A/N: This isn't very long--it's not meant to be. It's a prologue. When I eventually update, that chapter will be longer. Mind, I probably won't update for a while--but such is life.

Disclaimer: Don't own. Never will. Hell, I don't even own the plot idea--it's been done before and will be done again.

Prologue: Kakashi, Confused

It didn't take a genius to see that something weird was going on.

Hatake Kakashi was a genius, as it so happened, but—in this case—he didn't need to be.

He'd read their files. He'd talked to Iruka.

Naruto was supposed to be an overexcited, hyperactive blond who had a crush on Sakura and thought Sasuke was a loser.

Sakura was supposed to hate Naruto, have an overwhelming crush on Sasuke, have a lot of book smarts and suck at all things practical.

And as for Sasuke—he was supposed to think that Naruto and Sakura were worth less than the dirt beneath his feet. He was supposed to be all 'alone avenger'.

But when he'd brought told them to tell him about themselves…

Sakura had said, sweetly, "Why don't you go first, sensei?"

The trio had glanced between themselves, amused as if at some private joke.

He'd given them his usual spiel, only to see their amusement increase.

Naruto had gone first. He'd said, "My dream is to protect my precious people. My hope is to protect my precious people. My plans for the future are to become Rokudaime and protect Konoha. I hate people who try to hurt my precious people. And paperwork—definitely paperwork."

This, in itself, had given Kakashi pause. He'd known about Naruto's Hokage dreams, of course, but why Rokudaime? It didn't necessarily mean anything, but it was rather…odd. And as for the paperwork comment…

Well, fair enough, he hated paperwork too. But when had Naruto ever had the chance to do enough to hate it?

Then Sakura had smiled supportively at Naruto…and Sasuke had squeezed his shoulder.

What, thought Kakashi, the hell?

Sakura had gone next.

"My dream is to become a great medic-nin and support my team, and to help Sasuke and Naruto achieve their dreams. My hope is to become a good enough ninja to save some lives. I hate people who hurt people for no reason. My plan for the future is to aid Naruto become Hokage."

Naruto had declared, quietly but fiercely, "You will, Sakura. Believe it!"

And Sakura had.

Everything was odd. Sakura seemed to be…following Naruto. She'd looked at Sasuke many times, but not looks that suggested a crush: merely looks between teammates.

She'd definitely been unexpected.

Sasuke had continued the trend of utterly bewildering his expectations.

"My plan for the future is to kill someone"—so far so good, he'd thought, or at least so anticipated—"before he hurts Naruto, Sakura and the rest of our friends. My hope is to become a good enough ninja to do so. My dream is for Naruto to become Rokudaime. I hate snakes."

That was…utterly unexpected, to say the least.

Where were the declarations of revenge? The proclamations of avengerhood?

And why snakes?

Naruto, at least, seemed to understand, and told Sasuke in an undertone, "You need not worry. I will not let him bite you."

Sakura smiled fiercely. "If he even considers doing so, he will regret it. Severely."

Sasuke smiled softly. "Thank you. But he already has considered it."

Sakura's smile turned angelic. "I did say he'd regret it," she said sweetly.

This produced a chuckle from the two males on the team.

…the hell?

It only got worse from there. From the brief meeting on the rooftops, he'd expected something different during the bell test, but he'd at least expected them to not eat breakfast.

They had, and were still eating when he got there.

They hadn't even been annoyed when he was late!

Something really weird was going on, he was sure.

He'd presented the bell test, but there hadn't been any outrage exclamations. They'd seemed to expect it.

…He could feel a headache coming on from all his bewildered expectations.

All right, he'd told himself, so they've behaved weirdly…all right, really weirdly…that doesn't mean that they're going to pass the bell test. They'd have to—

Ah, who am I kidding? The only way to pass is to use teamwork. Unfortunately, these guys seem like they've been working together for years.

He'd told them to come at him with deadly force. Normally, someone would be shocked, and complain.

This time, all that happened is that Sasuke cocked his head at Sakura, who shook her head with a humorous expression.

Then they'd proceeded to vanish into the bushes, leaving Kakashi with a continually bewildering question: What is going on?