She was eight when Uchiha Sasuke lost his family.
Naruko walked sullenly down the street. Glares followed her every move. Maybe, if she could blend into the crowd, the hate would stop. "Nothing will ever change," she muttered. A stick of dango was in her hand as she stepped onto the pier. No one ever went to the end of the dock. But there he was. The boy from class who everybody loved. The top student. Uchiha Sasuke. He was slumped at the end, legs hanging over the edge of the wooden planks.
His family was killed the day before.
She couldn't bring herself to care.
"Hey, Uchiha! Why are you sulking like a pitiful, whiny brat!" His head swung around, and coal eyes bore into her. "What, are you upset about your family? Get over it!" Her tone was harsh as she stood straighter. "You know what? Never mind. You can cry for your whole life for all I care! Just get out of my spot!" He moved over to the left. As Naruko sat down, he noticed him becoming increasingly uncomfortable. She threw the stick of dango at him. He looked surprised, but she just looked at the water like nothing happened. "Don't read into it, Teme. It was a serving for two people."
She was nine when Iruka cornered her when she was in a training ground.
"Naruko, what are you doing here? You're supposed to be in class." She looked up at him from behind her bangs. The man sighed, "What do you want, Naruko? We can't be here all day. I have a class to teach." The corner of her mouth dipped as she glared at him.
"Why does everyone hate me?!" She raised her fists in anger, "Even my own sensei looks at me with eyes like that!" She shook slightly, "I don't know what to do! When I was younger, I hated everyone! I didn't know who I was, why I was so hated, or why I existed!" Her blue eyes met his shocked face, "I still don't know why I exist."
Iruka placed a hand on her head, "I know how you feel. I know how it feels to be-" she grabbed his hand and threw it off.
"You don't know how I feel, Sensei. Even if I go back to the Academy...nothing will change. I'm always alone. But this time it's different!" She turned around. "If...if I can get stronger, then everyone will treat me like a person. I won't have to be alone anymore!"
He didn't yell at her anymore.
Soon training began to intensify at the Academy.
Iruka stood outside of a circle drawn with chalk. A group of eager students stood in a crowd, awaiting the first match. Sparring was just beginning for the first time. Inside the circle were best friends Shikamaru and Choji. Naruko adjusted her new green goggles and gazed around at her classmates. 'I wonder who I'll be fighting...Kiba? Shino? Or...Uchiha...'
Choji raised his hand, "So, um, Sensei?"
"What is it Choji?"
He scratched his cheek absently, "Well, the thing is, I don't really want to fight friends, you know." Iruka rubbed his chin in thought.
"This isn't like a fight..." He raised a finger, "This is traditional shinobi hand to hand combat. Even our Hokage and those before him participated in these drills and became stronger through sparring." As he talked, Shikamaru began to walk away. His heavy footsteps alerted Iruka.
Shikamaru closed his eyes, "Yeah, so, look Sensei, just go ahead and put down that I went out of bounds, okay? And then we can move on to the next pair." Knowing the man would try to interject, he continued, "You might be calling this training or whatever, but if there's gonna be a winner, then it's actually a match, and if that's the case, wouldn't it be less troublesome to decide who wins from the start?"
Iruka tilted his head to the sky in annoyance before slumping with a sigh.
Kiba snorted, "Man, that Shikamaru has no motivation. He'll never make genin like that!" The dog on his head barked in agreement. Shino shrugged.
"That is not necessarily true...It is because people can change over the course of a lifetime that a lot can happen-" The hooded boy was interrupted as Kiba snarled.
"You are so hung up on minor details-"
A blonde girl with short hair rose her fists, "Come one Shikamaru! You are the laziest kid I've ever met and Choji you're just a coward!"
Naruko rubbed her ears as many words assaulted her at once. Iruka let the two leave before calling her name. "I'm already in a bad mood, I'm gonna kick ass today." Around her, many civilian kids seemed to recognize her name. "Wait isn't that the one my parents said-" "Out of everyone here I want to be paired with her the least-" "They said not to talk to her." 'Stuck up bitches.'
Her partner was Sasuke Uchiha. All the girls began to cheer, and she snorted in disbelief. "You girls realize that we're ten, right?" No one paid her any attention. She turned to Sasuke, "I don't know why you're pretending to be Mr. Cool, but I'm gonna beat you down a couple pegs." Only Hinata, a girl who she had saved once, seemed to cheer for Naruko. Well..cheer is a strong word when all she really did was whisper.
She and the Uchiha made the one handed sign of confrontation. "Begin!" Both rushed towards the center. He shoved her to the ground, but she used one leg to sweep his out from under him. She crawled on top of him and sat on his stomach. A fist was raised in front of his nose. "Call the match." Her voice broke Iruka out of his stupor when-
Sasuke flipped them, his fist now in front of her nose. "Call the match." His voice rang out in the silence. She threw her head forwards and slammed her forehead into his, successfully knocking him over. He grunted in pain as she got back to her feet.
"Call the ma-" A hand grabbed her ankle and pulled her to the ground. The wind got knocked out of her and she curled up. Sasuke stood up and walked over to her. He held out a hand for her to grab.
He looked down at her, "This is over n-" She grabbed his hand and pulled him down again.
Both had a fist in the other's face, and yelled at the same time, "CALL THE MATCH!" Iruka pulled them apart, declaring the fight as a draw. Naruko slumped and stood up. Both began to walk away, when-
"Make the sign of Unison!" Iruka sounded angry. He never yelled at her. "Come on, you two!" They slowly walked towards each other. Theirs hand extended in the sign, and their teacher sighed in relief. Until they grabbed each other's shirts.
Sasuke crinkled his nose, "You want to go another round, Uzumaki?" She got all up in his face, a disgusted expression adorning her own.
"Anytime, you bastard." Iruka pushed them apart. Mutters in the crowd circulated. "Naruko's such a troublemaker." "She's the worst!" Naruko slowly backed away from the crowd. "Whatever. I don't need this." She turned around and ran to the fence, pushing chakra into her feet so she could jump over it. One last glance back at the class was all she needed.
This chapter was short, but the next one is the beginning of the Wave Arc. Thanks to the four people who already favorited my story!
