Disclaimer: I hate doing this, but whatever. I don't own Naruto, you know who does.

A/N: Here's chapter 2, and now the story will finally start going somewhere. The first chapter was just introducing you to the kind of way I've interpreted Naruto. People dislike him, but not everyone passionately hates him. Only a few, such as Sabu-sama (or Sabu-baka, whichever one works for you) hate him. You'll find out why eventually. Also, in this chapter, I'm going to hint at two or three possible pairings, but only one will really happen, and so I'm going to do this just to keep you guys guessing. I hope you enjoy.

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Sakura and Naruto met up with Sasuke outside of Ichiraku Ramen shop, where they always met. The owner asked if they wanted a bowl, but they said they had already eaten, which earned them one very sour face. Brushing it off, they proceeded to the training grounds where they had originally taken the infamous "bell test".

When they arrived there, they saw the blue stone with all the names of the people killed in action, and could have sworn they had sensed someone else there, but had ignored it when they saw nobody else. They each sat on one of the three logs where they could have been tied up had the test gone a little differently. Naruto, of course, sat on the middle one where he himself had truly been tied up two years ago.

"This really brings back memories," he expressed what he had been thinking to his two team-mates, which brought them both out of their own reveries and back into reality.

"Sure does," Sasuke said off-handedly, but Sakura merely looked up to the sky.

"I wish Kakashi-sensei had been with us today, he was supposed to meet us here," that idiot, ditching us like this! Inner Sakura screamed in rage, while Naruto and Sasuke merely chuckled, both remembering how their sensei had promised to spend this special day with them.

Whether he could tell they had been thinking about them, or it was just coincidence, Kakashi appeared out of the trees just a few yards away from them, waving his hand at them, his visible eye curved in a smile.

"Yo!" he said enthusiastically, while Sakura and Naruto pointed at him, shouting, "You're late!"

"Well, you see, on the way here I met a wayward Penguin, and I had to help him get home, so..."

"Liar!" They both shouted at once, and then there was a sort of awkward silence. But after only a few seconds, all four of them burst into genuine laughter, Naruto the loudest of them all. Sakura looked happily at her hyperactive team-mate, relieved to see that he was truly laughing, not that fake forced laugh he usually produces. She was even more relieved when he was the first to stop laughing, showing his true happiness.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei, do you remember what today is?" Naruto asked eagerly. The glimmer of happiness showed clearly in his eyes. Sakura giggled while Sasuke gave a light chuckle. Kakashi looked at Naruto quizzically, before closing his eyes for a moment.

"Hm, I can't say that I do," he said, opening his eye. Naruto's jaw dropped rather dramatically, and they all started laughing again. After their laughter subsided, Kakashi spoke again, "Naruto, of course I know what today is. How could I forget, given our current environment?" He motioned around, looking at the landscape. As his eyes swept past the cenotaph, he closed his eyes, as if showing respect.

"Kakashi-sensei...I've been wondering for a while. Why do you spend so much time at that stone?" Sakura asked innocently.

Kakashi turned to look at her, a momentary sadness showing in his eye as he spoke gravely, "I'm why someone whom I cared deeply for has his name on there."

His voice was somber and regretful, yet at the same time, hopeful. " 'Ninjas who break the rules are scum, but ninjas who betray their friends are even worse scum.' the man on there that I'm referring to said that to me shortly before he died. It's why we became friends. Uchiha Obito, the one who gave me my sharingan."

The whole group was quiet as Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura absorbed this information. Sasuke offhandedly wondered how long ago this Uchiha Obito had lived. Maybe he'd said that before Itachi had...he stopped at that thought, and opened his mouth to ask what he had been silently wondering.

"Long before I met you. A little after I became a jounin, actually. I was only thirteen at the time," Kakashi said, staring up towards the sky. "I owe the kind of ninja I am now to him. He taught me the most valuable lesson I'd ever learned. My best friend, even if only for a moment." Somehow, this isn't what they had all imagined their special day would be like, but the surprising thing was how their sensei was openly telling them about his past. "But," he said, getting their attention, "I won't tell you more than that. It's better suited for another time. Now, how are we going to celebrate this day?" he said, his voice very cheery as he asked them that question. Sasuke, in an uncharacteristic display, suggested that they go to the new Konoha park, and just reminisce about the past. Naruto and Sakura liked the idea, and Kakashi wasn't going to deny his friends something so simple. Three fourteen year-olds talking about their time together could be interesting.

So they left to go to the park. It had no real name, just "Konoha Park". When they arrived, they picked out a pair of benches that faced each other, practically perfect for the kind of thing they had planned on doing. And so they sat down, Sasuke and Naruto on one bench, with Sakura and Kakashi on another. Nobody noticed someone's very slight blush at these sitting arrangements.

"So, what should we talk about first?" Kakashi asked, clapping his hands together and rubbing them back and forth as he did so. Sakura's face lit up within a second or two.

"Remember our first real mission? To the Country of the Wave?" she asked, excitement in her voice as she thought about the trying and thrilling adventure.

"How could we forget?" Sasuke said, smiling slightly. He remembered how he had nearly died trying to protect Naruto from the incredibly strong Haku and his master technique. He blushed a little bit as Naruto brought up that very same subject.

"I seriously thought you had died. I was about ready to throttle that kid, but somehow he stopped me. I don't know why, but I didn't want to kill him after a minute, but when he reminded me of how you had died, I was again filled with rage. It was strange..." Naruto said, his voice trailing off, before he started up again, "but that Zabuza! He scared me!"

They all laughed at this statement, because it had been undeniably true the first time they met the Mist Ninja. He had scared Naruto out of his wits, but when they all thought of this, Sakura spoke up.

"But that first battle, Naruto is the one who came up with the plan that saved Kakashi-sensei from that hydro-prison. That was a scary battle. I used to be so useless."

"Who says you aren't still?" Naruto teased at her before she smacked him on the head, shouting "idiot!" and giving him the death glare that all girls develop the ability to make at some point in their lives. They all laughed at this after a minute. The day was filled with lots of good laughter. Sasuke was even smiling. He hadn't done that much since...he had been betrayed by the only person who he thought of as brother before Naruto. Somehow, the gravity of the day hit him, and it made him open up a little more. He enjoyed the company of his only existing family.

They sat there in comfortable silence for a good ten minutes, before Naruto spoke up, "We need to participate in the next Chuunin Selection Exam. We haven't done that since the one that Orochimaru ruined. I can't be a Genin forever, that'll only make it harder for me to become the Hokage one day!" he said as enthusiastically as ever, not bothering to consider that he was probably scaring off nearby small animals with the power of his voice.

Sakura giggled and said, "We wouldn't want to scare away all the little rookies though, would we? We're stronger than Lee-san's team was when we all participated together, and they were scary back then." The talk of Team Gai brought on a whole new plethora of conversation. They talked about Neji's status as a jounin, and how Gaara was now the Kazekage and all that, and then they started talking about their relation with Sunagakure no Sato.

"I hope they send some good ninja to the next exam. I don't think I can be scared of any of them after fighting with Gaara," Naruto said, and Sasuke nodded his head in silent agreement, his eyes closed as he did so. Even he had feared Gaara, who had shown his inner demon during the exam.

"You beat him, though...and, you...saved me," Sakura said, a little downcast at the memory of finding out that Naruto had saved her, and not Sasuke. Though she had been grateful (and still was very grateful to this day) she would have preferred her idol to have saved her, instead of her other team-mate.

"Hey, Sakura-chan, why so sad? I bet you wanted Sasuke to save you, eh?" He said, sounding a little disappointed himself. Luckily, Sakura caught this and corrected herself.

"What I may have wanted doesn't matter. What does matter is that you saved me from dying, and I'm still grateful to this day, Naruto-kun," the "kun" had sort of stumbled out of her mouth, as if she'd been thinking it but not planning on saying it, but had been unable to stop it from coming out. Her eyes widened a little in embarrassment as her cheeks flushed red, Naruto's going a little pink themselves. Kakashi gave a nervous laugh as Sasuke just closed his eyes again, and smirked, his arms crossed.

"Well, it's definitely getting dark out. I myself am tired, and want to turn in so that way, when I sleep in tomorrow, I'll have had maximum sleeping time," Kakashi said, stretching his arms into the air as he spoke, yawning from under his mask. As he brought his arms down, he stood up and waved good-bye to his students and friends, and then disappeared, definitely headed towards his house.

"I think I'm going to go home, too. It was great you guys. I hope we can do this every year," Sakura said, and she too waved good-bye.

"Good night, Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled, a big grin plastered on his face, his arm high in the air as he waved good-bye. Sakura smiled, wondering if that was a real smile or one of his fake ones.

"Hey, blockhead, I'm going to go too, but you're so weak, I think I need to walk you back to your house," Sasuke said in a mocking voice. Naruto glared death at him.

"I don't need you to walk me home," he said, his voice like ice water. Sasuke winced; whenever Naruto used this tone of voice, anyone who knew him winced. It was so...unnatural that it hurt to listen to.

"I'm just joking with you, Naruto. Well, anyways, good night. Do we have a mission tomorrow?"

"Nope, not tomorrow. Not yet, anyways. If we're lucky, maybe we'll get one. I'll have to talk to the old lady about it. Good night, Sasuke!" Naruto smiled again, and Sasuke too wondered if this was a real or fake one. He didn't much care though, and he jumped into the treetops and raced off towards his home, leaving Naruto behind.

And for Naruto, the look on his face would have been mortifying if anyone else had been there. And horrifying to them. As he slowly turned to go towards his apartment building, he let a lone tear slide down his face.

Good night, Sakura-chan, good night, Kakashi-sensei. And...good night, Sasuke-kun.

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I know that I'm updating really soon, but I want to get the story started while it's fresh in my mind. And, just for anyone who's wondering, I hinted at the following pairings:

NaruSaku

SasuSaku

SasuNaru

KakaSaku

So we'll see. I know which one I'm going to use, but there were two that were highly suggested. See if you can spot them. Please review if you've read the chapter.