:Ok so this was actually my first proper attempt at a Naruto fic, not just a drabble, and I think I started it like last year at the start of march- originally it was just a thing to show my friend who also loves the fox boy, but it kind of... spiralled. I think I've gone over and rewritten this first chapter a total of twenty eight times this year alone, always adding and expanding, and now I'm finally happy with it! There's ten chapters already written, so hopefully updates will be nice and regular! Anyway, I hope ya'll like my relatively contrived Team Seven upgrade lmao.:

...

Sakura is tired. She knows there are dark circles forming under her eyes (something Sasuke will notice and find unattractive, she can just tell) and she knows her diet isn't doing her any favours when she skips a full meal- even if her 'full meals' aren't much at all. She got up so early her mother wasn't even awake, so she had no help brushing her hair out and something about the lack of routine is driving her crazy.

Her eye twitches as Naruto bounces- he hasn't stopped since he got here after 6 am, a full ten minutes late. It's not as bad as their sensei though, she thinks- because he's a whole hour late. Naruto's enthusiasm is getting on her already frayed nerves, Sasuke outright ignored all her attempts to talk to him, again; and Naruto just won't shut up- on the best of days he's annoying, and today is anything but.
Naruto starts on a tangent about how he'll beat this test and become Hokage instantly and she's just had enough. He's been wearing on her for years. No amount of whacks and jabs and yelling and ignoring have ever made him go away; and she's tried, god she's tried. He never stops talking, always loud and obnoxious and playing pranks and disrespectful- he blatantly ignores all the rules of being a ninja, and still expects his mediocre skills to be worthy of promotion to Hokage. He never listens in class- he barely even attends, and in her opinion the glares he gets from the adult population would lessen drastically if he just. Calmed. Down.

But he's Naruto. He never does. More inane babble trickles in through her ears, another request for a date-

It's just too much to handle right now. She's overwhelmed.

"Shut up! Just SHUT UP! No one cares about you Naruto! No one cares about your stupid dreams and your stupid ambitions! You're annoying and idiotic and nobody will ever love you! And you know why? It's because you're useless! You don't bother listening to anyone or doing anything by the rules. And- another thing! I will never ever date you! I want nothing to do with you! My mother was right when she said to stay away from you! You'll never be anything but a dead last loser!"

An abrupt silence falls over the training ground. Sakura breathes heavily, face flushed red with rage. As the silence continues she starts to calm, and becomes aware of the soft sounds coming from the boy in front of her. At some point during her yelling he turned away, and now she can only see his back and the bowed arch of his neck as he hangs his head.
He's crying. Sakura has never once seen him make any expression other than excitement and occasionally annoyance- usually at Sasuke. But, she's never heard anyone give him such a tongue lashing before either. Guilt spreads through her for a moment- but she didn't really mean half the things she said, she reassures herself. She was just feeling angry. Naruto will be fine. His ever cheerful grin is indestructible; a constant in every moment. He's annoying- but he has good intentions. No way this will keep him down for long, right?

A sad, hicuppy sound breaks her train of thought.

"N-Naruto...?" She whispers, her confidence gone as quickly as it came; and suddenly she's very, very afraid of the consequences of her uncontrolled outburst. He lets out a broken little whimper.

"You're right... no one will ever accept me... it's stupid to try..." Sakura listens as his breathing starts to stutter and turn to messy, gasping sobs.

"Naruto... I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

She recoils when he whirls, tears running down his face and his mouth turned in a pained grimace.

"It's so dumb! There's no way the village will ever want me. I'll never be anything to them but the orphan dem-" he stumbles, for just a moment, face twisting in an ugly way. "-brat, only good to throw rotten food at and to chase on the festival- beat him up on his birthday and no one says a thing because no one loves him! He'll never have a family. Doesn't even deserve to live." He stomps his foot on the ground angrily, wipes his arm over his face, but only succeeds in smearing the tears over his cheeks. "He'll never have friends! He's useless! No one wants to teach him anything because he'll only screw it up and get it wrong! Too poor to buy anything he really needs, and everyone looks the other way when he's overcharged or kicked out of a store!"

Sakura is frozen in horror as he slowly sinks to the ground, hands over his face as he cries.

"N-Naruto I-"

She blinks. No one will teach him? Shops refuse to serve him?

Sakura is not an unintelligent person. She's incredibly book smart- she's been studying for years about everything she can get her hands on, everything she might ever be able to make use of. The teachers always blow Naruto off, make him stand in the corner or send him out. Has he ever actually stayed an entire lesson- she doesn't think so, discounting Iruka's classes. But was it of his own free will at first? Did he just give up trying to attend on time- give up trying to behave because they'd never let him stay anyway, never let him learn? His obsession with ramen- cheap and easy to make. The ridiculous clothes? The only thing he could afford. Cold confusion and doubt settles over her, facts starting to pull together in her mind, creating a tangled web she doesn't really want to look at.

And then Sasuke is there, brow scrunched up in what looks like an actual attempt at a facial expression, and she thinks maybe he can salvage this with one of his jabs, make Naruto yell about their rivalry- distract him from her harsh words long enough for her to rationalise everything, think of an apology, make sense of her conflicting thoughts. Because every authority figure she's ever trusted says Naruto is a menace; a monster. So they must be right. But why would Naruto make up such accusations while sobbing so hard? She's seen him lie. He smiles so wide his eyes close. She just doesn't understand.

"You... you're not alone, dobe. My brother killed my whole family. Made me relive it for two days in my head. Told me that I had to hate everything and everyone if I ever wanted to kill him. And then- then everyone started hailing me as a prodigy. Amazing Sasuke. Started putting in foster claims- wanting the fame of raising the 'Last Uchiha'." His voice shifts with disgust. "I don't want that. I just- I just want revenge. I want to know why he did it." He takes a shaky breath. "I taught myself how to cook, how to do laundry and sharpen kunai. I live in an empty house in empty grounds. Because of him. Because he wanted to test his abilities on our family." His face starts to smooth itself out, and Sakura is on the verge of frustrated tears of her own as she watches him start to cry, expressionless and still.

"I just want my parents back." He whispers, and then abruptly sits down next to Naruto.

They cry together, one weeping and messy and loud and the other hunched forward, silent and still with tears streaming down his face.

Sakura kneels next to them after a moment, because her worldview is in shards, and she doesn't understand and she doesn't know if she believes this, any of this, because surely the Hokage wouldn't let this happen, if nothing else. They all know about the massacre- Uchiha Itachi going crazy, slaughtering everyone- but torturing Sasuke with genjutsu? Letting him live alone with his ghosts- she's always assumed he had a guardian living with him- it doesn't make sense and everything has to make sense. Sakura has to rationalise everything, it's what she's good at, what she does.

But everything she's learnt about either of her teammates, everything she's read and been taught about body language and psychology... It's telling her neither of them are lying.

"Naruto, Sasuke, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't- I didn't know. I didn't know any of this. I don't- I just don't understand. Adults are supposed to protect us. Why..." She starts to cry as well, and before she knows it both of the boys are hugging her, Naruto weeping into her shoulder and Sasuke gripping her wrist as he leans into her side.

"It's okay, Sakura." She feels Naruto mumble into the rapidly dampening fabric of her dress. "It's okay. No one ever told you that adults lie, that adults aren't fair. They never lied to hurt you. I'm glad."

Somehow it crushes her heart more to hear that than for him to be angry at her.

She throws her arms around them both, and pulls them close as they all sit and cry until all the tears are gone, and they're left curled together for comfort.

"We're going to help you kill your brother, Sasuke. Who cares about doing what he says you should? Why should you listen to that asshole about going it alone and hating everyone. It's stupid." Naruto rasps, turning his head and fixing red rimmed eyes on the other boy. Sasuke nods, slowly, and Sakura squeezes them both tighter.

"We will teach you, Naruto. You don't- you don't need the approval of the village. You don't. You have us. We won't lie to you." Sasuke's voice is raspy, and Sakura is too tired to be astonished at the amount of words he has spoken today- she's pretty sure it outnumbers the total she's ever heard from him, in fact. It doesn't matter. She nods along with both of them-

Naruto isn't the class idiot. The teachers obviously have something against him, along with the rest of the village (and the small, fierce voice in her head demands retribution from them all for hurting her teammate; any animosity she harboured towards him washed away) and she's going to fix all the holes in his education if she has to kill someone to do it. She's furious at herself for never noticing, just going along with it. All her intelligence wasted on frivolous pursuits and a crush and no situational awareness. She never wants to be that foolish again. And Sasuke isn't a dreamboat, the epitome of manliness- he's not just a cute boy to obsess over. He's a real person with real issues and she's going to get stronger and she and Naruto are going to help him every step of the way to his goal, because her stupid crush doesn't matter when she has a chance to make a difference and be a genuine friend. In this moment Haruno Sakura hates herself and her behaviour. In this moment something breaks and she vows to keep it broken, never listen to it again, that selfish part of her that's made her so useless and clingy and loud, reduced her to this wailing fangirl when she's the kunoichi of the year. Because Sakura is smart. She's worked hard to be intelligent- and she's always had help from the adults around her. If they won't offer the same help to her teammates she will do it for them.

They're hers now, she realises. Her boys. In these few minutes she's gained their trust and devotion and forged a familial tie between all three, and she's realised she desperately wants to be worthy of that bond.
She takes a deep breath, and they fall together in muttered words, reviewing their strengths and weaknesses without any prompting, like they've been doing this forever.

Sasuke points out some of the huge holes in Naruto's taijutsu, (-Sakura has already stated she will catch him up on bookwork if it kills her- making Naruto wince slightly-) and when the blonde hesitantly admits that Mizuki taught him personally the Uchiha snarls lowly and decides he's going to teach him the style he knows, because the academy is stupid anyway; and everyone has heard by now that Mizuki tried to betray Konoha.

"My henge is solid."

Sasuke and Sakura both whip around to stare at him, simultaneously hissing 'what' with startled expressions.

"It's solid. Iruka was surprised too. Is that... not supposed to happen? I thought that was why it's such a good infiltration technique."

Sakura sputters, one hand moving to rub the side of her head as she devolves into agitated muttering. Sasuke sighs.

"No. Henge is an illusion, an image overlaying you. The fact you can physically change yourself- does that mean your weird naked girl one is physical too?"

Naruto nods sheepishly and Sasuke hums. "We can use this. I don't know how, but we can."

The whiskers stretch as Naruto grins- all he's ever wanted is to be useful, needed. The thought that he can contribute to his team? It fills him with warmth.

"How dense is your chakra?!" Sakura hisses, still utterly confused. "The amount required to change your body on a physical level-" she descends into more muttering. "You must have obscene amounts of it too. No wonder you have trouble with the basic bunshin! You're always overloading it- I'm going to teach you all of the chakra control exercises I know." Naruto blinks. Sasuke grunts. "She's right. You never attend that lesson."

He shrugs, smiling nervously. "Oops?" Then he pauses. "You guys... really want to teach me? I know I'm not very smart, and I don't want to be a bother-"

Sakura whacks him upside the head and he yelps, pouting. "Dummy! You're our teammate. We aren't leaving you behind. N-not again, not know we know you've been held back. Besides, there are things you can teach us too. Like your pranking skills. They make great traps. And how you evade Anbu! I saw them chasing you once! And everyone complains about being unable to catch you."

Naruto grins. "That's easy. You just gotta turn fast. The anbu are really used to that fast moving jutsu they use, but you can only go straight with it- but if you get good at turning really abruptly without losing speed they overshoot and miss you! And if you don't telegraph your moves they don't know which way you're turning til the last minute. It helps if you don't know either." He admits sheepishly.

Sasuke looks like he's committing this to memory, eyes narrowed. "Hmm. So, we'd need to practice that." He murmurs, ignoring the add on at the end.

Naruto looks like he's about to explode with excitement.

He's so eager. How can anyone refuse a student so eager to be taught? She smiles at him as Sasuke sits up, but they all stay very close. "This is going to be good. We all have things to teach each other, and then Kakashi can teach us all even more." She chirps happily.

"Hn."

"That's Uchiha for 'I agree'." She snickers; and watches in a mix of awe and disbelief as Sasuke hides a tiny smile at the teasing.

Naruto uncharacteristically stays quiet, though she knows he saw the smile too. Maybe this is good, she thinks. Maybe this will be the thing that drives them all to be amazing ninja.

"Sakura. Your marks in taijutsu are average. While I'm teaching Naruto the Uchiha interceptor style, we should spar in the academy style. You need to improve your speed and strength." Sasuke hums, back to the calm, brusque attitude he's known for. Sakura nods, accepting his reasoning as advice, not a personal attack, when once she would have wilted under the perceived disdain. It's funny how quickly things can change in the space of one conversation.

Naruto hums. "Well, if she needs practice with stamina and strength and stuff, I can spam clones at her until she falls over, and then keep doing that til she gets better." He shrugs one shoulder and Sasuke considers it with a slow blink.

"What do you mean?" Sakura frowns. "Clones aren't physical."

The blonde's lips part in a feral grin, knowing and cheerful. "I know the kage bunshin. It's why the Hokage let me graduate under special circumstances."

Sakura looks at Sasuke, his grave expression reassuring her that they will be bringing up the how's and why's of Naruto knowing a forbidden jutsu up later.

"It would improve your own experience with the style I'll be teaching you... against different opponents you'll learn quicker." Sasuke nods, and Naruto lights up with another smile.

...

Another hour later, Kakashi turns up at the training ground to find a complete and utter shift in dynamics to the students in front of him. His expression almost morphs into shock, though the mask would hide it from their untrained eyes anyway- and then he just watches for a minute as the children discuss something eagerly. They keep reaching out to each other, he notes; Naruto brushes against Sasuke's arm and Sakura squeezes Naruto's leg where her hand rests on his knee. Sasuke's fingers just barely brush at Sakura's dress; and Kakashi wonders what on earth could have happened to flip their behaviour so drastically. He notes the red eyes they all sport- even Sasuke, who's file is stuffed full of comments on his lack of emotion, and he only becomes more confused.

"Hello! How are my little students feeling today?"

"YOU'RE LATE!" Naruto and Sakura point, twin glares on their face, and even Sasuke scowls up at him as they all rise and stand.

"Maa, so sorry. This lady turned over her shopping cart, you see, so I had to help her, and then a black cat crossed my path-"

"Yeah right!" Naruto shouts. "I know you spend all your time by that big stone at the graveyard! You're just making excuses!"

Sakura scrunches her face. "You mean the memorial stone?"

"Yeah, that one!"

Kakashi clears his throat, genuinely uncomfortable. He'd thought his movements not well known to academy students, or even chuunin and down, and it's concerning that Naruto is aware of this.

Sakura and Sasuke both fix gimlet eyes on him, assessing, and that will come in handy for pinpointing weak spots on enemies but to have it turned on him is off-putting.

"Why do you spend so much time there, sens-"

"Right! It's time for your test!" He barks abruptly, cutting Sakura off, and all three of them startle slightly at his sudden volume. He walks over and slaps an alarm clock down on one of the taijutsu posts nearby. "I have these bells. You are to retrieve them from my person before the alarm sounds in... hmm, two hours. If you do not come at me with the intent to kill, you will not succeed." He dangles the bells in front of him, letting them all get a good look.

"There's only two." Sakura pipes up, and Kakashi nods. "That's right- only two of you will pass my test. The one without a bell gets sent back to the academy."

There's an uncomfortable silence.

"I'll go back. Take Sakura and Sasuke. Another year won't hurt me." Naruto steps forward, expression closed and eyes cold. "They deserve to go forward."

Sakura stomps her foot, and the expression of murderous rage on Sasuke's face genuinely takes Kakashi by surprise. "We aren't going to do your stupid test. We pass together, or we all go back." He snarls, and Sakura nods determinedly. Naruto smiles in a shy way. "It's ok, I don't mind you guys-"

"No! No his test is stupid. I don't want a stupid sensei. I'd rather try again next year with you." Sakura hisses, gesturing at the watching jounin, and her vitriol is impressive. Is that a hint of killing intent in the air?

Naruto looks close to happy tears, overwhelmed by the devotion his two friends are showing him, and Kakashi can't help it.

He laughs.

Naruto sputters, taken aback, and Sakura blinks, confused. Only Sasuke pauses, realisation colouring his expression.

"That's what you wanted us to do. It was a test of teamwork."

Kakashi nods, still laughing. "Amazing! You didn't even have to fight- you passed straight away! I've been waiting for a team like you. Welcome to team seven, my three little genin! I'm your new sensei, Hatake Kakashi- and I am most definitely looking forward to teaching you everything I know about being a ninja."

Naruto lets out an excited whoop, jumps in the air with a grin on his face. "Yes! We passed!"

Sakura and Sasuke share a smile, and then each of them grab one of Naruto's arms to try and keep him on the ground.

Kakashi chuckles at the sight they make, restraining the excited blonde.

"We will meet here tomorrow at 7, for our first team training session!" Sakura smiles at him, about to respond, and then Sasuke mutters something about them all eating together and Naruto abruptly drags them off to Ichiraku's, leaving dust in his wake.

Kakashi watches them go with a sense of pride and anticipation blooming in his chest-

And then his amusement fades. Whoever made the profiles of these academy students was either incompetent, or something is missing from his information on them. He eyes the training ground around him absently, fingers straying to the pouch he keeps his book in, tapping erratically. There's no sign of a fight, or even evidence that more than the three students have been here in the past few days. So what prompted the change?

His eye narrows. From everything he's read on them, Sakura is shallow and obsessed with Sasuke, who's emotionless and unattached to anyone or anything. Naruto is considered a gibbering idiot, but he showed restraint and the ability to prioritise his teammates over himself, when he's supposed to be incredibly jealous of Sasuke, and fawning over Sakura. And the other two were devotedly loyal, even at the cost of their own promotions. Sasuke especially is slated to desire a quick rise in power even at the cost of his peers.

It simply doesn't add up to what he saw today. Yesterday, on the roof of the school? Absolutely.

So what happened between then and now? He lets out a quiet breath and pulls out his book, forcing himself to put the thoughts away, compartmentalise like any good shinobi. He'll find out eventually. Hell, he could probably ask them.

With a whirl of chakra and a flutter of leaves, the training ground is utterly empty.

...

:Unbeta'd as usual, if there's an words capped with / / it was meant to be italicised, my app doesn't let me do that so I gotta edit them in later.: