Erin Burke

Story #1

Chapter 1: Kenji

I do not own the Anime/manga Naruto, as this belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, and I also do not own the character Kenji, as he belongs to Sam Andico (aka Sakura-chan).

XD

A/N: In this story, Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura and the other rookie-nine have all reached the rank of Chunin and are no longer under the influence of their sensei's (basically they are the same age they are in Shippuden: Episode 1.) Also, Sasuke does not go to seek revenge on Itachi and join Orochimaru in this story. Instead he stays in Konoha-gure and takes care of Kenji and Sakura.

"Sasuke! Hurry up! Were gonna be late to get to the academy! You don't want to miss Kenji's ceremony, do you?" Sam was screaming at her 13-year-old brother, Sasuke. Today was their younger brothers (aka Kenji) academy entrance ceremony, and Sam wanted everything perfect. Ever since her older brother Itachi, who was banned from the village, had destroyed their clan Sam felt she was responsible for raising Kenji. And that meant getting Sasuke, who was one year older than her, to go to his entrance ceremony no matter what.

"I'm coming Sam, shesh… what's so great about the entrance ceremony's anyway?" muttered Sasuke while typing his hitai-ate headband in the mirror in the hall. Sam had had hers on for 10 minutes and was getting impatient with her brother and his sluggish ways.

"It's a big day for Kenji and do you really want to be the one to ruin it?" Sam snapped back. She wasn't sure what had been bothering her lately, but she assumed it was just the stress she was being put under. She and Sasuke had been assigned a lot of missions lately and along with the task of watching Kenji and maintaining a job, the stress was almost too much.

Sasuke grabbed his pack and slung it over one shoulder. "You ready?'

Sam rolled her eyes. She had been ready for almost thirty minutes. "Yeah. Whatever. Let's just go already."

On the way to the academy, Sasuke and Sam saw Naruto at the Ichiraku Noodle bar.

Figures… thought Sasuke, rolling his eyes. Sam did the same. Naruto notices them and stopped eating for a moment before screaming-

"Hey, Sasuke! Sam! What's Up??!! Grab a bowl and dig in!! There's plenty to go around!" as if to prove this, Naruto gestured to the two bowls next to him, both filled with steaming hot ramen noodles.

"Naruto, you idiot," Sam began, "Today is Kenji-kun's entrance ceremony. Were headed there now."

Naruto's eyes grew wide before shouting "Oh, even better! I'll come too, and then afterwards we can all come back and eat ramen together! My treat!" Sasuke glared as Naruto ran over to them after paying for his ramen bowl, which he had slurped down in record time.

Idiot. He can't just invite himself along. Sasuke was about to state this when Sam cut him off.

"Sure. Whatever. Can we just hurry? Please?"

Sasuke sighed. Sam had already said yes, making it almost impossible to say no to Naruto now (A/N: Naruto has a crush on Sam). Now any of his objections would be hopeless.

"Alright, lets go, Naruto."

At the entrance ceremony, Sam stood between Naruto and Sasuke while the Hokage spoke to the new students. It was the same speech she ad heard when she entered the academy- the Hokage spoke with you a bit about your job as a Ninja of Konoha, their village, and your duty to protect it's people. She didn't particularly feel like listening to it again, so she turned her attention to Kenji. His green eyes sparkled bright in the mid-daylight, and his long black hair swept across his face. His eyes kept darting around, and Sam realized that he was probably nervous. After all, this was the beginning of his life as a ninja, and she knew that Kenji had always looked up to her and Sasuke. He had always wanted to be a ninja, jus like them. It made her feel proud that his dream was finally unraveling.

Now the Hokage's speech was finally finished and he walked off with some of the elite while parents gathered around to congratulate their children. Sasuke began heading toward Kenji, so Sam followed. Naruto trotted along behind.

"Kenji, over here!" Sasuke called.

Turing around, Kenji's mouth formed into a wide smile as he saw his brother, sister and their friend approaching. He charged toward Sam and gave her a huge hug.

"Hey, Kenji." Sam said cheerfully.

"Hi Sam! Hey Sasuke! Is that Naruto?" Kenji turned to look behind Sam.

"You bet it is!" Naruto smiled a cheesy grin. "Congrats!"

"Thanks!" Kenji smiled back. He had always liked Naruto, seeing as both his brother, sister and Naruto were all in one team. "Can we go out for ramen now?"

"It's like you read my mind!" Naruto shouted.

Naruto turned and began heading back to the ramen shop. Kenji was about to follow when suddenly he was lifted of the ground. Looking around, he noticed he had been placed on Sasuke's shoulders and they were now heading toward the ramen shop together. Kenji smiled.

One Year Later

Kenji slumped in his seat at the academy. It had been a long day of shurikan practice and bookwork, and Kenji was ready to go home. He adjusted his hitai-ate headband. His is going to be hard to get used to… he thought. Just four days ago he had become a full-fledged ninja, and he was just getting used to wearing his hitai-ate.

"Now, I will announced the teams," stated Iruka-sensei (A/N: sensei means 'teacher' in Japanese). Kenji's attention snapped to the front of the room. He was excited to find out who he would be partnered with, especially after seeing Sasuke, Sam and Naruto with their instructor, Kakashi.

"Team one…" Kenji tuned out, waiting until his name was called.

"Team Seven: Uchiha Kenji..." Kenji's head snapped up. This is what he had been waiting for.

"Sabaku no Hanabi…" Kenji glanced over to Hanabi. She could be a good partner…Kenji thought positively, and I think Sasuke knows her brother…

"And Sarutobi Konohamaru." Kenji's hopes dropped. Konohamaru was just like Naruto- loud, obnoxious, single-minded, and an idiot when it came to strategizing. How was he supposed to cooperate with a team like this?

"There," Iruka-sensei continued, "Now that the teams have been announced, you can take the rest of the afternoon off and meet back here this evening to meet your instructors. Maybe you could use this time to get to know your new teammates a little bit more." Iruka smiled. Kenji scowled.

Kenji sluggishly walked home. Throwing his shoes aside and dropping his bag where he stood, Kenji made his way through the house. After stooping in the kitchen to grab an apple, Kenji went out back and slumped on the porch steps, feeling glum. He sighed.

"Kenji? Are you home already?" Sasuke remarked from somewhere inside the house. Emerging into the open, he smiled at his younger brother, unaware of his mood. "How was school today?"

"We got assigned our teams," Kenji mumbled.

Sasuke's face lit up. "Really?"

"…."

"Well, who's on your team, Kenji?" Sasuke sat lazily next to his brother and began plucking grass from their lawn. "Speak up."

"Sabaku no Hanabi." Kenji stated. He couldn't bring himself to say the other members' name.

"Oh?" Sasuke replied. He seemed to think for a moment. "If she's anything like Gaara, you might find her a good teammate. Lucky you," Sasuke said, smirking.

Kenji glared at his hands. Yeah. Lucky me.

"Who's your other partner?" Sasuke questioned, taking a bite of Kenji's apple.

Kenji scowled, glaring at his brother. "Sarutobi Konohamaru," he said, barely a whisper.

"What?" Sasuke said, mouth full. "Speak up."

Kenji clenched his fists. "Sarutobi Konohamaru!" he almost screamed at his brother.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at his brother sudden anger. He knew himself that Konohamaru-san was a dunce, maybe even more than Naruto (if that's possible), but still… He had to go through his genin life with a dunce, and he survived, so what was making Kenji so angry?

Kenji read his brothers face and looked away, shameful. "Sorry for yelling..." he mumbled.

"Whatever…" Sasuke mumbled back, deep in thought. "Just… what made you get so worked up?"

Kenji sighed. "You wouldn't get it."

Now it was Sasuke's turn to sigh. "Just spit it out, already."

Kenji dropped his head. "You and onee-chan are both highly-respected ninja. The whole village has heard about how great you guys were at the academy and how advanced you were on your missions. You guys, along with Naruto, are true heroes among so many villages. Then I come along, and in everyone else's eyes I'm supposed to be just like you two. But.." Kenji paused, thinking.

"But…" he continued, "How can I ever live up to that? It's too much. And the sensei's constant praise only makes it worse. 'I'm sure one day you will be able to live up to your families name'. Yeah, right. I haven't even activated the Sharingan yet. And today, when we were about to get assigned into our 3-man-cells, I thought that if I had a good enough team, and worked hard enough, I could make everyone proud and be the kid they expect me to be. Then I find out that stupid Konohamaru is on my team. Its hopeless…" Kenji trailed off.

Sasuke stood. Now he understood what was making his brother act so weird, and why he was always late for curfew because he had been training. Sasuke wasn't sure what to do. He now understands that his brother is being to put under too much stress, trying to live up to Sam and himself- but what could Sasuke say to help?

Before he could say anything, Kenji stood up as well. "I have to go meet my new sensei, or I'll be late." With that, Kenji walked back into the house, leaving Sasuke alone on the porch with nothing but his thoughts.

To be continued…

Onee-chan: means 'sister' in Japanese.

Sharingan: the keki-genkai, or signature jutsu, of the Uchiha clan. Otherwise known as the 'mirror-wheel eye', it allows the user to copy any move made by the opponent. However, if used excessively, it can make the user very weak. Another form of this jutsu is the Mangekyu Sharingan, which will be explained later.