Six years later - 1

Konoha didn't know what hit it.

It was quite possible that six years had made the hidden village a bit keener to the types of shinobi it had been producing. A select few had been more noticeable than others, and rumors had been spread that the Hokage had abducted young children from foreign countries just for the sake of training purposes.

Still there was nothing that confirmed or denied that children had been brought to the Leaf Village, and the Hokage said nothing more on the matter. So people stopped caring and assumed that rumors of foreign invaders were only slander that had been circulated by the attention-seeking Jounin of Konoha.

Nothing seemed out of place, especially on a street corner in the dim light of the morning, where a silent apartment building stood innocently in the center of the shady town.

On the third level, a window was left ajar, letting sweet, fresh sunshine spill inside and illuminate the room that had welcomed it in.

A room, that in fact, was piled high with a number of mounds of dirty laundry, which curiously resembled haystacks in a freakish sort of way...And beyond the tangle of dirtied clothing were shelves of strange plants, Ninjutsu scrolls and the occasional weapon.

The wall on which the shelves had been mounted on was a peculiar shade of green with a few evident dents and chips in it, which was almost completely obscured by random pinups and calendars, all carefully arranged around a single framed photo of three young boys.

The tallest, with long dark hair stood pleasantly in the middle, while a frustrated-looking red haired boy looked as if he had been dragged into the shot at the last second. Beside them was a grinning blonde boy with exuberant blue eyes, brandishing an enthusiastic thumb up to no one in particular.

Beneath the wooden frame some distance below was said blonde boy, snoring gently in his messy bed. His penguin cap flopped childishly to the side and he was lying in what looked to be an uncomfortable position.

Beneath his mop of wild, golden hair his fine, whiskered face was well pronounced in the bright morning light. A wide smile adorned his mouth as he had carefree dreams of delicious ramen.

"Wake up."

A redhead with fierce, glacial eyes stood by the window wearing an impassive expression. A large gourd was tied to his back and he had his arms folded across his chest as he came to wake his snoozing roommate.

Gaara had suspected that he wouldn't get very far by talking the slumbering Naruto back to consciousness. He roughly shook the blonde by the shoulder. Naruto's head lolled to the side with no response.

He did so for a few moments before stopping himself.

And as if he couldn't be any more irritable, Naruto gave a loud snore and rolled over, proving how futile Gaara's attempts had been.

The red haired boy frowned: his patience was wearing thin.

Snore

Again, Gaara doubted that there was any way that this morning could have started without use of excessive force.

Sand leaked from the gourd on his back and made its way expertly towards an unsuspecting blonde.

With a shudder, the entire mattress was overturned, and the red haired boy watched in great satisfaction as Naruto sailed across the room with a strangled yelp. There was also an uncalled-for smash as somewhere a china pot that had belonged to Haku shattered into a thousand cobalt pieces.

'Naruto can pay for it...'

A groan of pain came from beneath the blanket that had draped itself over the rudely-awoken boy, and the penguin cap that had once been on Naruto's head was caught on the ceiling fan.

The sleepy blonde looked at Gaara bleary-eyed, and as if it were routine asked, "Morning already?"

Gaara was still frowning, "Haku-kun left an hour ago, Naruto-kun."

After replacing his once-airborne mattress, Naruto scratched his head and stifled a yawn, seemingly unfazed, "Haku-kun always leaves early..."

The red head's eye twitched slightly.

"You have five minutes."

"Huh? Five minutes to what Gaara-kun?"

"To get to the Academy on time. I'm leaving."

"WHAT?" Naruto tripped over a haystack of laundry and looked to Gaara who was walking casually out of his bedroom.

Naruto began to dress himself in record time, and as Gaara left without a care in the world, the blonde called after him with a small hint of contempt, "Hey, thanks for waking me bastard!"

Konoha's number one hyperactive ninja pelted down the sidewalk at top speed, grinning as he caught up with his red haired friend who had been walking leisurely with his arms still folded.

"So you thought you could ditch me eh, Gaara?"

Gaara looked sidelong at the blonde next to him; did he even stop to brush his teeth?

Maybe it'd be better if he didn't ask.

"No. However I did assume that you'd at least try to make an attempt not to be late today, but it appears I expect too much from you..."

Naruto smirked and faked a punch at Gaara's face, then grabbed his upper arm suddenly.

"Well come on Gaara-kun! We don't wanna be late!" The redhead sighed as Naruto proceeded to drag him the rest of the way to the Ninja Academy, leaving a trail of dust in his wake.

Sometimes Gaara wondered how this had become their routine every morning. Overhead, dark clouds rolled in front of the sun.

With only seconds to spare, both Naruto and Gaara collapsed into their seats next to a good-looking boy with long, ebony hair. A group of his fangirls were dawdling nearby, chatting excitedly to each other.

Haku smiled knowingly as his best friends once again arrived barely on time, "So tell me, what did you break today?"

"China pot." Gaara dead panned.

"The blue one...?"

The red haired boy nodded, not feeling very remorseful over what he had so carelessly destroyed. Still, Haku appeared distressed and sighed to himself.

When would the vicious cycle end?

Naruto had his head bowed onto his desk, gearing up for a nap. Even Gaara's morning beatings weren't proving as effective as they had been for keeping him awake these days. He found himself increasingly tired, or at least, bored with the lectures at the Academy.

"Settle down please!" Iruka called out above the chatter of the class, "Role call!"

Naruto had his eyes closed but listened for his name to be called, just so he could have a reason to raise his voice. Gaara sat quietly while Haku scanned over a scroll while names were announced.

"Haku!" The dark haired boy raised his hand, and across the room his admirers twittered enthusiastically.

"Gaara!" Gaara only blinked, his typical response, but was still accounted for.

It went on. Naruto waited to be called, though his head did dart up after hearing Hinata and Sakura being called, upset he had come in late and was unable to talk to them.

"Naruto..."

"Oh yeah! I'm here Iruka-sensei!"

"Yes, I can see that..." The chunin instructor sighed.

Once Iruka had gone through the entire roster, he went on as it fell quiet, "Today as you all are aware is the Genin Examination-"

Naruto's head shot up again in excitement. Today was the day he became a real ninja!

Or died trying...

Haku leaned over towards Naruto and whispered, "You have been practicing your clones like you said, right Naruto-kun?"

Naruto waved him off, "Yeah, yeah..."

It wasn't very convincing. Haku cringed. Clones were Naruto's worst jutsu, this he and Gaara knew, and if he hadn't at least been trying to form one correctly, there was little hope of him graduating.

'Maybe I'm overreacting, he'll be fine…Naruto-kun always comes through in the end.' Haku tried to reaffirm the fact.

After finishing his speech which Naruto had only caught a few scant words of, Iruka added, "In a few moments we will begin with the first part of the exam."

Gaara appeared as unperturbed as ever, but Haku gulped, hoping Naruto would do well.

They began with the Henge no Jutsu.

Students were required to transform into their teacher, namely Umino Iruka. There were mixed results with the first few students, some did poorly, while others like Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke, copied Iruka's appearance perfectly.

Sakura waved to Naruto after she had succeeded and he was confident he would do well. It was, after all, a skill he had perfected nearly six years ago...

Grinning, Naruto formed the ram seal and transformed into the spitting image of his chunin instructor...with the absence of the scar across his nose and Iruka clarified the blunder.

Cursing himself for missing a feature so obvious, Naruto chuckled, "Hey, I'll try again!"

"No, your Henge was sufficient so you don't-"

The blonde transformed again, not into Iruka, but into a voluptuous, naked babe with pigtails that immediately gave Iruka the worst nosebleed he had ever had in his life. He undid the jutsu and had a good laugh at his teacher's reaction.