Hidden Villages

I: Hookying Around

School was boring.

Specifically, Naruto did not think anything the teachers wanted to teach him was in fact useful. As such the child became of the mindset he didn't need to learn what Iruka was telling him. He found the man boring and strict, but wanted nothing at all to do with him. Thus when the opportunity to sneak off came Naruto suggested to his group of friends they take advantage of the situation.

As they sped away, Naruto found himself turning towards Kiba. "Who was that girl?"

"Girl?" Kiba let an eyebrow raise up. The four stopped when they got out of sight of the school. "What are you talking about?"

"You know, that girl."

Kiba continued staring at Naruto. Choji pulled out a bag of potato chips and started munching on it while Shikamaru stooped down. The young member of the Inuzuka clan took a deep breath. "No, I don't know."

"He's talking about the person you told not to tattle on us."

"Oh, that girl." Kiba's smile broke out into a wide smile. Choji stopped munching on his chips and gave Kiba a rather funny look. "Yeah, I know who that girl is."

"Wait. She is actually a..." Choji started speaking, but Kiba covered the chubby child's mouth.

"What Choji was trying to say is she is actually a member of the Uchiha clan. That girl's name is Sasuke."

"That's a really dumb name for a girl."

Shikamaru's eyes rolled up into the back of his head. "What a drag."

"You aren't going to beat up a girl are you Kiba?"

"Wh..."

"If the girl tattles on us, you aren't going to beat her up are you."

A laugh burst out from Shikamaru's mouth as Choji continued watching with a rather perturbed look on his face. "Don't you know Kiba. We guys aren't allowed to hit girls, or did you not know that."

Kiba opened his mouth to protest that tattling on another guy warranted beating the guy up only for him to pause. Shikamaru chuckled again. Naruto folded his arms and nodded his had. Kiba took a deep breath. "Fine. What should we do to her if she tattles?"

The first words out of Naruto's mouth were, "frogs."

"So, we need to go and capture some frogs and stick them in Sasuke's stuff. Sounds like fun to me." Kiba started running off in a particular direction. "The ponds this way. You coming as well Choji?"

"It kind of sounds mean."

"It's just a prank." Naruto piped up.

"Just a prank."

Shikamaru sighed. "Sounds like they're going to pull that prank regardless of Sasuke tattling on us. That said, the sensei is going to know we left without out him tattling, so, yeah."

Finding a frog didn't take long, so the three boys minus Shikamaru started sneaking back into the school. He emphatically told the others he was sneaking up to the school roof for a nap instead as he really wanted to have a chance of napping there.

The three tiptoed towards the room the girls were in so they might slip a frog into Sasuke's backpack, but the fact the girls and boys were separated into two different classes went over Naruto's head.

What they didn't expect was to see Iruka standing in the doorway of the classroom while another teacher clung to the door frame. The sight of their teacher made Naruto trip over his own feet. The frog in turn went flying past Iruka into the room where the girls were eliciting a ton of screams from the girls inside.

Iruka turned in an attempt to see the boys as Kiba and Naruto rushed forward to see what was going on. Some of the girls were standing on the desks. A girl with purple hair and brown eyes was stomping her feet, but screaming the loudest. Naruto turned to look at the pink haired girl named Sakura only to find the girl and her friend glaring at her.

A sudden yank on the back of their shirts caught Naruto off guard. Iruka started dragging them off to the conference room. He forced the three boys to sit down and sat across them with a rather irritated look on his face, although none of them seemed to care. "So, the four..." Iruka paused. "Where's Shikamaru?"

"He's taking a nap." Choji piped up.

"Why does that not surprise me? That still doesn't explain where he is."

"We're not going to rat out our friends."

"Yeah. We're not going to interrupt his dream of napping on the roof," Naruto piped up.

One of Iruka's eyebrows shot up, yet neither of the three boys realized Naruto managed to blab Shikamaru's location. The man took a deep breath. "So, I'll correct what I was saying. One of you four sneaked out of class to take a nap while the rest of you three attempted sneaking off just to get a frog to pick on the girls."

"Yup." Kiba said.

"Actually, we were planning on sneaking the frog into that girl Sasuke's backpack," Naruto replied rather truthfully. "It didn't work."

Iruka stared at Naruto. Eventually he said, "Naruto, Sasuke's not a girl."

"If she's not a girl, then what is she?"

"A boy."

"No. Sasuke's a girl. Kiba told me so."

Iruka glared at Kiba who simply shrugged his shoulders and grinned. He looked over at Choji who held his hands in the air indicating he didn't honestly understand either. A bag of potato chips was in the chubby boy's hand as he did so, but he quickly went back to eating his chips. "Seriously you three, what am I going to do with you. I doubt none of your parents are going to like this."

"I don't have a parent."

Iruka paused. "No, but you do have people who care about you, though I am not able to tell any of them yet for various reasons. That said, all three of you have detention after school."

"But sensei..." Naruto began to whine.

"Wait. You said three."

"Well, I wouldn't happen to know where Shikamaru is, because on the positive side, you three are very loyal to your friends and I commend that." Iruka stated. In reality, he knew quite well Shikamaru was on the roof. Evading capture though was a skill they needed to learn.

As such the three remained in detention until their parents came and got them. Naruto sulked as the sun started setting. Iruka spoke up. "Well, I best walk you home."

"I don't want you too."

"Naruto, you just got in trouble. Do you think I'll let you walk home and get into more trouble?"

"Fine." Naruto stood and reluctantly followed after the man. He ended up in what was usually an empty apartment with a meal waiting for him. However, the man with the fox mask was waiting for him. Naruto glared at him. "Oh, not you as well."

"Did you really think you would be left without supervision Naruto?"

"Why you?"

"Yes, why me. Since I am a person that you know simply by this mask I'm sorry to say I can't tell you the details. Please do behave though."

"What about dinner? And the bath?"

"I figure a suitable punishment is for you to figure out what to do yourself. And no allowance tonight for ramen." The person stood and headed to the window. "Please learn to behave. It is for your own good."

The person disappeared through the window. Naruto folded his arms across his chest. "Yeah right. You're just being a big meanie."