2/2

Because I was busy trying to avoid the gaze of my "patient". The rabbit they gave me was a baby with lop ears and completely covered in pure white fur marred by its own blood. The poor thing had several nasty claw marks across its body, and an ugly mark on its nose. Currently, it was looking up at me with wide eyes while shaking in terror.

Dammit, why the hell did they have to make this difficult?! I made for a slow grab for the bunny, and I got several muted squeaks in response. When I finally had a firm but harmless grip on it, I slowly lifted it up before going to my first aid kit. I almost dropped the kit when my eyes met my rabbit's, seriously the thing looked like he was about to cry.

Stop looking at me like that bunny! I'm trying to heal you, you're only making this more difficult! Just gotta find the-AHA, antiseptic and cotton swabs. I dabbed the cotton in the disinfectant and began gently speckling it on the bunny's wounds, all while cringing every time the poor thing winced and squeaked at the stinging sensation of the antibiotic.

Alright, that was done then, onto the shōshen. I saw that almost everybody in class had actually started with the mystic palm first, which was disheartening. I quickly went through the handseals to surround my hands in an aqua-green glow, then took a deep breath as I willed the ripple to flow through my palms. The moment the jutsu surrounded the baby rabbit, the little thing immediately calmed down, to the point that it became almost lethargic.

After I saw that the wounds were mostly closed enough that they'd heal fine on their own, I released the jutsu and gave the bunny a small amount of hamon to keep it energized. I looked over to the two girls at either side of me and saw them finishing up on their own rabbits as well. I looked over the rest of the class to see several others just finishing up, while a majority seemed to have already finished. I saw the bitch from earlier, Mika, flashing everybody a smug grin.

I immediately flinched when Kasuka pointed to me and the girls next to me, as well as several other students. "All of you, pick up your rabbits and go to the back of the room," she said firmly. We all immediately obliged, watching the other students nervously as the nurse looked back to them. "Now then, to the ones sitting in front of me...would you tell me what you did wrong?"

"Eh, wrong?!"

"What is she talking about?!"

"I thought we did everything right…"

The bitch from before leaned forward angrily and gave the woman a spiteful glare. "What the hell do you mean? We fixed the damn rabbits!"

"Yes, you fixed them," the nurse said flatly, then looked to me. "What's your name boy?"

"...Joushirou," I said while cocking an eyebrow at her.

"Joushirou, would you mind telling me what the first thing you did to your rabbit was?"

First thing I did to my rabbit? What is she-oh!

"I dabbed a piece of cotton in antibiotic and cleaned the bunny's wounds. I don't get why that's so significant, I just kinda did it on autopilot…"

"You did that without even thinking?" Kasuka said, clearly surprised. "Rather impressive. Rest assured, you did what any normal, intelligent, doctor would do when treating a patient. In fact, cleaning the wound should be the first thing you do, it's just common sense" the nurse then motioned for Mika to bring her rabbit over.

I couldn't help the foul taste that invaded my mouth at the sight of her rabbit. It was older than the one I was given, was white with black spots, and had a fluffy white tuft of fur decorating its head. The poor thing's fur was matted with dried blood, and I could see the areas where the wounds had been as they were still red, swollen, and in the shape of slash marks. The rabbit was breathing heavily, hell it seemed that just keeping itself upright was laborious for it.

"What is your name?" the woman asked.

"Mika" the girl grit out angrily.

"Can you tell me what the differences between your rabbit and his are?"

"He got a baby," Mika said flatly, barely sparing the bunny in my lap a glance as it cleaned its face.

"Correct, and if Joushirou hadn't taken the correct steps, his rabbit would have died by the end of the day," Kasuka said matter-of-factly. "His would have become sick immediately, since its body hasn't developed the proper defenses against diseases. Your rabbit may just survive if we give it the correct medication, but it is clearly distressed by your treatment" the woman leveled a stern glare at the girl. "I'm sorry to tell you this, but you fail the exam."

"But, but I-you, he-I didn't-" the girl didn't even notice her patient being gently pulled from her grasp and worked on by a nearby Inuzuka vet. In fact, she was too busy sputtering to notice Kasuka walk past her to fail the rest of the students who failed to properly heal their bunnies.

Honestly, I just didn't see the full scope of the problem. Yeah, the kids flunking the exam failed to "heal" their rabbits, but come on, they're rabbits. Leave all the ones that were perfectly healed alone in a dark room for a bit, come back and they'll be like a centillion of em. At least I don't have to worry about failing this exam, now I just have to worry about making sure I don't flunk the class.

I turned my attention to Suzume-sensei when she cleared her throat to address the class. "You may all return to your classes. If you have other extracurricular exams, they will be continuing till the end of the day. To those that passed, I look forward to seeing you next year" the woman looked as several students dejectedly began to leave for normal classes. "For those wishing to take the other classes, meet one of the instructors in the courtyard. For advanced bukijutsu, you're to meet Daikoku-sensei in the courtyard. He'll be the one to take you to the exam room. For advanced ninjutsu-"

I tuned her out after hearing about where to go for my next class. Good thing too, Pointybeard-sensei was one of the few people I actually liked. I made sure the assistant chūnin I met with were careful with the bunny as I handed it over, then I made a beeline for the door and into the hallway. Just as I was about to exit to the courtyard, I heard Sakura of all people call out my name. I looked back to see the pink-haired girl standing in front of the class, sending me a frown.

"You're an asshole Joushuya, you know that?" the pinkette snarled and turned her head to the side. "Still, thanks...if you hadn't gone to your medical kit, I wouldn't have known what to do, so you really saved me back there."

...What? I was just winging it, why the hell was she thanking me?! Oh for-ok, guess I'll just run with it.

"Yeah, fuck you too Haruno!" I called over as I walked away, letting a small smirk decorate my face at the sound of her indignant squawking.

So, advanced bukijutsu...I can't say I wasn't expecting everybody trying to stab each other with their weapons. Apparently that was what the exam consisted of, every prospective weaponmaster or swordmaster pairing up with an upper year from the class proper and fighting till you either made a ring out, or laid a small cut or sizable bruise on your opponent without making it lethal.

At least that's what Pointybeard-sensei told me as we all walked into the class, instead of before getting there. A few of the exam-takers had already arrived early and had paired off with people to fight. I saw only a couple that actually looked good at what they were doing. The others...well, one was suddenly thrown right past me and out of the class by a mace-user.

"Alright, so your sparring partners are already predetermined," Pointybeard-sensei called out, pulling my attention away from the steel-haired boy. "Just let me get it sorted out with the other instructors, and I'll bring you over to them. Take a seat at the benches, all of you" the pointy-bearded chūnin motioned to the nearby seats.

It took several minutes before I was called and directed to a ring at the back of the class. I unsheathed my new tanto when I was three-quarters of the way there, and whistled in delight as the blade sung at the air. It was heavier than the wooden ones I had trained with, but I could improvise enough to make my training looking passable at least. Well, that was what I thought before I finally met my opponent.

"Well this is a surprise," Tenten called out from the other side of the ring once I arrived. "I didn't think I'd be seeing those so soon after you left the shop."

"Well, you're looking less pale," I responded, almost turning white myself when she pulled out an Okninawa style kusarigama. I narrowed my eyes slightly as she pointed the two blades at me. "Good to know that nearly becoming a human pincushion was only a one-time thing..."

"Gotta thank you for that," the bun-haired girl smirked playfully. "Still, that doesn't mean I'm gonna go easy on you, got that Josuke!"

"It's Joushirou…" I said flatly.

"Oops...well, try to impress me here by passing and maybe I'll remember your name kid!"

...Bitch!

"Tch," I turned my head to the side while puffing my chest out, then I turned back to her with a fierce look. In a blur of motion I crossed my arms, my left hand pointing my blade towards her and my right hand ending in an ILY sign. "You're dreaming if you think I'm gonna fail this!"

"...Why are you posing?"

"I asked myself the same thing when it started...then I stopped questioning it," mostly because I had started posing in my sleep not long after I was halfway through part 2 of Jojo. Obviously I had started posing before that, but the sleep-posing was what made me go with it.

Tenten was still giving me an owlish look when the proctor for our match arrived. After making sure we were both ready, he let out a call of "Hajime!", and everything from then on was a blur of motion and adrenaline.

The first move the girl made was to fling one of her kamas at me, and attack I deflected with a swing. I jumped back a couple of feet when I saw the chain making its way towards my feet, and I heard my opponent grunting in annoyance. From what she muttered, she was either trying to knock me over by binding my legs, or binding one of my arms to pull me close.

Well, I can make that last one happen.

I sped forward with my shortsword outstretched to meet her second blade, pushing her back and causing her to yelp in shock. Just as she began pulling on the chain leading to her second sickle, I stamped my foot down on the strip of metal and swung my blade at her legs. Tenten let out another yelp as she jumped back, deciding to go for a clumsy swing with her remaining kama. I had to back up a couple of inches to avoid the blade sailing towards my chest, allowing the girl to pull her second blade back to her.

Not long after regaining her second sickle, Tenten jumped a few feet back from me. "You caught me off guard there...but you'll be lucky if it happens again."

"I don't know...I feel like today is my lucky day," I snarked back, smiling when she swung her kama at me again.

I jumped away from the strike before speeding forward, aiming to get too far within the blades reach for her to react appropriately. The bun-haired girl's smirk was my only warning that something was wrong, before the kama she had swung at me beforehand was suddenly flying towards my face. I just barely blocked the sickle with my tanto before she jumped forward with her free kama.

I was so busy wondering whether she had used a genjutsu of some sort on me that I didn't bring out my wakizashi to block her strike. I simply held my right arm up and caught it bare-handed. My opponent was clearly confused by this action, even more so when she realized the blade wasn't cutting into me and drawing my blood.

"KOOOOOOOOOHHHH!" my breath became a low growl as I used the ripple to prevent the blade from harming me.

"H-How are you...What is this?!" the girl cried out.

I didn't give her an answer, instead opting to push her back and throw her second kama back towards her. The girl made to throw a blade at me again, aiming for my legs. It was only when I jumped away from the strike did I realize that she had expected that. A few seconds later, and I was completely bound by the long chain that connected her two sickles.

Well...shit!

A grunt escaped my mouth as my opponent pulled hard on the chains, wrapping them harder around me and almost completely cutting off any chance of escape. I clicked my teeth as she walked forward with a smug grin. Just before she began speaking, I took a slow breath and let the ripple flow through me.

"Well, you definitely lasted longer than I expected," Tenten called out, holding her kama towards my direction. "Don't worry, I'll make sure the cuts are small...there's always next year, right Jobin-chan?"

I gave her a smirk of my own. "Did I ever tell you about this old saying people in my family have?" I asked, showing my teeth when she gave me a bewildered look. "When your opponent begins to boast...they've already lost! KOOOOOOOOHHHH!"

METAL SILVER OVERDRIVE!

At least that's what I think the technique is called, I am using it for the first time. The chain wrapped around me lit up like a christmas tree, unraveling from my form immediately and heading towards the girl. I smiled as she jumped back, then pulled my wakizashi out and ran back into the fray. My own dual blades connected with hers, and I flung her backwards with the force, all while continuing to aim for her legs.

I continued slashing at her legs for several minutes before she caught one strike with one of her sickles, and instantly flung my wakizashi out of my hand along her kama. I wasn't going to let it stand, so I struck at her remaining sickle with my tanto and disarmed her. The force of her jumping up as she released her weapon caused a lapse in my grip, and my tanto fell from my hand.

Both of us faced each other, now almost completely disarmed.

"Hmph...alright, that was good…" then Tenten pulled something from a sheath on her hip. "But you're through. Unless you can grab your two swords in the next minute, I have this!" she called out, uncollapsing a bo staff and forming into a stance.

"You have this?" I said, giving her a wild smirk. "Seems you forgot something," I said cheerfully as I unsheathed the tsurugi strapped to my back. "I bought three swords after all!"

We stared at each other for several seconds before she struck. Once again I pushed her back, making sure every strike put pressure on her. After a minute of this, she let out a wordless growl of rage and pushed me back with a hard strike of her own. I held my sword in both hands and leveled it towards her, then I ran forward for a fast stab. Just as Tenten redirected it, I swung my sword onto her staff hard and began pushing.

"I get what you're doing...you think you can psych me out huh?" the girl pushed back at me some more. "Well you're not doing too well kid! Just surrender or take your bruise!"

"Psych you out?" I asked, letting out a small chuckle. "No, I was trying to get you right where I wanted you. Look down."

Tenten glanced down and gasped at what she saw. She was only a few inches away from the edge of the ring, and if she were pushed back hard enough she'd lose by ringout. I had made sure she was so immersed in the fight that she wouldn't have noticed when I had her at the edge.

Just according to keikaku!

"KOOOOOOHHHHHHHH!" I let out another growling breath to call upon the ripple once more, willing energy into my sword. The blade became bright enough that the girl had to look away, and I used that as my opening.

Several seconds after the proctor called the match in my favor, I was picking up the two swords that I had been bereaved of, while my opponent was rubbing her sore butt and lifting herself off the ground. By the time I had sheathed my swords, Tenten had already retrieved her chain-scythes.

"Alright fine, you got me there Joushirou!" she told me as we left the ring.

"Apparently it was enough to make you remember my name," I teased. "So what now, do I get a certificate or something saying I passed?"

"It'll be on your schedule next year!" our proctor called over, the bun-haired girl's nod confirming this.

"Aside from that, you'll be handed a sash or wristband…" the girl trailed off as she collapsed her staff. "I remember getting one or the other after I passed. Did you get anything from the other class you signed up for?"

"Medical ninjutsu? No, just that we'd have it on our schedule," I responded.

"Huh...well, guess I'll be seeing you next year then. I have a few more matches after this, but you should really get to your next class."

Next class, what-OH! Right, back to normal lectures with Iruka-sensei and dealing with Fishlips-sensei's last day...yay!

"I do have to ask about that glowy thing you did. What was that?" the girl leaned forward with an inquisitive look.

"Hamon, The Ripple, Sendo, or Wave Energy...it doesn't actually matter what you call it anyway, it was supposed to be made irrelevant 20 years ago," I told her, watching her growing confusion. "When I breathe, I make sun energy in me and I can punch stuff with it...also I can infuse it into things like my swords. It's unique to me and my clan."

"Clan thing huh...so it's like a bloodline?"

"Yeah, let's go with that," I said blithely.

"Ahem!" I turned my head to see Pointybeard-sensei walking over to me with some forums. "Joushuya, I'm afraid I need to borrow you for a bit so you can sign these waivers for the class."

They're telling us to sign waivers after we fucking pass?! Why not when we start trying to stab each other?! And why am I not used to this? These are the sorts of questions I'll stop asking when I've been here long enough, right? Ugh...why couldn't I have been reincarnated into another completely different world?

"Alright, just take me to a spot where I can write," I told the teacher before looking back at the girl. "I guess I better head off."

"I'll be happy to see you next year Joushirou," Tenten leaned forward deviously. "Then our rivalry can really take off…"

...Dammit, really? Just hearing that from anybody sent chills down my back...oh well, I'll deal with that when it comes up.

The rest of the day went on mostly uneventfully...right until I remembered I was going to have to go to the headmaster's office.

"Sonuda beetch!" I growled angrily as Iruka pulled me and the Inuzuka to the headmaster.

"Jojo, relax! It's not like you're gonna get in trouble for defending yourself!" the blonde had called out to me as I left.

Oh boy Naruto, how wrong you were…

When Kiba and I were brought into the headmaster's office, the shrew of a man immediately chewed us out. I tuned it out almost completely, mentally adding to the tally of the lines I had heard him use. The amount of times I had heard him use some of these were already in triple digits, and I was only a first year with no experience in the junior academy.

I started listening in again just as he had finished. "I mean, of all the irresponsible things YOU have done Joushuya, attacking a clan heir is THE MOST incorrigible thing you could manage!"

"...Wait, could you run that by me again?" I stood up and stared the human shrew down, letting my stand's glow surround me. "You think I attacked him?! He's the one who's been constantly accusing me of cheating for weeks, decides to attack me the moment I get to school, and you're saying I'm at fault?!"

"Yes!" the asshole cried out in terror. "Would you stop using your hamon like that?! And cut your damn killing intent gaki!"

"Fuck you! You're pinning shit like that on me, you should expect me to feel like killing somebody!"

"You obviously provoked him!" the shrew-man said as he pointed to me angrily. "You have a history of provoking others, I wouldn't be surprised!" the headmaster leaned forward dangerously, doing his best to seem intimidating.

Problem was, it was working. This asshole could kick me out of school, literally if he really wanted. Even Iruka looked worried when he saw the vicious smile spreading across his direct superior's face. Based on the fact that the man was now matching my killing intent, I had no illusions that this might be it...I guess I'm choosing marine biology after all.

"Obviously the most suitable punishment for you-"

"Would be a strong slap on the wrist," a new voice called out. "And a bit of scolding, for one party in particular…"

I went deathly still and looked to the door in surprise, seeing the god of shinobi Sarutobi Hiruzen standing at the entrance to the room. At his side was a woman who looked almost like an older and female version of kiba, accompanied by a big wolf with an eyepatch. The two were sending the boy cold glares, though the woman flicked a questioning gaze over to me for a few seconds.

That was when I realized that I was still letting the golden glow of my stand's energy surround me. I dispelled it as quickly as I could while playing it off as a natural side effect of the ripple, before bowing lowly to the leader of my village, all while silently thanking him for saving my ass.

I lifted my head just as the Inuzuka woman walked forward, still glaring at Kiba. "Oi mutt, did you really start a fight?" the woman glared fiercely at the boy, pinning him in his seat.

"...Yes, I started the fight...Kaa-san…" Kiba said after several seconds of shrinking in on himself.

Ohoho shit! I actually forgot he had a mom.

"Tch...and I guess you lost too, huh?" the woman bared her teeth at her son and pulled him up by the scruff of his neck, sparing me and the other three a glance as she did so. "He do anything else?"

"Aside from accusing me of cheating in sparring matches because I used clan techniques...eh, not much," I said blithely, ignoring Iruka-sensei's protests about the boy pulling out a kunai.

"Hmph...alright then," the woman turned to the hokage and bowed slightly. "Let me handle my mutt Hokage-sama, I can deal with him a lot better than these jokers could" she directed a low growl towards our headmaster, immediately cowing the man into submission.

"Of course Tsume, that'd be appreciated," the old man turned to me as the woman pulled Kiba with her and scolding him before they even left the room.

"Hokage-sama, I..I don't know if it's the best idea to let Joushuya off with such a weak punishment," the headmaster blurted out a few seconds after Kiba and his mom left. "This boy is a known troublemaker, he's always getting into fights!"

"I never get into things I don't start," I cut in. "Every time I've been in a fight, it's the other person who started it! It's like these idiots can't hold themselves back or something."

"They're children Joushirou," Iruka said flatly, giving me a tired look. "You're a child, if people try to fight you out of nowhere then you should just walk away."

"Hold just a second Iruka," the Hokage started towards me and gave me an inquisitive look. "I read every incident report for the academy you know, so I'm well aware of young Joushuya's reputation...and I'm also sure that he is telling the truth. You wrote that Inuzuka had attacked the boy with a kunai outside of a match, right Iruka?" the old man frowned when the chūnin nodded slowly. "Aside from that, I did have a few witnesses that informed me of Inuzuka's attack was only based on nonsense and was completely out of nowhere…"

Naruto and Shino? Oh sweet stand-using Jesus thank you!

"Of course Inuzuka will have to have a suitable punishment for an unsanctioned weapon spar, as well as possibly endangering the lives of other students," then the old man spared me another glance. "However, I have to remain impartial as well, so I'm afraid you will be receiving a punishment Joushirou."

OH SHEEET!

"Detention, for the entire first month of next school year."

"Yare Yare, whatever…" I trailed off. Longest detention I had gotten so far at least.

"I'll work out the details of Inuzuka's punishment later today," the Hokage told the headmaster. "As for you Joushuya, I need to have a word with you for a bit, then you're free to go," Hiruzen nodded to Iruka before motioning me to come with him.

If I hadn't come with him, then it probably would've looked suspicious. Plus, I shouldn't have had anything to worry about...this is the Hokage, not Orochimaru, so I definitely wasn't going to be touched or anything like that. I left a gaping Iruka and the headmaster as I followed the old man through the building.

After a few minutes of walking towards the exit, I really couldn't handle the silence. "Alright, I'll bite! What'd you want to talk about Hokage-sama?"

"...Naruto talks about you quite a bit Joushirou, you know that?"

"He talks about a lot of things," I responded, remembering how for impatient people it was always the 'getting him to shut up' part that they focused on.

"Well, he seems to have latched onto your...watchfulness of him. For some reason, he sees you as his guardian angel of sorts," the old man turned his gaze to me questioningly. "Why did you befriend him Joushirou?"

What am I supposed to say? The truth, obviously...but I don't have to say the whole truth.

"Because I saw how everybody looks at him. The ninja, the civilians, most of the shopkeepers," I said firmly, giving Hiruzen a piercing look. "I figure he's probably related to some big traitor to the village and nobody wants to talk about it...but for whatever reason, they give him the damn stinkeye for something that probably isn't his fault. And I've caught teachers sabotaging him too, they've put genjutsu on his tests, gave him blunt or broken kunai for throwing lessons, and don't get me started on taijutsu class."

"You pitied him?"

"I didn't need to pity him, because he's not pitiful. Even when everybody takes the piss on him, he keeps going. He acts like it doesn't affect him, he tells everybody that he'll prove he doesn't deserve to be treated like shit," I blew air from my nose hotly as I looked forward. "He's already proven it to me, y'know that? I can say I'm strong because I can handle tough opponents and have good control of my emotions-"

"Didn't seem like that in the office actually."

"But!" I growled out, ignoring the old man's chuckles. "I can't ever be as strong as him. Naruto can look a person who's shit on him in the eye, and give them a big goofy smile to show he doesn't care. If I were in the same situation, I'd never be able to take it. I'd clock them right in the damn nose."

Hiruzen chuckled lightly. "You're not too different from your parents Joushirou…"

...My parents?! Hold the fuck up!

"W-What do you know about them?" I asked nervously, flinching under his confused gaze when he turned to look at me. "I...I forgot about them okay, whenever I try to remember them I hit a mental block. If it weren't for the pictures, I'd never even know their faces."

"You still don't remember what happened to them?"

WRYYYYYYYYY~

"I've been trying to...but I…" I felt any words die in my throat and my hands clammed up. "What exactly did happen?"

"Your parents took you on a camping trip over three years ago, because they wanted to teach you Hamon, or at least the basics," then Hiruzen bristled. "We don't know what happened either...all we know is that you were all gone for a week longer than you should have been. When we sent to find you, the first thing we found were your parent's bodies…" the old man swallowed hard as I looked to him. "Most people distrusted your mother, for obvious reasons...but there were enough people who cared about her, and they were devastated when they found out she had been torn to shreds."

"...Torn to shreds?" I croaked, mostly to myself.

"We only found tiny pieces, and barely any blood. Your father, his body was at least intact, minus the hole in his torso...and of course the complete lack of blood," the Hokage gave me a sad look. "I had my own suspicions of who did it...but there weren't any leads. We only found you after three days of searching, you were a complete wreck and you remembered nothing of what had occurred."

"...And what about them specifically?" I asked anxiously. "Hokage-sama, I forgot almost everything like I said. I can't even remember their voices that well!"

"That's disheartening Joushirou," the old man said lowly. "Your old man was the dead-last of his year I think, and he was a lot like Naruto...but a bit worse," a deep chuckle escaped his lips. "I remember when Jouichi first left the village. He said he wanted to explore, and went through a bunch of legal hoops to leave. I asked him where he wanted to go and when he told me, I seriously considered telling him he was insane and having him locked up for his own safety," Hiruzen let out another chuckle and smiled at my confusion. "He said he wanted to go "out west", past this huge wall that separated the elemental nations from the mythical western nations."

"Why though?"

"He wanted to find the secret behind the mysterious power he and his clan had. Whenever they breathed, they produced some form of energy different from chakra that they could use to heal their wounds, enhance their combat prowess, even preserve their youth…" the Hokage looked to me knowingly.

"Hamon!" I said after a few seconds.

"Exactly, he had heard a rumor that there was a way to learn more about it, since nobody here knew a thing, and he was the last member of his clan," then he let out a guffaw. "He came back three years later missing his left hand, with a pretty blonde woman hanging onto him. He introduced her as his wife, Joanna..." then the old man looked over to me while leaning his head back. "She had that same birthmark you know? A star on the back of her shoulder, not too far from her neck. Said it was a family birthmark."

"Yeah, I know about that at least...what else?"

"Well, obviously nobody trusted her, and they weren't too happy that Jouichi brought an outsider into the village. When I asked your father what the hell he was doing, he went into this long story about what happened when he reached that wall. It was so damn...uh, I can't find the word…"

"Bizarre?" I offered.

"That, yes!" the old man smiled at me. "It was bizarre, I just couldn't fathom either of them living through that…but she was a kind woman, and after a few months I knew I could trust her. She definitely made it as a shinobi too," Hiruzen turned his head forward as Naruto cried out for us. That was when I realized that we had arrived at the courtyard, and that my two friends had waited for me for the past hour or so.

"Your parents would be happy Joushirou...maybe not with how you act obviously, I'm sure your mother would be chewing you out for it," Hiruzen smirked at my flat look. "But I'm sure they'd be proud of how you think...I've tried so hard to do right by him," the Hokage glanced over to the blonde solemnly. "But I've met so much resistance, so many stubborn fools...I'm glad that he met you, I'm glad that he has somebody who cares for him."

"Part of me felt like I had to, otherwise nobody else would have…" I trailed off as Naruto ran towards us.

"Hey Jojo! Jiji too? Wow, didn't think your fight was big enough for the old man to get involved," the blonde said cheerfully with his outdoor voice, ignoring Shino's small chiding as the bug-user walked up.

"Nothing like that Naruto, Joushirou just has detention the entire first month of next school year," the Hokage informed him, causing the boy to cry in shock.

"The entire first month! Damn, that's a new record for you Jojo!"

"Wanna go to Ichiraku's to celebrate?" I asked him, giving him a cheeky sneer.

"Don't know if that's something to celebrate...but I'm always up for a bowl of Ichiraku ramen," the blonde smiled at the Hokage. "Hey Jiji, you wanna come too?"

"Unfortunately Naruto, I'm going to be quite busy with my mortal enemy," the old man grew a serious look of disdain. Naruto tilted his head in confusion, before his eyes widened in realization.

"Oh! You're talking about paperwor-"

"I'm talking about paperwork, yes," the look of disdain dropped and Hiruzen gave us all one more kind smile. "Go ahead and enjoy your noodles boys. I'll be glad to see you next year when school starts."

Just as we took our leave with the Hokage and started towards our famous ramen shop, I realized Naruto wasn't with us. When I looked to the academy gates, he was still hanging back, staring sadly at the courtyard. I followed his gaze to the upturned ground and ruined patches of grass from my morning fight with kiba, and then looked back to the blonde.

"Hey Naruto, you comin' or what?"

"...Yeah, just give me a minute or so, I'll catch up," the blonde said, barely paying attention to us.

Ok, that's a bit weird, Naruto never acted like this even in canon. Well, except for that one time...and that other time too, and plenty of other times. But those were really important moments in his life, or parts of the filler...this is just odd.

Shino and I walked away from the academy and gave the blonde his "minute or so", and sure enough he was running to catch up to us.

"Sorry, I had to deal with one last thing before the school year ends. Now, let's get some Ichiraku's!"

...He's hiding something. That's the only explanation I can think of. Something that's important, like a secret relationship with Hinata, or a cool bloodline he didn't have in canon maybe? Whatever it is, it's made things infinitely more interesting…

And infinitely more worse T_T!

←To Be Continued

A little hint on something that'll show up when I get to graduation and Mizuki. Now for the reviews.

Sliksick: Shikamaru isn't getting a stand...maybe he'll get Cheap Trick in an Omake and I'll make a few jokes about it, but most of it is gonna be OC stands.

Ashborn2271: Jojo is going to change that too obviously, he's working towards fighting fate. I'll touch on fate next chapter.

KarimHD: Hamon is going to be exclusive to Joshiro until DIO finally shows up. Then the sun-powered fisting will come into play ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

coldblue2015: It'll start in Kanto, The spin will show up later and it'll be a good thing to have if you need a quick Rasengan to use and throw. Ceasar's bubbles are his thing, Joshiro is going to do normal Hamon stuff but with the Metal Silver Overdrive in his swords more often than not. He might train with Hayate and Yugao, but they won't be his sensei(s)...Anko is :D. As for stands and Hamon being know, part of the Hamon thing is touched on here in this chapter.

ARabidReadr: Jotaro is the perfect henge, beacause every ninja expects another ninja to take a henge that wouldn't stand out. So Joshiro will take a henge that will stand out, which will throw people off. As for DIO allying with Orochimaru, DIO wouldn't even give the snake the time of day, Orochimaru would be nothing more than an insect compared to him.

uwotm007: Yes, but not until the Ninja SAT-I mean Chuunin exams.

DarkAnon: Steely Dan's beatdown was great, but yeah, I'll be making references to the "Cioccolata special". Thanks for the review.

Tobi is a Gooder Boy: Yes he did, and there are far more Jojo references where that came from. Star Platinum isn't going to be enhanced by Hamon, I think that's more of a thing that Hermit Purple could do because it was connected to Joseph even when it was released.

colljoe22: yes yes yes yes...YES!

As always, thank you for the followings and reviews. For everybody interested, please leave any thoughts, questions, and constructive criticism in your reviews.