Naruto: Cautious Ninja

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After an incredibly satisfying dinner with Iruka, Naruto then bade his teacher goodnight and headed on home as quick as he could. With his final exams coming up tomorrow he needed all the time he could muster to cram everything he needed to know before the assessment bells were rung. All he needed to do was make sure he had everything covered and while walking down the street back up to his apartment, compiled a list of all the tests he needed to pull through in order to get his headband.

"So let's see… I have the Kawarimi test, the Henge test, and the written exam," Naruto listed one after the other, a smile being brought to his face once more as he walked along. "And I don't need to do the Bunshin no Jutsu test anymore since I did that supplementary exam with Iruka-sensei today. Though I'm still bummed out that I can't even create one clone yet, I'm sort of alright with that." The exams were a long and arduous enough process for any kid to deal with already, so it was great that he didn't have a fourth point weighing him down. In the past few years Naruto had been at the academy he'd had end of year tests involving jutsu each and every time and for the last two he'd failed to produce a single working clone.

What? Was his chakra really that big that he couldn't pop out one little speck for the simplest supplementary move? Geez.

"I guess I can catch up on it another time," Naruto thought while stretching his arms. "I've got other tests to worry about. The Henge and Kawarimi I can put at the bottom of the list. All I need to concentrate on now is the written exam. Damn theory." Rubbing the back of his head, the blonde stopped in the middle of the road and looked across to his left to see the local convenience store in the area lit brightly for the awe of all passers in the area. The sight of the blaring neon lights then set off a different kind of light in his head, which had him snap his fingers in remembrance. "Oh, that's right. I need to restock my cupboards. Shop first then study…"

Two people living in the same place did have some give and take to it, but Naruto had no problems with that. Finding everything he needed in the one place he could always count on, the jinchuriki entered the store, grabbed what he needed, paid for it, and then started the quick march the rest of the way back to his apartment. When he arrived at his corner and looked up toward his apartment where he could clearly see his balcony and floor, he saw that the lights to his flat were on and smiled.

"Tayuya's back already? That's good to know," Naruto exclaimed before heading upstairs. Reaching the third floor, the blonde skillfully whipped out his keys despite having both hands occupied by bags of groceries and unlocked the entrance to his pad. Nudging himself in, he then shut the door with his foot and made his way into the lounge room where he figured his apartment buddy was sitting right now.

He stopped when he saw the television on and gave a puzzled blink when he saw no audience.

Looking around, he set the stuff down and walked in, placing his hands on his hips. "Tayuya-chan?" Scratching his head Naruto headed around the couch to look for the remote before hearing a scuffle over by the other door. He looked up towards the kitchen to see said girl dressed in a V-neck singlet and shorts come strolling out with cupped ramen in hand.

"Hey, Naruto-kun," the redhead exclaimed in greeting, stirring the contents with the pair of chopsticks provided. "Back already?"

"It was a quick dinner. Normally I'd have asked Teuchi-jiji and Ayame-neesan for way more, but I went easy on Iruka-sensei today," Naruto chuckled and rubbed the side of his head. "Three bowls of ramen is better than no bowls at all. That's what I always say."

The red haired flute player shook her head in amusement as she stepped a little further out from the kitchen before starting towards him slowly. "You're such a weirdo. Sometimes I find it hard to believe you're even human, Mr. Broth-for-brains." After stirring the noodles around, she then pulled up a clump of it and slurped it up, giving a satisfied murmur as her answer. "I take it from your stupid grin that you had an enjoyable dinner date?"

"Oh yeah. Iruka-sensei is always great to hang out with. He's like, one of the only guys in this village who's genuinely nice to me and doesn't look at me funny like all of the other adults," Naruto exclaimed with a good-natured laugh. "Even though he can be loud and scary sometimes, I really think Iruka is an awesome teacher."

Before he could open his mouth to continue telling the girl about his talk with his homeroom instructor, his radiant expression suddenly switched from delighted to puzzled when he saw Tayuya continue to slurp up noodles while striding towards him. Eyeing her movements carefully, he then sniffed the air a bit before a small frown crossed his lips, followed shortly by his eyes narrowing into an intense glare.

"You sound really attached to the guy," Tayuya giggled before picking up some vegetables. "Tell me more abou-" She glanced up at the sound of rushing footsteps before her stomach was unexpectedly hit with the force of a charging bull. Giving a strangled shout along with the heavy thud that filled the room; Tayuya was blasted off her feet and slammed into the far wall beside the balcony entrance of the apartment.

The plaster cracked and splintered at the force of the impact before the girl slumped to the floor, bits of residue sprinkling down on her.

"What the fuck?" the girl groaned before looking back up again through a pained face and blood running from the corner of her mouth. "Hey, shit-bag! What the hell was tha-" She stopped when she saw Naruto stop directly over her with a kunai drawn. "For?"

"Who are you?" Naruto hissed, his tone set on dangerous and face overshadowed by his hair, amplifying his already serious appearance several times.

"W-What are you talking about?" Tayuya said back, her own expression deepening. "It's me, you dumbass? Who else do you think it could be?"

Naruto then pointed his kunai straight down at the teen so that it was trained on the center of her face. "Tayuya-chan always eats ramen with her left hand, no matter where she is or who she's around. You're eating ramen with your right hand." The blonde then lowered his weapon. "That and you also smell much different from when the two of us were training together. I can sense your toxic odor above the cupped miso soup you stole from my cupboard."

Staring incredulously up at the boy, 'Tayuya' then gave a smirk and licked up the blood at the corner of her mouth. "My. You're a lot sharper than I remember. I'll give you points for picking up some extra brains over the past couple of years."

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