Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, only my OCs

"Talking"
"Thoughts"
"Jutsu"
"The Kyuubi, Summons, or Shadow creatures"

Story Start

The Hokage's newest jounin, a woman named Tsukiko, was seated before him. The name Tsukiko meant child of the moon. Tsukiko was a beautiful woman. She had long, silky white hair, dark honey colored skin, and deep amethyst eyes. She wore a white battle kimono; a traditional uniform for samurai. The kimono was lined with red linen stitched into the cloth. Strapped to her back was a long katana, used for a few styles of kenjutsu which was said to have been lost for centuries. What made her different from most shinobi were the two white wolf ears sprouted atop her head followed by a long white tail that curled around the sash which held her kimono together.

Tsukiko held four manila folders in her hand that contained information about the four remaining genin she was to have as her students. The photographs were of two boys and two girls; Uzumaki Naruto, Nara Shikamaru, Hyuuga Hinata, and Yamanaka Ino. Placing the photos of Naruto and Shikamaru in front of her she placed Ino's and Hinata's photo to the side

"I would most definitely have these two on my team." she said to the Hokage. "It will be hard for the Uzumaki boy to get any training done due to his tenant. The Nara boy also seems to have an affinity for the shadows, much like myself. I wish to fully bring out that potential, and I can also succeed in whipping him into shape."

The Hokage nodded his head. It was originally decided that this generation would have another 'Ino-Shik-Cho' combination, however Tsukiko had a good point. She was the only kage affinity in the Leaf Village and she wouldn't be as biased as the other jounin when it came to Naruto. Now all that was left was to decided between the two girls. Earlier that day Yuuhei Kurenai sent in a request to have Hinata on her team. In earlier years Kurenai was Hinata's guard. After the failed kidnapping by Kumogakure, the clan head Hiashi decided Hinata would need a guard until she became genin.

"What should we do about the Hyuuga and the Yamanaka?" Tsukiko asked the Hokage.

"It is hard to say." he replied. "Kurenai has asked to have Hinata be placed on her cell, and the council was expecting another 'Ino-Shika-Cho' combination. However, Kurenai's compassion for Hinata might be a problem. I'm not saying anything is wrong with having a relation with your student or that Kurenai may play favorites, but there is still the problem of Hinata and her shyness." Tsukiko nodded her head. When she was a child she was as shy, if not more, like Hinata is now. She had to learn the hard way that she had to stand up for herself. In the shinobi line of business, shyness came with hesitation and hesitation led to instantaneous death, and having a clan heir die was unacceptable.

"Yes, it is. But there is also the Yamanaka girl's infatuation with the Uchiha." she added.

"Yes, that could be the problem."

"I propose giving Hatake the Uchiha, Haruno, and the Akamichi boy while Kurenai-san handles," she paused to check the names of the other genin hopefuls. "Yes, she should handle the Inuzuka, Aburame and the Yamanaka. Her mind transfer techniques would come in handy with interrogation and hunter squads do gather the shinobi for interrogation. Her experiencing tracking first hand may be beneficial. I also believe that if anyone can break her out of that fan girl stage and into being a proper clan head it would be Kurenai-san." The Hokage nodded his and placed Hinata's photo with Shikamaru's and Naruto's photograph.

"It's settle then. You'll be sensei to Shikamaru, Hinata, and Naruto." he sighed out in exhaustion. "But there is a problem with the council. They may not approve of your choice of students Tsukiko-chan." Tsukiko snorted.

"Let me handle the council Sarutobi." she assured him. "You know as well as I do that Konohagakure cannot afford to lose me. Not only am I the first every shadow affinity user of Konoha, but I won't hesitate to take the Uzumaki boy with me and leave a trail of death and a castrated Uchiha in my wake if they so much as decided to banish me. I won't bow down to them or anyone else. The only one who can order me to do anything is the Hokage. Do not let them over step there boundaries Sarutobi. Things won't go well if they do." The Hokage sighed once more and took a puff of smoke from his tobacco pipe. Tsukiko waited as the Hokage took his time smoking. Smoking was the only way to calm his nerves now a days. He breathed out a final puff of smoke before turning his attention back to Tsukiko.

"I understand. Will you please inform Iruka-sensei of the sudden change of plans?" he asked.

"Yes I will Sarutobi." She bowed her head to him before getting up and heading towards the academy building with the newly made genin placement list in hand.

Trudging his feet against the ground, Naruto headed for a shinobi clothing shop. He was dressed in civilian clothing while his hitai-ate was tucked away in his pants pocket. Last night was the worst time in Naruto's life, second only to the time he pissed off a large bunch of fan girls. He shuddered as he recalled the beating they gave him. It almost made him wish it were the villagers instead; key word being almost. So far he had been to three different stores and all three refused him service. Unfortunately for Naruto not only was his jumpsuit torn to shreds from last night, but his other pairs had been destroyed because a group of drunken villagers decided to ransack his home.

Out of the corner of his eye Naruto saw a store sign that had gotten his attention. The sign read; "The New Moon; Shinobi Arsenal". Naruto had to admit that the sign was the most creative and catchy one he had come across, which weren't too many much to his dismay. Pushing aside a bad memory Naruto headed off in the direction of the store.

Naruto now had a pretty good idea of how an Akamichi would feel at an "All you can eat for free buffet". He was inside the clothing store; the shop keeper was either new to Konoha or wasn't there to notice him. Naruto wasn't about to press his luck. He gazed at all the clothing and weapondry that lined the walls and racks that were scattered around the shop building.

"Hey kid!" a voice called out. Naruto turned his head to the left a noticed the shop keeper. He gulped as the idea that he was now about to be kicked out crossed his mind. The shop keeper was a tall man with auburn hair. He had deep brown eyes and a lightning bolt-shaped tattoo ran along his upper left cheek to the jaw line. The man wore clothes that Naruto new were most likely from a foreign place.

"Maybe I still have a chance." Naruto thought to himself.

"Yeah?" he asked nervously. The owner waved him over.

"Don't just stand there, get your butt over here." the man called. Naruto hurried over to the man.

"Name's Sesshomaru kid. I'm guessing this is your first time in this store?" he asked.

"Yeah it is." Naruto said as he nodded his head. The man made a grunt sound.

"Well, you can go on and take as much as you like or need. If you don't have enough money to buy all you want to take home with you, you can either make a tab and I'll put it in as an I.O.U or you pay me back the money you owe either a little every week or when you have the whole amount you owe. You'll have a one-month limit to get in a quarter of what you owe; orphans have a two-month limit. If you don't get me the money I'll report the stuff you failed to pay for as being stolen and you face the consequences." he informed Naruto.

"Really?" Naruto asked. Naruto smiled brightly once the man nodded his hand. The man then pointed across the room to a blue clothing rack. Naruto tilted his head to the side. The man chuckled a little as the expression on Naruto's face reminded him of a fox or kitsune.

"Try getting some blue clothes. I'm sure it'll look good plus it's not too hard to hide in when you need to." Naruto nodded his head in thanks and left right for the blue clothing rack.

A few minutes later and the bell on the door rang. The door opened to show a shinobi wearing a Chuunin vest. The Chuunin swept his eyes around the room and when they landed on Naruto the man scowled at him.

"You'd better not be stealing anything." the man hissed at him. Naruto shook his head.

"I'd know if the kid was stealing. You'd have to be an ANBU or the Hokage to successfully steal from right under my watch." The store keeper informed the man. The Chuunin snorted and headed over to the counter.

"You shouldn't have that kid in here." the Chuunin told the man. "It'd be bad for business."

"Don't give a shit." the man retorted. "Long as I gots' me at least one shinobi customer then it's all fine-and-dandy."

"That brat is a demon." The Chuunin whispered. The Chuunin spoke loud enough so Naruto could here. Naruto instantly stiffened at the comment.

"That demon shouldn't even be alive." the Chuunin continued. "I think the Hokage has gone senile." The store clerk smirked and chuckled a bit.

"Don't worry." he said. Naruto froze up and his hands quivered.

"You won't have to worry about him where you're going." he finished. The Chuunin looked at him strangely.

"What's tha-" The Chuunin coughed up blood and fell to the floor face first. A kunai protruded from the back of his neck. Naruto turned his head towards the front door; the direction the kunai had came from. A tall platinum blond haired woman stood with her hand outstretched. It was clear that she was the one who threw the kunai. The woman turned towards Naruto.

"Kid," she addressed him. "Go and get everything you want and need." The woman turned towards the clerk and the man held his hands up in a mock surrender.

"Put everything the kid wants on my tab." she told the man. The clerk nodded and lazily waved his hand at her. Naruto turned towards the woman as she started to leave.

"Ano..." the woman stopped and looked over her shoulder. Her eyes were close together in a scowl. Naruto bowed his head at her.

"Dōmo arigatō gozaimasu." he thanked her. The woman turned her head back and held up her hand. She gently waved it while calling; "It was nothing" over her shoulder. Naruto watched in slight respect as the woman left. He turned back to the mam.

"Who was she?" he asked.

"Kuro No Tsukiko." the man answered.

Naruto walked quietly through the academy building. Thanks to the woman he met earlier, "Tsukiko" he reminded himself, he had gotten a lot of shinobi gear that he desperately needed. He wouldn't survive on dull kunai, shuriken, and neon orange clothing. He knew all that, but it wasn't until he had met Sesshomaru, the store owner, did he really have a chance to get any other clothing. The other shops wouldn't let him into the shop, buy durable weapons, and he was even forced to pay over three times the amount in money. He shook his head to get rid of the memories. Finally taking a look around him he realized he was standing outside the classroom door. He sighed as he realized how spaced out he was today.

Opening the door and slipping in Naruto found out that he wasn't really recognizable now that he wasn't wearing his jumpsuit. Looking about the classroom it seemed that Naruto had two choices on where to sit. He could either sit next to Sasuke or one of his friends, Shikamaru. Normally it wouldn't be hard to decided; he'd go sit next to Shikamaru, but Naruto knew Shikamaru'd tried to pry information out of him, and Naruto just wasn't ready to talk about what happened last night. He had already talked to Iruka-sensei, and it made him realize just how true it all was. Retelling his story again would just make it even more difficult, but Naruto didn't want to get trampled by fan girls, so he sucked it up and headed by Shikamaru.

The moment he sat down Shikamaru turned his head to the side and stared up at Naruto. Shikamaru had his head down and he still hadn't bother to pick himself up.

"What are you doing here?" he asked. Naruto turned towards him. Normally anyone would be able to avoid Shikamaru's questioning by simple ignoring him since Shikamaru thought it too much work to keep prying, but whenever it was about himself, Shikamaru just wouldn't stop pestering until he found out what happened to Naruto. Naruto himself thought it was just plain creepy, but he wouldn't say that allowed. Who was he to judge? He had a giant demonic fox in his stomach and wore neon orange, he was in no position to call anyone creepy without sounding like a hypocrite. Unfortunately Naruto didn't have any other options, so he went with ignoring Shikamaru. Shikamaru saw his hesitation and did the one thing that always works against Naruto; Shikamaru poked him. Naruto liked to avoid contact all together; being on the receiving end of a punch, fist, etc would do that to a person. Being touched without his consent, it only made sense that Naruto would get ticked off. Before he had the chance to even tell Shikamaru off Iruka-sensei decided to take the floor.

"Finally." Naruto thought exhaustively.

"Alright class, now here is how everyone will be grouped accordingly," Naruto decided to tune out Iruka until he called his name. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Shikamaru staring at him. If poking him didn't work, Shikamaru went to Plan B, which was staring Naruto down until he cracked. The way Shikamaru stared at him, unblinking, creep ed the shit-out-of Naruto. Naruto inched away from Shikamaru. He'd even go so far as to push the other person out of the isle, but Naruto was the one with the isle seat and if he interrupted Iruka-sensei he'd get his ass kicked. Oh how Naruto hated Iruka-sensei and Shikamaru at the moment and of course, to add salt to the wound, Naruto couldn't lie. Shikamaru always knew when he lied and it'd just get Naruto in deeper shit, so to speak of course.

"Cell number nine; Uzumaki Naruto," Naruto looked up from trying to out stare, or whatever, Shikamaru. "Nara Shikamaru and Hyuuga Hinata." Naruto groaned and slammed his head on the desk. There was no way he could avoid Shikamaru now.

"Is there a problem Naruto?" Iruka-sensei asked. Naruto shook his head.

"No Iruka-sensei." he grumbled.

"Iruka-sensei," Sakura, a pink haired girl, called out. "Why is Naruto-baka here? Didn't he fail the exams?"

Naruto froze in his spot. How was Iruka-sensei going to answer that? Naruto didn't want any more trouble then he already had now that he was stuck with Shikamaru in his "Get Naruto to Talk" phase.

"A sensei wanted to sabotage Naruto's chances at failing, so he did during the Bushin test." Iruka lied.

"But why would anyone do that?"

"Most likely the sensei was still sore on a prank Naruto did." Iruka threw Naruto a glare to add more on to the act. Naruto had the sense to look shameful.

"If I don't succeed as a shinobi I could always become an actor." Naruto thought to himself. Sakura decided not to question anymore and sat back down in her seat. Iruka continued listing the rest of the teams. When he was finished he dismissed them for lunch. Naruto quickly left the room in a hurry. Shikamaru got straight up and lazily jogged after him. Knowing something was wrong, Choji followed right after Shikamaru. Shikamaru would wait for him only if nothing was wrong. Hinata fiddled with her fingers for a bit more before finally getting up and running out of the room in the direction Naruto, Shikamaru, and Choji headed. Hinata didn't want to sit by herself today of all days.

Iruka watched on in amusement as their "game" of tag/follow the leader commenced. He knew he should have interfered, but Shikamaru was just so god damned persistant. Even he couldn't get him off of Naruto's back, and he was the one who could quell the fan girls. Turning towards the classroom Iruka saw Sasuke leaving the classroom in a mad dash with his fan girls following right after. A stampede sounded outside the door. He turned towards the boys that were still in the classroom.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" he asked them. "This is my lunch too."