Naruto: A Different Path
I do not own anything related to Naruto

Summary: Kushina survived her childbirth on that faithful night and had an adopted daughter before she married to Minato. How will Naruto's life changed with a family that loved him and his status as Jinchuuriki never revealed? NaruSaku AU

Chapter 3

One week passed in a rather half boring way to Sakura. The boring half was the activity was repetitive. Wake up, take shower, eat breakfast, training, eat lunch, training again, go home, take another shower, eating dinner, reading books about medic, and go to sleeping before repeating the same activity for the next day. The other interesting half was that she did her training with Naruto. True to what he said after graduation, they won't seeing each other for a while if they were on different teams because of missions and trainings—though they somehow optimist that they would be in the same team—so she spent as much time as possible to hang around with her best friend and crush. She developed a feeling to the blond haired boy ever since they first met and after they hang around together for a long time, the feelings had gotten stronger. The way Naruto treated her just helped her to develop that feeling. He would help with her taijutsu training by pointing the flaws on her stances and katas, helping her with some ninjutsu, and even getting scrolls and books from his library to help with her medic studies. Kushina and Setsuna also helped her in her training. The red haired former Jounin once joked that she would like to help her future daughter-in-law's training, much to Naruto and Sakura's flustered reaction.

Today was the last day of the new graduates day off, so Naruto and Sakura are going to create their ninja identification card. On their way to the Hokage tower, they saw Konohamaru, the grandson of the Hokage, chased by Ebisu, his mentor. Sakura met Konohamaru two years ago when her mother and Naruto along with his family attended a party at the Hokage Tower. The nine years old boy spotted Naruto and ran to him.

"Naruto-nii-chan! Help me!" said Konohamaru as he hid behind Naruto. The blond looked at him in confusion.

"Konohamaru-sama! Please return to your training!" said Ebisu as he finally caught up with the boy. "Oh, Good morning, Naruto-san, Sakura-san," he greeted the two preteen.

"Good morning, Ebisu-san," Naruto returned the gesture. "Is Konohamaru here ditched from his training again?" he asked as he shoved Konohamaru forward.

"Yes, he is."

Naruto frowned and then asked to the younger boy, "Is that true, Konohamaru?"

"Y-Yes, nii-chan," answered Konohamaru.

"Why is that?"

"Because what this closet pervert taught me is boring and useless!"

Naruto and Sakura gave an incredulous look toward Ebisu who was coughing lightly and his face reddening slightly.

"Ebisu-san, what did you teach to Konohamaru-kun?" asked Sakura, ignoring the closet pervert remark from Konohamaru.

"I taught him how to balance leaf with his forehead and repeating several hand seals to make him remember them," said the black-glasses wearing Jounin.

"Did you already taught him how to tap his chakra?" asked Naruto.

"I did, it was several days ago."

The blond preteen then turned to the black haired boy. "Why did you say that the training is boring and useless Konohamaru? The leaf balancing is a practice to refine your chakra control and repeating hand seals will give you an edge in a battle, seeing that faster you formed hand seals you can perform a jutsu faster than your opponent did."

"But it's still didn't help me to be a Hokage!" retorted Konohamaru.

Naruto sighed. He know that the young kid wanted to be acknowledged as himself rather than the grandson of the Sandaime Hokage, much like Naruto wanted to be acknowledged as himself rather than the son of the legendary Yondaime Hokage.

"I know that. But what kind of training you want to help you to be a Hokage?" asked Naruto.

"A Jutsu that can defeat the old man! With his defeat, I can be the Hokage!"

Sakura giggled at Konohamaru's exclamation. His mind was still young and the way he think was very simple. She found his naivety was very cute, though Inner Sakura stated that Naruto was way cuter.

"Konohamaru-kun, do you think defeating Sandaime-sama will makes you the Hokage?"

"Of course, Sakura-nee-chan! Grandpa was the strongest ninja in this village so he become the Hokage, right? So if I defeat him, I will be the strongest ninja and become the Hokage!"

"You're not even a Genin," said Naruto, shooting down the younger boy's hope.

"S-So, what?! If I defeat the old man, then I will be the Hokage! It's a shortcut!" Konohamaru retorted back.

"Konohamaru, listen," said Naruto as he placed his hands on his little brother figure. "There's no short cut to be a Hokage. If you want to be one, you have to train hard by your own sweat and blood. That way you will be recognized as a true Hokage and people will respect you for it."

"Naruto-nii-chan..." Konohamaru stared at his big brother and idol with awe. A grin then formed his face. "Alright, just you watch nii-chan! I'm going to train hard and become a good Hokage! You better not slacking off because I won't admit you as my rival if you do!"

"I won't, believe it!" Naruto grinned back at the younger boy.

"Alright, you closet pervert! Let's get back to training!" shouted Konohamaru as he ran back to his training place followed by Ebisu who was looking flustered about the closet pervert remark.

"Why did Konohamaru-kun called Ebisu-san a closed pervert?" asked Sakura as the mentor and student were far from the pair.

"I don't know," answered Naruto with a shrug. "Come on Sakura-chan, let's get our ID created."

The next day...

Class 303 of the academy was already full with the students that had graduated from the Academy's graduation exam. All of them were doing their own activities, like chatting with their friends, day dreaming about the most famous boys in the class—in the case of fan girls, or brooding—in the case of Sasuke. While the new Genins were wrapped up on their activities, Naruto entered the class in his usual set of clothes. However, one thing that made the difference was a pair of kodachis sheathed on his hips by a belt. The kodachis were gifts from his mother after graduating from the academy. He calmly made his way to his seat next to Sakura, hoping that no one, especially his fan girls—he managed to avoid and didn't meet any of them along the way to the academy, didn't caught the sight of him until he reached somewhere near his seat.

"Oi, Namikaze. What's with the swords?"

It was then Sasuke decided to ruin the moment by notifying his arrival. All of Naruto's fan girls instantly perked up by his name and jumped, literally, from their seat and rushed their way to him. The blond Gennin cursed under his breath and using Shunsin no Jutsu, he disappeared in poof of smoke and reappeared in his seat.

"There goes my peaceful morning," Naruto grumbled as he sat down.

Some moments later, Iruka entered the class without Mizuki accompanied him. The news said that he was caught stealing the Forbidden Scroll at the night after the graduation. Iruka then gave the new graduates a long and boring speech about their status as the lowest rank of Konoha's shinobi corps and vague things about 'things that a true ninja can do with closed eyes'. Naruto supressed the urge to snort when he heard that. His mother and Setsu-nee had told him about the tedious D-ranked missions that he had to take when he become a Genin.

"Alright, now for the team assignments," said Iruka, gaining the attention of the new graduates. Everyone started to whispering among themselves and started to wonder who would be teamed up with them while the fan girls were hoping to be teamed with Naruto or Sasuke.

"Team 6...Uchiha Sasuke, Shimura Sai, and Mizuhachi Ami."

An extremely loud squeal was heard from a purple haired girl as soon as the word left Iruka's mouth. Sasuke merely grunted in annoyance to response and another Sasuke's fan girls were groaning in disappointment.

"How could she squeal that hard?" asked Sakura as she rubbed her sore ears.

"Don't ask me. I'm not a girl," answered Naruto who earned an elbow from the pink haired girl next to him.

"Now for team 7...Namikaze Naruto..."

At this, Naruto's fan girls prayed to be in a team with him so did Sakura.

'Please...let me in a team with Naruto-kun...!'

"If I'm not with Naruto-kun, then anyone who set the team would suffer!"

"...Uchiha Satsuki..."

Sakura's hope was shot down at that. She knew that a Genin team would be consist of two shinobis and one kunoichi. Tears were threatening to form on her eyes, but she calmed down after she felt Naruto put a hand on her shoulder and smiled. She remembered that warm smile of him always brightened her up anytime when she was down in the mood. Though now, she thought that she wouldn't seeing that smile so often anymore.

"...and Haruno Sakura."

Sakura's head jolted up when she heard her name called. Did she hear just right? She was in a team with Naruto and Satsuki?

"Iruka-sensei! How come did Naruto get two girls as his teammates?" protested Kiba.

"Because the number of this year's kunoichi graduates were uneven, Kiba," answered the scarred Chuunin. "Also, this team was chosen with the consideration of Hokage-sama himself."

A smile carved into Sakura's face so did her two teammates. To all of them, this is the team that they wished for. Of course, the only one who happy with the team set up was the members of team 7. All of Naruto's fan girls groaned and so did Ino. Hinata also looked that she was disappointed.

"Team 8 will be consists of Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba, and Hyuuga Hinata. Team 9 is still active from last year. Team 10 will be Akimichi Chouji, Nara Shikamaru and Yamanaka Ino."

Kiba was literally hopping in his seat because he was happy that Hinata, his crush, was on a team with him. Ino banged her head in her desk, clearly showing unhappiness and disappointment with her team. She was hoping that she would be with Naruto, not with a lazy ass and a fat ass! (she didn't want to say it out loud because she afraid that Naruto would hate her)

"That's all for now. Your Jounin teacher will pick you up after lunch. For now, you all dismissed."

With that, all of the new graduates left with their teams for lunch including team 7.

"I can't believe we all in a team. It's just unbelievable!" cheered Sakura happily.

"Hurray for me! More time together with Naruto-kun!!" Inner Sakura also cheered as she waved the flag with chibi Naruto and confetti flying around.

"Yeah. To me, it's a dream team," replied Naruto with a smile.

"Come on guys, let's have our lunch before we continue the chatter," said Satsuki as she left with he teammates.

The three genins then had their lunch on a table in the academy's courtyard. Sakura had brought a bento for Naruto whom in return happily accepted it. If there's anything to Naruto that more delicious than a ramen was Sakura's bento. He always liked her cooking no matter what she cooked, much to her embarrassment and joy. Satsuki also opened her lunch, which was a curry rice. Not just any curry rice, but Satsuki's special, an extremely spicy curry that would even knock an adult out. The curry was bright red in color like lava and had a strong spicy smell that stung anyone's nose save for the Uchiha girl herself. It was no secret that Uchiha Satsuki addicted to extremely spicy curry, much like how Naruto and Kushina addicted to ramen.

"Uh, Satsuki? Is it just my imagination that your curry seems spicier than the usual?" asked Naruto as he looked at his teammate's lunch.

"It is! Twice spicier, twice more delicious, and twice the joy!!" Satsuki squealed as she finished her line, like how Naruto and Sasuke's fan girl would squeal when their idol did something cool. The Uchiha girl then looked at Naruto with blank look on her face. "You want my curry, didn't you?"

"N-No, no, no, no! G-Go ahead and enjoy your curry! I won't bother about that!"

Satsuki smiled and took a spoon of her curry while Naruto breathed a relieved sigh as he began to eat his lunch as well. He knew better not to disturb Satsuki with her curry or else...she could be more dangerous than a mother bear to her cub. In that case she was the mother bear and her curry was the cub.

They then chatted about random things or what did they do on their one week free time. Satsuki's chesire cat-like grin never left her face as she heard that Naruto and Sakura trained together last week. For a reasonable reason, Naruto knew what will come next.

"So basically you two spend your time together last week with a hot super secret training? Wow, I'm jealous!"

Naruto groaned in response. "Just as I thought..." The blond then noticed that his pink haired friend was beet red in her face and sat frozen on her place. "Sakura-chan? Are you okay?"

The said girl's mind was somewhere else, totally unaware that her friend looked at her worriedly.

'Hot...super secret...training...' that word was still echoing inside her head. She did training with Naruto, but was it hot and super secret?

"Damn we did! We were having a hot super secret training with Naruto-kun last week!. Remember when he so close to us to correct our taijutsu kata? He was so close!!" squealed Inner Sakura with two thumbs up

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto's yelling finally broke Sakura from her stupor.

"W-What is it, Naruto-kun?"

"Are you okay? You just sat there and your face is all red! I thought you are sick or something, Sakura-chan," said Naruto worriedly.

"I'm alright, Naruto-kun. Thanks for your concern," replied Sakura with a smile.

The blond sighed in relieve as he and his pink haired childhood friend returned to eat their lunch. Unknown to them, Satsuki watched their interaction with a small almost sad smile on her face.

'They sure are great with each other. Who am I to get on their way?'

The bell rang several moments later, signing the end of the lunch break. All Genins and their team returned to the class to wait for their Jounin instructor. One by one, Jounin instructors came and picked their teams until there were only team 6, team 7, team 8, and team 10. The door then slid open, revealing a familiar black haired and blue eyed Jounin.

"Setsu-nee? What are you doing here?" asked Naruto as he saw his sister.

"What else, Naruto? I'm a Jounin instructor for you and your team," answered Setsuna with a grin.

"Huh? Wait, what? When did you-?"

"Now, now, I'll answer your question later. Meet me at the courtyard, okay?" the blue eyed woman then left the room via a Shunsin no Jutsu.

Naruto sighed and grumbling about stupid sister under his breath before he stood up and left the room also, followed by his two teammates leaving equally surprised classmates. They all arrived at the courtyard where they had their lunch not a long time ago and saw Setsuna sat on a table where she waved at them and motioned to sat the same table with her.

"Okay then. I'm ready to answer your question. First, you all must be wondering why I'm a Jounin instructor, right?" she asked and all of them nodded. "Well, let's just say that I'm bored and I needed a change of pace," Setsuna answered with a grin, causing her team to sweat drop. "Alright, enough of the chit chat. Let's get into the introduction!"

"What's the point in introduction when we already know each other?" asked Naruto.

"That's right, Setsuna-sensei," Satsuki voiced her agreement.

"Because it's a formality and a good start of a good team," answered the Jounin. "Alright then I'll start. My name is Namikaze Setsuna. I like my family, my friends—Anko and Kurenai, and kenjutsu. I hate perverts and arrogant bastards who think that they are a gift from Kami just because they are hailed as genius and their kekkei genkai. My hobby is training, teasing my little brother over here," she motioned to Naruto who snorted in response while his two teammates giggled. "and cooking. My dream is to be a top swordswoman in Konoha."

Setsuna breathed in and out as soon as she finished her introduction. "There, simple right? Now it's your turn, miss emo," she pointed out to Satsuki.

"Hey, I'm not an emo! My twin is!" the Uchiha girl retorted as she crossed her arm under her chest. "My name is Uchiha Satsuki. I like my friends—Naruto and Sakura, my mother, and curry. I hate perverts, jerks, fan girls, my twin Sasuke and anyone who dare to touch my curry!" the black haired girl yelled making her teammates and instructor sweatdropped. "My hobby is training and other stuffs I like to do on my spare time. My dream is to be a great kunoichi and..." at this point, Satsuki turned her gaze to the sky above. "…to seek an answer from a person."

Both Naruto and Sakura looked at her sympathetically while Setsuna's expression softened a bit. 'She did hold a grudge against Itachi, but at least she only looked for an answer for his actions, not hell bent on revenge like Sasuke.'

"Alright your turn, pinkie," Setsuna mentioned to Sakura whose her left eye twitched when she heard her nickname.

"My name is Haruno Sakura. I like my best friend Naruto-kun and my friendly rival Satsuki-chan. I hate people who picked me because of my forehead, those sissy fan girls, perverts, and arrogant jerks like Uchiha Sasuke. My hobby is training and reading books. My dream is to be a top medic ninja in Konoha and a personal dream that I won't share to anyone!"

The pink haired girl half yelled at the last part and blushing. Naruto blinked in confusion while Setsuna smiled a bit at that. 'She should have told him about it already. Mom is already gave the green light to her. She must be afraid that my dense and stupid little brother doesn't feel the same to her.' The Jounin then noticed that Satsuki had a sad smile on her face at Sakura's last part of introduction. 'So Satsuki also liked my brother? Wow. But it seems that she would give up on her feeling for Sakura's sake. A noble act for a girl like her.'

"Alright Mr. Sunshine, you're up!" Setsuna then pointed to Naruto who clearly showed his irritation about his nickname.

He sighed to calm himself down before he started to speak. "My name is Namikaze Naruto. I like my best friend Sakura-chan, my other friends like Satsuki here, Kiba, Shikamaru, Chouji and the others, ramen, bento made by Sakura-chan, my mother and you sis; to a certain extent. I hate stuck up pricks like Sasuke-teme, traitors, fan girls, and you again to a certain extent. My hobby is training and hanging out with my friends; especially with Sakura-chan. My dream is to be a Hokage that even surpassed my dad."

Setsuna grinned at his introduction while Sakura was blushing like a storm. 'He mentioned Sakura three times and he didn't even noticed she was blushing. Yup, it is official that they are both in love, but my totally dense and stupid little brother didn't notice it.'

"Now that the introduction was done, let's get into the business," although her tone was still cheerful, Naruto noticed a bit of seriousness on it. "We will have your first assignment tomorrow which is...the true Genin exam."

The three new Genins shocked when they heard that.

"Wait a minute, Setsuna-sensei. We already had our Genin exam! Why did we have to take another one?" asked Sakura as she voiced the general confusion on her team.

"The academy's exam is only to test that you all have the basic skills needed to be a Genin. The true Genin exam will test you if you really have what it takes to be a Genin of Konoha. This test have a high failure rate about 67 percent," the three Genins surprised to hear that. "Every year, from around thirty new graduates, only nine or twelve of them that become active Genin while the rest return to the academy with stand-by status or retire and enter the auxiliary academy to be a civilian," Setsuna explained to team 7.

"What the test would be, Setsuna-sensei?" asked Naruto as he addressed his adoptive sister professionally.

"Although I love you so much my dear little brother, I can't tell you about that," answered Setsuna with a grin. "Okay, that's all for now. Meet me at training ground 15 tomorrow at 7 AM sharp. Bring all of your ninja tools for tomorrow because I want you to go all out. Dismissed." with a puff of smoke, Setsuna disappeared from the courtyard.

The three Genins then silent as they looked at each befire Naruto spoke first.

"I never thought that we will have to face another test again."

"What do you think the test will be, Naruto-kun?" asked Sakura.

"Sis said that the academy Genin exam was to test whether the students have the basic skills to be a Genin, while the true Genin exam will test us whether any of us have what it takes to be a Genin," stated Naruto as he scratched his chin. "Can you girls guess it?"

"If she was meaning any kind of exceptional skills, then we would have passed right away. I mean she is your sister and she must be already know your and Sakura's skill. As for me, I think she already heard about it. I mean I'm an Uchiha after all," replied Satsuki as she shivered at the last part. "Ugh, I can't believe I just said that. It feels just plain wrong and out of character from me."

Her teammates only laughed at her remark.

"She also said that she wants us to go all out," pointed Sakura.

They all were thinking about things that Setsuna possibly test them. She already knew about their individual skills, so the biggest possibility that what she would test them was...

"Teamwork!!" they all shouted in union as they managed to guess what their test will be.

"She wanted to test us of our effectiveness as a team!" exclaimed Sakura.

"Since she already knew what our skills individually, I think that's reasonable," added Satsuki.

"Alright, now that we already guessed for tomorrow's test, why don't we have some training? We can also discuss the strategy that we can use against Setsu-nee," Naruto suggested and his two teammates nodded in agreement.

Team 7 then decided to have their training at Naruto's house since Setsuna wasn't going to be there until after sunset. They also asked Kushina to be their spar partner, which she gladly accepted. After all, Kushina herself wanted to keep her skill sharp. The red haired former Jounin was surprised to hear that team 7 was able to guess what their test would be, even though she didn't directly implied that their test IS going to be teamwork test..They sparred for hours and Kushina gave them some pointer on their teamwork and their jutsus.

As the the day ended, both Sakura and Satsuki left the Namikaze compound and headed to their respective houses. Naruto himself took a shower before having his dinner and went to sleep as he was pretty much tired after his training with his teammates also he wanted to make sure that would wake up early and at the top condition tomorrow. Unknown to him, Setsuna and Kushina was having a chat in the living room about the team 7.

"They already guessed the objective for your test tomorrow," said Kushina as she sipped her tea.

"I know that. I heard them discussing about the possibility of my test at the courtyard," replied Setsuna with a chuckle. "They are a great team, mother. I can tell it."

"How about the test then?" asked the red haired woman curiously.

"I think I'll pass them, but not before I'm having my fun," replied the adopted Namikaze with a giggle.

Kushina shook her head and sighed. "You really should stop hanging around Anko too much. It's not good for your health."

Setsuna only laughed at that before she and her mother chatted about random things.

The next day...

The three Genins of team 7 arrived at training ground 15 at the same time, fifteen minutes before the appointed time. They discussed and reviewed their plans and checked their gears and tools, making sure that they forget nothing. After they finished their preparations, they waited for their sensei for a while before she arrived in a swirl of leaf.

"Hello, team! It seems you all ready for the test," said Setsuna with a grin.

"Of course we are. We all ready for any kind of test you'll going to throw at us!" stated Naruto with confidence in his voice.

"Confident, aren't you?" the sword-wielding Jounin smirked. She then eyed Sakura and Satsuki who also showed signs of unwavering determination on their face. 'This is going to be fun,' Setsuna thought to herself. "Alright you guys, the objective of this test to disable me in three hours. If you're not able to, then you all failed. Got it?"

The three Genins nodded and their expression didn't changed at all. That smug smirk on their face told what they had in their mind to Setsuna.

'You're underestimating us, badly.'

The Jounin also had the tendency to smirk back at them.

'Let's see what you all got for me.'

Silence was enveloping the training ground as the three Genins and one Jounin glared at each other. Naruto leaned his body forward a bit as crossed his hands in front of his waist, reaching for the hilt of his twin kodachis; Sakura was reaching to her kunai holster as she kept her eyes on her instructor; Satsuki fingered one of her Fuuma Shuriken on the back of her waist; while Setsuna kept her predatory grin on her face.

"The Final Genin test of team 7...commence!!"

A/N: Re-edited like those chapters before...