto, and Naruto had never given the man any respect. It was a hate/hate relationship that would probably never change.

"Alright. You all know the purpose of this class. It's to ready you for teamwork scenarios in the work place. You will be split into groups of three, and you will be required to stay in the same group until you graduate. Once you're groups have been chosen, you're teammates will therefore be your responsibility. In the workplace, if one of your team does bad, you are responsible. So it will be for this class…"

Naruto tuned the man out. He knew all about this stupid class. It was part of the graduation requirements. He was far from happy that he would be working with a group for the rest of his school career. He didn't like people, and people didn't like him.

Naruto focused again once Ebisu started calling out the groups. He watched as people moved around the room to sit with their group. No one looked very happy.

"Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha." Naruto scowled. He had just been put in a group with the biggest jackass on the face of the planet. Sasuke was a conceited, preppy rich kid, and Naruto would have liked nothing more than to stab him in the eyeball with a screwdriver.

Sakura, on the other hand, had always been nice to Naruto, so long as he didn't try to talk to her in front of her friends. She was way too cool to be seen with him. But if she saw him in the library or in the hallways between classes she would always smile politely. She had never openly been mean to him at least.

Both Sakura and Sasuke had looked around when their names had been called, and seeing that Naruto didn't stand up to move, they joined him in the back of the room.

"If you aren't happy with you're team, don't come whining to me. No, you can't trade people, and no, you can't just do it by yourself. In the workplace, you don't have the luxury of choosing your coworkers, so you don't have a choice here either. Now, I want you to spend the class period talking with your teammates. Find out what classes they are taking, if they are having any trouble in those classes, and draw up a meeting schedule. You are expected to meet three times a week outside of school. I will give you your first group assignment before the end of the period." Ebisu sat down at his desk and immediately started going through his paperwork.

Around the classroom, nervous voices could be heard. This class was purposely made so that friends weren't placed in the same group. The idea was to work with new people, and that always put everyone on edge.

Naruto looked between Sasuke and Sakura. Sasuke met his gaze, but Sakura was busy examining her fingernails.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "I have English, Chemistry, Algebra, History, and P.E." Sakura looked up from her nails, and Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "I have trouble with all of the above."

Sakura was fidgeting nervously, but she followed suit. "I have Biology, Calculus, English, Latin and History. I'm not really having trouble with any of them."

They both turned their eyes to Sasuke. Sasuke was known among the school as not having any friends. Not because nobody wanted to be his friend, but because Sasuke was a self-proclaimed loner. He wouldn't suffer through anyone else's company.

After a minute long staring contest, Sasuke finally spoke. "Accounting, Business, English, History and Computer Technology." He didn't need to verbalize that he was obviously having no trouble in his classes.

"Have you started on the schedule yet?" All three of them jumped and turned to see Ebisu towering over them.

"Not yet." Sakura said sweetly. "We were just getting to that."

"Hmph."

Once Ebisu was back at his desk, Sakura spoke. "Well, I guess we could meet at my house on Mondays or Tuesdays. My mother always has people over other days, and I'm not allowed to interrupt when she does."

Sasuke didn't say anything. Naruto rolled his eyes at the dark haired teen and instead brought out a notebook and a pencil and scribbled down 'Sakura's—Tuesday'.

"What time could we meet at your house, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked.

"Sasuke."

"What?"

"No 'Kun'. Just Sasuke." Sasuke snapped. "I don't care when we meet. Let's do it on Friday."

Naruto wordlessly wrote it down.

"And Naruto-kun?"

Naruto shifted uneasily. "Yeah. It would really be better if we didn't meet at my place."

"And why is that?" Sasuke demanded. "If we have to open up our houses, why shouldn't you?"

"Is there a problem?" Ebisu was back.

"No." Naruto insisted. "I was just explaining that we can't meet at my place because-"

"Nonsense, Uzumaki. There is absolutely no reason why you should be excluded from that part of the activity. Now choose a day."

Naruto gulped and thought quickly. When was the best day for them to come over?

'Never.' Said a little voice in the back of his head.

"Sunday." He said out loud. It was the most reasonable. People tended to be more laid back on Sundays, with it being the holy day. It was the only choice.

"I'm kinda busy on Sunday's." Sakura whined. "I have to go to church with my parents."

"Then come after church." Sasuke snapped. Naruto could tell he didn't like the entire situation.

"Alright, we need a time and a place to meet." Naruto interjected before an argument could pick up between the two. They looked at him quizzically. "On Sunday's, I mean. So you can come to my place."

"I am perfectly capable of finding the place by myself." Sasuke sneered. "And I even have a car to drive, what a concept."

Naruto actually chuckled. "You wont have a car for very long if you bring it into my neighborhood."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and Sakura was looking a bit nervous. "Where exactly do you live?"

It had taken the majority of the class period to convince Sasuke that it was necessary for Naruto to meet him and Sakura at what Naruto described as a 'safe-zone.' He finally agreed, but only to get Naruto to shut up about it, or so he said.

"It isn't really that bad, is it?" Sakura asked as they were collecting their assignments from Ebisu and leaving the class.

"It really is." Naruto said. He noticed that Sakura looked a little scared. "But don't worry. I know the right people, and Sunday is a pretty good day." He refrained from adding the word 'usually' to the end of that sentence. "Just don't wear a lot of jewelry." He instantly regretted the last statement, as Sakura looked positively terrified. Sasuke simply rolled his eyes and stalked off to his next class.