Summary: It's a AU of what would happen if Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were childhood friends as they go down the path of the shinobi. Making friends and foe alike, also an look into other teams. Warning: contains OCs and some dark content.
Hello everyone! I apologize if this story isn't that great, this is mostly a little thing my friend and I had going on for a month and we couldn't decide if this story is okay or if we should go for a better plot. Therefore, if there are any mistakes, I apologize. Thank you!
Disclaimer: Miru and I do not own Naruto, it belongs to Kishimoto.
Chapter One: Team Seven
Haruno Sakura. A simple girl with nothing extraordinary, save for her exotic coloring and larger than average forehead. Her unique coloring was what set her apart from many of the citizens of Konoha. This, however, didn't mean the kids didn't pick on her. It was actually the fuel that kept them going. She had joined the ninja academy thinking that since everyone was unique, and that they wouldn't pick on her like the civilian children. Alas, while they were ninja children, they were still children, and children could be cruel. One of her main tormentors was Uzuki Ami. A purple haired girl with a horrendous attitude that a group of other girls, and sometimes even a few boys, followed.
"No one likes you forehead girl! You're just some pathetic civilian girl with no friends and will never be a ninja." Ami laughed as she threw a rock at a crouching Sakura. Other kids joined in throwing rocks at her and saying hurtful words.
"What a cry baby!"
"I bet her parents wished she was never born."
"What weird colored hair, it's not even normal."
"Hahaha can you do nothing but cry?"
"Why are you even here? You're just a civilian with a no name background!"
"Go home weakling! You don't belong here!"
"With that freaky hair color you probably aren't even from Konoha are you?"
Sakura had no idea what she did to deserve this kind of treatment and only shrunk more into herself. Just as a rather large rock was about to hit her, however, a short blond boy took the hit for her.
"Hey! Leave her alone!" Yelled the blond kid with whiskers on his face, a torn baggy orange shirt with a swirl symbol on the back, and black shorts. It was Uzumaki Naruto, the social outcast and pariah of the village. Several kids sneered.
"Oh, look who's here, it's dead last." Ami drawled on as she glared at Sakura, "It figures that the two losers would stick together. No one else would be near these weirdos."
"Really now?" A new voice said behind the group causing everyone to turn around. It was Uchiha Sasuke, the young heartthrob of Konoha with his onyx eyes, obsidian hair shaped liked a cockatoo, and part of the elite Uchiha family signified by his navy shirt with the Uchiha fan and tan shorts.
"Sasuke-kun! It's great to see you, I was just getting rid of some trash here so the park will be nicer for you." Ami simpered as the other girls swooned at the sight of their crush. The guys meanwhile sneered slightly, but didn't say anything.
Sasuke looked at the group with a slight scowl before settling on smirking, which caused several girls to faint.
"The only trash I see here is your group." He glared while walking to stand beside Sakura and Naruto. The whole park seemed to have gone silent after that sentence. Afterall, who would expect the second son of the infamous Uchiha Clan head to side with the rejects of their school?
"B-but Sasuke-kun, you must be joking right?" Ami and the others looked shocked while she inwardly glared at Naruto and Sakura for making her look bad in front of her precious Sasuke-kun. Sasuke only glared in reply before helping Sakura stand along with Naruto.
"Leave, before I get my brother." Everyone paled as Ami replied, "O-oh, well I guess I'll see you later then Sasuke-kun." She flipped her hair before leaving with the group of people. Sasuke ignored her reply in favor of helping Naruto dust Sakura off and examining her wounds.
"Th-thank you two for helping me." Sakura shyly said after rubbing her eyes free of tears.
"It's okay dattebayo! I'm Uzumaki Naruto, but just call me Naruto." Naruto smiled gently at the poor girl who was getting picked on moments before. He knew better than anyone what it was like to be hated and bullied, afterall.
"I'm Uchiha Sasuke, it's nice to meet you." Sasuke said bluntly, but was still looking over her for any more injuries.
"Thank you so much, I'm Haruno Sakura. No one has ever done that for me before." She fidgeted with the hem of her shirt as her bangs fell over her eyes. Naruto felt his heart clench as he shared a look with Sasuke. Naruto thought that no one deserved this while Sasuke felt a bit guilty as he had seen that group bully her occasionally and had done nothing to help.
"Ne Sakura-chan, don't hide your face dattebayo! I'll protect you from now on." Naruto said cheerfully, yet it also seemed nervous. He's never had a friend before and no one wanted to be his friend while calling him horrible names, so he was hopeful she would not reject him like so many others had before. Sasuke nodded in agreement with Naruto as he pulled out a hair tie that was his brother's.
"Here. It gets some of the hair out of the way. Don't listen to those idiots." Sakura smiled a small smile before tying up her cherry blossom hair into a high ponytail.
"I've never had a friend before. Would you guys really be willing to be friends with someone like me?" She shyly said as she waited for a rejection. Naruto and Sasuke were quick to assure her that they would like to be friends. Sakura smiled brightly while Naruto grinned and Sasuke smirked. It was the start of a powerful bond. Naruto now had two friends when before no one wanted to be his friend, Sakura finally felt like she belonged, and Sasuke now had a friend outside of his clan that didn't want to be his friend for ulterior reasons.
They decided to play on the swings at Sakura's suggestion which quickly evolved into a swinging competition between the boys as Naruto taunted Sasuke that he could swing higher. Through the afternoon in the park, you could hear joyful laughter and cries of "Dobe!" or "Teme!"
A few years had passed since the trio had first met on that fateful day, and much had changed since then. Sakura had taken to keeping her hair out of her face but still kept her hair down and had grown much more confident, and with her newfound confidence came the dutiful task of keeping her boys, dubbed so by the neighborhood elderly where she lived when they played outside while her parents were gone, out of trouble or reigning them in when necessary. Despite most of the village still holding an unknown hatred toward him, Naruto had long since become a beaming ray of sunshine with his new friends, 'family' he thought to himself, he knew his world had become that much bigger and much, much kinder, as both Sakura's parents and Sasuke's parents had shown him kindness he had not experienced in other people, much less adults, and none had not shunned him but instead, accepted him with open arms and smiles, even the stoic Fugaku had softened toward both of Sasuke's friends eventually.
His prankster days had not ended, however, when around his 'Sakura-chan', 'Sasuke-teme', and Sasuke's family, but mostly Sakura-chan, he almost always tried to be on his best behavior. Sasuke had changed his behavior almost entirely. He had changed from a little boy who practically worshipped the ground his dear aniki walked on to a little boy who realized that his brother was just an extraordinary shinobi, and instead of wanting to be exactly like him, he aspired to be as capable a shinobi as Itachi. He also realized that although they may not be from noble ninja families, have a notable background, or even have a known family background, his two best friends, only admitted so in the privacy of his own mind of course, were quite capable. Naruto, he already knew had some capabilities as a ninja as he was able evade even Jounin at times when they tried, unsuccessfully on most occasions, to catch him after a pranking, however, the thing that surprised him most was the fact that a merchant's daughter, Sakura, packed one hell of a punch when the time arose needing such an occasion. It was even stranger because said girl was sort of a pacifist and would rather not deal blows to make her point, but when she did, it was noted. Harshly.
Naruto's most notable prank was probably when he had snuck into Itachi's bathroom and replaced his shampoo with bleach. Let's just say, Itachi hadn't come out of the house until his mother took pity on him and bought some black hair dye. Sasuke had made fun of his dear aniki for days afterwards until Itachi got revenge by shooting fireballs at both. Sakura laughed at the scene, as she felt the punishment was just, while enjoying homemade dango with Mikoto, Sasuke and Itachi's mother. Everyone quickly learned a blonde Itachi was not a happy one. Their bond was stronger by day and it seemed like nothing would break this miraculous friendship between the three rambunctious children.
However, such days could not last. As lonely as Naruto was and as alone as Sakura felt, both always coming back to empty homes as Naruto had no family and Sakura's parents were almost always out making trips for their merchant trade, nothing could be more lonely or devastating than one day waking up and finding your friend shutting you out, indefinitely, and feeling the bitter sting of betrayal and crushing weight of sadness when they realized that the warm second family they had come to love had vanished into nothing. The Uchiha Clan was massacred by one of the people they loved, Uchiha Itachi. It filled them with pain and anguish, but for Sasuke, it was even worse. He cried and screamed trying to wake up from this seemingly hellish nightmare while the other two tried their best to support him as much as they could. However, soon this anguish turned into anger and hate as Sakura and Naruto slowly watched him slip away from them little by little, until it seemed like their bonds were broken by tragedy. Fate never seemed crueler to these children, it felt like they were losing each other, but Naruto and Sakura clung on to their bonds with Sasuke with no intention of ever letting go even if he did not reciprocate.
Years Later
Today was the day. Today they were no longer academy students, but actual shinobi. They were all that much closer to their dreams. After the loss of the Uchiha clan, Sakura wanted to become someone who was able to help her friends, to become someone who was strong enough to protect and heal them, Naruto realized that the ninja world was deadlier than he had thought, but that did not deter him from his dreams, in fact, it made him want to become a Hokage even more, he believed that if he were Hokage, he could prevent such tragedies from happening. Out of the three, it was Sasuke, unsurprisingly, that changed the most. He changed from the sweet, but arrogant boy into an antisocial, holier-than-thou boy bent on avenging his clan that even his best friends couldn't pull him out of sometimes.
They had stayed close throughout the years, but they had grown a bit more distant after the massacre as it was difficult for all of them to cope. However, the trio remained close friends and today they would all be sorted into teams of three, and each was silently hoping that they would be placed together. They had other friends in the class, but no one was more important to them than each other. Ino sometimes didn't understand why Sakura was so bent on becoming stronger or why she didn't fangirl over Sasuke but secretly suspected that Sakura was trying to impress Sasuke by acting nonchalant to his charms. Shikamaru was more often too unmotivated and lazy for Sasuke than not when they weren't playing shogi together. Kiba didn't always understand Naruto's ambitions and the reasons for them. Afterall, they were just fresh faced twelve year olds that did not have tragedy mark them yet.
"Good morning class as you know, today is the last day before you head out to the real world of ninja, congratulations on passing the Academy. Please meet with your new teammates after I list them all out loud. Your teachers will meet up with you at the end of this period." Iruka smiled at all his students before giving Naruto a knowing look and an even brighter smile.
"Team 7 will be Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, and Haruno Sakura."
Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura all looked at each other with varying degrees of happiness as Sakura pulled them into a group hug.
"Team 8 will be..."
After the sorting of the teams, each team went off with their respective teachers to become better acquainted with each other. However, as the day went on and more and more teams left, it became evident that their teacher would not be showing up anytime soon. Of course as Team 7 realized this, their resident prankster, the number one knuckle-headed ninja, Naruto decided that he would 'punish' their teacher.
"Naruto, you idiot, he's a seasoned Jounin, there's no way he'd fall for a stupid trick like that!" the rosette scolded. "Besides, it's better to give a good first impression. Right Sasuke?"
"Hn." Sasuke replied as he laced his fingers together and he his face behind his hands.
"...fat load of good you are..." Sakura deadpanned.
As they settled down once more, Sakura was proven wrong as their teacher poked his head into the classroom and was hit with the chalkboard eraser. In that moment, Inner Sakura face-palmed, Sakura groaned, Sasuke raised a questioning brow, and Naruto fell back as he howled with laughter.
The silver-haired man smiled, an assumed smile really as almost all of his face was covered with his mask and his hitai-ate, and the only visible part of him was his right eye and it was crinkled shut, as though he were smiling. Sakura thought they were in the clear, but then he opened his mouth to say, "Hmmm... how do I put this? My first impression of this group...You're a bunch of idiots."
'Great...' Sakura thought as they head up to the roof to get to know their teacher and their team, not really necessary for them but still. When they got up there he asked that they introduce themselves, and of course Naruto being Naruto yelled out, "Why should we?!" Sakura promptly reached over and slapped the back of his head to which a whimper of hurt and a quiet, quiet for Naruto anyway, "Ow Sakura-chan~!" and she said, "Why don't you go first sensei?"
"Oh... me? My name is Kakashi Hatake. What I like... I don't feel like telling you that. What I don't like...you don't really need to know. My dreams for the future…hmm... never really thought about that…as for my hobbies... well, I have a lot of hobbies." He then looked the trio expectantly with another eye-crinkle. When no one spoke up, he looked at Sakura and said, "Alright then, you first pinkie."
The rosette's eye twitched before she took in a deep breath and began. "My name is Haruno Sakura, and yes this is my natural hair color. I like my family and friends, I dislike people who are two-faced and breaking promises, my hobbies are reading, experimenting and applying what I read, and my dreams for the future is to become strong enough to protect my important people." She finished off with a far-off and nostalgic but fiery look in her eyes.
With that hanging in the air, Naruto jumped in. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen, my friends, and learning cool jutsu! I dislike when the milk goes bad, the three minutes you have to wait for the ramen to cook, the teme, and the village's enemies. My hobbies are pranking and training, and my dream is to become Hokage dattebayo!" he finished with a fist raised high.
"Dobe." Sasuke murmured. "What did you call me, Teme?!" To which the 'last' Uchiha ignored and began his introduction. "Uchiha Sasuke, I like tomatoes and training, I dislike dobes, fangirls, and a certain someone, I don't have many hobbies, and my dream is to kill a certain someone, avenging my clan, and to build it back up once more."
Interesting. Their profiles seem to be correct in that they all seem to be friends and have a past with each other. They're different from the other teams I've failed in the past….they remind me a bit of mine. Obito, Rin…. could I actually pass them? We'll just have to see. Kakashi silently thought as he observed his group of Genin.
"Alright then, we'll meet up tomorrow at the bridge at 7 am sharp." As he was leaving he turned around quickly, as if he forgot something and said, "And don't eat anything, you'll just throw it back up."
With that cryptic message, their sensei disappeared with a 'poof' and the standard Jounin cloud.
So what do you all think? It is still rather crude and we probably will replace chapters if we make large changes.
Any suggestions? Comments? Concerns?
This is a really fun story we thought of, but we understand if it isn't everyone's cup of tea.