Better or Worse
I do not own Naruto
"talking"
"thoughts"
"Demon or Split personalities"
Before Sasuke passed out he saw Itachi crying, "Why is he crying?" As Itachi disappeared a strange purple chakra enveloped Sasuke and slowly faded away. When Sasuke comes to he's in a clearing surrounded by trees covered in the light from the moon.
"Where am I?" As soon as Sasuke uttered those few words he heard footsteps, as he turned he saw a man dressed in a long sleeved black shirt and pants with a white vest with nine magatama on the back. He had black spiky hair that stopped at his shoulders and onyx eyes.
"We're in your mindscape young Sasuke, you fell unconscious from all the mental strain placed upon you by your elder brother Itachi."
Sasuke was taken aback by what this guy said. He fell to his hands and knees crying and said "So brother really did kill everyone, it wasn't just a dream." When he looked he asked "Who are you?"
"My name is Indra…we'll talk later it seems you're waking up now."
As the young Uchiha came to he sat up and noticed he was in the hospital. After he gathered his thoughts he noticed his chakra was different, it was stronger, and he had more than he remembered, but before he could piece everything that happened together the door opened and in came the Third Hokage.
The Third Hokage took a seat next to Sasuke's bed and asked him how he was in a sympathetic voice, Sasuke knew he was being sincere from his facial expressions, but mainly his eyes said it all. He replied with an "I'm doing ok."
The Hokage kept asking Sasuke many different questions, trying to deduce all of what he had seen and experienced that night, as he collected all the information he needed he proceeded to leave, but before he left he told Sasuke that he'll be able to return to the academy within a week.
Sasuke went back to sleep and woke back up in his mindscape, sitting in the middle of the clearing was Indra meditating. As he walked towards him Indra stood and said "I'm guessing you want some answers as to who I am and why I'm here?" He shook his head yes.
"Well I'm not going to tell you everything right now, but what I can tell you is that I can help you get stronger, we are family after all." He used the classic Uchiha smirk and Sasuke stared at him with surprise at what he had said.
"Family!?" Indra started to laugh at his expression "Yes Sasuke, family, I'm the first Uchiha and you're my direct descendant. I decided that I would help you out, to correct my mistake and to help the world the way I should have. Do you accept my offer?"
Sasuke thought about it for a few minutes as he looked up he said "Ok, but don't try any funny business or else."
Indra smiled at him and said "I won't try anything, I promise."
ONE WEEK LATER *Sasuke's POV*
It's been a week since I've been to the academy and my ancestor Indra hasn't taught me anything useful. All he's done is told me to practice the academy jutsu until I can do them without the required handsigns. I also have bandages on my hand due to the fact that Indra gave me a good amount of his chakra I got this tattoo of a crescent moon on my hand which is weird. To my surprise I had unlocked my sharingan in that night, but Indra won't help master it until I master the academy jutsu.
As I walk, the bystanders give me their condolences, but I truly don't care, all I'm worried about is getting the answers I need. I'm the first one to get to class, as I take my usual seat by the window, Iruka sensei walked in.
He stepped up and sat next to Sasuke. "Sasuke I know what happened and I can't even imagine the pain you're going through, but whenever you need to talk I'm here, ok?"
"Thank you Iruka sensei." I gave him a sad smile, before he got up and left to set everything up for a lecture he ruffled my hair and gave me a genuine smile.
"Nice guy" Indra spoke inside Sasuke's mind "Yea he's a good teacher, now I know why Naruto likes him so much." As they finished the conversation, he just stared out the window thinking of why Itachi did what he did.
Slowly the rest of the students filed into the classroom until everyone was here, even Naruto made it to class on time. Soon enough Iruka started class, today he was going over chakra theory and I was rather interested about what he said about chakra control. Chakra can allow a person to do amazing things, but the things you can do with it can be even more amazing the better your control is. I stuff that info in my head for later, as Iruka finished he dismissed us for lunch.
When lunch finished we had to spar one another, as usual my peers were mediocre to average at best right now, and nobody stood out so I zoned out till it my named was called. It was me against Naruto, we both stepped in to the circle and waited for Iruka sensei's go ahead. He signaled the fight to start and I and Naruto dashed towards each other.
He threw a sloppy right hook that I blocked and I tried to kick his feet from under him, but he jumped over my strike and tried to deliver a heel strike to my face which I weaved and went in for a left uppercut, which he dodged, we separated and stared at each other.
Everyone was surprised that Naruto was not just lasting this long, but also going toe to toe with the number one student. I stared at him surprised that he was faring better than he ever did in the past. "It seems that he's been training, even more than me if he's lasting this long."
Naruto smirked and said "Is that all you got teme!?"
At first I was agitated, but then I smirked back and fired back a "Not by a longshot dobe!"
We charged back at each other, attempting to knock the other one down. It was obvious that I was better at taijutsu, but Naruto wasn't that far behind, even though he was taking more hits than me, he could definitely take a punch.
He came at me with a right uppercut, but I grabbed him by the wrist before it connected and pulled him closer to me, as he lost his balance I knocked his feet from under him. When his face hit the ground, I placed my foot on his back and smirked.
Iruka announced that the match is over "The winner is Sasuke; now please make the seal of reconciliation."
I let Naruto stand and we made the seal, although he did it half-heartedly. "Next time I'll win dattebyo!"
"We'll see."
The rest of the day went by slowly. Everybody still talking about me and Naruto's sparring match, the guys saying how Naruto can never win because he's the dead last and the fan girls raving about how nobody can beat their precious Sasuke-kun.
"Most of your fellow classmates have no idea that Naruto is better than the civilians and maybe even a couple of the clan kids." Indra stated
"It doesn't matter, but this just shows I have to train harder, I never had to go all out against him before, he's closing the gap fast and I can't afford to be second best to anyone if I plan on getting answers from Itachi."
"Think of it as a good thing, you have someone who could possibly beat you, but think of it as more of an incentive to get stronger."
I decided to keep quiet after what he said. As the day finished I decided to walk around the village and clear my mind of today's events. When I made my way to the park, I noticed a girl get pushed down by another girl and her two lackeys.
The girls were laughing at the crying girl. The girl on the ground had pink hair and a red ribbon in her hair, she asked through her sobs "Why…do… you keep messing with me?"
As I got closer I noticed the leader was Ame "Because forehead you're just begging for….well your forehead is anyway hahahaha!"
I couldn't stand what I was seeing so I ran in front of the girl and said "Stop messing with her or else"
Ame and her gang stared at me with surprise evident on their faces "But...But Sasuke-kun you can't"
I concentrated as much ki (killing intent) as I could towards the girls, but it wasn't enough, then I felt a surge in my body and the girls ran off crying as my ki increased tenfold. "But how?"
"You're welcome." Indra said, I could feel him smirk inside of my head. I turned around and helped the girl up, from what I see she's that Sakura girl from class. "Are you alright?"
Sakura whipped away her tears and said "Thank you Sasuke"
I started to walk away, but before I could go she yelled stop, I turned and looked at her confused. "Where are you going?"
"I'm going home to train." I stated bluntly, as I started to walk she stopped me again. "This is getting very annoying."
When I looked back at her she stared at the ground a blush evident on her face "Can I train with you!" This caught my off guard as I nearly stumbled out of my place, I thought about it for a minute contemplating. "From what I know she isn't the best, but she isn't the worst either. She never really seemed enthusiastic about being a ninja like most of the other civilians, but why now?
Before I could respond Indra spoke "You know she really wants to train with you, she genuinely wants to better herself, but before you jump the gun and say no ask what her reason is for this sudden change of heart." I mentally sighed, "Fine"
When I focused back in on her she stared at me with her tear ridden green eyes staring at me hopefully as I asked "Why do you want to train with me?"
She fully stood straight up confidence and determination riding off of her in waves "I want to get better so I can stop people from hurting others, just like those girls who bully me!" I could hear the conviction in her statement.
I thought about it for a few more moments, then I smirked "Fine, but I don't want you holding me back so I have to get you up to speed, follow me."
The moment I finished my statement I turned around and took a couple of steps, but then I was forced to a stop when Sakura ran up and wrapped her arms around me saying thank you over and over again. I slightly blushed at the contact, but I gathered myself and we made our way to my clan compound.
When we got to my clan's training grounds we only worked on our taijutsu for a couple of hours. It seems Sakura has a major flaw; she has no stamina what so ever, but it will improve the more we spar. Her taijutsu is not quite average, but its close, a little practice a few times a week and she'll be up there with the clan kids.
We finished her training for today and she walked herself home. I started to work on the three academy jutsu until I ran out of chakra and fell on the ground exhausted. I stared at the night sky remembering how I and mother would stare out at the stars. All those times she pointed out the constellations, it was one of the few things me and her did together. I felt my eyes start to water, but I couldn't cry, I can't cry now, I have to stay strong for her. From all of my training I finally passed out into a blissful sleep.
*Sasuke's Mindscape*
Indra opened his eyes and stood up from his meditative position. "It seems my presence here changed this world more than I expected, especially Kakashi. Oh well it'll make things even more unpredictable, and where's the fun in knowing everything." As he finished his sentence he chuckled "I'll make things right father, brother, I promise."
*One Month Later*
It's been a month since me and Sakura have started our training together and it's surprising how good she's become, she was able to tie with Ino when they sparred. Naruto keeps improving as well, but it seems as if his progress is slowing down, but not too much though, he's still able to fight on par with Shino.
After me and Naruto's performances when we spar, it seems our fellow classmates decided to improve their skills as well after seeing Naruto surpass some of them. I nearly mastered the three academy jutsu, in about another week I'll be able to do them without handsigns.
As I made my way to the academy I noticed a lot of high ranking ninja running across the streets and rooftops, it seemed as if they were looking for someone, but who? Before I continued back to my desired destination someone ran into me and we both landed on the ground.
"What the heck hit me?" I said as I got up and rubbed my head.
"Sorry my bad, I'm kinda in a hurry here."
That voice is that "Naruto?" I turned around and saw Naruto in a state of panic, now it all makes sense.
"What you do to get all this attention?" Being a kid still I'm curious as to what he did to get all this attention.
"Well you see what had happened was someone had let loose a bunch of cats in the Inuzuka compound and they thought it was me" he said this with a forced smile, trembling in place.
"Idiot" I said with frown, but then I sighed and said "Follow me if you don't want to get caught." I took off down an alley way as Naruto was not too far behind. We took many turns throughout the alley until we made it to a district with a lot of restaurants. It was pretty busy that day so it made it easier to blend in with the crowd.
"Henge now!" I yelled quietly, as soon as we henged into normal looking citizens a few chunin passed by, me and Naruto both sighed in relief as we changed back. "Let's get to the academy before you get caught."
While making our way to the academy Naruto asked "Why did you help me?" He was intrigued by my willingness to help him out.
"Because you're an idiot" I said sarcastically
"HAHAHAHAH, I knew you liked me teme!" he replied with his trademark grin.
"Shut up and hurry up before we're late." But I couldn't help but smirk at our conversation
We made it to class on time, as we took our seats Iruka sensei was giving another boring lesson over the past hokages, the only people that caught my attention was the second and fourth. The fourth hokage was a man of great power who took down a thousand ninjas by himself during the Third Great Ninja War, with a technique created by the second hokage.
The second hokage Tobirama Senju was a man of vast knowledge, he created a plethora of techniques that no man has ever done before, most of them are not known due to the fact most of the techniques were locked away in the hokage tower inscribed in the forbidden scroll.
"Hey Indra is it just me or does Naruto and the fourth look like twins?"
"They do look alike that's for sure, but we'll worry about that another time, right now we're going to discuss what you'll be learning for the next year."
"What are you gonna teach me?"
"We're going to work on your proficiency with shuriken and kunai, but I want you to have your sharingan active throughout the entirety of the those sessions as well as when we work on your interceptor fist, understood"
"Got it!"
As I zoned back in to the world around me Iruka sensei dismissed us for lunch. Today was kinda weird, I usually eat by myself, but Sakura and Naruto wanted to join me. I was contemplating for a few seconds, but Indra interrupted me "You and I both know you're not bothered by them, let them eat with you, you need friends anyway I don't need you to go all emo on me and end up brooding all the time." He finished with a smile and a quiet laugh as I gave in and let them sit with me.
We talked for a little bit and Naruto heard about me and Sakura's training sessions so he asked could he join us, Sakura being as nice as she is said yes. I was hesitant at first, but I got scared of the demonic glare she sent me and I reluctantly agreed.
I could hear Indra laughing in my head "HAHAHAHAHA, you're whipped."
"Shut up." I replied with slight growl and light blush appearing on my face
"Sweet, training with you guys will definitely get me strong enough to become hokage dattebyo!" Naruto said with his infamous Uzumaki grin. I twitched slightly at how loud he was being. But before I could say anything Sakura bashed him upside the head and yelled out "Stop being so loud." He was on the ground with a large lump appearing on his head dazed as he said "Sorry Sakura-chan." As he finished fell back down.
I looked at the scene wondering which was worse, Sakura's demonic side which I've seen show up more and more lately and now with Naruto around it's only going to get worse or Naruto's loud mouth. I just sat there thinking what I have just gotten myself into.
Later that day it was time for the class sparring sessions, but today I was first up and I was going up against the Hyuga Heiress Hinata for the first time. From what I can tell she hates to fight and she's too timid.
We both stepped into the circle and made the seal of confrontation. "This should be easy."
When Iruka sensei said begin we both settled into our stances, her stance was different than the academy taijutsu, it must be the gentle fist. I have to be careful, I don't know how good she is with it considering she never used it spars before.
I ran towards her with a basic straight punch, but she avoided it and thrust her palm at my sternum, I avoided most of it, but I still got grazed. It hurt, I'm just glad she's not using her chakra or I'd be in deep trouble. We continued, but she seemed hesitant to hit me, I tried capitalizing, but she was more agile than I thought and was able to avoid most of my hits. I went for a kick, but she knocked it away with her left hand and spun gaining momentum for a right palm thrust as I regained my balance and threw a right hook.
Everything came back into focus as I noticed we both had our fists an inch away from each other's faces. Iruka called the match a tie and me and Hinata made the seal of reconciliation.
"You've gotten better." I said with surprise
She blushed a little and said "Th-Thank you Sasuke-san."
"Keep training because I plan on training even harder so something like this never happens again, but other than that good match." I threw her the famous Uchiha smirk and walked away.
As Hinata made her way out of the circle she was thinking hard about what Sasuke said, she wanted to impress Naruto, she wanted show him and her clan that she can be strong.
Naruto jumped in front of Hinata and started talking about how amazing she was, but like every other time she turned tomato red and fainted. Before she fell he caught her and started asking if she was ok.
Sasuke watched the whole thing and couldn't help, but smirk. "He really is an idiot."
When we were dismissed for the day, Naruto and Sakura tagged along with me to my clan compound to train. We discussed that we would train with the three academy jutsu considering that Naruto was terrible with them. I could perform two out three without handsigns. Sakura could do them all pretty good, but Naruto can't seem to make a simple clone without it looking like a blob. His chakra control seems terrible. Then Indra told me about something that could help all of us.
"Naruto, Sakura I know something that could help us all out, tree climbing."
Naruto looked at Sasuke like he was stupid "How would climbing trees help us out teme." Sakura looked a little skeptical as well "I'm with Naruto on this one, how will that help"
"I went through some of my family's scrolls and found some chakra control exercises. You see we apply chakra to our feet and it'll allow our feet to stick to the tree."
Before he could finish his explanation Naruto sent chakra to his feet and took off towards a tree, he took 3 steps before he slid down and bumped his head on the ground. "OW, what the heck happened!?" he said as he started massaging the giant lump on his head.
"That wouldn't have happened if you let him finish his explanation you baka!" Sakura yelled
"Sorry Sakura-chan."
"As I was saying you can't have too little chakra or you're gonna slip just like that or too much or you're just gonna blow yourself off the tree." I finished explaining and we all go to it. Sakura made it to the top on her first try, but she's constantly walking up and down the tree to help build her reserves. Naruto is still having trouble, but he's almost at the halfway mark. I managed to make it halfway before the day was out.
Naruto and Sakura left after today's training session. When I knew I was all alone I sat done to meditate and entered my mindscape.
*Sasuke's Mindscape*
I opened my eyes and found myself staring at Indra in a meditative state.
"What's up Sasuke?" he asked
"I was wondering if I could've copied the flow of chakra to Sakura's feet in order to finish the exercise."
"You could have, but I prefer you to work on your abilities and do it yourself instead of relying on your eyes. Relying on your sharingan could be your greatest weakness, but it could also be your greatest tool. Remember that your sharingan is a tool, your capabilities are multiplied with the activation of your sharingan." Indra finished as he stood and walked over to me. He bent down a placed a hand on my shoulder and looked at me somberly.
"But what's the point of having the sharingan if I can't use it" I asked slightly confused
"You can get strong without the use of your eyes Sasuke, that's been most of the Uchiha's downfall; they rely too much on their eyes. What's the point of seeing something come at you if can't move fast enough to avoid it?"
At that moment I understood what he was saying. When Indra seen the look of understanding on my face he stood and patted my head with a smile on his face. "Good now it's time for you to get some rest we have a strenuous schedule on our hands and we need you to be in top shape understood?"
"Okay Indra-san" I replied with a small smile. I made my way out of my mindscape and went to bed prepared for the long days ahead of me and my partners, no I mean friends, I thought with a small smile and I fell into a deep slumber thinking about how my life is getting a little better.
*Two Months Later*
These past couple months I've been around Sakura and Naruto just about every day. Me and Naruto fully grasped tree walking after a few more days. What ensued after that was highly unexpected. I don't know how, but Naruto convinced me and Sakura to help him paint the hokage monument. I must admit it wasn't that bad it was actually pretty fun, but we had one heck of time escaping the higher rank ninjas. Lately we made a name for ourselves, The Legendary Pranksters. We sabotaged the anbu black ops uniforms and turned them pink; we also let all the dogs loose at the Inuzuka compound loose and many other things. Naruto even took us to Ichirakus; he introduced us to Teuchi and Ayame, they're really nice people and they were happy to see Naruto with people who considered him a friend.
We had a two week break from the academy and during that time we found out Sakura had a kekkei genkai. It all started when Naruto had a bright idea…..well a stupid idea, but we went with it anyway.
"Are you sure this is a good idea Naruto?" Sakura voiced her concern as a look of fear crossed her face
"Of course, this will be like a dream come true, flying through the sky. How many ninja do you know that could say that?" Naruto said with a big grin plastered on his face
"That's not the point."
"I think this might be good for us, if we plan on being ninja we can't be afraid of heights." I interjected, then we a looked down the hokage monument. Naruto decided it would be fun to paraglide through the village.
Sakura looked at us with scared face, but she sighed in defeat as she got in between me and Naruto under the paraglider.
"On the count of three." I said
Sakura all of a sudden got a look of fear on her face a said "Wait I don't want to do this"
"THREE!" Naruto yelled
"ANYMOOOOOOOOOOORE" Sakura screamed out as we took off sailing towards the village. We went flying by buildings at a fast rate. Naruto and Sakura were screaming, but for different reasons. Me on the other hand, I was having fun, but I kinda got a little sick and turned a sickly shade of green.
"How do we stop this thing!?" Sakura said with urgency in her voice.
"I don't know!" Naruto was having too much fun to care.
A few minutes rolled by and we started to gain speed as we went crashing down into the hot springs. We all yelled at the intensity of the temperature, but before we had a chance to get out the water froze around us and we were locked in place by the ice.
We were all stunned at what just happened, trying to figure out what caused this, but then Sakura surged her chakra and the ice turned back to water.
"Guys, what did I just do?" she said
"I don't know, but that was AWESOME!" Naruto blurted out
I was surprised "But how do you have a kekkei genkai?"
"We'll worry about that later guys, we need to go now!" Naruto yelled in fear
Me and Sakura asked why, but we found out soon enough when he pointed behind. When we turned around there was a group of angry females glaring at us. We took that as our cue to run like our lives depended on it, well they did. As we made our escape an anbu with a dog mask and silver hair appeared in front of us.
"That was quiet a show you three put on for the village." The anbu said with a slight hint of amusement in his voice. "Especially you pinky." Sakura blushed at the embarrassing nickname.
I stepped in front of the group and asked "What do you want?" I looked at the anbu with a glare
He slightly chuckled and said "You guys caused quiet the disturbance and now the hokage would like to speak with you all."
"What, we didn't do anything wrong. Tell jiji that we're not coming!" Naruto yelled out, but before anybody could say anything Sakura bashed him over the head.
"SHUT IT NARUTO!"
"Guys, now's not the time to" I didn't have time to finish as the anbu in front of us grab all of us, he made a hand sign and we started to move faster than I thought was possible. Moments later we were in the hokage's office. The anbu then politely sat us down and stood off to the side.
That was a weird experience, I then looked over and noticed that Sakura was slightly dazed, but Naruto was well…
"That was awesome!" he blurted out
The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at us with a smile plastered on his face. "Now kids, do you mind telling me what you've been doing to cause all these disturbances?"
"I'll tell you jiji!" Naruto yelled before telling the hokage what happened with a lot of hand gestures and sound effects.
"Interesting indeed, it seems you have ice release Haruno-san." Hiruzen had a look of concentration on his face as he tried to figure out how this was possible. "Inu." He spoke
"Yes sir?" The anbu stood ready for orders
"Escort them to a place of their desire and meet me back in here for a private discussion."
"Yes sir hokage-sama." When he grabbed us I discreetly activated my sharingan and watched him make the handsign before we disappeared in a plume of smoke.
We appeared at Ichiraku's Ramen shop. I deactivated my sharingan before we appeared. Sakura had that dazed look again and Naruto was staring at the anbu in admiration.
"Well this is the last stop kids; it was nice to finally meet the Legendary Pranksters." Inu said before he vanished from sight with pure speed. I smiled mischievously at the technique that I just engraved in my mind, this should be fun. Sakura and Naruto looked at me with grim expressions on their faces wondering what I was thinking to have that kind of look on my face. I was so happy I offered to pay for their ramen and Naruto completely forgot about everything that happened and ordered three bowls while Sakura was still skeptical at what she had just witnessed.
"This can't be good, but oh well free food and I have ice release, BEST DAY EVER!" Sakura finished her thoughts and smiled before enjoying her time with her friends
*Hokage Tower*
"What did you need to talk to me about Lord Third" Inu said as he appeared in the hokage's office.
Before he answered he dismissed all anbu in the room and sealed off the room.
"Remove you mask Kakashi." He took off his mask wondering what the hokage was thinking; he had a look of intrigue on his face.
"As you may know Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura have become friends somehow and became a rather troublesome group of kids." When Hiruzen finished his statement Shikaku Nara sneezed in his wife's face ultimately receiving the beating of a lifetime from a frying pan.
Kakashi nodded give the go ahead for Hiruzen to finish speaking. "What I want you to do is keep tabs on them; I want to see how Sasuke is doing mentally and how Naruto is doing as well. Make sure Sakura keeps a handle on her kekkei genkai; we don't need anybody finding out about it right now. From what we know the Yuki clan was exterminated, understood?"
"Yes Lord Third" Kakashi replied before vanishing in a shushin.
*Three years later*
I'm really annoyed with the academy, they don't teach us enough, but I'm guessing they're gonna leave it up to our sensei in a couple of years. While Iruka was going over chakra natures I was taking notes on what he was saying, mixing different elements can make other elemental releases such as Sakura's ice release. As I was taking my notes, Naruto was sitting to my left studying a book of seals. It seems he has a knack for making and understanding seals, he decided to study seals when we found out about the Uzumaki clan. I was reading over the history of the elemental nations when I found out about the destruction of Uzushiogakure. That probably explains how he's an orphan. As I continued taking notes I looked over to my right to see Sakura with her nose stuck in a book about chakra theory again.
"Some things never change" I thought with a smile
Their constantly improving, keeping up with me, which gives me all the more reason to train harder than ever. I've fully mastered my sharingan and mastered three katon techniques; the shushin on the other hand is a hard technique to master. I don't see how Shisui was able to master it like he did; maybe I can see if he left any notes behind later.
*Unknown Place*
A group of three ninja hidden behind cloaks kneeled in front of their master who was also concealed.
"I've called you all here to welcome your new comrade and my personal protégée. Kai show yourself." The leader said calmly.
A young boy around the age of ten stepped from behind the man. He had short spiky black hair, yellow eyes, his pupils were slits, and his skin appeared to be tan just like the people of Kumo.
"Thanks to his 'special gift' I'll be able to improve upon the chimera technique. Teach him what you can when I'm not around, he needs to be prepared for what's to come in the next several years, understood." He said with authority in his voice.
"Yes Hiruko-sama" they chorused, they took Kai and started to prepare him for what's to come.
Hiruko took a seat upon his throne as he smiled like a mad man. "Soon those fools will know they made a grave mistake, they'll pay for trying to crush my hopes and dreams." After he finished he stood up and walked to a balcony. He seemed to be situated in a tower overlooking a smaller than average village.
"Soon the world will come to know me as their savior, no their god!" he proclaimed loudly as he started to laugh maniacally.
*Two years later*
It was a bright and sunny day in Konoha, the people walking the streets cheerfully, birds chirping happily, and the hokage monument…
"NARUTO!" yelled Iruka
Naruto nearly slipped off the monument as he heard Iruka's voice from the other side of the village.
"Uh-oh not good." Naruto knew he was in trouble for painting the hokage monument again. He seen groups of ninja closing on his position.
"What am I gonna do?" He was scared, he had no way of escape. Then a puff of smoke a boy around his age in appeared dressed in white shorts, a black high collared t-shirt with bandages wrapped around the entirety of his left arm and a black glove covered his left hand.
"Teme you gotta get me out of here!"
"I told you not to paint the monument by yourself dobe, but I should've known you wouldn't listen. Grab on they're almost here." Naruto grabbed my shoulder and we disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Not too long after we appeared at Ichirakus as me and Naruto let out a deep breath.
"Of all the times you do this, you had to do it on the day of graduation." I asked with a glare
"Well you should know me by now, I'm a prankster at heart." He replied with a big smile
"And an idiot." I said back with a smirk
Naruto glared at me and yelled "Hey!"
"Is for horses, now come on before we're late." Naruto glared at me before we took off towards the academy. We were constantly avoiding ninja on our way to the academy and we would've been caught if Sakura didn't proceed to beat the soul out of Naruto if he didn't get rid of all that orange. Now he wore black ninja pants with orange stripes, and an orange long sleeved shirt with a black vest with a red spiral on the back.
*At the academy*
Sakura was worried that Naruto and Sasuke weren't gonna make in time, they grew up so much over the years including her. They inspired her to keep going and improve herself to be the best ninja she could, she even dressed the part. Form fitting black ninja pants, ninja sandals that stopped midway on her calf, a red sleeveless shirt with Haruno circle on the front and back and last but not least black gloves. She even put her long hair in a ponytail. Her thought process was interrupted when two people burst through the door.
Sakura let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and smiled as Naruto and Sasuke took their seats next to her.
"I thought you wouldn't get to Naruto in time Sasuke." She said
"I barely did, we even had a harder time getting past all the anbu." I stated with a tired look on my face.
Naruto started to laugh slightly with an embarrassing look on his face "Sorry guys."
"Sorry is not gonna cut it, you almost missed the exams." She replied with a scowl and large tick mark appearing on her head.
"What matters is that we're here now, and we'll be one step closer to our dreams." I said with a genuine smile.
Naruto and Sakura smiled along with me, it was the moment of truth, years of training with my friends coming down to this very moment. The door to the class opened and Iruka walked in glaring at Naruto. Naruto sweat dropped and nervously waved at him. Iruka shook his head and started to explain what we'll be doing.
First up was the written exam, which is Naruto's worst subject, but me and Sakura helped him enough to at least pass. After the hour time period we all went to the field to test our accuracy with kunai and shuriken. Naruto and Sakura and even Ino tied for third place, Hinata got second which was surprising, and I got first. Then we all sparred with Iruka till he was satisfied.
And last, but certainly not least the dreaded academy jutsu, well for some people anyway. I'm just worried about Naruto, me and Sakura tried our best to help him with the clone, but it's still not perfect. Hopefully he did good enough on the other portions of the exam. I and Naruto looked up when Sakura walked in front of with a gigantic smile and a Konoha headband. I smirked as Naruto smiled.
"All that's left is for you two to get yours and we can be the best team ever." Sakura said with conviction
"Yea, go team pranksters!" Naruto yelled out
Sakura swung her fist and hit Naruto on top of his head "Shut up Naruto! Sorry everybody." Everybody stared at us before doing whatever they were doing again.
"Calm down you two, your both giving me a headache." I stated while massaging my temples.
"Sasuke Uchiha"
I stood up and looked at my friends before walking into the exam room "Wish me luck."
When I entered Iruka and Mizuki were sitting behind a desk. I looked beside them and saw a desk stacked with Konoha headbands.
"Ok Sasuke perform a substitution first." Iruka said
Without handsigns I switched with a chair right next to me
"Perfect now perform a henge." In a poof of smoke I transformed into my ancestor, Madara Uchiha, sharingan and all. I smirked at the terrified looks on their faces and transformed back.
"G-good job, now make three clones."
Without handsigns yet again I created ten clones instead of three.
"Congratulations, you pass the exam with flying colors Sasuke good job." I received my headband and returned to my friends with a smile matching theirs.
Naruto was kinda nervous, he was next and he knew the clone jutsu might be his downfall. As his name was called me and Sakura stopped him and wished him the best of luck.
"What if he fails again?" Sakura asks with a sorrowful look on her face
"I don't know?" I replied with the same look she had
Moments later Naruto ran out of the room and made his way out of the academy. Sakura was about to take off after him, but I grabbed her arm and shook my head.
"Your parents should be up here soon to congratulate you, stay, I'll go look for him." She nodded her head as I took off after him.
"Hey Indra, was Ashura ever like this?" I looked at Ichirakus, but Teuchi and Ayame said they haven't seen him.
"They could've been twins, the only difference is that Naruto is a bottomless pit." I heard Indra chuckle and I couldn't help but smirk at his remark. He wasn't at his apartment or the hokage monument, the only place left to check is the pier. As I made my way towards the pier I was joined by Sakura who came out of nowhere. I never understood how she always sneaks up on me.
We found Naruto staring at the water with a look of concentration on his face.
"Naruto what happened." Sakura asked
"Oh hey guys, I barely failed, they said my clones weren't exactly where they needed to be, but Mizuki sensei stopped by and told me about his extra credit" Naruto said with a smile
"What would that be?" I said with narrow eyes. There's never extra credit.
"Well he wanted me to sneak into the hokage tower and steal some forbidden scroll." He said with a knowing look.
Sakura stepped up and said "Naruto that doesn't sound right, we need to tell the hokage about Mizuki's extra credit."
"Actually, I don't think we should." I said with a smirk
"B-but"
"You're the smart one Sakura, even Naruto knows what I'm thinking." She looked at Naruto and seen him with an uncharacteristic smirk on his face too.
"Wait you don't plan on doing what I think you're going to do, are you?"
"Listen to what I have to say first, it'll be beneficial."
"Fine." She said with a sigh
Naruto cheered as I explained the plan to her and she agreed rather reluctantly.
*Later that night*
"NAARRUTOOOOOOOOOOO!" The Third Hokage yelled "Anbu, get every available ninja to find Naruto Uzumaki, he stole the Forbidden Scroll."
"Yes Lord Third." They all yelled as they dispersed to do what they were told. Hiruzen inhaled deeply as he got all that he could out of his pipe before exhaling and rubbed his temples.
*Meanwhile in the forest of Konoha*
Naruto landed in the middle of the clearing with the scroll strapped to his back. Me and Sakura came jumped out of the trees and landed beside him.
"I got it guys, it was way too easy, and nobody was even guarding it." Naruto said with a smile.
"Good job dobe, I'm surprised you didn't get caught." I said with a smirk
"Whatever teme." He said with a look of annoyance
"Come on guys we don't have that much time before Naruto has to go meet Mizuki." Sakura said with urgency.
We were mesmerized by what we had seen when Naruto opened the scroll. However, we didn't have time ogle at it all day; we need to each get a jutsu before we get caught. Naruto found the shadow clone jutsu and he went off to practice. Sakura found a few water style jutsu invented by the second, she started jotting them down. I started to engrave every jutsu down in my head with my sharingan. After Naruto returned we closed the scroll and gave it back to him to strap it to his back.
Me and Sakura hid in the trees and followed Naruto to the meeting place. We only waited a few minutes till Mizuki showed up. He and Naruto started talking then they were interrupted by Iruka sensei. They started talking back and forth and through their argument we found out Naruto was holding the Nine Tails within him, which explains why he has so much chakra.
Out of nowhere Mizuki threw a fuma shuriken at Naruto, but Iruka got in front of him to take it to his back. I activated my sharingan and jumped out of my tree to catch it before it hit and landed nimbly on my feet.
"Damn it, why the hell are you protecting the fox demon and his follower?!" Mizuki yelled, but before he could say another word Sakura jumped out of her tree and delivered a round house kick to Mizuki which knocked him back. He regained his balance and used his hand to backflip onto his feet and that's when I threw his weapon back at him. No surprise, but he caught it.
I stood completely straight and stared at him with my hatred in filled sharingan eyes. "Don't you hurt Naruto and Iruka sensei or else."
"Hahaha, that's funny, is that a threat?"
I smirked and shook my head "No, that's a promise." As I finished my statement Naruto jumped over Iruka and created A LOT of shadow clones that pummeled Mizuki into the ground.
After a few minutes of watching Naruto beat Mizuki into the dirt he dispersed all his clones and gave Iruka the scroll and said "Sorry Iruka-sensei I had to get the scroll so the village could find out about Mizuki's bad intentions."
Iruka had a blank face for about a minute then he started to laugh which caught us all of guard. He calmed down after a while and smiled at him. "It's okay Naruto I understand and looking at your performance tonight I have something for you."
Iruka sat the scroll down and took his headband off placing it on Naruto's head and tying it on. "You're officially a ninja of Konoha."
Naruto looked at Iruka with tears in his eyes and hugged him tightly, Iruka hugged him back. Sakura and I couldn't help but smile at this scene. All of a sudden we were surrounded by ANBU.
One walked up to them while the others escorted Mizuki away. "The Hokage would like an audience with all of you." Iruka nodded as he handed the scroll to him and led us to the Hokage's office.
***HOKAGE'S OFFICE***
Hiruzen Sarutobi looked beyond mad and set a mean glare on all of us excluding Iruka-sensei. "You three are in so much trouble…but good job" he smiled at us
We all stared at him with stunned expressions. He laughed at our faces and explained himself. "You guys took it upon yourself to handle Mizuki yourself which is very much appreciated, but I could've handled it if you guys had told me. You earned that headband Naruto and the 'knowledge' you and your friends received, you're dismissed. He said with a wink
We all walked out and Iruka reminded us not to be late tomorrow before he left leaving us alone.
I spoke up first "He knows, but he doesn't mind so that's good." We walked out the building and kept walking towards Ichiraku Ramen
"And I officially became a ninja of the leaf!" Screamed a hyped up Naruto
Sakura chuckled and lightly punched him in the arm "Yea, but keep it down its late baka."
We celebrated later that night at Ichiraku Ramen and went our separate ways. Tomorrow was the day our lives change forever and hopefully for the better.
"Don't worry Sasuke everything is going well for you and your friends and plus it seems like you learned a lot from the Forbidden Scroll as well which is a bonus" Indra spoke
"You're right I just can't believe it all worked out, but you should always expect the unexpected right?"
"Always, now it's time for you to get some rest, tomorrow is the day."
"Right!" As we finished our conversation I made it to my house and found my way to my bed and fell into a peaceful slumber waiting for what's to come tomorrow.