A/N: Welcome to the first installment of The Tale of the Gutsy Ninjas!
And since I'm really lazy with author notes lemme give you what my counterpart fangirlandiknowit has written for it on AO3:
So this is a little something I'm doing together with Gweatherwax, it started out as a 'what if' yesterday and today she made sure we wrote the first chapter. She's definitely one of those 'doers' while I'm more of a 'planner' lol.
It's an alternate reality canon fic, and we're still hammering out the details, but personally we feel that this is a much better canon than kishimoney came up with. If he even came up with anything. We're writing different parts so if you've read our stories before I'm sure you can figure out who wrote what. Either way I know I should be writing other things but no worries it'll work out somehow I'm sure. And I'm very excited about this story!
Not sure when the romance will kick in but we'll get there eventually!
This first chapter is more of an intro, and the focus of the story will be what happens after the chuunin exam and onwards.
I hope you like it!
So do I. PLEASE REVIEW, we'll be happy to answer any questions, discuss and whatever. Have fun!
Sasuke slammed his hand over his alarm clock, and sighed.
Another lonely day, in a lonely house.
He got off the bed and carefully hid Mr. Roary under his pillow before moving to the bathroom for a shower.
As usual, he stopped on his way to the Academy to get an onigiri and some tomato juice.
At least today he'd finally start his training as genin, another step towards killing Itachi and finally avenging his clan. It was enough that he was one entire year late in his graduation due to the trauma from the massacre, he couldn't waste any more time. Every day with Itachi alive was another stab in his heart.
He was carefully considering all the available Jounin team leaders, oblivious to his surroundings, when a stinky pair of sandals landed on his table. He raised his head to see the class deadlast, Naruto, squinting aggressively at him - gods, did the short loudmouth look even stupider than usual doing that - and promptly ignored his poor attempt at scrutinizing him.
That is, until the idiot screamed, and he raised his head again, to see him looming over, his lips twitching as they came closer, and closer, as if in slow motion.
Sasuke opened his mouth to utter a warning, physically feeling the air slowly reaching his vocal chords, his eyes bulging, his eyebrows moving up in surprise… and then the idiot's lips covered his in an open-mouthed kiss, freezing the world in the most awkward moment of Sasuke's life.
'Miso… miso ramen. Who the hell eats miso ramen for breakfast?' was his first shocked thought, with 'Wait what the hell? Why is he kissing me? And why is he kissing me in front of everyone?' following on its heels.
The last one was what broke the shock, and made him push the idiot off of him. He quickly spit out, genuinely grossed out - he honestly didn't like spicy foods in the morning - and also mortified.
"You! You! Gaaaah!" he fumed, seeing the blond runt making gagging noises. A pink-haired girl he had never paid attention to - paying attention to people led to no good, really… Itachi had told him to seek him after he got the same eyes as he did, and for that he'd have to kill his best friend, but he could damn well see that Itachi had told him that to force him into making friends and forgetting about his revenge, Sasuke was a kid but he wasn't stupid - yelled at the blond and cracked her knuckles in anger. He noticed the panicked look the kid gave her, but his punishment - and who the hell did this girl think she was to punish him? Sasuke wasn't a damsel in distress, he could damn well deal with the idiot himself - was delayed by Iruka, who entered the room to call out the teams.
"Blah blah blah Team One… blah blah blah Team Two…" Iruka chanted, and Sasuke noticed with aprehension that all the decent students were being paired off with each other. Well… as long as he didn't get the same team as the deadlast…
"Team Seven is Haruno Sakura… Uzumaki Naruto," Sasuke let out an annoyed sigh, "... and Uchiha Sasuke," Sasuke facepalmed.
After his team had met their sensei - what kind of blithering dimwit falls for that old trick anyway? - and disbanded, Sasuke walked home, musing his bad luck.
He never noticed the blond kid following him from a safe distance.
The next day, as Kakashi gave Sakura and him bentos, he sat down to eat firmly determined to ignore the idiot's crying, but…
*GROOOOOWWWWWWLLLLL*
Sasuke sighed, and picked up his chopsticks.
*GROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWLLLLL*
How the hell could a stomach sound so pitiful?
*GRROOOOAAAAAAWWWWWWWGGGGGHHHHHHHHRRRRRRLLLLLL*
'Godsdamnit...' he thought, blushing furiously, and resigned himself to losing the challenge by offering his food to the blond deadlast.
"You… you'd share with me?" the idiot asked with puppy eyes, blushing back at him.
"Sa-Sasuke-kun, Kakashi sensei said not to…" the girl, Sakura something, babbled, and he interrupted her with a pointed look.
"Kakashi isn't here, and it won't do us any good to leave this dude hungry, he'll just get in the way. If he's eaten something he can help at least by distracting, and we can get the bells with some teamwork," he explained, feeding the idiot.
That evening, when Sasuke got home, he found a small package at the foot of his door, with a note attached to it.
He picked it up, and found an onigiri inside. On the note, in a nearly unreadable scrawl, he read 'Thank you.'
As the first weeks progressed Sasuke found himself reluctantly drawn to his teammates.
Sakura, despite being insufferably insistent in trying to get something romantic going on between them - not that it'd ever do her any good, because Sasuke didn't have eyes for anything except his revenge and even when he had said he'd rebuild his clan he wasn't in the least sure on how to actually go about doing it, since all the girls he knew were either seriously annoying or just uninteresting - to the point of being annoying, was at least able to stay quiet while working.
Kakashi was always late, always with his idiotic book perched on his face, and acted like he couldn't be bothered to teach them anything, but at least he didn't interfere when Sasuke started training on his own after doing his share of the work.
The deadlast, however, was a complete and utter useless tool, so he'd often remind him of it.
"Usuratonkachi! What the hell do you think you're doing?" he yelled as the blond runt's stupid clones started fighting amongst themselves, unearthing all the rice they had painstakingly planted for three hours already.
"Usura- what the hell teme! Who do you think you are calling people names, you shitty shithead piece of shit!"
"Someone who can at least come up with a decent insult, you twerp!"
Of course, their interaction would end up in an all-out brawl, with Sakura yelling at the dimwit until she noticed Sasuke had gotten some bruises, and then she'd go crying after Kakashi to avoid having Sasuke's face go too ugly for her tastes.
Sasuke was always even more pissed at Kakashi and Sakura's interference than at the deadlast for instigating his fury, though. It was decidedly fun to bash the idiot in, smear his face in the mud, kick his butt, and so on. Much better than that weird crazy kiss the feeble-minded midget had given him, anyway. Well, at least less embarrassing.
Naruto was so frustrated! Here he was on the way to becoming Hokage, finally, and the only missions they got were boring ones like catching runaway cats! He deserved better. Especially since that damn Sasuke kept stealing his spotlight all the time, with Sakura making googly eyes at him when she should be making them at Naruto instead.
So, when reporting in after catching the cat - the same one as several other times - he decided to tell it like it was. The Third had started reading missions from a list, but none of those were good enough. Who wants to babysit kids when you're going to become Hokage!
"No, no, no! No thanks! None of that boring stuff, we need something like, totally incredible! Give us a better one!"
Of course, this only caused Iruka to yell at him and Kakashi to knock him over the head, and then the Third went off and started rambling about some stupid rank system crap. Naruto didn't care, he just wanted a better mission. And if he wasn't getting one, he'd rather make plans for ramen.
"You guys just recently became genins, D-rank missions are perfect for you," the Third droned, before realizing no one was paying attention, instead listening to Naruto. "Hey, listen!"
"Geez, all you do is give lectures," Naruto complained, hearing his teammates silently agree with him. "But you know what, I'm not the troublemaking brat you think I still am!"
Little did Naruto expect to be assigned a mission in another country, accompanying a super rude guy called Tazuna who dared to call him a short little runt with a stupid face! It annoyed him so much he even forgot to be annoyed at Sasuke for a while. He really wasn't sure he wanted to protect someone so rude…
Still, it was so exciting to be outside the village for the first time that he could let it slide. It was fun to just walk with everyone and talk about stuff, even if he'd rather have something exciting happen. Though, by exciting he didn't really mean enemy ninjas attacking and Sasuke saving the day. He couldn't believe he'd been frozen in fear while Sasuke just took them out, simple as that, with a fierce look in his eyes that sent shivers down Naruto's spine. And then he called him a scaredy-cat! Naruto was never, ever going to accept that bastard as his teammate! He couldn't lose to him!
Despite Kakashi's doubts and Tazuna admitting he'd lied in the mission description, they continued the mission and Naruto was glad for it. He'd train and work hard until he could be the one to protect Tazuna and his bridge rather than Sasuke. If that meant he had to reach the top of a tree by running, then so be it! He'd reach the top before Sasuke, and then he'd beat the enemy ninjas easily. There was just the tiny problem that he apparently sucked at it.
Sasuke wasn't that much better but surprisingly, Sakura could do it at the first try. Well, Naruto already knew she wasn't just pretty, but smart too! And if he failed on his own, he'd ask her about the technique. Anything to improve, and the fact that Sasuke grumpily came over to him once the tips he'd gotten worked perfectly was just a bonus. And he looked so damn embarrassed when asking too, that Naruto couldn't help but grin wide in spite, and then reply that it was a secret. Ooh, the look on Sasuke's face was so worth it!
In fact, his rivalry with Sasuke only seemed to increase the more they trained together. Naruto didn't mind. It made him feel a bit closer to him, not that he wanted to be friends or anything! But he couldn't deny that training together was kind of fun like this.
However, once he'd heard the terribly tragic story of how Tazuna had lost his son to the bad guys, he decided he wasn't training hard enough. He'd reach the top even if it took him the whole night! And so, on the sixth morning after their training had started, Naruto slept soundly on the ground. He was woken up by a really pretty girl, which was nice compared to being woken up by Kakashi. She seemed rather impressed with him being a ninja, too. She did ask a couple weird questions though about who was important to him, before telling him that a person becomes truly strong when they have someone to protect. It made him remember the times he'd been protected, by Iruka on the day of his graduation, and by Kakashi when they encountered Zabuza, one of the enemy ninjas working for he guy trying to kill Tazuna.
To him, having someone to protect was very important. Having grown up alone, each and every bond he managed to form became incredibly important. He supposed he'd even protect Sasuke, if it came to that. Maybe. If he could look cool while doing it.
If only the pretty girl hadn't told him she was a boy.
If only the pretty girl hadn't turned out to be one of the bad guys.
Naruto found himself caught inside a circle of mirrors, with a desperate - and angry - Sasuke by his side. It had started out well. He'd saved Tazuna's daughter and grandson, then rushed towards the bridge that was the cause for the whole conflict. Sasuke had wanted him to attack from the outside, but Naruto had instinctively rushed to him, not bothering to think farther than that.
Haku was just too fast, switching between the mirrors and attacking them with senbon, always hitting the target but never damaging vital places. It was the first time he had faced an enemy like this and been forced to fight to the death. He honestly hadn't imagined Sasuke by his side in a scenario like this, fighting for your life and your dreams against an enemy that in another time and place could have been a friend.
But it wasn't supposed to be like this. He wasn't supposed to be so weak, forced to rely on Sasuke. But there were senbon covering his body and the pain was getting to him, and somehow, miraculously, Sasuke was fighting back.
Sasuke got in a hit, as Haku moved between mirrors.
Sasuke protected him, when all he could do was lie useless on the ground.
And Sasuke died for it.
"What's… with that face… you moron," Sasuke forced out, blood streaming from his many wounds and the senbon embedded in his throat.
"Why?" was all Naruto could get out, body frozen in shock with Sasuke's back towards him, body seeming to tremble as he fought to stay standing.
"I hated you…" Sasuke whispered, and Naruto felt something painful squeeze his heart.
He'd told himself he hated Sasuke, too, but in this moment, he couldn't pretend he did.
And Sasuke claimed he didn't know why, claimed his body moved on his own, and Naruto felt control leave him as a powerful chakra built up inside him, cradling Sasuke's limp body in his arms with tears streaming down his face and Haku's taunts ringing in his ears.
The mirrors exploded, his wounds healed on their own, and he managed to land a hit in his rage that split the mask that Haku wore in half, revealing the face of that pretty girl he'd met in the forest, instead of the hidden mist hunting nin he'd thought him to be. Or rather, they were one and the same, and all of Naruto's newfound bloodlust disappeared.
Afterwards, his memories were a bit fuzzy, but as fuzzy as they were he knew he would never forget them. He'd never forget the pain of losing Sasuke, and the relief upon seeing him alive after all. He'd never forget the conflicting emotions after figuring out Haku's identity, and understanding and empathizing with him. He'd never forget the faces of Zabuza and Haku as they laid side by side, Zabuza drawing his final breaths with the snow falling to cover their bodies, praying to see Haku in the afterlife.
Standing in front if their graves, he didn't think they deserved their end, and for a moment he hated that this was supposed to be part of a ninja's life. That a bond as strong and worthy of protection as theirs, would be destroyed because of money, because they found no other place to go and no other way of living. It hurt, and while he wished to one day experience a bond like that, he was also frightened that this was a possible end. It made him realize that ouside of Konoha, there were places and people who wanted to destroy love like that.
If anything, he learnt that he never wanted to see Sasuke like that again, with him helpless to do anything about it. He needed to become stronger in order to protect the people close to him. Especially that crazy-ass Uchiha, he thought with a shiver running up his back. That boy with his "My body moved on its own" thing had nearly frightened him to death. He was definitely too reckless for his own good.
The journey back was mostly quiet, and Sasuke thanked his ancestors for that.
What the hell had he been thinking, throwing himself in front of the deadlast like that? Fine, he had actually helped up with his chakra training, but, but, but… he was supposed to kill Itachi, he couldn't do that if he was dead!
And then the look on the idiot's face when he had seen him stand up, the moron even cried, it was so embarrassing. And now on the way back he was all 'You sure you're ok, bastard?' 'Eat up, skinny,' 'Sakura-chan, are you sure you fixed this shithead right? I can see him leaking blood.'
Fine, Sasuke actually did look like a sieve right now, stupid mosquitoes were hovering around him as if he was a walking buffet - damn him and his sweaty disposition making it preferable to use loose shorts and wide-collared shirts - but he was a ninja godsdamnit! Wasn't it enough that he had fallen like a tree right in front of everyone and that Sakura was trying to hide her lack of courage by nursing him?
He threw the kunai he had been fiddling with on the ground, and stood up. "I'm going to pee," he muttered, and left the camp.
"Stupid Naruto… stupid mission… stupid Haku… stupid Kakashi," he mumbled, scowling, trying to find a bush away from prying female eyes.
"Hey," he heard a deep male voice call, and hurriedly pulled his fly up before turning towards Kakashi. "Hn."
"Look, I know you feel embarrassed about getting hurt like that, but shit happens, kid. That's one of the reasons teamwork is so important. As much as your team mates need you to watch their backs, you need to let them watch your back too."
"Wouldn't have gotten hurt if that usuratonkachi hadn't interfered where he wasn't called," Sasuke muttered.
Kakashi snickered. "Yeah, he is sort of unpredictable, isn't he? I thought after all that great work at the riverbank he wouldn't pull such a stupid stunt afterwards, but what do you know, kid must've fallen on his head when he was born, his brain freezes up sometimes."
"No, his brain's natural state is frozen, it only works sometimes, you got the wrong way around," Sasuke said, biting back a smirk.
"Just try to not mind him so much, ok? You guys work well together when you're not busy slapping each other silly," Kakashi said, and they went back to camp.
"I'm taking first watch, get some sleep," Kakashi announced, and Sasuke made his way under the makeshif tent, grunting a little - how the hell could someone so small take so much space - until he was able to lie sideways, Naruto's foot only slightly too close to his face for comfort.
"Night, Roary," he whispered quietly to the toy dinosaur hid deep in his backpack, and slept.