Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does, at least until I manage to steal the copyright papers. (I know that's sadly not how copyright works)
Warning: Spoilers from the anime and manga ahead, read at your own discretion.
Prologue: Pleased to Meet You
Naruto had a huge grin on his face as he admired his latest masterpiece, he had really outdone himself this time, it was probably the biggest and flashiest prank he had ever pulled, which definitely made him feel quite proud of himself. As he took in his work of art he noticed his companion was nowhere to be found. 'Coward', thought Naruto with a grin, the bastard had probably ditched him, again.
*Linebreak*
It had been 6 years since Hiruzen had taken back the mantle of Hokage after Jiraiya refused to become the Fifth Hokage. Why his student was so against it, the Third would never know. And although he liked the job, more than once he wished that his student hadn't been so stubborn. After all, it was every Kage's duty to lead and protect their village, to ensure the next generation grew happy and strong, and in a healthy environment, to make sure the law was just, and fairly upheld, to manage relations with other villages and nations, to make sure the clans within the village didn't tear each other apart, to decide which shinobi were ready to be made jonin, to oversee the chunin nominations and exams, and to be an example for all living in the village. And yet these responsibilities were not what kept them up at unholy hours, why most had wanted to quit more than once, nor why they all found every chance they could to relax, they all had one enemy in common, one which made their very existence dreadful; paperwork. It was ridiculous how many papers, documents, requests, reports, letters, complaints, and whatnot he had to read, revise, approve, sign, stamp, reject, read again. Suffice it to say, the pile of papers in front of him weighed more than what the average chunin could lift. But he had to do it, it was, in the end, his job. But when Kakashi suddenly appeared in his office, giving him an eye-smile (Hiruzen always found it baffling how many emotions the masked jonin could convey with just one eye), he knew that he was going to have to put it off… again.
"So, Kakashi", he started. "What did he do this time?"
"He… well", chuckled the cyclops. "He decided the Hokage Monument was in need of a makeover"
Hiruzen sighed, he loved the child to death, but he was sure that he went out of his way to make his job harder than it already was. "I'll go take a look then", he said before vanishing, leaving only leaves where he stood a second before.
After the Third had left Kakashi's smile grew a bit while he thought; 'Well, sensei does look better than expected with a mustache.' And with that, he too vanished, only his destination was different, as he wanted to continue reading his book in peace.
*Linebreak*
Naruto took a moment to admire his masterpiece. He wasn't one to brag, but damn, he had really outdone himself this time. He had covered the First Hokage's face in spirals and drawn angry eyebrows on him, the Second had gotten away with the least damage, having only gotten various words tattooed onto his face, the most prominent one being on his forehead, which read; "Got you!", the current Hokage's face had been altered to look like that of a devil, complete with forehead horns and a goatee, Naruto thinking back to all the cruel study sessions "The Professor" had put him through, finally, he had given the Fourth Hokage a mustache and glasses, and even whiskers like his own. Yup, he was proud of himself.
His appreciation for his work was cut short when he heard a voice; "You brat! Come here!"
'Oh well', he thought, "Time to run". And that he did, trying to hide from the various chunin pursuing him while wondering where his companion had gone, it wasn't like anyone ever caught him, only the old man and said companion seemed to be able to track him down. Not that it mattered right now, he had to focus on getting away, he was in no mood for a sermon from the Hokage. And for a moment, it seemed like he really was getting away, until he ran face-first into something that is.
Realizing said something had been a someone, Naruto immediately began apologizing, hoping whoever it had been wasn't going to yell at him. That was until he took in the appearance of the one he bumped into and mentally face-palmed. Only he would somehow manage to crash into the one man he had wanted to avoid.
"H-Hi, old man", he said quickly, looking at the Third Hokage with big, puppy eyes, trying to look as innocent as possible, while trying to think of a plan to get away, "Are you taking a walk?"
"You could say that", replied Hiruzen, looking at the small boy with a small smile, "Care to join me?", the question was asked in a tone that let Naruto know he had no choice in the matter.
"S-Sure!", he agreed, trying to seem excited. "Where are we going?"
"Oh, I thought we could visit the Hokage Monument", he said, still smiling while looking in the direction of said monument. "I know you're quite fond of the place"
'Well crap… I'm dead', realised Naruto.
*Linebreak*
"Now please, try not to make my job harder than it needs to be, I'm too old for this", was the last thing Naruto heard before he left the Hokage's office.
'The old man is crazy', he thought, as he went down the stairs and left the Hokage building. 'Can't believe he made me clean all the stone faces, and still scold me afterwards'.
'Man, all that cleaning really got me hungry, better go to Ichiraku', he decided, drooling at the prospect of ramen.
He walked through the village on auto-pilot, knowing the way to his favourite restaurant as well as he knew the path from his bedroom door to his bed. A thousand thoughts went through his head while walking, most about ramen, distracting him from the road and everyone on it, but this was on purpose, one could say even a reflex he had developed over the years, as he hated the glares that most villagers gave him, he just ignored them by thinking of whatever came to mind. This would, however, backfire sometimes, as he was reminded when he crashed into a boy he hadn't noticed.
He nursed his butt and stood up, turning his attention towards the other boy, "Sorry", he said, offering his hand to the kid.
"No, don't worry about it, it's really my fault, I should pay more attention when I walk", replied the boy, looking apologetic and taking Naruto's hand to stand up. "My name is Sasuke by the way, what's yours?"
"I'm Naruto", answered Naruto. "Pleased to meet you", he added with a huge grin, letting go of Sasuke's hand. "Were you going somewhere Sasuke?"
"I just finished training with my brother, so I was looking for something to eat."
"Great!", exclaimed an excited Naruto. "I'm going for some ramen, wanna join me?"
Sasuke seemed to consider the offer, Itachi was always telling him to make friends, so he might as well try to. "Sure, let's go", said Sasuke with a small smile.
And like that, they set off towards Ichiraku.
Kakashi, who had been watching from the shadows was now evidently happy, 'So, Naruto finally made a friend, and an Uchiha no less. They should make for an interesting pair', he thought, before deciding to report this to the Hokage.
*Linebreak*
Teuchi was having a rather slow day, as was his daughter, not many customers had stopped by today, so they were both joking around. They were used to such days, every business owner is. The problem was that they had also gotten used to a certain daily customer, one who not only consumed enough ramen to keep the place running on his own, if they were to charge him for everything that is, but also improved both their moods whenever he came by. He had not stopped by today. That train of thought was quickly corrected when Naruto walked in no more than five seconds later, and with a friend no less!
"Hello Naru-chan!" greeted Teuchi's daughter, Ayame. "Who's your friend?"
"Ayame nee-san! This is Sasuke, he's my friend", declared a clearly excited Naruto, this being his first time actually introducing someone. "Sasuke, these are Ayame and old man Teuchi, they make the best ramen in the world!"
"My name is Sasuke, pleased to meet you", said Sasuke while bowing his head lightly. Secretly wondering if his new friend's claims were true.
"You should learn some manners from your friend Naruto", teased Teuchi before turning towards Sasuke with a smile, "Pleased to meet you Sasuke, I'm Teuchi and this is my daughter Ayame."
"What will you be having today boys?", asked Ayame with a laugh. Already watching Naruto drool over the counter.
"I want two miso, and three pork ramen bowls", said Naruto.
"I'll just have one bowl of miso ramen thank you", decided Sasuke, a bit surprised at the amount of food the blond had ordered.
"Six bowls, coming right up!", she said, as she almost immediately placing each boy's order in front of them. They always had some bowls ready for Naruto's appetite.
Sasuke blew into his before taking his chopsticks and trying the stand's ramen for the first time. He had to admit, he never thought ramen could actually taste great, having only eaten it out of a cup once or twice. For his part Naruto didn't miss a beat, as he was already downing his third bowl, before abruptly stopping, thinking back to when he met the boy sitting next to him, "Wait, Sasuke, you said you were training with your brother, are you a shinobi?", he asked, his mouth still full.
"No", replied Sasuke, chuckling when he noticed Teuchi and Ayame laughing at Naruto, he probably always spoke before finishing his food. "Not yet, but I'll enter the Academy when I'm eight to be as cool as my brother."
"So your brother is a shinobi?", questioned Naruto.
"He is, and he is the coolest one ever, but someday I'll be as cool as him", he answered, pride and admiration evident in his eyes.
"Awesome! I also want to be a shinobi, and one day I'll be Hokage!", declared Naruto with an air of finality.
"You can't be Hokage Naruto", concluded Sasuke as if it were obvious, "The Hokage is the strongest shinobi in the village, and you'll never be stronger than nii-san"
This pissed Naruto off. "Of course I can! I'll be stronger than any of the Hokage that came before me, just you watch!", exclaimed a determined Naruto.
Teuchi just laughed as both boys continued talking, he didn't say it, but he was glad Naruto had made a friend, with the way most villagers treated him, Naruto could really use one.
After they had finished eating, Teuchi told them that their meal was on the house, and with that, they both left thanking the shop owner.
As they walked Naruto turned to Sasuke, "Hey, are you training tomorrow?"
"No, my brother has squad training with his captain, so I'm probably going to stay home. Why?"
"Well, I'm not doing anything tomorrow either. So I was wondering if you'd like to go to the park?"
"Sure", answered Sasuke, "Let's meet there in the morning."
"Great!" See you tomorrow then!", yelled Naruto while waving his friend goodbye.
Sasuke just nodded and waved as well before heading home himself.
By the time Naruto got home it was already dark, so he headed straight to his bed, changed into his pajamas and went to sleep, as he could hardly wait for the next day. His smile never left his face, even in his deep slumber, he was overjoyed to have finally made a friend.
*Linebreak*
Naruto woke up early the next day, took a shower, boiled some water for his daily breakfast ramen, and got dressed. Wearing a simple orange shirt, blue shorts and brown sandals, he went to the park.
By the time he got there Sasuke was already waiting for him, so he ran towards his friend while waving his hand like a madman. "Hey Sasuke!"
"Hi Naruto", greeted Sasuke while getting up to join his blond friend.
They talked for a while, but that quickly devolved into an all-out game of 'ninja tag' as the called it, which was essentially regular tag, all while trying to act as ninja-like as they could, which Sasuke managed quite a bit better than Naruto, having at least had some training from his brother, while Naruto's 'training' so far had consisted of pulling pranks and the old man's occasional lesson, but those were rarely practical. They played for about two hours, before they were both exhausted. Sasuke had to admit, he was impressed by Naruto's stamina, he was keeping up with him, and probably feeling less tired than he did, even though he knew for a fact that he had trained much more than the blond. Whichever the case, they were both tired, so Sasuke suggested they stop and eat some lunch, of which his mom had packed enough for both, ecstatic that her son had made a friend. Naruto would never argue with food, so he quickly agreed, and both boys sat down.
Sasuke passed a lunch box to Naruto, along with a tea-filled canteen, and took one of each himself, as both began eating.
"Hey Naruto, didn't you bring any lunch yourself?", asked Sasuke, finding it weird that his friend had brought nothing with him.
"Well, I didn't really feel like cooking anything, I'm not really that good at it, and in order to bring ramen I would need to have some way of boiling water, which I don't, so I just decided I would eat when I got back home."
"Do you always cook your own food?"
"Mostly I just go to Ichiraku, or buy cup ramen, but yeah."
"Are your parents always busy or something?", asked the Uchiha, very curious as to what his friend's parents did.
Naruto's eyes gained a sad look to them as he answered, "Well, it's more like… Well, I don't actually have parents."
Sasuke immediately regretted his question, "I'm sorry, I didn't know", he said, clearly blaming himself for bringing up the topic.
Shaking his head a bit, Naruto turned to Sasuke, "No, no, it's fine. I never actually met them, they died on the day I was born. I don't really know much about them", he said, before his eyes turned from sad to proud, "All I know is that they were both amazing."
Sasuke simply nodded, not wanting to ruin his friend's change of mood.
"By the way, didn't you say that your brother is a shinobi?"
Now that was something Sasuke would gladly talk about, "Yeah, he is, the coolest one ever, even cooler than the Hokage."
"Really? Awesome! Does he know a lot of jutsu and stuff?"
"Yeah, he is even part of some sort of secret squad called the Anbu or something."
"Cool!", was all Naruto said, his eyes taking on the shape of stars.
After they were finished eating, Naruto helped Sasuke put the containers his mom had packed for them back into his backpack, when he noticed two other boys who were sitting not very far from them. One of them wore a green shirt and brown pants with sandals, he was quite slim, and wore his hair in a very small pineapple-like ponytail. The other one was wearing a light yellow shirt with cream-coluored pants and sandals, he was larger than his friend, had light brown hair, and had a spiral pattern on his cheeks.
His confidence soaring from having made a friend Naruto thought of an idea, "Come on Sasuke! Let's go talk to them."
"Sure, let's go", agreed Sasuke, deciding that he might like the other kids.
The two then approached the other pair. "Hey!", greeted naruto while waving his hand. "I'm Naruto, and this is Sasuke", he said while signaling towards his friend with a huge grin on his face.
"Pleased to meet you", added Sasuke with a small smile.
Knowing that his friend would find the idea of more kids 'troublesome', the light-haired boy was quick to answer. "I'm Choji, this is Shikamaru", announced Choji while pointing at Shikamaru.
"'Yo", greeted Shikamaru.
"Would you like to play with us?", asked a very excited Naruto.
"Sure. What about you Shikamaru?"
"We just played a little while ago, it's too troublesome", was the Nara's answer, even as he stood up and readied himself… which he was about to find out, was a very good idea.
Shikamaru couldn't believe how loud and energetic the blond was, he didn't ever seem to get tired. After they had played around for two or three hours, Shikamaru was ready to head home and take a nap, the two kids he had met today were insane. Even though he appreciated Sasuke's calm and polite demeanor, the boy never stopped, he and Naruto seemed to be able to go on forever. And he did like Naruto, he was optimistic enough for all four of them, and seemed to genuinely enjoy every minute they all spent together, but apparently, having him around was enough to get Choji to get fired up as well.
After they finally stopped playing, as they were laying down on the grass, he turned towards Naruto. "Hey, are you entering the Academy? I mean, I know Sasuke is going to, so I assume you are too."
"Yeah, I am! It will be the first step in my path to becoming Hokage!", answered Naruto, his eyes steeled with determination. "Wait, how did you know Sasuke and me are entering the Academy?"
"And I", corrected Sasuke.
"Huh?", deadpanned a confused Naruto.
"Sasuke and I. Nii-san says it's important to speak correctly", clarified the Uchiha.
With a tick over his left eye, the blond retaliated, "I speak correctly!"
Shikamaru decided to intervene and answer before things got out of hand, not having the energy nor the desire to spectate an argument. "Sasuke is an Uchiha", he began, "So it's obvious he would be entering the Academy, and before you ask, I knew he was an Uchiha from looking at his shirt, and noticing his mannerisms. As for you, well, for one, you are able to keep up with us three, and we are all entering the Academy, so I guessed you must also be training the same way we are."
Naruto looked at him baffled, genuinely impressed with the boy.
Choji couldn't help but laugh when he saw Naruto's face, he wasn't the first to react that way to Shikamaru, even Sasuke seemed impressed. "Yeah, Shikamaru is really smart. I had no idea that either of you were also entering the Academy. But that's great, that means we will all be in the same class."
They all smiled when Choji pointed that out, all of them happy to have people they got along with in their class. Though Shikamaru was a bit worried about Naruto, he was sure the blond would make their Academy years much more annoying, but even then, he was glad to have them in his class.
And so they all eventually parted ways, each heading home for the night, all of them deciding to meet up again the next day.
As days went by, Naruto and Sasuke hung out, sometimes Choji and Shikamaru joined in, to talk, play, and even 'train' sometimes. Their training wasn't much, it mostly involved much running and grappling, but it meant a lot to all of them, especially Naruto.
*Linebreak*
One such morning, as they sat on the swings at the park, Sasuke turned to Naruto, "Hey, Naruto, let's go meet nii-san."
"Your brother?", asked Naruto.
"Yeah, he is super cool, and I think you'll like him."
Not really having to think about it, Naruto answered with a smile, "Sure, let's go."
So they found themselves walking to where Sasuke and Itachi normally trained.
When they arrived Naruto could see a tall guy, wearing a black short-sleeved shirt, black pants with a kunai holster on his left leg and a shuriken pouch on his right, standard shinobi shoes. He wore his hair in a ponytail which fell a little past his shoulders. Said teen was sitting down, drinking water and wiping off some sweat with a towel. It was evident that he had just finished training. Seeing his brother Sasuke immediately ran to him; "Nii-san!"
"Hey there Sasuke", greeted Itachi with a smile. "Who's that with you?"
"This is Naruto, he's my friend", replied Sasuke.
"Your friend huh? Well, it's very nice to meet you Naruto-kun.", said Itachi with a soft voice. "Has my little brother given you much trouble?", he added while flicking Sasuke's forehead.
"Nii-san!", complained Sasuke, rubbing his forehead.
Naruto chuckled at this and answered; "Nice to meet you Itachi-san. Don't worry, he hasn't, we've been having lots of fun together!"
"You have? That is great to hear", said Itachi, clearly glad. "I have been telling Sasuke to make friends forever, good to see he finally listened to me."
"Yeah, the old man is always telling me the same thing", said Naruto. "He is very annoying."
Itachi laughed at Naruto's comment before asking; "And who is the old man?"
"Oh, he's the Hokage, well… not for long anyway", answered Naruto.
"Oh, and what do you mean by that?", questioned an intrigued Itachi.
"Well, I'll be Hokage someday, so he's not going to be Hokage forever", said Naruto as if it was obvious.
Itachi just laughed at this, not even bothering to respond. "So, how did you two meet?"
"Well", said Sasuke while rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "We sort of crashed into each other and he invited me to join him for some ramen, so we ate together, and talked a lot."
Itachi sweat-dropped at the way his brother made his first friend, but he was glad nonetheless. They spent the rest of the day running around and asking Itachi question after question, about how it is to be a shinobi, what kind of training he did, how strong he was, and whatnot.
After running around all day, they finally sat down, exhausted.
"Hey Itachi-san, aren't you tired?", asked Naruto, his weariness evident on his face.
"Not really Naruto-kun. The training drills my captain puts us through are much worse than playing around with you kids", answered Itachi truthfully. "But I did have a lot of fun today, so thank you boys."
Sasuke simply smiled wider than most would think possible while Naruto laughed while lying on the ground.
"Say Naruto-kun, it's getting pretty late, want us to walk you home?", offered Itachi.
"No, thank you, Itachi-san, I can go home by myself", declined Naruto, but Itachi swore he saw a hint of sadness in Naruto's eyes.
"Come on, what kind of adult would I be if I let you go home by yourself?" argued Itachi, " Am I right Sasuke?"
Sasuke hummed in agreement while nodding his head.
So Itachi stood up, lifted Sasuke onto his shoulders, and offered his hand to Naruto for him to stand up, leaving no room for argument.
While walking to Naruto's house they passed by Ichiraku Ramen and Itachi chuckled lightly when he noticed Naruto drooling while staring at the restaurant.
As they got closer to Naruto's house, Itachi felt something grip his hand and looked down to find Naruto holding it.
'He probably hasn't even noticed that he's holding my hand', noticed Itachi, he could see it by the way Naruto was acting. 'But why would he hold my hand so tightly, what's going on?'
It wasn't long before he got his answer, Itachi started noticing that the people passing by were giving Naruto hateful glares, glares which conveyed feelings of which no child should be on the receiving end. As these people passed by, Itachi made sure to give them glares of his own to make sure they understood that if they tried anything, he would protect the boy. And thanks to this, the people just looked away and continued walking, if only slightly faster, some sweating a bit.
Itachi knew of Naruto's circumstances, his father had told him, and most people in his clan probably felt the same way as the civilians they had just passed, but this was too much, the kid was kind, gentle, funny, people shouldn't be treating him like this. He was especially disappointed in the many shinobi he saw glaring at the child, 'A shinobi's duty is to protect the villagers', he reasoned in his head. Instead, they had chosen to forfeit said duty.
He was cut out of his thoughts when he noticed movement behind him, he turned his head towards the source of said movement quickly but discretely, at first he saw nothing, but he eventually noticed a grey flak jacket and an Anbu mask that resembled a dog, but as soon as he saw it, he lost it.
'Captain? What are you doing here?', he thought. He then realised he was probably keeping an eye on Naruto.
This realization calmed him down, if only a little.
When they finally got to Naruto's house, said boy went to open the door while saying; "Want to come in?"
"We'd love to" accepted Itachi, if only to ensure Naruto would be safe, while Sasuke just nodded from atop his shoulders.
When they went in Itachi immediately noticed that Naruto wasn't a very ordered person, he could see every single door in the apartment was wide open, his bedroom door, the closet doors, the bathroom door, and from the bedroom's open door he could see bunch of clothes on the floor and the bedsheets barely even on the bed. What did surprise him was how clean the place was, there were no dirty dishes nor trash on the floor.
"Hey Naruto, wasn't there another chair?", asked Sasuke when he realized there were only three chairs instead of four.
"Hehehe, funny story that one", began Naruto while rubbing the back of his head. "You see, I was kind of leaning on it yesterday, and I kind of fell, and so it kind of broke."
Both Sasuke and Itachi sweat-dropped at this.
"You've been here before Sasuke?", asked the older Uchiha, taking note of his little brother's question.
"Yeah, Naruto and I sometimes come here after training", answered his little brother.
Itachi couldn't help but smile, he was glad these two were close, they both needed it.
"Say Naruto-kun, seeing as you've brought Sasuke home many times, why don't I buy you two dinner tomorrow?", offered Itachi, both in gratitude for the friendship the blond had extended to his little brother and because he didn't like the idea of Naruto being alone here at night, but realising that taking him to the Uchiha compound wouldn't be a very good idea.
Naruto and Sasuke smiled widely at this, both quickly nodding in agreement.
Putting Sasuke down Itachi said; "Hey Sasuke, mind waiting here for me for five minutes? I saw something I want to check out."
"Of course", said Sasuke, him and Naruto already sitting down and chatting away.
Itachi took this opportunity and shunshined to the roof of Naruto's house.
When he arrived there he found exactly what, or rather who, he wanted to find. There on the roof, in a squatting position, was his Anbu captain Kakashi, wearing the standard Anbu uniform with his face uncovered, his mask resting on the side of his face, his famous orange book in hand.
"Yo Itachi", greeted Kakashi while raising his hand.
"Hello Kakashi", replied Itachi while walking towards him. "What are you doing here? Keeping an eye on Naruto?"
"Yeah, he always has a squad of Anbu following him around, but when it's my shift I prefer to do it alone, it gives me time to hang out with him", explained Kakashi. "Though I suspect if I were to try to talk to him right now he would kick my ass", added the captain with obvious satisfaction.
"Oh, and why is that?", asked an amused Itachi.
"I sort of ratted him out to the Hokage", answered Kakashi while shrugging.
"That makes sense", said Itachi, understanding.
They sat in silence for a minute or two until Kakashi broke it. "I really appreciate it."
"Huh?", asked a confused Itachi.
"You being so nice to Naruto, your brother and him being friends, all of it. He needs it, so thanks", finished Kakashi while smiling.
"It's my pleasure. It's not like I do it out of pity. I actually like the kid", responded Itachi, his mind thinking back to the day he had just spent with the kid. "He's really something isn't he?", added Itachi, turning his gaze to the sky. "He seems to lighten the mood wherever he goes."
"You can say that again", agreed Kakashi, before he returned his gaze to his book. "You know who he is, don't you?"
"Naturally, my father told me", explained the Uchiha. "But even if he hadn't I would have eventually put two and two together", after all, he wasn't called a genius for nothing. "He's got quite a legacy to live up to, hasn't he?"
"That he does. I've told him some things about his parents, he doesn't know who they are yet, but he knows that they were very strong and kind people, or, 'incredibly cool', as he puts it", explained Kakashi with a smile.
"He's gonna freak out when he finds out."
"Yeah, he will. That's what makes it fun", replied Kakashi.
"It's getting pretty late, gotta go get my little brother now", said Itachi while standing up.
"Yeah, go do that", agreed Kakashi. "And Itachi… thanks again."
"No problem captain", Itachi assured him before shunshining once again.
What he saw when he got there made him smile, both boys were now asleep on the floor, probably more tired than they had realized from running around all day. As he didn't want to wake either of them up, he decided to send a crow to his father explaining that they wouldn't be sleeping at home, but assuring him that he was with Sasuke. And with that he carried both boys into Naruto's bed, covering them with the blankets, patted Naruto's head, and kissed Sasuke's forehead. He then closed the windows, and let himself fall on Naruto's couch where he lay for a while thinking about all that had happened throughout the day before realizing something, Shisui would be returning tomorrow.
*Linebreak*
Naruto and Sasuke were 'training' together on the training ground that Sasuke and Itachi used, they had been at it for about half an hour and they were beginning to get tired, but just as Sasuke was about to suggest they do something else, they both saw a burst of smoke in front of them, out of which emerged Kakashi.
"Yo", he greeted smiling with his one eye, and his hand raised.
A second passed in silence, then two, three, four, fi-
"You bastard!", yelled Naruto as he jumped on him, "You abandoned me and then ratted me out!", he began punching the jonin, with no intention of stopping.
After Kakashi managed to subdue Naruto, there was a very visible bump forming on the jonin's head.
Holding Naruto down, who was still screaming and kicking at him he turned towards the other boy, "Hello there Sasuke-kun."
"Hello Kakashi-san, good to see you", Sasuke greeted while chuckling.
"Wait", Naruto stopped yelling and flailing. "You know Kakashi, Sasuke?"
Sasuke sweat-dropped a bit at the question. "Yeah, I told you when you first mentioned him, he is nii-san's captain and has come over for lunch once or twice."
"Itachi-san's… captain?", asked a curious Naruto.
"Yeah, Itachi is part of my squad Naruto, you already know Tenzo and Yugao, they are all members of the squad I lead."
"Awesome", said Naruto more to himself than anyone else before realizing something. "Wait… don't change the topic you one-eyed bastard! Why did you abandon me?!"
"Now, now, I never abandoned you, I simply lost track of you when you ran off towards the Hokage Monument, and so decided to go read my book. Can you forgive me Naruto?", asked the cyclops while smiling.
Naruto immediately thought of a plan. "Hmm, I might consider it… if you help me and Sasuke train", he said with a large grin.
After considering the request for a moment Kakashi decided it wouldn't hurt them to learn a little, they only had two years left before entering the Academy after all.
"Ok, I'll do it", announced Kakashi.
Even Sasuke couldn't help the smile that took over his face as he asked; "What are you teaching us Kakashi-san?"
"Have you two boys ever thrown shuriken or kunai?"
They both nodded yes, Sasuke had trained a bit with Itachi, and Naruto and Sasuke had played around with some that Itachi had lent them the day before, so they both had, even if Sasuke was a bit more experienced in it.
"Good, then I'll just go over the basics quickly", began the jonin. "Shuriken are four-pronged throwing stars with a circle in the middle, they are meant for throwing and when used effectively they can disable or kill an opponent. Kunai on the other hand, are small daggers, regularly made out of black metal, although they are normally meant for melee combat, many shinobi have found them to be very useful when thrown, so they have a variety of uses."
After this brief explanation, he gave each of the boys ten shuriken and ten kunai for practice on clones he provided. By the end of the day both boys were exhausted, they had some cuts on their hands and a few on their arms, but were both quite happy.
Sasuke had found training with someone other than his brother or Naruto to be tough but enriching. He had no real problem throwing either tool, though he much preferred shuriken over kunai. Naruto on the other hand, had found it much harder to handle the shuriken than the kunai, which he actually seemed to pick up quite easily, he still wasn't quite as good as Sasuke at either, but his progress with the kunai was impressive.
"Say Sasuke", began Kakashi. "I noticed you have a very good aim, not only for throwing but in general, do you do any training of the sort with Itachi?"
"Well, nii-san taught me how to use a bow, and I get to it use a lot because he often takes me hunting with him", explained Sasuke.
"Well that makes sense", said Kakashi before turning to Naruto. "And you surprised me quite a bit Naruto, you got the hang of the kunai very quickly." 'You remind me of your father', he added in his head.
"Yeah, I actually quite liked them, not the shuriken though, those things are weird", said Naruto.
Kakashi simply chuckled at this.
It was at this moment that both boys realized that they had to meet with Itachi for dinner very soon.
"Hey Kakashi, we're having dinner with Sasuke's brother in a bit…", began Naruto.
"Would you like to come with us?", finished Sasuke.
Kakashi eye-smiled; "Sure, I'll join you."
And like that, the four of them were sitting on a small table at the Yakiniku Q, a popular barbecue place. After ordering five orders of salted beef tongue Itachi turned to the kids who he noticed were quite dirty, also taking notice of the cuts in their hands. "I take it you had a lot of fun today."
Both boys grinned while Kakashi answered; "Yeah, they're very energetic, sorry if they're a bit cut up."
"Don't worry about it, they'll have to get used to it anyway", assured Itachi, laughing and smiling.
And so the night went on, they ate, they talked, they joked, and at around eleven o'clock, they each went their own ways, Itachi took Sasuke back to the compound and Kakashi took Naruto home.
"Well, see you tomorrow Naruto", said Kakashi while waving, right before closing the door, jumping to the roof to wait there for a while in order to make sure nothing happened.
*Linebreak*
"Nii-san, Izumi-san!", greeted a very excited Sasuke. His clothes were dirty, his light blue shirt a bit torn, his white short now brown and he wasn't even wearing sandals anymore. He was smiling widely nonetheless.
"Hello there Sasuke-kun, who's your friend?", asked Izumi with a smile while ruffling Sasuke's hair.
"This is Naruto", explained Sasuke while pointing at Naruto. "Naruto, this is Izumi-san, she's nii-san's girlfriend!"
At this Izumi blushed madly and waved her hands in front of her face while denying what Sasuke had just said. Itachi also blushed a little, albeit a much, much smaller blush than his female companion's. After she finally calmed down Izumi turned to Naruto, still blushing. "Well hello Naruto-kun, pleased to meet you. I'm Izumi Uchiha, Itachi's friend."
"Pleased to meet you Izumi-san", said Naruto while looking at the older girl, she looked about Itachi's age, she wore a sleeveless light purple dress that reached just below her knees with a tall round neck which reached all the way to her chin, she, like Sasuke, wasn't wearing sandals. She had long brown hair which reached all the way to her lower back, and dark brown eyes.
"So, you boys certainly look like you had fun today", said Itachi with a smile.
"You bet we did!", said a very excited Naruto. "We watched a spar between Tenzo and Yugao, it was awesome, Tenzo did some signs and wood sprouted from the ground", at this part Naruto threw his arms into the air as if to simulate the rapidly growing trees.
"But Yugao jumped really high and pulled out her katana and sliced the blocks of wood", while saying this Naruto moved his hand as if he was cutting something. And he continued like this, telling them every detail about the battle he and Sasuke had seen.
"And after that, the three of them bought us lunch, we went to Amaguriama and ate lots of dango", said Sasuke, continuing from where his friend had left off.
"Wait, three of them?", asked Izumi.
"Oh yeah, Kakashi was also there, though he said he didn't want to spar, so we couldn't see him fight", explained Naruto, looking a bit disappointed at that last part.
"Izumi and I were about to head to the park", said Itachi, not wanting to be out-brothered by his pervert of a captain, "How about you two join us? It should be fun"
Naruto and Sasuke agreed immediately, and Izumi couldn't help but like the idea, both boys were super adorable after all. And so they set off towards the park.
As soon as they got there Izumi and Itachi sat down, while Sasuke and Naruto ran off, eager to play 'ninja tag', and soon disappeared from the sight of both teenagers.
Some time later, Naruto had been running away from Sasuke for long enough that he began losing track of time, their games of ninja tag always got intense, and this one was no exception. As he began sneaking around, trying to hide behind some trees and bushes, he heard someone crying. As it sounded like a kid his age, he decided to check it out, and after traversing a lot of bushes he found a small clearing where he saw a small, very pretty girl; her long, pink hair reaching a little below her shoulders, she wore a peach-coloured sundress and blue sandals, and was sitting on the grass, crying. In front of her stood another girl, this one seemed a bit taller, she had short blond hair and clear, blue eyes; she wore a pale-orange blouse and thistle-coloured skirt with no sandals.
Deducing that the blonde had probably been the one to make the other girl cry, he stood in front of the pink-haired girl and glared at the former, ignoring the look of regret in the blonde's eyes. "Hey, what the hell?! Why did you make her cry?"
Said look of regret was quickly replaced by one of ire, "Why would you assume I wanted to make her cry you jerk?!", she said, stomping towards Naruto with fierce determination.
Naruto gulped, he had screwed up, but he stood his ground.
Choji arrived just in time to see Ino about to probably kick Naruto's ass, Shikamaru right behind him. "Hey Ino, there's no need to be so mad at Naruto, he was just concerned for that girl."
Naruto nodded quickly, agreeing with Choji wholeheartedly.
"Still, the jerk had the gall to assume that I made Sakura cry on purpose", argued a still angry Ino with a tick on her forehead.
It was at this moment that Sasuke arrived, looking for Naruto. As he watched the exchange between the two blonds he understood what had happened, or at least some of it, and approached the still sobbing girl, to whom he held out his hand. "Forgive my friend, he's a bit rash, but he really just wants to help", he began with a kind smile, "More importantly, are you ok?"
Sakura just stared at the recent arrival with a light blush on her cheeks. As she began to calm down and her sobbing ceased, she reached out and took his hand, using it to stand up, "Y-yeah, I'm fine. Thank you."
"No problem", he assured.
They were broken out of their conversation as they heard a strong strike, and turned to the side to see a bump forming on Naruto's head, Ino standing over him with a frown.
"I'm sorry", apologized Naruto in slight fear of receiving another punch, to everyone's surprise, he sounded quite polite as he apologised.
"Damn right you are!", agreed Ino.
"Troublesome blonds", was all Shikamaru said as he watched the exchange. "Ino, meet Naruto, the guy you just punched", he began, his frustration evident, "And Sasuke, the one you haven't even noticed. Naruto, Sasuke, meet Ino, the very angry girl."
That last comment made Ino even angrier, but he pushed it aside, for now, just now remembering her female friend. "I'm so sorry Sakura, I didn't mean to make you cry, I guess I pushed it too far, but I thought we were just kidding around", she said, obviously regretting whatever she had said.
"It's fine Ino", she accepted the apology while still sniffing a bit, "It's just that I am very sensitive about it."
"In that case, I promise I will never mention it again", assured the blonde.
"Thanks", responded Sakura, she really appreciated it.
Remembering the introductions Shikamaru had made, she quickly turned to see the new kids, "My name is Ino, and this here is Sakura."
"Pleased to meet you", added the latter, blushing a bit when she looked at Sasuke, something that did not go unnoticed by her friend.
"I'm Sasuke, and this is Naruto", said the Uchiha while smiling, putting a hand on the blond's shoulder.
"Are they your friends Shikamaru?", asked a curious Ino.
"Well, yeah. Choji and I met them a couple of weeks ago."
"So you know them too Choji?", she continued.
"Yeah, all four of us are friends", explained the Akimichi.
Deciding that playing for a while would improve Sakura's mood, Ino turned to Naruto, as he seemed to be the most enthusiastic of the group. "Wanna play together?"
Naruto immediately perked up, "Hell yeah! We can play tag or hide and seek. What do you guys think?", he questioned with a huge grin.
"I'm in", said Choji, he always enjoyed playing with Naruto and Sasuke.
"Sure, sounds fun", agreed Sasuke.
Understanding the blonde's intentions Shikamaru just shrugged, "Why not?"
They all played for a few hours, which really seemed to cheer Sakura up, as she was instantly laughing and running around with everyone else. They got to know each other quite well in that time. They all learned that they were all planning to enter the Academy as soon as they were eight years old, they learned which families they were from, talked about their hobbies, and joked around until it was finally time to part ways, each of them heading home, Naruto and Sasuke returning to Itachi and Izumi, but just as before, all six of them agreed to meet up again.
After returning to where Izumi and Itachi were, the four of them spent the rest of the day together, Sasuke and Naruto told them all about their new friends, while the other two told them a bit about theirs. And so, without any of them realizing it, the day flew by, and they were all soon headed back home, Itachi again insisting on walking Naruto home, though he seemed to be less reluctant this time.
After spending so much time with him, Izumi found that she quite liked Naruto, he was cheerful and full of energy, a good change from the people of her clan, they were all so stuck up. Add to that her affection for Sasuke, who was always so polite and cheery. She couldn't help but think that the two boys were the cutest thing ever. Hanging out with Sasuke and Naruto really brought her spirits up, not to mention Itachi, she loved having him around, some of her friends, like Hana and Anko teased her about him, but she couldn't help it, he was different; kind, humble, strong. So maybe she liked him, so what? It's not like they could confirm it anyway.
*Linebreak*
Shikamaru didn't like exerting himself, his idea of hanging out with friends involved lying on the grass and gazing at clouds, maybe even taking a nap, so the fact that his friends had managed to convince him to play tag, again, irked him quite a bit.
But that wasn't the worst part, his friends had decided to team up in order chase him around. 'Troublesome', he thought while trying to find a way out, preferably one which didn't involve his friends ganging up on him, and it didn't take long before he came up with a plan, it wasn't his finest plan, but it wasn't like what his father taught him applied to tag, so he had to improvise.
Just when he was about to put his plan in action however, he heard Naruto yelling; "What the hell! What's your problem?"
So he came out of hiding to find Sasuke and Choji behind Naruto while the latter was wrestling in the ground with another kid, said kid was wearing a gray shirt, black pants with sandals, and had two red fang marks running below his eyes. Shikamaru also noticed something else, there was something on top of Naruto, a dog, a small white dog was biting Naruto's head as if trying to help the other kid out. A little ways off from them, Ino and Sakura sat by a sobbing girl; she had short black hair and wore a violet long-sleeved shirt and white pants and sandals, she also had solid, pale eyes. 'A Hyuga', realised Shikamaru.
"Are those five your friends? If so, sorry about Kiba", heard the Nara.
"Huh?", he wondered aloud while turning around, when he did, he saw a kid around his age with short spiky dark hair, he wore a white long-sleeved shirt, a beige bandana around his neck which also covered the lower half of his face, gray pants and sandals, and had very distinctive sunglasses. "So the kid with the dog is called Kiba huh? I take it he is an Inuzuka, the crying girl over there is a Hyuga, and I'm guessing you're an Aburame", he said while pointing at Kiba.
"Exactly, my name is Shino. Her name is Hinata, she is very kind, but also very shy, which pisses Kiba off, those are Kiba and Akamaru by the way, they are both what you would call trouble-makers", explained Shino. "If I may ask, how did you know I am an Aburame?'
"The sunglasses", replied Shikamaru while shrugging. "Hot-headed eh, he might be able to keep up with Naruto. I'm Shikamaru by the way, nice to meet you", he added and offered his hand to the new kid who shook it gladly. "The other wrestler is called Naruto, and those over there are Sasuke… ", he explained while pointing at the Uchiha, "… and Choji", he continued and pointed towards the Akimichi. "The blonde sitting by Hinata is Ino, and the one next to them is Sakura."
Shikamaru then turned towards the kids wrestling on the ground, irritation evident in his eyes, "Hey Naruto! You can't just punch someone you just met", at this the other three boys nodded in agreement, "It's too troublesome", and at that, they all sweat-dropped.
Meanwhile, Sakura and Ino were trying to cheer the third girl up. They had gotten there just in time to see/hear Kiba yelling at her for 'apologizing too much', and as much as they thought that the boy might be right, he didn't have to word it in such an aggressive manner. The good news was, the girl was starting to calm down.
As she did, she looked up towards the girls helping her with a grateful look, "T-Thank you, and I'm s-sorry, I s-shouldn't be crying over small t-things like that."
"No, don't be, you can cry about whatever you want to, it's not healthy to bottle it up", said Sakura with a kind smile while Ino nodded at her words. "By the way, I'm Sakura."
"And I'm Ino", added the blonde.
"P-Pleased to m-meet you, S-Sakura-san, I-Ino-san. M-My name is H-Hinata", said a genuinely grateful Hinata.
"Nice to meet you Hinata, but, please, just Ino", replied Ino with a smile of her own, Sakura nodding in agreement.
Soon, the two boys stopped fighting, both very tired and visibly beat up. Their clothes torn, their faces dirty, and various cuts and bruises showing on their skin.
"I like you", said Kiba as he lay down on the grass, panting, "You sure know how to throw a punch."
"Woof!", agreed Akamaru, skipping beside Kiba.
"You're not bad either", replied Naruto with a frown while he assumed a sitting position, "For a jerk."
"What was that you bastard?!", Kiba was immediately ready to go again, mentally preparing himself to kick the blond's ass.
"Stop", interrupted Shikamaru, not wanting to sit through another wrestling match. "Why don't we just introduce ourselves, instead of punching each other?"
"Fine, but he has to apologize to that girl, he made her cry!", compromised the blond. Hinata was very surprised at that, and even blushed a little.
"No way!", argued Kiba, "I only told her the truth."
As he said this however, he felt two angry glares on his back, and when he turned around he saw two very angry girls, glaring daggers at him. He gulped, "Fine, fine. I'm sorry Hinata."
Naruto smiled as he extended his hands towards Kiba, "I'm Naruto, pleased to meet you!"
"I'm Kiba", he answered as he shook Naruto's hand, "And this is Akamaru", he added as he pointed towards his ever enthusiastic companion.
"Woof!", confirmed said companion.
"'Yo", greeted Naruto as he turned to look at the dog.
"I take it you two are also going to enter the Academy?", asked Shikamaru, more a statement than a question, interrupting them.
"Hell yeah!", said a smiling Kiba. "Wait, how did you know?"
"Well, you, for one, fight like someone who's had at least a bit of pre-academy training, which you wouldn't bother to get if you weren't going to enter the Academy. But even if that weren't the case, you are an Inuzuka, and he's an Aburame, so it wasn't hard to figure it out."
"Huh", was all Kiba could say, still processing what the other kid had told him. "Wait, wait, wait. How did you know which clans we are from? And what do you mean 'also'? Is one of you entering too?"
"Well", began the Nara, "The red fangs were a dead giveaway as to your clan, as were Shino's sunglasses combined with his quiet demeanor. As for the Academy, all six of us are also entering in two years."
Shino had to admit he was a bit surprised at this, "All six of you?" He could tell that the polite kid was an Uchiha, so that was a given, but Shikamaru seemed far too lazy, and Naruto too, well, loud, to be a ninja. Granted, Kiba was loud too, but he came from a famous clan, so he assumed he wouldn't have much trouble. After all, most in his clan were like him, and they had still managed to become respected shinobi. As for the fourth kid, he hadn't really done much, so he guessed the possibility was there.
"Yeah, all six of us", answered Choji, "Well, eight of us now."
"Nine of us, actually", corrected Shikamaru.
"Huh?", questioned Ino and Sakura.
"What do you mean nine?", asked Choji.
Suddenly realizing something, Naruto turned towards Hinata, "Are you entering the Academy as well?"
Blushing heavily at the direct question, Hinata turned her head to the side before answering, "Y-Yeah, I-I am"
"She is a Hyuga after all", clarified Shikamaru, to which no one reacted, either not caring that he realised that, or too used to him being one step ahead of everyone else.
Considering what he had just then learnt about the other kids, Kiba thought of an idea, "If we are all entering the Academy then we should meet up sometimes and train together", he said excitedly.
"I'm in!", agreed Naruto, as he figured that it was more time to spend with his friends, and training with even more people might be cool.
"I am curious as to how other clans outside mine act and fight, so sure, I agree", reasoned Sasuke, having never trained with anyone but Itachi and Kakashi, the latter of whom never really showed him much. And well, obviously Naruto, but he wasn't part of a clan, so he had no 'inherited' or ingrained methods or attitudes.
"I'm in, my dad is always saying I should try to train with other people more. So sure!" said Choji with a smile, seeing no reason not to.
"Yeah, my dad's the same, always going on about the importance of teamwork, so sure, I'll join", agreed Ino.
"Sounds pretty fun as well, so count me in", added Sakura
"Well", said Shino, "We should be able to at least learn some things from each other, seems like a good idea to me."
"I-If you all d-don't m-mind, I-I would like to j-join y-you as well", said Hinata.
'Oi, oi. Why are they all agreeing so easily', thought Shikamaru. It's not like he didn't like hanging out or training with them, but the percentage of hanging out was slowly shifting to allow for more training, i.e; effort, which sounded like a pain. As troublesome as it might be however, "Fine, I'm in too. It should be less troublesome than having to wait for you to finish in order to hang out."
"Awesome!", said Naruto, happy to have more people to hang out with.
And so they did.
As days turned into weeks, all nine of them began meeting up and having fun together, slowly but surely forming a strong friendship.
As weeks turned into months, they all continued what little training they did, all of them with their respective families, or in Naruto's case, Kakashi, and sometimes, the old man. None of them did much for training, it was mostly physical conditioning and very basic theory lessons. Per their agreement, they sometimes met and talked about their training, instead of playing or chatting away. All of them sharing what they had learned, curious about each other's progress.
As months turned into years they all grew a bit taller, a few of them outgrew some of their clothes. Soon, two years had passed since they had all met, and they all walked through the doors of the Academy for the first time.
A/N
Hello, and welcome to my first story, hope you have a great time reading it.
First and foremost, I want to tell you all that one of the main reasons why I write, is to improve my writing. In that spirit, do not hesitate to review in whatever regard you see fit. You can critique the story itself, the plot, my grammar, spelling, overall use of language, plot points, or just leave you thoughts, I encourage you all to do so.
Also, while I have most of the story skeleton ready, and some chapters too. I do not, as of yet, know who will be paired with whom. Naturally I have some ideas, and in some cases I have already decided. In the case of Naruto, I am undecided, so if you wish to tell me your opinion, you may be able to persuade me. Do remember however, that this is not a poll, I won't decide on someone just because everyone loves them, I will select them based on how I feel they work for the story. Also, the girl to pair Naruto with must be either Ino, Sakura, Hinata, Hanabi, or Kurotsuchi. I know of other pairings, and actually like some of them, but these are the ones I think work for my story.
Well, first and probably longest author's note out of the way, thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed.