"... ruto… Naruto wake up."

As Naruto woke, he heard the sound of his partner calling his name. Brushing his long golden hair out of his eyes, he turned and opened his eyes. As he did so he came face to face with his partner's hoodie clad chest. Forcing him to raise his head to meet her shining navy blue eyes.

"May? What's up? Is class already over?"

Breaking eye contact to look around the class, Naruto noted that it was in fact over. Looking back at May he could tell she felt annoyed at him. He had sleeping through Professor Lemon's history class again. It wasn't his fault! That woman could bore a zombie to death!

"Yes,it is over, I told Brawnz and Roy that we'd meet them in the cafe once you woke up. So get up and get moving, sleepyhead." Following that statement May got up and started to head towards the door of the room. Watching her walk away from him for a few moments, Naruto realized that she was going to leave him there.

"Hey wait for me May!" He called after as he rushed to stand and before he began chasing after her.

She was already in the hallway by the time Naruto had caught up to her, he had forgotten how fast she walked when she was angry. "May I'm sorry I slept through class again! I was just busy working on something!"

"Mm'kay."

"Please don't be like that May, you know I didn't sleep through class just to annoy you, that's Roy's shtick." At this point Naruto was practically begging her not to be mad at him, it didn't seem to be working though.

"Oh, I know."

"Just talk to me May, please?" Naruto asked, he hated it when she was like this, she was his best friend, she wasn't supposed to get upset at him for stuff like this.

"Fine. I'll talk to you," May started before being picked up into a tight hug by Naruto the moment those words left her mouth, "but only because I need to tell you about your punishment for falling asleep during the lesson. As for what it is, that can wait until we meet with Brawnz and Roy, they need to hear about your punishment too. Otherwise you'll try to worm your way out of it."

"Speaking of those two, what do you think they're talking about?" Wondered Naruto once he had released May from his arms.

Taking a quick look around once she had been put down from Naruto's grasp, she straightened out her pink and red hoodie that had gotten creased up during the hug."I don't know, probably some dumb guy stuff, they're over there anyway so let's go join them."

Nodding in agreement with something that neither Naruto or May had heard, Roy opened his mouth to ask another question. However he stopped himself when Naruto and May sat down at the table. "'Bout time you two showed up Brawnz here thought you'd already killed poor 'Ruto."

Muttering to herself about how she wished she already had, she chose to smile instead, "No, he won't be dying this time. Instead, Naruto is going to be doing his homework on the first night we have it. Rather than waiting until the last moment, and staying up all night to finish it which is what he did this time."

"C'mon May, I already said I was sorry! I was busy working on a new upgrade for my baby! It's almost done now and I should have it implemented the day before we leave for Vale!" With a subtle subject change from Naruto, he had once again saved himself from May's wrath. It wasn't his fault he didn't do his homework… his weapon was more interesting.

Noticing the subject change but refusing to comment upon it, Brawnz spoke up. "Yes, We have about a month or so before we head off to Vale before the tournament. So if you are in need of any help with the weapon Naruto, feel free to ask me, or Roy for any help. I still have some modifications to do to mine to adapt it for the climate change we'll be facing in Vale."

"Speaking of Vale, don't we have another trip coming up before that? Professor Akane mentioned something about a survival training didn't she?" asked May, despite what they thought, she had noticed the subject change. It didn't bother her, she knew that she could be a bit intense when it comes to classes… she wanted her team to be the best is all.

"Yeah I know remember hearing about that. Seven days in the desert with the only supplies being what we take with us. It's going to be pretty hard out there, even back at Shadow they only ever took us out into the desert for a day at most. They never left us out there for the nights." Roy's statement caused a small grin to form on Naruto's face - He knew their team could handle it. He may not have been the leader but he was the best survival expert on the team.

"You guys need to relax, there was a reason why they kept the four of us together when we graduated from Shadow. We were the best four man team of students they had! If we can't handle seven days in the desert than how are we going to manage on missions? When we're in the wild for days on end with no sign of civilization!" Brawnz spoke, calming Roy's nerves. It was true that they hadn't done something like this before… but out of all the first year teams they had ranked the top. During the second year they were still holding their position at the top! If they handled this well then they would have pretty much secured the top spot for the rest of the year!

Smiling to himself at the interaction between the two best friends. Naruto stole a quick glance at his partner, allowing him to see that she was smiling to herself as well, earlier irritation forgotten. Turning back toward the table he began to eat his lunch, only to find that the food he had grabbed was no longer there. Looking back up he noticed the playful gaze of Dew Gayl. - Member of Team NDGO. - She was grinning, and in her hand she held a cheeseburger that looked like the one that had been on his plate. "Is that my burger Dew?"

"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. It can be your burger if you agree to a spar though." Dew leaned forward, her face coming so close to Naruto's he could smell her lunch - Barbecued… Shrimp?. "It's just that we haven't sparred in sooo long, and I can't risk having my rival fall behind me."

"Well, I suppose we could spar, we could have this spar after Professor Akane's trip? May is making me get all my homework done before the trip, so I doubt I'm going to be able to fit it in before then." Hearing Naruto's response, Dew allowed herself a grin. Like she had said, it was far too long since their last spar. Naruto was the only one outside of her team who could push her to her limits, and vice versa.

xXxX Line Break XxXx

"So Professor? What are we going to be doing in the desert? I know it's about survival, but do we have any other tasks to do whilst we are doing that?"

The question came from a student whom Naruto couldn't remember the name of, but he agreed with the question nonetheless. They were about twenty miles from the nearest sign of civilization, and he could feel the heat of the desert beating down on him, he felt glad that he had worn a light outfit. His open white shirt almost billowed in the wind, like a superhero's cape would when they took a dramatic pose. His orange and blue shorts hanging free around his knees.

"Well Russet, that is an excellent question. Your task out here will be to protect your briefcase and its content from the other teams. There are eight teams and eight briefcases. Your secondary task is to collect the briefcases of three other teams, giving you a total of four briefcases." Here she paused for a moment, noting as the students all glanced at the briefcases in the possession of their leaders. "As you can figure out for yourselves, there are only enough briefcases for two teams to pass. This means that it will be a constant struggle for the next seven days as you will be attacked by Grimm or another team during that time."

"Professor I have a question." The voice came from a student Naruto did recognize, she was Nebula Violette leader of Team NDGO. She was wearing her usual outfit of a high-necked, tight-fitting gray shirt. However she wasn't wearing the long light blue coat that she usually wore. He could see that she was feeling the heat as well if the light sheen of sweat on her lightly tanned skin was anything to go by.

"Yes Miss Violette?" Came the reply from the female professor who felt minor ire at the interruption, she did not enjoy it. Especially by a huntress who was still in training no was a professional though so she stomped down the surge of annoyance that was bubbling up in her.

"You said 'a constant struggle for seven days'. Does this mean that we won't be able to leave before then, even if we have four briefcases we can't leave before then?" Despite the question sounding stupid on the surface, Naruto could hear the question that she had actually asked. A quick glance to his teammates showed they had heard it too as well.

The professor looked at her for a moment before shaking her head, "No, you may not leave the desert before the seven days are over. Even if you have the four briefcases, this is to give all teams a fair enough shot at collecting four briefcases. I may not have said before, but if you do not collect four briefcases, you will fail this semester. Now, I assume there are no other questions?" when she received no response, spare shakes of the head, she spoke once more. "Now, head off into the desert. You have until the sun sets to find a defensible location and set up a base camp for yourselves. After sunset teams may attack each other."