Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

II. Homecoming

(5 years later)

Haruno Sakura

"Are you sure this is it?"

"Yes - Oh, right here should be perfect! Thank you so much!"

I waited for Shikamaru to get out of the Uber before I got out. Chōji had already opened the trunk of the car, pulling our duffel bags out. With a final thunk of the trunk, our Uber pulled away, Ino waving goodbye, and checking to make sure her Uber rating hadn't gone down thanks to us.

"Thanks," I smiled as Chōji handed Ino's bag along with mine, before asking, "Say, Ino, how much do we owe you for the Uber?"

"Oh, you don't even have to worry about it, forehead. We're gonna be living here for the next few months, so it really is no problem."

When she said here, what exactly did she mean? All I could see was a rundown building and a large forest behind that.

"Guys? Why couldn't we just teleport there? Why did we have to take a plane and an Uber to get here," Chōji managed to say in between eating his chips.

"Well, Chōji. That's because we didn't want to die! If we would have teleported, we simply would have been blasted away into little bits and pieces thanks to the intense barrier that surrounds the Konoha Academy of Magic," Ino said with a roll of her eyes.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru grunted.

I could see Ino was about to lose her shit, so I decided to intervene, "Okay! So where do we go now?"

At this, Ino simply smirked and walked up the steps of the rundown building. I followed her, carrying both of our bags. A few decades ago, this must have been a beautiful building. The architecture looks incredibly sound, especially for a four story building out in the middle of the street. This was in Konoha's old abandoned district, once they started developing newer buildings, people sort of just left. Or at least, that's what I heard. This building is the one of the very few buildings still standing in the district.

Ino had grown up in Konoha, so it made sense that she knew how to get to the Academy. She - along with Chōji and Shikamaru - had been best friends growing up in Konoha with their Academy family before the three of them moved to Paris together to practice under their sensei, Asuma. Their upbringing reminded me of mine... Regardless, in my five years in Paris, the four of us became very good friends, as Asuma and Tsunade-shishou worked in a secret sanctuary, albeit on different projects.

I had a great time becoming close friends with the lazy, but genius Nara Shikamaru, the pretty, but loyal Yamanaka Ino, and the strong, but polite Akimichi Chōji. They became a sort of family away from home.

Now, I was finally ready to enter the Konoha Academy of Magic, per the deal I made with my parents five years ago. Before I embarked on my training to Paris.

I was brought out of my thoughts when the doors in front of us opened up. Although the outside looked ancient, the inside was another story. I was left in awe by the giant ivory pillars holding up the roof, which I couldn't even see, even as I craned my neck to see all the way up. It was also bustling with people - so many people.

"They must all be here to enroll in the Konoha Academy of Magic, too," Shikamaru deduced.

"Yes they are. And who might you four be," someone to our left said.

I turned to see who spoke, only to be shocked to see Sarutobi Hiruzen, the leader of the Academy.

"Hello, Sarutobi-sama. My name is Haruno Sakura, and this is Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Chōji. We're here to enroll in the sixth year program," I managed to say, still awed that I was meeting him in person.

"Ah, hello there. I see. Well, I have your enrollment papers here. Your sensei have already signed you up."

Wow, that was pretty convenient for us. I could see that Chōji and Ino were just as surprised as I was.

"Well, you all can just walk on ahead. You're just in time for the sorting to begin," he says as he gives us a small smile. "You'll know where your dormitories are as soon as the" - he paused for some reason here before glancing at us once again - "sorting is over. All you have to do is just walk through those doors and head to the amphitheater," he said, smiling and pointing to some doors that I am pretty sure weren't there before.

I looked at my three travel buddies, silently communicating with them. We all nodded, thanking Sarutobi-sama and walked towards the doors. A large, ancient looking amphitheater that somehow was not seen from outside, sat outside, a few hundred meters away. Knowing how magic worked, I didn't even question it.

Uchiha Sasuke

"Can you stop," I hissed under my breath as I felt the dobe's knee start bouncing yet again.

"Some us can't contain our excitement," he says while glaring at me.

I roll my eyes and continue looking forward, knowing Sarutobi was about to walk to the center and give us his spiel about how being sixth year students in the Academy was a lot of responsibility now that we had to go out into the world on missions to save the world from evil.

We were currently in an amphitheater large enough to house the 501 sixth year Academy students - and more. This amphitheater appeared to be inspired by those of Ancient Greece. Naruto and I were sitting by ourselves on the right, all the way in the back. Far away from everyone else.

I just know I had to prove my worth to my father. When he was at the Academy, his team was the best of the best. I had to do even better. Hopefully, Naruto would be on my team, because otherwise I would have to learn how to work with two other people from scratch. If I want to prove my worth, I'm going to need to start off strong, and unfortunately, the only real friend I have made here has been Naruto. That's not to say I've never made other friends, because there was also -

"Hello, dear students," Sarutobi began, bringing me out of my trip down memory lane, his voice carrying throughout the amphitheater due to his amplification magic. Keeping my eyes forward, I began to listen to what was about to be yet another hour long speech.

"I am sure you are all expecting an hour long speech, but that is not the case today. As you are all now sixth year students, this will be the last speech you will hear from me. To honor that, I will simply keep this short and simple" - I hear Naruto let out a gasp - "Today. You will be assigned your teams. On your right palm, a number will appear. This number will be your team number. You must find the rest of your teammates and work together" - Sarutobi lets out a dark chuckle - "to defeat the other teams today. If your team is knocked out before sunset, then you will have to wait another year before you can actually be a true sixth year student. Now… try not to kill each other and good luck," he finishes before disappearing in a puff of smoke, the duffel bag that was at my legs disappearing with him.

I narrowed my eyes, wondering where my duffel bag disappeared to. Suddenly, I feel a tingling sensation in my hand, looking down, I see a black '7' appear in my palm. I look over at Naruto and sighed, relieved that I wouldn't have to work with a random person, as he also had a black '7' in his palm.

"Well, Naruto… let's fuck all these kids up."

And then all hell broke loose.

Uzumaki Naruto

As soon as old man Sarutobi poofed away, the duffel bag I was laying my feet on disappeared too, but I barely noticed. I was to excited by what he just said. We were about to have a free-for-all with every other potential sixth year student. I'll show them never to doubt Uzumaki Naruto! Dattebayo!

I felt a weird feeling in my hand, and as I looked down at my hand, I was surprised by the black '7' that was there. Had I gotten drunk and gotten a tattoo?

"Well, Naruto… let's fuck all these kids up," I hear Sasuke say. I could even hear his smirk.

I looked at his palm and saw the same '7' I had in my right hand, and then it clicked. We were on the same team - we just had to find our third member.

"They are so not ready for us, teme," I said excitedly.

As we were all the way in the back, I quickly grabbed the teme's arm and jumped onto the back wall of the amphitheater. Ignoring the teme's very obvious glare, I started surveying the area. These kids were running all over the place, shooting magic at each other.

"All of the Academy is free! The only boundary for this test of sorts is the barrier surrounding the Academy," old man Sarutobi's voice echoed throughout the amphitheater.

This caused even more chaos as everyone else ran out of the amphitheater, or at least those that weren't knocked out yet.

"Hey, teme… Do you want to give everyone else a thirty minute head start," I asked gleefully, acknowledging his smirk as he nodded.

We sat on the outer wall, enjoying the cool fall breeze, watching the sun start to fall. Once their thirty minutes were up, there would be about four hours left before the sun was supposed to set. In our past five years here at the Academy, the teme and I managed to get ourselves at the top of our class in terms of battle prowess, which explains why no one really wanted to fight us. Or we were simply farther away from everyone else. I tried to remember where the groups of students were heading.

"Thirty minutes are up," Sasuke stated before jumping off the wall and onto the field behind the amphitheater.

I followed closely behind him, landing right next to him. I then summoned a gust of wind that rocketed us to where I remember seeing a majority of our class run to - the forest.

"Let's amplify our hearing," Sasuke whispered next to me.

I nodded my head, adding, "Don't forget we have to find our third team member."

He nodded his head, before running ahead. I followed him for what felt like ten minutes when we stumbled into a clearing. Dozens of our classmates were strewn around. How had we not heard this - we had amplified our hearing after all. I then realized something, what I thought was a clearing turned out to be a bunch of upturned trees. Had someone thrown them around?

"What the fuck," I questioned loudly.

One of the guys sat up, groaning. He looked at his right palm. My eyes grew wide when I saw the black '72' in his right palm begin to fade.

"FUCK," he yelled out.

I approached him carefully, "What happened to you, dude?"

"My team just got knocked out apparently," he groaned out, "But teams ten and seven just managed to beat everyone here. I saw their palms - "

Team seven?!

"Who was the member of team seven? What was his name? What does he look like," Sasuke asked, interrogating the poor kid. His large red crewneck sweater and cuffed jeans were ripped, suggesting the fight had been somewhat intense. He also had a busted lip, and his glasses were scratched. There was a twig in his brown, curly hair, too. All in all, he looked like he deserves a long nap.

"No idea. I had never seen her before. She was way too cute to be such a threat. She got the best of me… And the pink hair! It looked so soft," he said, sounding more disoriented than when he got up.

Pink hair?!

"Where did she go off to," Sasuke growled.

I was lowkey scared by the tone of his voice, but if my suspicions were correct, we had both come to the same conclusion as to who our third team member was.

"She and the rest of her French-speaking buddies went back to the Academy building," the guy quickly said.

French...? Before he could blink, I summoned a giant gust of wind that took us out of the forest and a few feet away from the building. As we were about to take a step closer, a big guy went flying out the wall. Like, there was a giant hole in the wall now. Whoever did that must be strong as fuck. It seems that Sasuke thought the same thing I did, as he readied his body to fight. It seemed we would have to wait to meet our third team member.

Uchiha Sasuke

She must be close. She has to be. It's just aggravating that we have to fight someone when we were getting so close to seeing her for the first time in five years.

The guy that had been blasted from the wall started standing up, looking scared behind him, as he attempted to hastily escape. Long tendrils of shadows stretch out from the hole in the wall, reaching the guy, seemingly paralyzing him. A skinnier guy with a ponytail and a singular stud earring walked out of the hole. He had a light tan jacket on over a black shirt, and cuffed jeans. He was also wearing black shoes, or maybe they just looked black, because it seems that the shadows originated from his feet.

Not even a second after he stepped out, a chubbier, shorter guy walked out. He was wearing a fleece-lined, red flannel hoodie over olive chino pants and tan leather boots. There was a giant water jug on his back. He was accompanied by a pretty blonde. She had a denim jacket over a purple crop top and dark, blue jeans tucked into her black combat boots. It seems that the three of them had matching stud earrings.

Naruto grabbed me and pulled me behind some of the bushes. That was surprisingly smart of him. It would be better to scout out who these guys were before we engaged in combat.

"Yo, forehead. Get over here. Fuck him up."

"My pleasure," said a voice from inside the building.

Then, she stepped out. She was wearing black jeans with a large white crewneck sweater over it. Despite her wearing an outfit that wasn't very revealing, there was no denying that there was a womanly body there, different from when we last saw her five years ago. She had her long, pink hair in a high ponytail. Although the blonde was pretty, Sakura was more than that, she -

My eyes widened - hopefully - imperceptibly, as a long stream of water from the jug on the chubbier guy's back traveled closer to Sakura's open hand, somehow floating as it traveled in a serpentine manner.

"The next time you touch my ass," she said as she stepped closer before standing in front of him, "You're dead, you piece of shit."

The long stream of water turned into giant ball hovering over her hand. She leaned her hand forward a little, until the ball slowly hovered over the trapped guy's head, quickly enveloping his head in a bubble made of water, and subsequently bursting, knocking him out. The water within their proximity floated back to the jug on that chubbier guy's back at Sakura's command.

"Chōji, thank you yet again," she said with that smile that Naruto and I loved so much. I ignored that weird sensation in my stomach when I saw it.

"SAKURA," the dobe yelled, causing her to quickly turn her head in our direction, as Naruto stood up to his full height.

Her eyes widen, "Putain!"