Hey everyone, Ky here, this is my first story so if it turns out kinda ehh, it's because i'm new. hope you like it

Cracks in the Road of Life

Chapter One

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In a small bedroom colored in black having worn out wood floors, a twin futon just placed in the corner having a small desk with a battery operated alarm clock next to the futon. On the futon hidden by crimson red sheets is our young soon to be ninja of Konoha village. This being Naruto Uzumaki, a twelve year old bright blonde shaggy shoulder length hair with neon blue eyes having three black whisker marks on each cheek. The alarm clock goes off signaling it is now six in the morning. A few moments later the tanned arm of our young ninja emerges from the sheets to shut of the racket the alarm clock is making. Once accomplished Naruto groggily gets out of bed revealing her attire of black pajama pants and red sleeveless shirt. Letting out a yawn Naruto goes into the next room which is a small kitchen consisting of a busted fridge, sink, broken stove, a small card table with two bar stools she swiped, and a few cupboards. Going to the cupboard he opens them only to sigh mumbling "guess I'm going out to get food again" closing the empty cupboard she goes to another one where her dishware is kept grabbing a thermos she goes to her room. Setting the thermos down on the desk she goes to her closet thinking

'today is the day of team assignments at the academy meaning it's finally time to pitch the jumpsuit and the act. Being an official ninja means no more hiding.' opening her closet he grabs the orange jumpsuits and tosses them onto the floor and starts looking for something else to wear and deciding on a pair of black cargo pants, a long sleeved baggy black shirt with the collar and last two inches of the sleeves orange, a sleeveless crimson red high collar jacket with the inside lined with special seals that merely look like cool orange and black designs, and a pair of crimson red sneakers. Slipping into the new outfit Naruto smiles in satisfaction clearly liking the new clothes. Going to her desk she opens the drawer pulling out a black clothed hitai-ate and puts it on deciding to wear it as a necklace like a pale eyed friend of hers. Glancing at the clock as she grabs the thermos and leaves her apartment walking to the ramen stand ignoring the usual looks of hate and killer intent directed at her while thinking 'to think hardly anyone know I'm a girl. Not that I'm surprised since the whole village hates me and only sees me as a demon. Very few noticed that I'm a girl. Only one person in my graduating class noticed and that's my friend Hinata.' reaching her destination Naruto walks into the ramen stand run by a middle aged man Tsuchi and his young daughter Ayame. Tsuchi is on the husky side wearing a white apron and a white hat along with his normal villager clothes and Ayame wears a simple long skirt and a long sleeved top having the sleeves rolled up with her long brunette hair held back by a dark colored bandana. Walking into the booth Ayame greets her with a smile saying "good morning Naruto, out of groceries again?"

Receiving a nod from the blonde she lets out a soft laugh " breakfast coming up then. Oh and I like the new look. Still too boyish though" Ayame states in a big sister taunting tone. Hearing a snort she laughs going in back to make Naruto's usual breakfast when she comes. A few minutes later Ayame returns with two bowls of ramen, one beef and the other full of healthy veggies. Naruto thanks her and digs into her food. Finishing a few minutes later Naruto pays for them saying goodbye and leaves going toward an area known as the forest of death. This forest is quite dangerous and is often used for the Chuunin exams which means it's off limits to anyone lower than Chuunin. Naruto though never has let little things like that stop her. Reaching the giant metal fence that surrounds the whole forest Naruto climbs it to the top easily then leaps off from it into the forest going from tree to tree till she finds a small clearing with a stream. Landing softly next to the stream Naruto pulls out a simple green scroll from her jacket showing that the designs on her jacket are seals for storage. Unrolling the scroll she unseals a cooking pot, metal spoon, and a fishing rod. Rolling the scroll back up Naruto wanders around the area gathering some firewood. Hearing a soft rustling sound Naruto stops what she's doing and instantly goes on alert pulling out a kunai. Focusing on the sound Naruto slowly and silently walks over to the bushes that the sound is coming from. Moving the bushes Naruto sees a black jaguar laying on its side panting heavily. Relaxing Naruto puts the kunai away since she's never had any trouble with animals. Walking over to it Naruto kneels down trying to see what's wrong. The jaguar looks at Naruto right into her eyes with it's own green ones and something in Naruto's mind clicks as she realizes what's wrong. "aww hell" Naruto states before quickly summoning chakra to her hands making them glow green she places them onto the jaguar's stomach. After a few minutes a soft wail is heard followed by another and another. A half hour later the jaguar is now the mother of three baby black jaguars each one with different colored eyes. One has bright green like her mom, one has bright yellow, and the last one has bright blue eyes just like Naruto's. the mother jaguar then lets out a soft growl which Naruto smiles saying "your welcome."

Yes Naruto can understand what the jaguar says, having the furry fuzz ball Kyuubi sealed in her gives Naruto that ability. So growing up she spent her time in the forest playing with the animals that would come around since until Hinata she had no one to keep her company. For a little while Naruto just relaxes next to the jaguar enjoying the peace while holding the cubs particularly the blue eyed one. After a little while Naruto bids them goodbye to finish what she came here to do which is to fish, make some hot soup with the fish, put it into the thermos which has seals on it to be able to hold about fifty times its original amount while keeping its contents it's current temperature for weeks so Naruto makes plenty, then gathers a few weeks supply of food from the fruits and berries found. Satisfied she seals everything up into the green scroll. Checking the time Naruto starts dashing to the school flying through the trees and leaping up and over the fence and going to the rooftops to avoid the streets. Spotting the school she jumps from the roof to the ground running inside to her classroom and skidding to a stop at the door. Catching her breath Naruto calmly walks into the room with her classmates a few moments before the late bell rings. Much like she expects almost everyone fails to notice the new outfit either to wrapped up in their own excitement of graduating or just plain not caring. Spotting Hinata she walks up to the back sitting next to Hinata who has shoulder length violet hair, pupil less lavender eyes wearing a bulky white jacket and dark blue pants with basic blue shinobi sandals. Hinata looks at naruto is surprise saying "Naruto, you changed your clothes"

Naruto grins nodding "yeah, can't be taken seriously wearing that orange thing"

"I like it, how is your new house coming?"

"good but it'll be a while. I need to find someone who knows a earth manipulation Jutsu to maneuver the large tree branches to help support the houses structure and to make the basement since I'm using a huge tree as the base, right now I just have the first floor basically without any walls"

Hinata nods saying "maybe the Hokage would know someone?"

"yeah, I planned on stopping by after we meet our sensei's"

Their conversation is interrupted when a man with brown hair pulled in a high ponytail having a scar across his nose in typical Jounin clothing which is blue pants, blue long sleeved top, a green vest, and blue shinobi sandals. Everyone knows him as Iruka, their academy sensei. Iruka walks to the front of the room clearing his throat before talking "good morning everyone. I first want to say how proud I am of all of you. You are all now ninja's of Konoha. Now I am going to read out your new team mates and sensei's after that you are to wait for your new sensei's arrive. Team one. . . . ."

Tem assignments are the same as the original anime so there is no point in typing that. Moving on!

Once iruka finishes the team assignments he tells them goodbye before leaving the room for the other sensei's to arrive Hinata is currently rubbing Naruto's back in sympathy since she had slammed her head onto the desk after hearing who her team mates were.

"it's not so bad Naruto, maybe you'll get along with Sakura and Sasuke"

"Sasuke a maybe at best but Sakura is just a worthless fan girl, the only reason she's even a ninja is because Sasuke is. They both hate me. Anyone else would have been better than them." Naruto whines

Three hours go by and only Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura are left waiting for their sensei. While waiting Naruto stays quiet while thinking on what she knows about her team mates trying to hopefully at least be on neutral terms with them. Sasuke being the last of his clan, the Uchiha's with his raven black hair spiked out in back with his bangs laying flat, his almost emotionless brown eyes, blue high collar shirt, white shorts, arm warmers and blue shinobi sandals has just been sitting in his seat resting his chin in his hands propped up by his elbows. Sakura is anything but quiet. She has been ranting about their late sensei for the last two hours. The girl has long pink, yes pink hair wearing her hitai-ate on top her head, her eyes are green, she wears a red dress, green tight shorts, and green shinobi sandals. Naruto just sighs propping her feet on the table in front of her 'and they say I was a walking target with my orange jumpsuit. Sakura is almost as bad.'

The sound of footsteps causes all three of them to look at the door as it slides open and a man with gravity defying grey hair wearing his hitai-ate to hide his left eye, a face mask and typical Jounin attire walks in. looking at them she smiles. . . Well from what you can tell by his eye closing and looking like a upside down 'U'. he states "hello, you must be my team. Follow me"

The trio get up and walk out of the classroom following behind him. Sakura continues to grumble to herself about him being three hours late while everyone else completely ignores her. The Jounin takes them up to the roof stating "much better, I've never could relax in a classroom, so lets start things off by getting to know one another."

"um sensei? Why don't you go first so we can follow by example?" Sakura asks

"alright, lets see. My name is hatake Kakashi my likes are really none of your concern especially at your young age, dislikes. . . . Hobbies. . . .dreams. . .that's about it. Now you go first pinky"

Sakura huffs in irritation 'all I got was his name.' "my name is Sakura Haruno, I like. . ." she looks over as Sasuke before giggling "my hobbies are . . ." again she looks at Sasuke giggling "my dream. . . . ." no giggling she just starts daydreaming with a blush on her face. A few moments later she states "I hate Ino-pig and Naruto!"

'lame' Naruto thinks

'why must I put up with this imbecile?' Sasuke wonders

'a fan girl. . . Just great' Kakashi sighs pointing to Sasuke "your turn sunshine"

Ignoring the comment Sasuke states "my name is Sasuke Uchiha, I have few likes, and a lot of things I don't like, my hobbies include only to train to get stronger, my dream no my goal is to revive my clan and to avenge them."

'emo!' Naruto thinks

'Sasuke-kun is so cool!' Sakura thinks

'an avenger, this just keeps getting better' Kakashi thinks before saying "now you Blondie"

"my name is Naruto Uzumaki, I like learning cool Jutsu's whether they be for combat or just plain useful, I don't like this village in particular except for a certain few people. My dream is to become real strong to protect those who have accepted me for me."

'well, one out of three is ok. But I was told Naruto was the dead last prankster. He seems to be the only one who is on the right track of becoming an excellent ninja' "alright then everyone tomorrow you are to be at the training ground at six in the morning for your Genin test"

Naruto at hearing this asks " if this is the Genin test then what did we take in the academy?"

"that was a test to see if you were ready to take this one. See you tomorrow, oh and don't eat breakfast or you'll puke" Kakashi performs the shunshin Jutsu which teleports the user to another location. The Jutsu has a limited distance of a few miles plus the user must have been to the location. There are multiple versions but the most common is to either disappear is a puff of smoke or a swirl of leaves.

"hey Sasuke-kun, would you like to go to lunch with me?" Sakura asks but receiving no answer she looks around to see that Sasuke has already left.

"Sakura-san? If you want your welcome to come with me to lunch" Naruto offers

"thanks Naruto, but I wanted Sasuke-kun" Sakura grumbles out walking home

Scratching the back of her head Naruto shrugs 'I tried. Can't expect a change overnight.'

Naruto wanders off toward the Hyuuga compound with her hands in her pockets curious to see how her introductions and such went. 'wonder how difficult the Shunshin is?' tilting her head to the side as a busted glass bottle flies by her face just grazing her cheek with a small cut. Completely ignoring it she continues on her way reaching the compound front gate. Walking up to the gate Naruto is confronted by two branch Hyuuga men wearing traditional Hyuuga garbs, black pants, a white kimono top and black shinobi sandals having long black hair and pupil less eyes. The one on the right asks "are you here for miss Hinata?"

"yeah, is she back?"

"yes, she arrived not long ago Uzumaki-san. You may find her in her room."

"thanks guys" Naruto says before going inside and making her way to Hinata's room. When Naruto was five she had stopped that cloud ninja that had tried kidnapping Hinata, well distracted the guy long enough for hinashi who is Hinata's father to get there and kill the ninja, she has always been welcome at the Hyuuga compound. Actually no more than a week earlier Naruto and Hinata met at the playground and became each other's first friend.

Naruto knocks on Hinata's bedroom door waiting to hear Hinata's voice before walking in. Hinata's room is rather large. Which isn't surprising considering the Hyuuga family is a powerful and rich clan. The Hyuuga's are known for their powerful bloodline called the Byakugan. The Byakugan can only be used by a Hyuuga, the Hyuuga with the Byakugan activated have 360 vision, can see through everything basically including people by which I mean to see their chakra pathways. The Hyuuga clan have developed a Taijutsu fighting style based on blocking those chakra pathways. The Byakugan can see through any Genjutsu. All in all the Byakugan is a powerful bloodline.

Hinata smiles seeing Naruto walk in "hi Naruto, how did it go?"

Naruto sighs dramatically plopping next to Hinata on her queen sized bed with dark violet sheets. Hinata giggles softly asking "that bad?"

"well, my sensei was three hours late. He didn't even give a reason or even mention why he was so late. Then we did introductions which was pointless since no one said anything about themselves that everyone didn't already know. All Sakura talked about was banging Sasuke, all Sasuke talked about was killing his brother, and all sensei said was his name and to be at the training ground at six tomorrow."

"Naruto?"

"Hmmm?"

"how did you get that cut?"

"huh? What cut?"

"the one on your face. It's almost healed now"

"oh, that. Just the usual. Didn't really pay attention since I'm so used to it. So how did your team meeting go?"

Hinata mentally sighs knowing Naruto is avoiding the subject but there is really nothing she can do about it "it went well, Kurenai-sensei is very nice. Kiba and shino seem to get along for the most part."

Nodding Naruto says "well it's not difficult to see what your team is for"

"it isn't?"

"nope, all three of you have family abilities that are perfectly designed to be a tracking team. You have the Byakugan, Shino has his bugs, and Kiba with his sensitive nose and his dog, you guys are perfect for a tracking team."

"I guess your right. What about your team?"

"that's a little difficult but I would guess if we could work together, if Sakura started to be a real ninja, and if Sasuke would quit his obsession with revenge then I would say we are the retrieval team."

"retrieval?"

"yeah, as in my team would be the one sent out to infiltrate and retrieve our target. Both Sasuke and I are pretty good at stealth. Sakura is excellent at chakra control due to her small reserves. Her obsession with Sasuke interferes with her capabilities as a konoichi. She does have skill, she just never trains. If I can get her to stop the fan girl thing she would be fine. Sasuke needs to forget his obsession with revenge. I see big problems with that later if it isn't dealt with."

A knock on Hinata's door is heard interrupting their conversation

"miss Hinata, Naruto-san is requested to see hinashi-sama in his study."

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well theres chapter one. feel free to comment about it, i appriciate them.

Ky