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Enjoy the chapter
Chapter Three
Uchiha Sasuke: Friend or foe?
Uzumaki Naruto woke up, yawning and stretching out his limbs, in his blue pyjamas and black night cap, with a white cloth hem around the edge and a white bobble on the end, along with a pair of white eyes and a black nose, to cover his blonde spikes.
His room had pale green walls, half of which were brown wooden planks, and a clean, wooden floor. Above his bed he had hung a crème coloured banner with the village symbol in the centre of it. Another poster was next to the window with a picture of a ramen bowl on it. His bed, which had a white pillow, white comforter and brown, wooden headboard with sunny yellow sheets, was next to his window. Beside the bed was a cupboard with a white clock on it.
He removed the sun-shaded blanket from over his les and stood up from his bed. As he got up, he pulled off the cap and tossed it lazily on the unmade bed, walking out of his bedroom tiredly. He rubbed the back of his head and groaned slightly, before taking a look at his calendar. It showed the date as the 15th of that month.
"Huh?" Naruto questioned as he looked at it. "Hehehehehe!"
[--
Naruto when it his kitchen, filled the kettle, plugged it into the wall and turned it on to boil as he took a pot of instant ramen out of one of his cupboards. He took the ramen and placed it on the table next to a carton of milk and, when his kettle was boiled, placed that next to it. Searching his draws, he found his chopsticks and sat down.
The boy then peeled back the lip of the instant ramen cup and poured boiling water into it, sighing as he had to wait three minuets before eating it. He waited and waited, checking the clock on the wall every few second, and finally the three minuets was up. Grinning, he picked up his chopsticks.
"Today's the day, so let's chow down!" He said before digging the chopsticks into the hot ramen and swirling them around a bit. When he was satisfied that he had a good hold on enough of the ramen, he raised the chopsticks out of the cup and placed them in his mouth, slurping the noodles up with them. Chewing the noodles, he swallowed and let out a content sigh.
After swallowing his first mouthful of ramen, the blonde picked up the carton of milk and began drinking the content in gulps. Taking the chopsticks up in his hand again, Naruto practically inhaled the rest of his ramen and drank the remainder of the milk.
He got up from the table, leaving the leftover containers of the milk and ramen there, and walked into the bathroom. Naruto took a shower, which had now had every day when he could manage because Sakura told him that he smelled like gone-off milk when he didn't. After washing his body and shampooing and rinsing his golden spikes, he stepped out of the shower and dried him self off.
Throwing the towel onto the floor, Naruto pulled on some boxers and looked in the mirror at his face. He picked up his toothbrush and squirted the toothpaste out onto it before brushing his teeth a few times, rinsing out his mouth and washing his face. When that was down, Naruto walked back into his room and grabbed his orange, ankle-length trousers, pulling them on, soon followed by his black shirt and orange jacket.
Just before he left the house, he checked himself in the mirror in his hall, pulling his collar a few times to loosen it up and strapping on his regular headgear, also known as his goggles. He was about to leave, when the blonde noticed the Hatei-ate still lying on the table by the mirror, glinting as the sun hit the metal plate baring his village symbol.
Picking up the Hatei-ate, Naruto stared at it in wonder for a while before remembering when he graduate. Grinning as he did so, Naruto removed the goggles and tied his Hatei-ate around his forehead in their place, looking like the ninja he always wanted to be as a child.
[--
Naruto walked down the street, coming up on a lane with fencing across one side and houses across the other. He wondered what Sakura and Hinata were doing, before realising that they were probably already at the academy, like the two always were this early in the morning. The boy grinned as he remembered the ramen 'date' he had with both of them.
[--
"Sakura-chan! Hinata-chan! Wait up!" Naruto yelled as he ran up the road towards the two girls he had formed a bond with.
"W-What is it N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked him.
"I was wondering if you wanted to get some ramen with me!" He pronounced to the lovely ladies, praying with all his might that he wouldn't have to go alone today, just like he had for dinner the night before.
"S-Sure, Naruto-k-kun." The moon-eyed shy girl said, nodding and blushing as she did so. Naruto hugged her briefly in joy and turned to Sakura, who remained as she was with her arms crossed over her chest.
"I…I don't know…" She trailed off, looking anywhere but at Hinata and Naruto, who were both pulling the puppy dog faces they always used on her. It didn't usually work, but when she had no excuse or good enough reason not to, it worked like a charm.
"Please, Sakura-chan?" They begging in union. Sakura let her eyes wander to the two, who hadn't dropped the puppy faces, and sighed.
"I am sogoing to regret this." Sakura stated. Naruto knew, thanks to Hinata pointing things out to him about Sakura's speech and actions, that she meant yes by this statement. He jumped up to hug her, but then remembered that she avoided contact as much as possible and stopped himself.
"Come on, girls, it's ramen time!" Naruto yelled, taking both by the hand and dragging them along to the ramen shop. Sakura, not in the mood for fighting at that precise moment, just gave in and let him drag her along the street.
They arrived at the bar and took the three seats closest to the right hand side of the bar, with Hinata by the wall, Naruto in the centre and Sakura next to the empty seat. They always sat like that when they had lunch at the bar, but for no particular reason.
"Miso, old man!" Naruto yelled impolitely. Sakura just rolled her eyes at his behaviour.
"C-Could I h-have chicken, p-please?" Hinata asked with far greater manners than her blonde crush.
"Beef, please." Sakura requested. When around Naruto, Hinata -or people she accepts-, Sakura speaks freely, but never openly. If someone other than them is around -even if they're there too- she restricts her words to the bare minimum.
Each eating their respective flavour of ramen, none of the three took any notice of two boys from the previous years' graduating class –making them a year older than Naruto, Hinata and Sakura- approach them and look at Naruto -who was sitting in between two beautiful girls- in awe and question.
"Oi!" One of them yelled to the blonde.
"Hm?" Naruto asked, gulping down the ramen which he was just inhaling.
"Are both of these girls on a date with you?" The second asked. Sakura's eyes widened and she dropped her chopsticks while Hinata choked on her ramen and turned pink. Naruto, however, blushed bright red.
"W-Well, n-not really. They're my friends, ya know?" Naruto informed them, knowing Sakura would have hit head if he said yes. The boys shrugged and walked off, their eyes lingering on Sakura and Hinata until the girls were out of their sight.
[--
Naruto sighed as he grinned, wishing that it was true. He would give anything for a date with Sakura, and Hinata was really pretty too, in her own way. Of course, they only thought of him as a friend. Sakura, in fact, didn't even see him as that much. He sighed, and carried on walking though the lane.
Just ahead of him was a lump in the fence. Another bad disguise planned and carried out by Konohamaru, the thirds 'honourable' grandson. Naruto, too caught up in his thoughts of Sakura and Hinata and dates and ramen, didn't notice the 'brilliant disguise' and almost walked passed it entirely.
"You're mine, Naruto!" Konohamaru yelled as he dropped the blanket, patterned to look like a fence, and stepped forwards. He did, however, fail in running near Naruto as he stepped on the sheet, at the same time as he was pulling it up, and tripped on his face.
"Uh, what do you think you're doing, Konohamaru?" Naruto asked the smaller boy in question.
"That was a slick move." The brunette mumbled into the ground. "That's why I respect you as a rival." He told Naruto as he got up and looked at his self-proclaimed rival.
"…But I didn't do anything." Naruto said in return.
"Alright, now fight me fair and square." Konohamaru ordered, getting up and placing his hands together to draw on his chakra.
"Sorry, I've got an orientation." Naruto said, rubbing the back of his head, not really worried about the kid.
"Orientation?" Konohamaru echoed, his eyes widening and his stance letting up until it was gone.
"That's right. As of today, I'm a ninja. Just like Sakura-chan and Hinata-chan are too. Believe it." Naruto stated happily, pointing at his Hatei-ate. The kid looked at it in awe as Naruto laughed slightly.
[--
Sakura stood in her room, looking in the mirror as she brushed her knee-length pink locks and attached her Hatei-ate around her neck, the same place as it had been put for her photo. Her clothing -the same style of training outfit she wore to have her photo taken as well- was already on her and her room was clean and tidy. Other than her ribbon, gloves and shoes, she was fully dressed and ready for the orientation that day.
She opened her eyes and observed the scene in front of her, also called her reflection, without an emotion present on her face. Sighing, Sakura pressed her fingers against the face looking back at her and traced her mirrored features sadly. She had lost almost all of her emotions the day she was born, not even crying when most children would.
Glaring at the face in her mirror, Sakura realised her fist and let it crash into the reflective glass, smashing it to pieces in the process and cutting up the skin on her fist. She looked at the blood and scowled, walking over to her wardrobe and taking out a pack of bandages. Gritting her teeth, she pulled out pieces of glass from her knuckles and wrapped the white cloth around her knuckles as she sighed. It wasn't as if she liked doing things like that. However, Mizuki was right. She was a child filled with hate and scorn. The only thing he was incorrect about was that she lashed out at herself rather than others. It stopped the fights she used to have as a child though.
'Cha! It doesn't hurt or anything!' Her inner self declared loudly in her mind. That part of her was the emotions. When she refused to show them, inner Sakura formed to hold onto them and boast every feeling in her thoughts on a regular basis. At first, Sakura thought it could be useful to have an inner, but it was really just annoying.
The girl pulled on her gloves, making sure that the one on her left covered the bandage completely, and tied her ribbon around her wrist. After that, she walked out of her room, into the hall and sauntered down the narrow stairs. Empty. Just like her concept of emotions and feelings, this house was completely void of life. She had never thought of her mother and father as her parents after what happened and had no siblings to speak of.
Her pink hair blew out behind her as she opened the front door and took in a large breath of fresh air. She walked down the street, thinking about her new title as ninja and also how far away she was swaying from her ultimate goal. Not even Hinata knew what it was, but the pale girl would freak if she told her.
'So, I'm not a little academy student any more.' She thought to herself and her inner. 'I'm Haruno Sakura, kunoichi in training.'
'CHA! Nothing can stop us now!'
"See you later!" A girl called from inside the Yamanaka flower shop, no doubt Ino on her way to the academy for the orientation.
As expected, the blonde walked out into the street and caught sight of Sakura. She glared secretly, but deep down the purple-loving girl was scared. She hid her fear rather well, for a fangirl, but mentally she was screaming and scolding herself for not running or leaving sooner.
"Good morning, Sakura." She greeted, swallowing her fear.
"Good morning, Ino." Sakura replied, frowning at the blonde. Ino shivered under the gaze, but didn't stand down. Sakura stopped and stared at the blonde for a few moments before walking forwards. Ino began walking too and soon caught up with her. They walked side-by-side in silence for a while until Ino broke it.
"So they actually let a freak like you graduate? What a surprise." Ino stated nastily, acting like the pig she is.
"Those classes are ancient history. Were both ninja now…too bad not many people would ask a porker like you to do any mission." Sakura retorted with a calm look on her face. "You should get used to sitting at home, watching everyone else go on missions as you polish your Hatei-ate and water the flowers." The pinkette, although cold and silent most of the time, loved to rile up the ugly blonde.
Sakura, not wanting to speak with the pig-like girl any more, walked at a faster pace. Ino, seeing this as a challenge, sped up too and over took her temporarily. The pinkette sped up again, causing the blonde to do the same. Again, she walked ahead, Ino following behind, until both were in a full out run to the academy. Of course, Sakura wasn't running to her full speed.
Along the way, the blush-haired girl saw something in the alley ahead and spared a glance at Ino, who was too preoccupied with running to notice a thing. She gritted her teeth and ducked into the alley, made a clone and the Kage Bunshin ran with Ino while she stayed in the alley. Sakura took three steps into the ally and glared at the darkness, where she knew there was trouble waiting. A noise alerted her and she pulled out her kunai.
[--
Naruto was sitting at on a chair in the academy classroom he was soon going to say goodbye to, with Hinata leaning on the wooden desk in front of him. She had already claimed a chair on the other side of the room since she was not wanting to sit next to Sasuke, who was on the desk one chair away from her blonde haired friend.
"A-Are you s-sure that y-you haven't s-seen S-Sakura-chan?" Hinata asked him in worry. Usually, Sakura was the first in the classroom out of the three, soon followed by Hinata and then Naruto. Today, Hinata was first. She thought Sakura was just running a little late, so she took her favourite seat to wait. Then Naruto came and she got worried.
"I'm sure, Hinata-chan. Do you think she's okay?" Naruto questioned back, also worrying about his friend. A boy, the same one who had told him it was his fault they had to repeat the Henge review the day he painted the faces, walked passed his desk and stopped.
"Huh? What're you doing here, Naruto? This isn't for drop-outs. You can't be here unless you graduate." He told the blonde, ignoring Hinata as he did.
"Oh yeah? You see this?" Naruto asked, pointing to his Hatei-ate. "Open your eyes, Shikamaru; it's a regulation hand band. We're gonna be training together. How do ya like that?" He asked the brunette boastingly.
"Hn." Shikamaru grunted, putting a hand on his hip lazily.
"Let me put it to you this way. I look great in this headgear, like it was made for me. Believe it. Hahahahahahaha." Naruto stated, laughing at the frowning Genin. Hinata cleared her throat quietly, but Naruto carried on laughing at Shikamaru. Frowning slightly, she coughed a little, but that also didn't get Naruto's attention. Seeing no other way, she poked him on the shoulder.
"N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata called quietly, reminding the blonde with her eyes.
"Oh! Shikamaru, have you seen Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked him seriously, no longer holding a taunting gleam in his eye. Shikamaru, to say the least, looked completely shocked by the suffix.
"She lets you call her that?" He asked in question. "I haven't seen her, but I wouldn't be calling her 'chan' if I were you." Shikamaru warned him.
"For your information, she lets me say it." Naruto boasted.
The door swung open and 'Sakura' ran in with Ino at her side. The latter seemed exhausted while the pink haired girl wasn't even breathing in any odd or different way. Naruto looked at 'Sakura' happily and relieved, but Hinata just sighed and threw a kunai at her.
"H-Hinata-chan! W-What are you doing?!" Naruto yelled.
"Look." Hinata told him sadly. He did as she told him and saw the Sakura next to Ino disappear in a cloud of smoke. Ino and Naruto both let their eyes widen in shock.
"I was tricked by a stupid imitation?! A weak little BUNSHIN!?" Ino shrieked. Naruto was about to reply, telling her that it wasn't weak or a regular Bunshin, but Hinata just shook her head and sighed.
Not two seconds later, the door opened again and Sakura stumbled in, covered in bruises and small cuts. She stood tall and walked over to Naruto and Hinata, who both stared at her in worry. Brushing of the looks of wonder from the rest of the class, Sakura stood in front of them indifferently, her arms crossed over her chest. Even Ino was a little concerned by how deep the small cuts looked, as if she was cut with a kunai or shuriken. If someone could do that to Haruno Sakura, they could be in trouble.
"S-Sakura-chan! What happened to you?" Naruto asked loudly. Sakura looked at the ground before glaring at him.
"Not that it's any of your business, but I fell over on my way here and got cut up a bit, Naruto." She told him falsely.
"T-Then why d-did you c-create a clone t-to trick I-Ino-san?" Hinata asked her, knowing the excuse to be a lie. Sakura frowned and took the seat next to Naruto, obviously not wanting to talk to them about it. Sasuke, who was on the other side of her, opened his eyes and scanned over the injuries. They were bad, but not fatal. The most that could happen was she could feel a bit woozy from blood loss. He closed his eyes again.
"Hn." He said coolly. All of the girls crowded around his desk and swooned, but also yelled at Sakura about sitting next to him.
"Hinata-chan, you should probably go to your seat." Sakura advised her friend, who complied. "As for the rest of you, shut up. You're giving me a big headache." She finished, glaring death by poison at the fangirls crowded around for Sasuke.
'Clueless.' Sasuke thought, thinking of his fans. He then looked to the girl sitting beside him. 'What's up with her? She's usually fully alert.' He noted when he saw her eyes close and re-open quickly afterwards, obviously meaning she was tired.
[--
"One of the only two most promising new graduated students, Uchiha Sasuke. Is that him?" A man asked as a group of Jounin looked into the crystal ball.
"Yes, he's the one." The third informed them.
"He's the only survivor left from the Uchiha clan." A woman claimed.
"That's right." The third said.
"Is that girl Haruno Sakura, best graduating kunoichi?" Another Jounin asked.
"Yes. She and Uchiha are equally matched…according to test scores, at least." Sarutobi added warily. Most believed she was holding back all year, but no certainties.
"Hmm." Another man, this one with silver, gravity defying hair and a mask over his face, mused. "Haruno Sakura and Uzumaki Naruto, huh?"
[--
Naruto -who wasn't really liking all of the attention his rival was getting- growled as he was pushed out of the way by fangirls so he was sitting on the floor, leaning against the desk. He frowned and glared up at Sasuke, but noticed for the first time how close the Uchiha's elbow was to Sakura's arm, which was resting on the desk in front of her. He was not happy. Not at all.
Sasuke heard a dull thud on his desk and opened his eyes, only to come face-to-face with the blonde boy. Naruto was crouching on the desk in front of the Uchiha boy, so close their noses were almost touching, growling at him audibly with a death glare. Sasuke just looked at him in irritation and sighed. Naruto, on the other hand, was nudging Sasuke's elbow with his foot to get it away from Sakura.
"Naruto!" Ino yelled. "Hey, stop glaring at Sasuke-kun!"
'Pff, Ino-pig.' He thought, not taking note on how he had started the thought the way Sakura starts most of her sentences. 'Why are they so obsessed with him? Sasuke-kun, Sasuke-kun. What's the big deal with this guy?'
The Uchiha, seeing that Naruto wasn't planning on backing off soon, narrowed his eyes into a glare of his own. Their faces got closer and sparks of hate began to fly when they looked at the other. Sakura sighed again, glad that everyone had forgotten about her injuries. The fangirls were all yelled and complaining about the blonde being so close to their one true love.
"Whoa, haha, this is great!" A guy in front of Naruto said as he stood up and bumped the boy. "Sorry, did I bump you?" He asked as he turned to face Naruto.
"What the?" Sakura asked, speechless.
"I…uh…" Ino trailed off, not being able to find an answer.
Naruto and Sasuke were kissing. Accident though it was, a kiss is a kiss and a boy just took the first those two ever had. The two of them broke apart as fast as they could and began to spit and choke, trying desperately to pretend that didn't just happen. Hinata -crying for Naruto- and the fangirls –obviously for Sasuke- wailed constantly.
"I'll get you, Naruto." Sasuke threatened as he held his throat and stuck out his tongue, spitting at the floor.
"Huh? They are vicious." The boy who bumped Naruto commented, only looking at the fangirls.
"I sense danger." Naruto muttered. He looked to his right, only to see Ino-pig and the fangirls angry as hell.
"Naruto," Ino began. "You are so dead."
"Hey, whoa! It was an accident." Naruto told her, putting his hands up in mock defeat.
"You're finished." Ino declared, cracking the knuckles on her man-like hand and baring a scaring look on her naturally scary face.
"Hold on." Naruto said, scared out of his wits.
Sakura couldn't help it, this was hilarious. Together with Naruto's new expression of fear and the previous event, she was already shaking from trying to stop herself. The fangirls and Hinata –who were mostly still crying- obviously noticed when melodic laughter filled the air.
"She's-?" Ino began.
"-Laughing?" Another fangirl of Sasuke concluded for her. Sakura got a hold of herself and smirked.
"What? A girl's not allowed to laugh?" She asked. To be honest, the class would have been less surprised if the Hokage Poofed in and preformed the ballet performance of 'Swan Lake' with the Kazekage of the sand as his partner and all of the convicts in the Konoha prison danced back-up.
For real. Sakura laughing isn't something you see –or hear- every day of your life. More like once in a lifetime.
[--
"As usual, Naruto is right in the middle of some kind of trouble." The Hokage stated grimly as he watched the horrified expression on Naruto's face grow. The surprise came to him and all of the Jounins in the room when the cold girl beside him began to laugh softly.
[--
"As of today, you are all ninjas. To get here you faced difficult trials and hardships. But that's nothing. What comes next is going to be far more difficult. Now you are only Genin, first level ninjas. All the Genin will be grouped into three-man squads. Each squad will be lead by a Jounin; an elite ninja." Iruka lectured. Naruto, who had a few bruises from the fangirls but Sakura had stepped in before they could beat him too bad, looked up in shock.
'A three-man squad?' Sakura, Hinata, Naruto and Ino all thought together.
"Well, someone's gotta be in Sasuke-kun's group. I wonder who?" Ino asked rhetorically to Sakura, who was trying her best to ignore the pig-faced blonde.
"I don't know." Sakura replied nonchalantly. After her laughter, she had gone right back to being cold and uncaring, much to Naruto and Hinata's chagrin.
'Pff, like I care about that Uchiha. I only hope to be on the same squad as Hinata-chan.' Sakura thought.
'Cha! But being on a squad with the hot guy wouldn't be too bad, girl!' Her inner cheered. Sakura sighed; her inner just had to be the fangirl type.
'You are so stupid.' Sakura told her inner self.
'Maybe we should be on a squad with Naru-chan! He's kinda cute for an orange wearing knuckle head! Cha! Naru-chan rocks!'
'I have a freak in my head who likes the loser at the same time as the emo wanna be guy. Please, if there is a god, just kill me now.' Sakura groaned mentally.
'Oh no; groups of three. That'll only slow me down.' Sasuke thought to himself.
'I wanna be with Sakura-chan and…well, I don't care who else as long as it's not Sasuke. Maybe Hinata-chan, but I've seen some of the groups from last year. Two boys with one girl. Always.' Naruto remembered.
"We want each squad to have a balance of strength and abilities, so that's how we set them up. I will now announce the squads." Iruka stated, looking over the list in his hands.
[--
"…squad seven; Uzumaki Naruto…"
Naruto's head perked up after hearing his name.
"…Haruno Sakura…"
The blonde cheered and stood up as Sakura sighed and smirked at him.
"…and Uchiha Sasuke." The sensei finished.
Both Naruto and Sakura groaned, although Naruto did so a lot louder than his pink haired team mate. Hinata looked over at her friends, a little upset with the groupings so far that had been read out.
'I won't be with Sakura-chan or Naruto-kun then.' She thought sadly.
"Next, squad eight; Hyuuga Hinata…"
"Yes sir." She answered, looking up to listen for her team mates.
"…Inuzuka Kiba…"
A boy with a dog scowled at the wooden desk in front of him, wanting to be with the girl on team seven.
"…and Aburame Shino."
Another boy, this one with glasses shielding his eyes from view and his coat collar covering his chin and mouth, looked up. Sakura felt sorry for her friend internally. She had sat next to Kiba once or twice and he was a pain in the butt. As for Shino, he was just a much a mystery as she was.
"Grrrrr, how did you get in Sasuke-kun's group? You don't even like him as much as me!" Ino stated angrily to Sakura, who just sighed.
'Baka. I didn't even want to be in his team.' Sakura thought as she felt another headache coming up.
'Ha! We got the hot guy and the cute blonde!' Inner Sakura announced happily.
'You mean the emo freak with cockatoo hair and the loud mouth headache on an orange coloured stick?' Sakura asked her inner.
"Grrrr!" Ino growled as Sakura ignored her.
"I don't get it one bit. What do you see in a guy like that? He's not so special." Shikamaru commented lazily to the blonde he had the misfortune to be seated with.
"You are so beyond clueless, Shikamaru. Don't you get it at all?" Ino asked him rudely.
"No I don't get it, 'cos I'm not a girl." He answered.
"You are so full of yourself. Jealousy is a terrible thing. I'd hate to be in your squad." Ino said snootily, as if she wasn't jealous of Sakura.
"Actually, I agree with Nara-san." Sakura said, causing the genius to look at her in question. "You know, apart from the whole 'girl' comment. It's not like I have a crush on Uchiha." She concluded.
"Um…yea. Okay, I'm not a girl who behaves like most girls then. Better now?" He asked, embarrassed by the statement the girl just said.
"Whatever, brain-boy. To tell you the truth, Ino, I wouldn't mind being on a squad with him instead." Sakura claimed nonchalantly, pointing to the lazy brunette. Ino fumed, noticing how she basically said Shikamaru was better than Sasuke, and Shikamaru blushed lightly.
"And squad ten; Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru…"
"Ha! Did you say something about hating to be on my squad?" Shikamaru taunted the porker, who growled in response.
"…and, Akimichi Choji." Iruka concluded.
A teddy-bear-cute boy near the front, who was scoffing potato chips at this precise moment in time, didn't do anything to acknowledge that he had heard Iruka place him in the same squad as the cool genius and the pig-like blonde.
'Ah! Not food-boy too!' Ino thought in loathing and despair. Choji, as if hearing her thoughts, scoffed another chip and gave her an evil look before going back to eating.
"Hey, porker." Sakura muttered to the blonde behind her. Ino, taking note of the serious tine, looked at her.
"What?" She asked, not taking notice of the nick-name.
"I'll trade squads with you, if you want." Sakura smirked.
'Cha! Cho-kun and Shika-kun are cute too, in their own way! I don't mind trading if I can still see Naru-chan! Shannaro!' Inner confirmed.
"Humph!" Ino huffed, obviously thinking that was an insult in some way she didn't get. Shikamaru and Choji –who both heard what Sakura said, in case you didn't know- blushed lightly and sighed.
"Those are all the squads." Iruka declared, lowing the sheet of names.
"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto called, standing up and pointing at Sasuke. "Why does a great ninja, like me, have to be in the same group as a slug like Sasuke?" He asked angrily. Sakura smirked.
"Hm? Sasuke had the best scores of all the graduating shinobi. Naruto, you had the worst scores over all." Iruka told him. Many ninja in the class began laughing now. "To create a balanced group, we had to put the worst student with the two best students. Since Sakura was the best kunoichi and in joint first position with Sasuke for first over all, she fits the bill as well."
"Just make sure you don't get in my way, loser." Sasuke told Naruto in a calm voice.
"Grrrrr, hey what did you say?!" Naruto yelled at the uninterested Uchiha boy.
"Hard of hearing?" Sasuke mocked.
"Knock it of, Uchiha. Leave him alone." Sakura said, glaring at the boy while standing up for Naruto.
"Yay! Sakura-chan loves me!" Naruto cried in glee. He forgot all rules about touching her and hugged his crush around the shoulders.
"No I don't. Let go." Sakura said blankly, causing Naruto to fall back into his seat with water-fall tears. Iruka cleared his throat for attention.
"After lunch, you'll meet your new Jounin teachers. Until then, class dismissed." Iruka told them.
[--
Sakura, Hinata and Naruto walled out of the academy together to eat lunch, but Sakura and Hinata took off without him in another direction completely. Naruto, not wanting to be left behind, ran after them.
"Sakura-chan, Hinata-chan! Wait for me!" Naruto called.
"S-Sorry N-Naruto-kun." Hinata said apologetically.
"We're gonna have some girl-time. We never get that any more, so you can go have ramen or something. See you later!" Sakura told him as the girls walked off again.
[--
'Ah, what a pain.' Naruto thought to himself as he sat on the roof of a building close to the some apartments. 'I get into the same group and Sakura-chan and he's gotta be in it too.'
"There's got to be a way to deal with this." Naruto stated out loud, still annoyed about the 'team' thing. "Huh?" He questioned as he noticed Sasuke leaning on one of the window in one of the apartments, eating a rice ball. "Got it!" He stated with a grin as an idea popped into his head.
[--
Shikamaru and his team were, conveniently for Ino-pig, having lunch together on a roof which over-looked Sasuke's apartment, where he was eating lunch alone. Of course, the genius knew the true reason as to why Ino had brought them up here –I mean, come on. An idiot could figure it out-, also knew that luck or coincidence had nothing to do with it. on his squad was the number one stalker of 'fangirls united'.
"Alright, if we're in the same group, you're going to have to follow my lead. That's the only way it'll work." Ino stated while pigging out on a large rice ball.
"Yeah, yeah." Shikamaru groaned, not wanting to be anywhere near the dumb girl, let alone have to take her orders. 'That's the only way it'll work 'cos she throws a fit if she doesn't get her own way.' He added mentally.
"Why don't you lead us to some barbeque, Ino?" Choji, who had a rice ball in each hand and several more in his lap, asked hopefully.
"Hopeless!" Ino groaned loudly, smacking her hand onto her forehead.
Shikamaru was about to make a come-back in a way of defending his friend against the wicked witch of the pig-pen, but he noticed Naruto sneaking up on Sasuke, who was still conveniently and coincidentally located right across the street from them.
"Naruto." Shikamaru stated, grabbing Ino's attention.
"Huh?" She asked dumbly.
Naruto jumped though the window and tackled Sasuke to the ground, out of sight of the Team ten Genin. Shikamaru and Ino just stared in shock as the window closed and the sound of fighting was heard. Loud bangs and growls were obvious, but no one could tell who was emitting them or breaking the objects in Sasuke's small home.
"Naruto!" They heard Sasuke yell.
"Pipe down." The blonde retorted.
"Naruto!" Ino yelled in her annoying voice. "If you so much as scratch him, you're in my enemy list forever." She threatened, even though Naruto -luckily for his ears- couldn't hear a word she was saying.
From inside the room, the fighting sounds continued for a few more seconds. It sounded like Naruto or Sasuke was hitting the other, probably Sasuke hitting Naruto in their opinions, and then the person getting hit fell down and got back up, returning the blow with one of their own. It carried on for a bit longer before all suddenly went quiet.
"Grrrrr, w-what happened?" Ino asked.
[--
Inside the room, Sasuke was standing over a tied-up Naruto, who also had two pieces of tape covering his mouth.
"Huh, nice try." Sasuke stated.
[--
Team ten saw the window open and Sasuke hauled himself out with one hand until he was on the roof under the window. The then smirked and looked forwards, not noticing the newly grouped into team ten Genin watching him. He shook his head, letting his hair move slightly in the soft breeze, before stuffing his hands in his pockets.
"He beat Naruto without even breaking a sweat." Shikamaru stated in wonder at the Uchiha's ability.
"What'd you expect?" Ino asked, looking sure of herself. "Naruto against my boy, Sasuke-kun? No contest." She finished.
Choji just ignored the whole thing, munching on his rice balls like the good little boy he is.
[--
Back with Hinata and Sakura, the two were talking, sitting on a stone bench outside the academy. They had just finished their bentos and were still talking about random stuff. For example, they spoke of training, Hinata's family since -Sakura wouldn't discuss her own-, and then how they thought they'd get along with their new teams.
"I think that Inuzuka-san and Aburame-san will make good team mates, Sakura-chan." Hinata stated, still a bit bummed about no being grouped with her or Naruto.
"Yeah, but that dog-boy can be a pain. I've had to sit next to him in class more than once and all he does is turn red and stutter. Not that there's anything wrong with stuttering, but he was annoying." Sakura told her moon-eyed friend. "As for my team…Naruto is a pain in the butt and Uchiha…I don't know why, but I just don't like that guy."
"A-Ano…Sakura-chan, S-Sasuke-san is just o-over there." Hinata told her, pointing to a tree in front of the bench. Sakura looked up and sighed, knowing Naruto's chakra anywhere.
"Hm…I see." Sakura said, unimpressed by the henge.
"U-Um…well…I need t-to g-go and f-find m-my team. L-Lunch is a-almost o-over a-and I w-want t-to introduce m-myself to them." Hinata said, standing up and excusing herself. Sakura sighed again and waved to her as she walked off before turning to her own blonde/blue haired team mate.
"Sakura, your lips are so soft and lovely. It's makes me feel like kissing them." Sasuke/Naruto said smoothly. If Sakura was any other girl, like Ino, she would have passed out from fainting. Not only that, but she knew this was Naruto.
'Who cares? The blonde cutie is just as good! CHA!' Inner claimed, pumping her fist in the air in her small display of triumph.
"Only kidding." He said, sitting next to her on the bench. "That's the kind of dumb thing that Naruto would say." Sasuke/Naruto said. Sakura had the urge to point and say 'you are Naruto, loser', but she decided to play along for now.
By playing along, that meant treating Naruto/Sasuke the way she would treat regular Sasuke. With a sneer, a glare and cold attitude.
"I wanna ask you something." He said, stealing Hinata's previous seat on the bench. "Naruto…what do you think of him?" Sakura closed her eyes and sighed, thinking of all the things she could say in answer to the one little question.
"I think he's annoying, childish, stupid, crude, and at times vulgar and a complete loser." She said. Sasuke/Naruto looked hurt.
[--
Back in the apartment, Sasuke was tied up on the floor with two pieces of tape covering his mouth, just as Naruto had before.
'I let my guard down' He thought.
[--
Sasuke stood over a hog-tied Naruto with a look of superiority on his face, along with a mocking smirk. Naruto puffed into smoke and was replaced by a log in no time. Uchiha Sasuke looked shocked, to say the least. Six Naruto's all leapt at him from above, yelling random insults at him as they did so.
"I gotcha!" They all said together. "Ahhhhhhhhh!" The clones cried as they flew at him. Sasuke looked up, in greater shock, as he was landed on by all of the clones. This was not his day.
[--
'In class, he couldn't even do a simple replication. How could he combine a replacement jutsu with a full shadow clone jutsu?' Sasuke, not knowing about Naruto's ability to do Kage Bunshin, thought with a grunt and heated glare.
[--
"I think he's annoying, childish, stupid, crude, and at times vulgar and a complete loser." She said. Sasuke/Naruto looked hurt."And also, if he wants to know what else I think of him, he should ask me as himself and not when he's in a Henge to look like Uchiha." Sakura concluded.
Naruto/Sasuke transformed back and stared at her with wide eyes. It was easy to fool Hinata and everyone else he passed in the Henge as Sasuke and no one noticed a thing. He knew she was a good ninja, but to see though a Henge that easily, she had to be a pro!
"How'd you know it was me?" The blonde asked her. Before she could answer him, Naruto felt a pull at his stomach. He grabbed the offending body part in pain and shivered. 'My stomach! What timing!' He got up and ran off, leaving a mildly confused Sakura behind him.
"Are you okay?" Sakura yelled after him.
"I'll be right back!" Naruto assured her as he ran off, waving one arm over his head.
"No wonder he smelled like spoilt milk." Sakura muttered to herself with a smirk.
[--
Naruto ran though the streets, still clutching his stomach, until he finally reached a bathroom. He opened the door, sped inside and slammed the door behind him, locking it as well. Once inside, he sat down on the toilet and wiped his forehead, which was covered by his Hatei-ate, free from non-existent sweat.
"That was close; really close. My stomach was so upset I almost completely made an idiot out of myself in front of Sakura-chan. Actually; I think I already did that. Grrrr, why did it have to happen right then? Right when she was about to tell me–argh!" Naruto growled.
'She thinks that I'm annoying? She said that so many times before. I transform into Sasuke, finally get close to Sakura-chan and she has to say that? She even saw though the jutsu!' He groaned mentally.
"Hey, I know what I should do. I'll do a better jutsu so she can't see though it, then make Sasuke act all obnoxious. Then she'll finally realise that someone out there is worst than me." The blonde decided with a menacing grin.
[--
Sakura sighed as she leaned her back against the back of the bench, still waiting for her blonde friend to come back. She was seriously considering just leaving, but that would only cause problems later. That and she wanted to tease Naruto about how she knew what was wrong because he still smelled like stale milk.
Feeling chakra approaching her, Sakura looked to her right and saw Sasuke walking in her direction. She made sure it was really him –which it was- before closing her eyes and sighing again. Naruto was taking way too long for her liking.
'Well, at least Uchiha won't bug me.' Sakura thought as an upside.
'Cha! That's too bad! With him and the cute blonde on my squad; I can finally act like a girl and go nuts over boys! Shannaro!' Her inner cheered, making Sakura groan mentally.
The pinkette cracked open one eye slightly and watched Sasuke walk right passed her, not even sparing her a glance. She didn't mind. It came as a relief after having Naruto around to bug her constantly for day without end. In fact, Sakura wished that Naruto was a little more like that.
…
Okay, maybe not. She like the blonde the way he was. However, it wouldn't hurt him to be a little less loud in the future. Just a little.
Sasuke also noticed the pinkette was paying no attention to him as he walked passed her. It wasn't as if he wanted her to act like all his fangirls and start to faint or blush whenever she was around him, he just wanted her to pay a little more attention to him and less to that blonde dolt. Even Shikamaru, the lazy genius of the class, got her attention more than him.
He wasn't jealous, just a bit angry at Naruto. If that idiot thought that transforming into him would grab Sakura's attention, he was way more than wrong. He didn't even spare the thought to see that Sakura paid more attention to Naruto and Hinata than to her own sensei. Sasuke wouldn't be surprised if Sakura paid more attention to the blonde and the shy girl than her own mother and father, her parents…if she had any. He wasn't too sure about her family…or her past, now that he thinks about it…or anything about her passed her appearance for that matter. How odd to have a girl as secretive as she is. Most girls he knows are blabber-mouths.
As a matter of facts, she was close enough to the blonde to know where he was at this moment in time. That would mean that all he had to do was get her to tell him and he would accomplish two things. One, have Sakura talk to him in a non-violent way. And two, be able to find Naruto and beat his ass all the way to snow country for tying him up. He stopped walking and closed his eyes, then reopened them and formed the words in his mouth.
"Where is Naruto?" Sasuke asked her, turning to face the lazily lounging girl. She opened one of her eyes, gave him an obvious 'why are yo asking me a stupid question like that' look and shrugged. The Uchiha boy's eye twitched slightly at her answer before she spoke again.
"I dunno." She said simply. Sasuke's right eye twitched even more.
"I bet you do." He wagered. Sakura opened both of her eyes this time and glared at him.
"Feh." She said with another shrug. "Why should you care? All he does is pick fights with you."
"All he does is follow you around." He countered quickly.
"Touché." Sakura finished, closing her eyes again. "But…I'd rather be left alone. I sorta got used to being away from everyone after a while, and Naruto just won't let me be alone." She confessed with a third shrug.
"Alone…isolated…you have no idea what it means to be alone." Sasuke told her coldly. Sakura looked right at him and glared. Deciding that she'd had enough of talking to him, Sakura snorted and turned her back to him, prepared to walk in the same direction Naruto fled in.
"Actually," She said quietly, getting his attention. "I know more than you think I do, Uchiha." With those words, Sasuke and Sakura both walked off in there opposite directions. The former of the two was contemplating her words, but also keeping an eye out for the blonde menace.
[--
"Hmm," Naruto said to himself. "That's a good plan of action. Then what am I still doing sitting here?" He asked himself. "I've gotta hurry. I hope Sakura-chan's still waiting." Naruto got up, opened the door and ran out into the hall way, only to come face to face with a stoic –but slightly angry- Sasuke. "Wha-? Ahhhhhhhhh! Sasuke, what're you doing here, you teme? How did you get loose?"
"I used the escape jutsu. No sweat; it's a very basic technique." Sasuke told him with a smirk. "Why'd you do that? Transform into me?" The Uchiha asked him, just to be sure of the answer her thought he knew.
"Uhh…I thought it'd be fun to try out my moves on you, so I did." The blonde said, lying completely. He used Kage Bunshin to create five clones and tried to use the same move as earlier to beat Sasuke.
"Argh! The same technique again?" He asked, groaning.
"This time you'll see what I can really do." One Naruto informed him.
"You're going down for the count." Another said.
"Then you'll have to admit that I'm the best." The third one stated.
"Get ready Sasuke." A fourth one warned him.
Just as all the Naruto's were about to land and pummel him, all five of them felt a tug at their stomach, the same tug that stopped them from learning how Sakura could recognise him. He and all of his clones landed, halting their attack, and grabbed their stomachs in pain. The kept mumbling things like 'it's back again' and 'ouch, my stomach'.
Eventually, their complaints turned into 'I need a bathroom' and 'were is it' until all five of them rushed to the bathroom door. Since Naruto was a baka and he didn't de-spell the jutsu, all of the clones and himself were fighting over who goes first. Sasuke just watched the scene with questioning and slightly freaked out eyes.
"What a loser." The dark-haired boy muttered as he turned his back on Naruto and the fighting clones, walking away.
[--
Sakura was back on the bench, since she had gone back to sit down after Sasuke left, scolding herself for even saying the little amount to explain her life she did. If she heard someone say that, the girl could depict at least three answers without any thought. That the person was alone; they had no parents at the least; and that they were still angry about it. This was not good.
For some unknown reason, this made her think of Naruto. She always called him annoying or stupid. Her words put him down and she told him that she wasn't his friend at all. That must really sting. Naruto wasn't like Hinata. He didn't get that her cold words had double meanings. The boy didn't understand that when she said 'you are not my friend', she really meant that he wasn't her friend, but more like a brother to her than that already. With her cold personality, she couldn't come right out and say things like that.
"I shouldn't treat him like that." Sakura scolded herself. "Next time I see him…I'm going to be nice. Well…I'm going to try." She added.
"Argh!" Sakura heard from her right. It was Naruto, walking down the street and clutching his stomach. "Maybe I ate something bad." He thought out loud.
'Great, Naruto.' She thought.
'Time to be nice! Smile, smile!' Her inner reminded her. Sakura sighed and came as close as she could to a smile, which was actually a slightly awkward and twitchy smirk.
"Hey Naruto! Let's walk back to class together!" She offered, still using her twitchy smirk/smile thing.
"Did she really say that?" Naruto asked himself, looking at the usually cold girl in front of him. 'She'd never look at me like that. Sasuke must have transformed into Sakura to get back at me.' "Trying to trick me, eh, wise-guy? Well forget it!" He yelled. Just as he was about to perform Bunshin, he stomach pulled again. "WHY IS THIS HAPPENING AGAIN?!" He yelled, holing his stomach and running to the bathroom again.
"Note to self: Don't be nice." Sakura said to herself, watching Naruto run away to the bathroom.
[--
In Naruto's apartment, the third Hokage was looking around the kitchen with a Jounin. The latter was the same one with gravity defying hair as earlier.
"So this is where Naruto lives?" The young-looking Jounin asked, looking around.
"Yes. He'll be on your team. Along with Sakura, who is just one big mystery, and Sasuke, from the Uchiha clan. Good luck, I'm sure you'll need it." Sarutobi told him.
The Jounin walked to the table and picked up the milk carton.
'This milk is way passed its expiration date.' He paused his thought to shake the carton and listen to the chunky milk move. 'One sip of this and he'll be running to the bathroom all day. Seems like this kid is just one big problem. Hm…'
[--
Back in the bathroom, Naruto was taking care of his stomach. Suddenly, he got angry at himself.
"AM I GOING TO SPEND THE REST OF MY LIFE ON THE CAN?!" He screamed.
Hey, its Shadow quil here. Firstly, I'd like to thank sakuragirl13579 for pointing out my gramatic errors and would like to say that I fixed what she mentioned to me. Thank you!
Anyway, it might take me a bit longer to write up the next few chapters because I've got exams and stuff coming up and I need to study for them.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'll get the next one up as soon as I can.
S-Q