The Konoha Dream

by flexitrax

Four year had past since Naruto had made his way out of Konoha - studying and training. As he returns he realizes that things aren't like before. But Naruto don't give up that easy, he will complete his dream of Konoha.

The Konoha Dream Ch.1
Story: Four year had past since Naruto had made his way out of Konoha - studying and training. As he returns he realizes that things aren't like before. But Naruto don't give up that easy, he will complete his dream of Konoha.
Warnings: May contain strong language or slight sexual references.
Written by: flexitrax aka. Mette Dunér
Storyline made up by: Lovisa Merikanto

Naruto tied the headband around his forehead. First day in Konoha since he left four years ago. He pulled the strap to the bag over his shoulder and smelled fresh spring air that was hovering in the air. He couldn't wait until he would meet with Sakura and Sasuke again. The last time he saw them, the three were inseparable. They had gone everywhere with each other, best friends, so to speak. His sandals is barely heard against the asphalt in the small town. He sees the familiar school in the distance. He longed to spar against Sasuke and show what Jiraiya taught him over the years he had been away for study and hard training. He had learned many different techniques in martial arts and was no longer an amateur.

He saw the outline of the pupils. Both boys and girls judging by how their uniforms looked like. He felt how happiness bubbled inside of him. At last he got to come home to his best friends. As he got closer he could distinguish hair colors on the students. He searched with his gaze over the crowd after a pink-haired girl. It was Haruno Sakura he was looking for.

- Naruto!
He heard the familiar, but a little changed, voice from the left. He turned around and saw a pink-haired girl walking towards him. Behind followed a black-haired, pale guy behind her. However, it wasn't Sasuke. He didn't recognize the guy who was obviously Sakura's friend. Sakura hugged Naruto tightly, who now had grown past her with at least 5 cm. The scent of cherry blossom was still the same. Sakura would never change is Naruto's memory.
- I missed you, she saids sadly after they hugged. By the way this is Sai.

The guy who was now identified as Sai smiled a strange smile and said hello politely at Naruto. He felt a little uncomfortable considering that Sasuke hadn't yet been seen. Perhaps he was ill. However, Naruto greeted Sai to not being rude. Sakura must have had seen how Naruto searched the area after a boy with black bangs as she looked at him sympathetically.
- You wonder where Sasuke is, I see, she said with a strange tone that Naruto had difficult to read and then smiled faintly. At first I thought you already knew.
Naruto could feel a slight panic come crawling along the spine when the words were uttered from the apparently uncomfterable girl. What did she think he knew? Where was Sasuke? His fantasies virtually flied around in his head. What could have happened to Sasuke? The happy, curious feelings were all forgotten.

- What happened to Sasuke?
He tried to keep his voice steady but it trembled a bit of concern. Sai and Sakura exchanged a few more glances before Sakura turned to him again. Just then her lips parted to reveal Sasuke lack of presence a loud ringing was heard. The first lesson was about to start. Sakura smiles a bit unsteadily towards Naruto. She and Sai went into the building to have lessons. Apparently, they were having English with Kurenai. She was obviously still a teacher, despite her and Asuma's kid (Jiraiya had told Naruto about it it).

Naruto, Sakura and Sai went in class Hayabusa which means Falcon in Japanese. Their parallel class was named Taka, which translates directly to eagle. As they went into the classrooNaruto saw who were students in the class. There weren't that much students there yet. He recognized Ino, Chouji and Shikamaru. He also saw that Shikamaru and Inos fingers was intertwined. Ino was as beautiful as usual with her turquoise eyes and long, blonde ponytail. Shikamaru was also very much similiar to his younger self. Darkbrown, almost black, hair in a spiky ponytail and tired, almost black eyes. Chouji was not exactly the same as before. His light brown hair was that long as a kid. He was still fa-... chubby though.

He studied how Ino got a lot of gazes as she spoke with Chouji and Shikamaru. Some were admiring, others despising. Naruto was heading towards them to say hello, but was dramaticly stopped by Sakura who pulled him down on the seat next to her.
- Can't you see? she murmured quietly. We don't belong with them.
Naruto frowned and then grinned a little at Sakura dramatic comment.
- We attend at the same classes, he said, and nodded in their direction. Of course we belong to them.

Sakura sighed as she rolled her somewhat irritated eyes. It was obvious that there was something that Naruto had missed by the whole thing.
- Everything is not what it used to be, she said quietly when Sai sat down next to Sakura.
She looked at Sai with a confirmatory face.
- Naruto, he said, trying to look friendly. I know you probably find it hard to trust me now like this is the beginning - but I hope we can become friends. Sasuke ditched this class as you left. Now he won't look at us. He's got his friends, we've got ours.
Naruto shook his head with a smile as he looked down at his lap. It wasn't true, it just wasn't.

- No, he smiled. Sasuke is my best friend, he hasn't left us.
Sakura shared a few sad looks with Sai.
- It's okay, Naruto, she mumbled. I have also learned to accept that he is not here and more. Sai is his replacement, so to say.
Naruto tried to keep the confident face when the harsh words were uttered. It can't be true. Sasuke was his best friend. Naruto looked at Sakura and smiled a little awkwardly. "I'm okay" was the smile supposed to say, but judging by Sakura facial expressions, she for sure did understand that he wasn't. However, she smiled a little happier.

- I'll tell you a little about how things turned out, she said a little superior. You recognize Ino over there, right? Well, she is the most popular girl in class. Almost all the guys like her but yes, as you probably noticed..
She paused and both she and Sai looked at Ino and Shikamarus direction as they kiss eachother.
- ..Ino and Shikamaru are a couple, she finished. Chouji then becomes the third wheel that you may understand, however, but he puts out with Ino since Shikamaru's still his best friend.
He could see how Chouji unsecurily turned a blind eye at his friends as they kissed each other.

- There is one more who you may recognize from what I've heard from Sakura, Sai said. Gaara. He does not go to all classes except perhaps Baki's. He's mostly spending time with his siblings Kankuro and Temari. Otherwise, he is alone. Additionally, the rumors say that he is homosexual.
Naruto looks at Sai. He remembered when he fought Gaara four years ago, how Gaara had thanked him for helping him realize that the meaning of life wasn't to hurt other to make yourself happy. Had he fallen into the pit again? Very likable.
- Now you probably think that it must be like here but it's not so bad, Sakura giggled when she saw Naruto's worried expression.

The lesson went well as he'd expected. Kurenai presented Naruto the rest of Hayabusa, and they seemed happy to see him. Shikamaru and Chouji was especially happy to see Naruto as they hugged him, throbbed him in the back and told them how ass-kicking it was that he was back. Ino had frowned as she looked away when Naruto tried to contact her. However, he didn't care so much about it since she already saw him as an idiot before he took off..

Naruto followed Sai and Sakura during lunchtime. He saw people in their parallel class. He saw Hinata - whose pitchblack hair had grown long, Kiba who built up muscles and had become atleast one head taller than Hinata and of course Shino was as fishy as he remembered him. Hinata's white eyes looked as soft and friendly like they did before. Kiba - the idiot - hadn't done anything with that brown, messy hair and those ..ugly, red tattoos on his cheeks. They were shaped like fangs, Inuzuka's clan tag. Shino had the same black glasses and black hair with his hands thrusted into his pockets.

He also saw Kankuro and Gaara walk side by side. Gaara had, as usual, a thick layer of black around the faint, green eyes and the same unconcerned look. The red hair and the red love-kanji in the forehead was as it always had been. Kankuro also looked exactly the same as before. Brown hair, similar to Kiba's, and dark eyes.

Then he saw them. Sasuke and his gang. For the naked eye Sasuke looked exactly the same although there was something different about his eyes. They were more.. hostile. Beside him a pretty short guy with white hair to his shoulders walked. The guy leaned using one arm on Sasuke's shoulder and seemed to whisper something into his ear. Then they both grinned a bit. The guy was identified by Sai as Hozuki Suigetsu. As he studied the softly muscled guy, he saw how the violet eyes turned towards him. Suigetsu smiled and uttered sharp, vampire-like teeth. Naruto shuddered a bit and the guy turned back to Sasuke.

A girl was also walking next to them while she spoke loud and irritated. She glared angrily at Suigetsu and he just grinned teasingly. The girl had long red hard and a pair of glasses that framed her albino-like, red eyes. Her name was Karin according to Sakura.

Lastly, he studied the enormousguy that walked behind the others. His facial expression was kind of neutral, which suited the almost square outlines perfectly. Orange-colored, rumpled hair framed the face. A pair of bright brown eyes pointed straight outwards as they went into the dining room. The guy was extremely tall, probably the longest of all the first-ring students.

Sakura said his name was Juugo and that he was somewhat mentally disturbed. She said that according to the rummours that went he and Sasuke's teacher Orochimaru gave them a virus. There were often fights in the schoolyard and then Juugo was often seen with a hysterical laugh. Half his face was supposed to have tinted gray and the one eye had turned yellow. Then he got mad and bloodthirsty. Therefore, he would avoid a fight to any price with Juugo close. Sasuke was said to have the same virus but however, she hadn't seen him like Juugo.

They put their food on the plates and sat down at a lonely table in the corner of the dining room. His eyes went directly to the third-ring students. Most were boys and they had sewn a red cloud in their school uniforms. To his surprise, he saw that two pairs of them seemed to be, so to speak, ..gay?

A long, roughly tanned guy walked with his arm around a shorter silver-haired guy. The tall guy was even longer than Juugo was. He had brown medium-length hair and strange green and red eyecolour. However, it wasn't the first thing Naruto had paid attention to with the guy. He has thick stitches all over his body. Along the corner of his mouth to his ears there was rough, sturdy stitches. Even around the arms and here and there on the neck. The first thing that he came to think about was why he had them.

His eyes wandered to the shorter guy. The silver hair laid slicked over his head and fitted the violette eyes well. He had a necklace around his neck. A large steel ring with a triangle inside. Naruto was somewhat confused. He saw how the shorter became irritated when the taller accidently bumped into him. Immediately you heard a lot of curses from the two. Strange enough, the first kissed him teasingly. Naruto frowned in confusion.

- Who are they? he asked Sakura and took a bite of his food.
Sakura followed his gaze and noticed the pair.
- It's Kakuzu and Hidan, she said, and swallowed her food. Probably the strangest people you can find here. People call them Zombie twins because Kakuzu, the tall one, performs his sadistic needs Hidan, the short one, who is said to be a masochist. Hidan believes in Jashin - also known as the god of slaughter. Even though they usually call each other nicknames, argues and fight, they are a couple. Kakuzu is attached to money and is said deal drugs, but who knows? And by the way .. try not to get into trouble with any of them. Especially not with Hidan since Kakuzu will definitely try to kill you. Kakuzu is one of the most dangerous students here.

Naruto nodded slowly, chewing his food. He then looked at the other pair. A long - not as long as Kakuzu though - blue-haired guy with tiny, gray eyes. Next to him Sasuke's brother stands with long black hair in a ponytail. The blue-haired guy's teeth were almost like Suigetsu's and deep, gal-like scares on the outer edge of the eye. Sasuke's brother - what was his name now happened to be - looked just as neutral as he remembered him with the same dark eyes as Sasuke.

- Hoshigaki Kisame and Uchiha Itachi, Sai said with a smile. Noticed that you were studying them. Odd couple, right? Well, Kisame is quite different in personality to Itachi, as it seems. There are rumors that it's Itachi who killed the family with the help of that gas leak. Yeah, very likely.. Well, at least Sasuke hates him for some reason. That was probably why he changed to Taka - because the pupils are much tougher than the ones in Hayabusa. And you should not mess with Itachi - he is not very strong but Kisame will not let anyone touch him. And believe me, Kisame can fight.

Naruto looked at Sai. So it's Itachi's fault that Sasuke left them? He still glared at the students and noticed a girl-like guy next to another one who was a little bit shorter. However, they didn't seem to be a couple. They're talking irritated with each other. The girl-like one was blonde with a fringe hanging over one of the eyes that by looks seemed to be out of some kind of metal. He had eyeliner around the other eye and was about two inches taller than the other one. The second one had somewhat of a child's appearance on the face but he look way too serious for being so small. He had bright red, slightly curly hair and brown eyes.

- They then? Naruto asked.
- The blonde is Deidara and the other one is Sasori said Sakura. None of them is particularly dangerous, however, but you still shouldn't argue with them.
Naruto's eyes seeked out the only alone in the Akatsuki, which was the name of the class. A guy with green, short hair. The eyes were yellow, and he noticed that his gaze was directed towards Naruto. He felt a shiver down his spine. The guy didn't even turn away when Naruto noticed him.
- Don't worry about Zetsu, Sai muttered in his chewing. He won't lay a finger on you no matter what happens. All he does is check if you're keeping the order otherwise he reports to Pein.

Sai nodded in the direction towards an orange-haired guy with thick, black piercings along the nasal bone, two in the lower lip, and even some on the collarbones. Next to him a blue-haired girl sits. The hair was decorated gracefully with a white rose. Her eyes were brown and she had a small piercing in her lip.

- It's Pein and Konan, Sakura explained. They are dating and the leaders of the others. Although they are shorter and somewhat less powerful, but still a threat. And by the way, Pein's real name is Yahiko but even teachers calls him Pein. And there's this weird guy always hanging out with Akatsukio. His name is Tobi and wears an orange mask. He is schizophrenic according to what people say. Sometimes he's like the silliest, dumbest boy and sometimes the most terrifying stranger that you simply don't want anything to do with. Weird enough some people even believe that he is Uchiha Madara - Sasuke's relative that disappeared without a trace. He usually is accompanied by Deidara.

The rest of lunchtime went well. The lesson was spent talking about students with Sai and Sakura. Afterwards, they would have gymnastics with none other than Gai-sensei. Then they were dismissed and were able to retreat to a student house located a block away from school. They would even have the lesson with the parallel class, Taka.

They stood outside the school on a football field with asphalted surface. He saw the other side of the plan how Suigetsu and Sasuke stood and talk while they were giving Naruto a few glances. He saw how the short guy's lips moved a few millimeters away from Sasuke's ear. Sasuke face looked somewhat approvingly at the time Suigetsu uttered his words. This caused anger to bubble within Naruto. He looked away, however, to avoid seeing it.

He saw how Hinata went out of the dressing rooms next to Kiba. He smiled in a strange way. Kibas smiles usually included malice, or superiority. But the smile that was uttered before Hinata showed nothing but affection. Naruto smiled to himself and walked up to them. He saw the smile fade to the same old Kiba-smile.

- Naruto! he smiled and hugged him. At last you've come back!
Kibas voice was exactly the same only maybe a little more masculine, yet just as he remembered it. He turned to Hinata who, as allways, blushed all over.
- Naruto-kun! she says quickly before she hugged him.
- Great seeing you, he grinned. Hinata.
Kiba put his arm around Hinata in a friendly way and looking at Naruto.
- You have not changed at all, Kiba said teasingly.

Naruto smiled proudly as he knew that he actually had gained a lot of muscles and had generally good-looking body. However, according to Kiba, of course not. He wouldn't admit it in a life time.
- Not you either, Naruto said and winked. Where is Shino?
Kiba laughs loudly with Hinata giggling next to him.
- If you seriously think Shino will join in and play football, you must've forgotten a lot, he grinned and nodded to Juugos direction. Even I hesitate if I'll join when looking at that beast.

If Naruto had to be honest, he was probably the only thing he worried about. Juugo wasn't just big - his whole body was filled with well-shaped muscles. Suigetsu, however, was small but he was well built and had superior smile, worrying Naruto. However, Naruto's muscles weren't that bad either.

Gai was standing in front of the students with same old, self-satisfied smile pasted on his face. Gai was the same, no doubt.
- As you may have figured out, we'll play football, Gai said loudly. And we won't actually mix the teams today, so it's Taka vs. Hayabusa that's on.

The worst thing imaginable had happened - he would meet all of the strong ones. The only people who were strong in the Hayabusa were probably Chouji and Shikamaru. While the others had Sasuke, Suigetsu, Juugo and Kiba. From the foe-team high-fives and haughty laughters were heard. Hayabusa were so screwed. Similar to a a movie, he met glances from the opposing team. They stood in their positions. Naruto was a midfielder mirroring Sasuke and Suigetsu. As a forward, they had Juugo. Naruto swallowed hardly and looked nervously at Sai who looked at least as concerned about it. Gai is blew his whistle, the game was on.

Juugo was quickly passing Shikamaru who also was a forward. Naruto let adrenaline drive him at full speed against Juugo. Then an elbow was thrusted right between Naruto's ribs. He let out a moan of pain, but managed to stay on his feet. He shook himself out of delirium, and noticed that Juugo already scored with the help of Kiba and Sasuke. Naruto looked at Sasuke confidently and went back to his place. Then he turned to face the cold eyes that were glaring at him. A glance he'd late forget. It was mixed feelings. Hostility, superiority, contempt. Naruto felt how something turned inside-out inside of him. It wasn't the Sasuke he knew. No, he didn't even recognize him anymore. He glanced at Kiba who grinned meanly. Kiba had actually grown much more than he thought. He looked at Shikamaru who almost had let Juugo run past him.

Naruto angrily brushed the dust of his pants.
- Shikamaru! He shouted somewhat annoyed. Be serious!
Shikamaru turned around and gave Naruto a glare full of hate. He didn't understand. So much had changed, yet so little.

The rest of the match went to something like the first goal. Naruto had even lost count of how many goals Taka did. He felt sick both mentally and physically. After school, he met up with Sai to go to the student house with him. It was quite nicely according to Sai. Great appartment for each student. On the way home they talked loosely about the teachers, subjects and related stuff. He got along pretty good with Sai despite the fact that he was somewhat of Sasuke's replacement

Naruto then heard something. It sounded like people arguing from an alley.
- You owe me, you piece of shit! said the loudly. Give me the money, or I'll make this day your last!
As he passed the corner he saw Chouji pressed against the wall by an older guy. Not any guy though. It was the blonde from third ring - Deidara. He felt how anger built up inside him when he saw the hard grip around Choujis shirt. Trembling Chouji extended his hand to his pocket to give Deidara the money. Sai didn't seem to care which just added fuel to Naruto's anger. He walked with firm step toward the tall bully.
- Naruto! Sai shouted as he realized what Naruto was going to do. You don't know what you're giving yourself into!

Oh no, Naruto knew exactly what he gave himself into. He remembered Sai and Sakura lessons about the Akatsuki. Deidara would obviously be harmless all by him self.
- Leave him alone! Naruto shouted as menacingly as he could.
Then Deidara noticed Naruto released Chouji with a slightly creepy grin. Chouji was making his way out of there, leaving Deidara to Naruto.
- Isn't it the newcomer? Deidara said and took a few step closer to Naruto. Zetsu told me about you.
Naruto collected his finger into a solid fist. Where would the punch sit? In the stomach? So the extremly cocky guy would lose the ability to breathe? Possibly. However, a feeling of discomfort turns into a stomach-ache as he uttered Zetsu's name.
- Pretty tough for your size, Deidara said cockily, and smiled, if possible, even bigger.

Naruto felt how Deidaras word made him angrier and angrier. Who gave him permission talk so disrespectful to Naruto? He tied his fist.. He had to hit the target. He had to hit right into the stomach. He charged the punch and was about to hit right in the older guy's stomach as he was stopped by something.
- However, little brains don't take people far, Deidara said and let Naruto's fist go.
Deidara walked away with his hands thrust into his pockets and left Naruto who still was shocked because his attempt att hitting Deidara failed.

Sai was the same place as before. His mouth was shaped like a thin line, and his eyes were lit by nervousness. Naruto forced a smile.
- It's cool, he said, smiling. He did nothing.
- It wasn't what I was referring to.., Sai said, starting to relax.
They continued to walk while Naruto looked at him questioningly.
- Nevermind, Sai said friendly and smiled queerly.
Naruto didn't really believe that it wasn't anything of importance but relaxed. Everything went well. Chouji had his money left and Naruto was completely unharmed.
The Konoha Dream had just started.