Title: The Four Seasons
Summary: Umino Iruka has a heart to heart with Kakashi far earlier than the Chunnin Exams. The conversation brings forth a wind of change for Team 7. Two lonely boys and a broken man find a family, and a little girl learns that happiness can be found in the most unexpected places. With the changing of the seasons, the four of them will adapt to what the world throws at them. Together. No pairings for now. Team7!Friendship, Attentive!Kakashi, slow build up. No crazy power-ups here.
Genre: Action, Friendship
Rating: T for swear words, violence and adult situations. No sexual content.
Edit: I added a few parts that were missing in the first published chapter. REVIEW PLEASE!
Disclaimer: I don't own.
Chapter 1: The Unlucky Formation of Team 7
Spring.
The room was cool with a soft wind entering through the window and the sun shone onto Iruka-sensei's hitai-ate, making it glint furiously as he bent to pick up a folder from his desk. The light glared into her eyes and she scrunched up her face, her vision fading into darkness as her lids closed over her pupils. For a moment there was nothing but blackness and the sound of the last students settling into their seats.
Haruno Sakura nestled into her chair between Naruto and Sasuke-kun, feeling tired. After the run against Ino-pig and the tremendous beat-up she just gave Naruto (with the help of several of Sasuke-kun's fan-girls, of course) she was feeling quite tired and in need of a rest. She couldn't wait to get home and take a long, hot bath! Her parents were away for the week – if she was luck they would not come back until Friday and she'd have a nice, long and relaxing week ahead of her, without her dad constantly surprising her in the morning with a shuriken to the head or her mom loading her plate with food she could not eat. She was on a diet, dammit!
After all, Sasuke-kun hated fat girls.
But he likes long hair, Sakura thought, as she fiddled with a strand of her bubblegum pink tresses.
Then she opened her emerald eyes and her gaze fell upon her most fearsome rival. Sakura's frown became more pronounced as her hand clenched reflexively and scrunched up her pretty hair. The pig had her hands around Shikamaru Nara's shoulders, violently shaking him awake.
If there is anyone, Sakura thought bitterly, who can make that look graceful it is she.
Where Sakura had soft features and childish proportions that gave her the aspect of a weird fairy-like cherub, Ino Yamanaka had the grace of a swan and features that matched the delicate perfection of her poise. She flicked her almost platinum hair over her shoulder as she turned away from the dizzy Nara and spoke to Hikari, a fellow fan girl, never faltering in the change between rage and composure. She was a queen and, to her subjects (the rest of the fan girls in Konoha), she would show no weakness.
Haruno Sakura turned away from the show with disgust. Long ago the two of them had been friends; best friends, even. There where still whispers in her mind of secrets shared and hide and seek and the gentle acceptance the blonde had given her with no qualms. She had felt safe and cherished and cared for in a way her parents hadn't been able to give her no matter how much they tried: she had felt the joy of having a real friend.
And then it crashed and burned. Worse: it was all her fault.
That bitch had as much a part in it as us and you know it!
The other voice in her head startled the girl into awareness but before she could answer, Iruka-sensei's voice cut through.
"Team Seven: Sakura Haruno…"
Iruka paused, mentally swearing at whoever arranged the teams. He had enough experience with the three of them in class to know this group had "recipe for disaster" written all over it. He almost giggled with muted horror and shock when he saw who their jounin instructor was.
There was only one explanation, he thought: whoever had decided to put the three most dysfunctional genin in his graduating class together under the care of a traumatized war veteran and retired ANBU had been out of his fucking mind or on some serious drugs. There was simply no way the Hokage had approved this team.
He shifted his eyes quickly to the bottom of the page and saw, with a sinking feeling, the Professor's seal on the left edge. He took a deep breath and cursed himself for getting drunk with Anko the night before and collapsing onto his couch before revising the team selection, as he should have. He put his gears into work and rationalized the situation.
He supposed it made sense to put the last Uchiha with Sharingan Kakashi, but what about Naruto-kun? Haruno Sakura?
Naruto's position as dead last could have moved him into any of the groups that held the 3 strongest members of the class – it did not have to be Sasuke's. However much the other clans may protest about the Jinchuriki's position on the same team as their own clans' progenitors, the truth of the matter was that there was only one Uchiha left, and his life was far more valued that the other children's. It left a bitter taste on his tongue, but if the Council were going to have an issue with Naruto's placement on any team, it would be Sasuke's, not anyone else's.
So why had Sarutobi-sama made a move against the Council by putting the two boys together? Especially knowing they hated each other?
Then the issue of Sakura became apparent. She was an only child from a clan less family; her parents where shinobi, a jounin father with no special characteristics who went on missions when required and a chunnin mother who stayed at home and completed missions mostly inside the village. They were as standard a family as they could be: Konoha had many families of shinobi who led normal lives unless taken by disease or a mission gone wrong. It was sad, but not tragic. The parents could die any day in one of the missions and the world, except for a little pink-haired child, would not end.
Neither would it stop for the death of their 12 year old daughter, was she so unlucky to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, caught between the power of an unleashed Kyuubi and whichever assassin came to murder Naruto or Sasuke…
…Or Copy Cat Kakashi, he muttered in his mind. Suddenly he felt very tired and very old.
Haruno Sakura was a scapegoat for clans who would not tolerate that any of their children were put into the same team as three targets when it could be avoided. Never mind her innocence and her parents, who would grieve for her if she died and hate the blond child even more.
Iruka felt the weight of 12 years of secrets on his shoulders and knew they would soon all rest on a little girl's possibly dead body, along with the lives of so many people massacred one lonely night. What bad luck the child had, to be placed in such a dangerous position besides a Jiinchuriki (although he doubted Naruto-kun would dare hurt a hair on her crown), the Last Uchiha and have one of the most wanted men alive for a sensei.
"Iruka-sensei?"
Belatedly he realized he'd stayed silent too long and coughed awkwardly into his hand. "Yes, uuh… Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke. Your instructor is Hatake Kakashi."
He grinned for about a millisecond before Naruto protested the "Teme"'s placement on his team, and he prepared to give a watered down and severely edited explanation.
At least it would be fun to watch them sit anxiously for hours before that bastard lazy-ass jounin arrived. He always had a knack for arriving later than one learned to expect from him.
.
Uzumaki Naruto surveyed the room as he listened to Iruka's voice. Whoever decided to name him the dead last had obviously not taken into account the two idiots at the second to front row who were now trying to discretely pin a needle into sensei's seat. They had tied a semi-transparent chord of something to the object, and were in the process of throwing it quickly onto the seat and then tugging softly until the bottom rested on the chair and the point looked up to the ceiling. They seemed to think it would remain upright if they just willed it too.
Idiots. As Naruto expected, the needle kept falling and they kept retrieving it from the seat with the shiny strand coming from one of the kid's fingers. It seemed like a nifty thing to have, he thought. He would probably ask them where they got it from if it wasn't because they hated him so much.
Especially now that he knew why they hated him so much.
He poured his concentration back into what Iruka-sensei was saying. So the balance of the team meant he got Sasuek-teme? That was so unfair!
"That's so unfair! I don't wanna be in the same team as that idi-!"
"Naruto! Don't use that language in my class!"
"Naruto-baka! Don't talk about Sasuke-kun like that!"
He saw the teacher wincing and felt the blow to his head simultaneously. From the corner of his eye he could have sworn he saw the teme smirk.
That motherfucking asshole.
He rubbed his head tenderly as he turned to stare at Sakura-chan. His eyes first met with Iruka-sensei, and the chunin gave him a small guilty smile and a shrug. A sort of what can I do? You told me not to stop her.
And Naruto had. Long ago, when the abuse from Sakura-chan had first started Iruka had, in one of his few moments of fairness at that point in his life, punished Sakura for being violent towards him. It was more of a "no violence allowed" policy they had in class than any real effort to protect him, but Naruto had quickly explained to the teacher that it had been his fault, and to please not punish Sakura-chan ever again if she hit him again. Iruka had agreed then because he didn't care about the boy, but now Naruto could see he regretted making that promise.
Uzumaki Naruto didn't.
There is something horribly beautiful, he thought, in Sakura-chan when she is angry.
The blond boy had lived his whole life observing his surroundings. Being alienated since a young age meant that he'd done enough self-analysis to last a lifetime long ago, and it hadn't helped him much nor had it explained any of the problems he had in his life, at least those he was aware of. He had therefore turned to observing others in an effort to learn what no one would teach him: human interaction.
Throughout his years he'd seen almost every possible range of emotion, from crying mothers babying their kids to sniggering old men stealing from their clients; happy children playing in the park to terrifying drunks who swayed and changed moods more quickly than anyone else he'd ever seen. He'd seen the prostitutes in his district seduce men twice their age and chase away young adults with empty pockets. The Oroike No Jutsu wasn't born from nothing.
Most of all, he'd seen the hate-filled glances people sent at him every single day of his life. He had once tried to ignore them, but ignoring was harder than accepting and soon he found himself getting used to the violence and abuse that went along with the hate. By the age of six, he knew hate so personally he might have named it his only friend.
So when Sakura first hit him, he'd been anticipating it with the singular disappointment of a child disenchanted from the possibility of a friend. He'd lifted his eyes and stared at her while she raised her arm, expecting to see his dear friend portrayed in her eyes, the same friend that greeted him every day in dozens of others.
Behind her there was a crowd of students cheering for the girl, her best friend Ino crying her support and the rest of the class quietly disinterested. In front of him was Haruno Sakura, her pink her swaying with the wind, little fist raised high and forehead standing out prominently against her green eyes. Green eyes, Naruto realized, with tears gathering at the corners.
In the seconds of hesitation before the blow landed, Naruto had the clear impression that Sakura had felt bad for hitting him. That she hadn't wanted to.
At his tender age of seven, it was a novel experience for a child who was angrily beaten daily. He developed his first crush, misguided and toxic; because hurt was all he knew and he'd once been told that little children pulled the hair of the kid they liked. He figured it applied to this sort of situation.
Now, at the age of twelve, the Sakura in front of him had clear anger in her eyes directed at him, but for a boy who knew hate so personally, he also knew she did not hate him the way the rest of the village did. She was annoyed by him, clearly, and had no qualms in hitting him (even if her punches where barely strong enough to hurt – she'd never been the strongest of the girls), but there was none of the pleasurable sadism he saw in other people's eyes when they gazed at him.
Sakura huffed and turned towards Sasuke, cooing and giggling. Naruto saw the boy tense and look away, ignoring her. He sighed; he didn't know what she saw in the bastard.
As he stared hard at the black-haired genin, an idea started forming in his head. Slowly, Naruto grinned.
It was time to gather some information. And, if a certain someone got pranked, that was just the icing on the cake.
.
Uchiha Sasuke sat on the floor of his apartment, fighting the ropes on his body.
When he found that idiot he would pay… dearly.
.
He giggled under his breath as he walked towards the bench where he could se Sakura-chan was seated, looking lonesome. He quickly arranged his face into what he considered was his poker face; on Sasuke's features, he imagined it looked very much like his normal face.
He reclined on a tree in front of her, wondering how long it would take for her to look at him. He felt his control over the illusion slipping and tightened it further. How long would this take? He had only just gotten a hang on Henge…
When she finally lifted her eyes, she looked stunned. He assumed there were few times Sasuke would talk to her, let alone look at her. She blushed prettily, and he wondered what she was thinking about…
"You," he started. "Have such a large, charming forehead."
She still looked like a fish, with her mouth opening and closing.
"Makes me want to kiss it." He finished.
Her eyes seemed to water with unshed tears, and her lips started to tremble. Oh shit, he thought. Maybe I read this situation the wrong way? I could've sworn she would be happy with that!
"I-It sounds like something Naruto would say, right?" He tried out for a cool and collected tone, but probably sounded constipated.
Speaking of constipated, he felt his hold on the illusion loosening, so he quickly moved on.
"What do you think of Naruto?" He sat beside her, moving to rest his arms on his knees, like he'd seen Sasuke do millions of times. He wanted to look at her, but Sasuke never did, so…
"He's always getting in the way when I do something important, and he enjoys seeing me struggle." Her voice startled him, and he finally looked at her. She had her hair shielding her face from him, head tilted downwards. "Naruto doesn't understand anything about me. He's just annoying. All I want is…"
He couldn't believe that's what she thought of him? Did he really mess things up for her? And granted he knew little about her, but he knew a lot about her personality and-
"For you to acknowledge me."
She glanced at him from behind her hair. He looked slightly afraid, but his cheeks were flushed red and she could feel his chakra going a little haywire. It seemed familiar, as it should, because Sasuke-kun was her world and she knew him top to bottom.
"I'm absolutely serious about this." She gulped. "I would do anything, because I like you," she blushed, "a lot."
Their faces were growing so close together. She felt his rapid breath on her cheeks and his heart was beating so fast he didn't know whether he would make it because what if she was bad at it? No one had taught her how to kiss would be his first one; he hoped to Kami the illusion lasted forever, the moment would never end for her.
Ten centimeters apart, Naruto felt a stirring in his bowels. He thought it was the excitement.
Five centimeters apart, he realized excitement had nothing to do with it, and bolted to the nearest bathroom.
Sakura felt the chakra disruption occur before the air around Sasuke's body shimmered. Then he stammered out an excuse as he fled from the bench where they were seated so so close seconds ago.
She blinked. She felt the stirrings of warm, heavy anger making its way from the bottom of her stomach up to her chest and took several calming breaths. In and out, slowly, like her father had taught her. Rein it in Sakura, she could almost hear him, close the door to the fury and breathe.
Fuck that.
Her scream tore the silence around the passage as she cursed and cursed Naruto Uzumaki to hell. The trees shivered with her anger, the leaves of spring sprouting even as she suffered through her disgust. She'd felt that chakra before, so many times in class when he failed to create a perfect Henge. She'd felt it swarming the class because the idiot didn't know how to control his reserves. Figures that the one time he finally produces a successful illusion it's her precious Sasuke-kun's face.
Sakura was angrier with herself, though, because she'd bought into it so easily. I should know better, she thought. It's Sasuke-kun. He's everything to me! How could I not know?
Because we were distracted by his gorgeous face getting closer and closer to ours! Imagine those lips…
She blushed at the image the voice provided. She shrugged it off and thought about the conversation she just had with the idiot.
So that's why he was asking about Naruto… well, himself, I guess.
Well, everything she'd told him was true. The moron didn't understand anything about her, he only bothered her about dates and cared more about being the center of attention than paying attention in class and getting good grades. He'd get nowhere in life like that.
Dead last is so appropriate, she thought.
Sakura heard footsteps behind her. Flipping her hair, she turned and saw him: the real Sasuke-kun.
OMG OMG OMG! TALK TO HIM!
"Sasuke-kun! Why don't yo-"
"I have to go. Where's Naruto?" He interrupted her. Kami, he had no time for this. Wherever that idiot had gone he must be destroying his reputation and blemishing the Uchiha name. That asshole would not get away with it.
Who did he think he was, anyway? What would make him go against me, an Uchiha?
The moment he'd heard the team's being announced, he had realized this was the world trying to screw with him. No matter that he had already so much baggage. Let's throw some more on, shall we? He could practically hear Destiny mocking him, taunting him with the liberty of finally being a shinobi before handcuffing him to two morons who had no skill and would only slow him down.
He absolutely despised Naruto, what with his disastrous grades and obnoxious behavior. He couldn't wait to get away from the blond the moment the team was broken up. Because it would, it had to. He had faith the Council would make sure of it.
From the little he remembered about his father's teachings, the Council, who were really only the two advisors to the Hokage, was like the mastermind behind most of the village's actions. The pair had earned that title by having the power to sway or undermine the Clan Heads, the supposed ring of power over the village. The Clan Heads, however, were limited to voting, while the Council where the only two people who could make decisions at a snap of a finger without consulting anyone but the Hokage.
He had realized early one that being the last Uchiha would benefit him in some ways, bring him closer to his goal and one step further into his vengeance. So long as the Council treasured him and gave him the means to grow, he would be their lackey. He remembered the early days after the massacre, when going to the Academy was an automatic reaction, not a conscious decision on his part but an instinct ingrained after 3 years of attending that hellhole. When he got out of his spunk, he decided that instead of leaving the Academy he would make the most of it, please the Council and they would reward him with the best instruction they could offer the moment he got out.
He just wanted the Jounin. He didn't realize the package included a team of idiots.
"…He doesn't have parents!" Sasuke stopped short. He looked at the pink blob on the edge of his vision. So she was still talking? He couldn't remember her name; only that she was one of the many bothersome fan girls that assaulted him every once in a while. It disgusted him.
Why would they even think he was interested? They had no skills as ninja, no sort of brain under their freakishly perfect hair-do's (He always wondered how much time they dedicated to those things. What a waste). They were vapid, and he disliked them.
There was only one person he was interested in and if everything went right, in a few years time that person would be dead.
"He can do whatever he wants. If I acted like that, my parents would ground me for months!" He tensed even further. So besides being vapid, the girl was an idiot. He vaguely remembered that this girl would be in his team, and he sighed mentally.
"He's so lucky, all alone, no parents to say what to do and what not to do!"
… What did you just say?
Sasuke had not felt so much anger in a very long time. However little he cared for the girl had now plummeted to a steady despise. He felt something sinister enter his eyes as he turned to stare at the stupid girl who would now become another baggage to drag him down.
Sakura grinned charmingly at him, her eyes glimmering with her devotion. Sasuke-kun was so cool! He had that mysterious aura and everything!
"All alone…"
She blinked. "Huh… S-Sasuke-kun?"
"Loneliness: it's not something being scolded by your parents can compare with."
Sakura shivered. There was something so utterly wrong in his voice, so cold and frigid. She'd never heard her Sasuke-kun talk like that! He turned and his black eyes stared into her soul.
But unlike last time, she didn't feel at all warm.
"You… annoy the hell out of me."
Then Sasuke turned and walked on, never looking back.
He couldn't wait until his team got disbanded. He honestly. Couldn't. Wait.
.
The shinobi scratched his scalp, feeling the tingling on his neck that usually shadowed the appearance of a threat. He didn't tense, though, because he was Hatake Kakashi and nothing bothered him unless it involved his favorite reading material. He gave a contented sigh as he flipped another page.
Koneko-chan was so naughty!
The air on his left dispersed as what he felt was a chunnin level shunshin occurred beside him. He didn't bother to lift his head, and continued reading his Icha Icha. It had just gotten to such a juicy chapter…!
"You are the most infuriating man to get a hold on!" A gasping voice stammered, and Umino Iruka tiredly dropped to his heels in front of him. "Do you know how much I've run trying to locate you? Apparently Jounin like playing games with the moron's that dare look for you." Iruka expected something, a laugh at his self-deprecation, even an eye-roll.
Silence.
Kakashi flipped a page. He giggled.
Was this the man supposed to take care of three of his most precious students? Iruka looked at the grey-haired man perched languidly on top of the Hokage monument, swinging his leg over the Third's hitae-ate and sniggering into his hand as he read the most perverted book known in the Fire Country.
He sighed. He'd wanted to avoid this conversation but there was too much riding on the performance of this Jounin. If there was even a chance…
Naruto had always been his favorite, in the way the class clown was looked at fondly after his departure and because of the recent events that pulled them even closer together. He'd just come from lunch at Ichiraku's with him, and the blond was so excited to be genin that he couldn't burst his bubble and tell him that his instructor would most likely fail them, like the rest of the team's put under his care.
Sasuke, on the other hand, had surfed through the chunnin's class like he lived on another plane of existence. He was the number one Rookie, but only because he set his own limits, not because he aimed to please anyone but himself. The few times Iruka had tried to reach out for the boy he had been knocked back by a glare and the silent treatment, and he couldn't very well treat him like any other child when the Council treated him like a precious object not to be touched. He wasn't as concerned about him though: Kakashi would keep Sasuke, even if he failed Naruto and Sakura. The Council would make sure of that.
If he was absolutely honest, the best result the pink-haired girl should aim for would be to get out of that team immediately. He'd always had a soft spot for her, being one of the few children in his class who wasn't an heir or part of any ninja clan. He respected her disposition in his theory classes, even if her grades on physical education left a lot to desire. She was a lonely child who once had friends, then lost them to a power struggle between girls and became alone in a very particular way. She had acquaintances and peers, but he'd never seen the girl converse particularly long with anyone in the class. She usually sat in front of the class or, if she made it, besides Sasuke. They never spoke, however, because she was always concentrated in his teachings and he never answered if she tried to start a conversation.
She had a mean streak when provoked though, which further alienated her from her peers. The only one completely unflappable to her violence was Naruto; the brat had a crush on her as big as the moon and no matter how much she hit him he kept getting back up again and with more resolve than ever. He'd have to ask Naruto about that at some point. Maybe now that they had a better relationship, he'd open up to him? Goodness knew the kid needed some sort of parental guidance…
And, Iruka thought, looking at the man in front of him, I doubt he will be getting it from this guy.
"Kakashi-san, I hope you forgive me, but I wanted to talk to you about your team. Your Genin team? See I was their instructor in the Academy and, well…" Iruka saw that Kakashi still looked as uninterested as possible. "…I hope you realize how important it is that you treat them properly."
At this, the silver-haired jounin looked at him. There was awareness in his eyes that had been missing moments before. "You think… I'll treat them badly?"
A warning.
"Ah, no-! I just-" Breathe. "Naruto-kun doesn't deal well with rejection." Kakashi tilted his head. "So if you fail them, as I've heard you've failed every single team before, please be considerate.
"I don't think the Hokage has explained the situation as fully as he could have. The reports on the three children are as biased as they could possibly be. Sasuke's is all praise because he's the last Uchiha and even if he has a lot of potential he also has many issues to work through. Naruto's file is full of prejudice for what he holds inside of him and," Iruka paused, "I'll be the first to admit that I was guilty of the same until not long ago. Sakura's is probably the most true to her character, but she has skills with chakra that have barely been touched upon by her teachers, including me."
Kakashi stared at him, contemplative. "If you're so sure I'll fail them, then why the reminder of their strengths and weaknesses? According to you I won't be teaching them."
"Because I'm crazy and I think there's a chance you'll pass them."
Umino Iruka had been recompiling his knowledge on these three students since the moment he announced Team 7 to the class. A loudmouthed brat isolated by what he held, a broody survivor of a massacre from which he never recovered and a naïve obnoxious girl with violent tendencies more concerned with her beauty than her skills as a kunoichi; the three of them as anti-social as they could get, whether by choice or not.
They shouldn't be able to make it through Kakashi's test. They shouldn't last a second. Unless…
"If there is a chance," he said, looking directly into Kakashi's eyes, "that all three of them end in your care… I beg of you, look further than what they seem to be."
Iruka didn't notice Kakashi stiffen, and instead continued. "You'll be responsible for them then. They will answer to you."
He bid Kakashi farewell, and jumped away from the monument while whispering, "Don't make the same mistakes I did."
And Kakashi was left alone.
.
Far away, in the Hokage's Tower, Sarutobi Hiruzen contemplated the reports in front of him. The three genin - one smiling, the other blankly staring, and the last one painted such an atrocious red and white - looked at him from inside their ID photos.
Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto would officially become Team 7 if they passed Hatake Kakashi's bell test tomorrow.
He sighed heavily as he reclined into his seat. The years felt heavy nowadays. There was a time when his bones would not creek or stammer as he moved, when he was a fine, polished blade ready for anything. That time has passed, he thought. His senses had not dulled but his body, while willing, had a harder time following his instincts.
This time his gut told him that Team 7 would make it. At least for a little while - no one knew better than he that Death relished in the young ones. There was so much steeped against them...
But if there was something the Third Hokage had learned in all his years was that Misery loved company, and here where the three loneliest people in Konoha. They would somehow get along.
And the girl? Well... Sarutobi had problems bigger than kunoichi who slipped between the pages of history. She would be a footnote; nothing wrong with that.
The ANBU guarding the window of the Kage's office sniffed. The scent of grass reached his nostrils. The sun shone above. Below him, he heard children playing in the streets. He smiled.
Spring had come.
TBC
I hope you guys like this! First real attempt at a multi-chapter story - I'm actually extremely scared.
Anyway, a few explanations:
1. I apologize for any triggers people may have seen in the Naruto part of this chapter. The truth is that to me, hemust have suffered not only alienation but severe abuse – other Jinchuriki like Bee don't seem to have the same sort of muted response to pain like Gaara or Naruto, who did suffer for what they are. I apologize if it is a sensitive subject for some people, but it is important that I highlight his response to hate and abuse, as it's the only explanation I can find for his twisted crush on Sakura. It will develop into a healthier bond with her; so don't worry, as will the other relationships in and outside of Team 7.
2. Sakura will not remain vapid. Yes, she's my favorite character in the manga so it will be Sakura-intensive, as you can see in this chappy. I know I portray her very meanly right now but the whole point of this story is that they all have some sort of development. This is where she starts, and it will take time before she changes into a better version of herself but it. will. happen.
3. Not many changes in terms of power or training, at least not yet. I have a sort of clear idea of where I want this to go, so I'll be working slowly but surely towards that. There will be no crazy power ups, and the story will remain pretty much canon up until... well, I can't tell you that yet.
4. There will be changes to the storyline, but again, not many. This part of the story will be more internal than external, meaning A LOT of introspection and character analysis. They will be interacting with more people than in the manga though, and there will be more fleshing out of their relationships.
5. NO PAIRINGS. At least not for now. I'm a huge sasusaku fan (CHAPTER 685 PEOPLE YAASSS) but this story doesn't blend well with that at the moment. It doesn't mean that Sakura will suddenly stop liking Sasuke or that Naruto will get over his crush on Sakura. These are important parts of their personalities and so instead of throwing them to the trash I'll just nudge them a bit, clean them up and solidify the bonds between the three of them while leaving the attraction and romance as a side dish for a while.
6. Kakashi will be a lot more in sync with the rest of Team 7. He plays a very important part in this story, so he'll be growing too.
7. Iruka won't be featured prominent. Frankly, I used him more as a catalyst in this chapter. He'll kind of be the measuring ruler against which I'll be placing Team 7 at random times, so that you can all have a perspective on how much they're changing. But it won't be a fast change. Also, even though he sounds kind of cold here, it's mostly him explaining the views everyone else who hates Naruto, loves Sasuke and ignores Sakura has. They're not his views. Hope that shines through.
8. Yes, Sarutobi is an asshole. He's also in charge of a Hidden Ninja Village which he handles with a very strong War-time mindset. He kinda needs to be an asshole for that, and Sakura is really a side note in his plans.
Anywho, hope you like it! I'll try to update regularly but frankly, that's not very probably. Hope I don't disappoint!
Read and Review please! Follow and Favorite and all those other pretty things! It'll make my day :)
Chrys.