Notes: I'm happy people seem to be enjoying this so far. I know OCs are always dicey, even one that's an alternate version of myself.

The next morning, my team and I met on the training ground. We sat on the grass and passed around the food we'd brought. Naruto kept yawning as we ate.

"Too early?" I asked him, amused.

"I'm f-fine," Naruto said, the word punctured with another yawn.

I finished my ramen and thought about the Bell Test. How to strategize for it without giving away that I knew what the test was…

"What do you think the test will be, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked, right on schedule.

"I don't know. Whatever it is, we'll probably have to work together." I leaned back against a tree, keeping one leg stretched out and the other bent. It was a comfortable position, and I bet I'd be in it for a while. If I remembered correctly, Kakashi had been three hours late for the Bell Test. Even if he'd been earlier the day before, it was unlikely he would today. After all, there'd been a time limit on this test.

"We're going to be the best team ever, believe it!" Naruto yelled.

I looked at him for a moment, surprised. "Ah," I said. "If we work hard enough."

"Do you think we'll have time to strategize after Kakashi-sensei announces the test?" Sakura asked.

"Maybe." I thought for a moment. "I have an idea. Naruto, do you think you can keep your shadow clones up for a couple hours?"

"Um, I haven't tried, but I guess?"

"Here's the plan then…"

By the time Kakashi arrived, he saw the three of us sitting together on the ground talking about nothing in particular. In actuality, the three of us were farther back in the woods doing a little light sparring. Well, me and Naruto were sparring, while Sakura watched.

I really wish we'd been able to see Kakashi's surprise when Naruto's three shadow clones, two of them henged to look like me and Sakura, disappeared as soon as he'd finished explaining the Bell Test.

Naruto paused in the middle of the light spar. I stepped back, knowing he was getting his memories from the clones. "Hey, it worked!" he exclaimed, having not fully believed me earlier when I explained that shadow clones, unlike regular clones, would transfer memories to the original when they disappeared.

"So what's the test?" Sakura prompted.

Naruto's face fell. "Sasuke was wrong. Only two of us can pass."

"Explain the test, dobe," I said.

Naruto explained the Bell Test. I nodded along, half to show I was listening and half because it was exactly like in the show.

Surprisingly, it wasn't me that explained it was a trick. It was Sakura.

"What do you mean, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked.

"Well, it's like Sasuke said yesterday. Genin teams are always in threes, right? Kakashi-sensei wouldn't be allowed to train just two of us."

I nodded. "Good thinking, Sakura," I praised, because she hadn't figured that out in the show. I was happy to see her being more analytical about things. "The test is probably designed to try to make us fight against each other, when really, it's all about teamwork."

"But what if it isn't?" Naruto asked. "What if they're changing the team numbers this year?"

"Then I'll give the two bells to you two," I said. "They're not going to send the last Uchiha back to the Academy." I said it sardonically, because it was true and because it hurt a little bit. I had been a civilian girl—no more likely of actually becoming a ninja than Sakura—but just because of the body I was wearing I was given special treatment. I hated it.

Naruto looked shocked that I was willing to put my graduation on the line like that. I couldn't resist the urge to pat his shoulder. "Don't worry, Naruto," I said. "We'll graduate as a team."

Naruto looked from my face to the hand I had on his shoulder. "Okay," he said softly. I pulled back, confused.

"So what's the plan?" Sakura asked.

I saw that fire in her eyes, the one I'd seen so rarely in the Academy though I'd been looking for it. Good, I thought.

"Kakashi is a jōnin. We wouldn't actually be able to defeat him in a real fight, but he'll probably be holding back." I looked to Naruto. He needed to know we were going to rely on him as a team. He'd been looked over too much. "But we just need to get the bells. We just need to overwhelm him."

Naruto caught on, grinning. "More clones?"

I nodded. "Sakura and I will do some regular clones as well, but you should have some of your clones henge into us. We'll take him over in droves. Naruto, you and me are going to be among the clones. Sakura, I want you to henge into a kunai."

"What?"

"I'm going to throw you at Kakashi's feet. When he's distracted, you're going to come up and grab the bells." There, I thought. I was showing them that I was going to rely on them both. Setting the groundwork for our later missions.

After all, we'd really need our teamwork for Wave.

"Okay," Naruto said. "Let's do this!"

"I… okay," Sakura said, a little more hesitantly. I saw as she bolstered herself. "Okay," she said stronger.

We walked back to the clearing. I wondered if Kakashi had been listening to us plan. Probably, but he'd also probably let the plan happen. I hoped, anyway.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," Naruto chanted. Two dozen shadow clones appeared. Half of them transformed into me and Sakura. I made a couple of my own clones, as did Sakura.

We reached the clearing. I held out my hand. Sakura henged into a kunai and I grabbed the handle.

Kakashi stood in the middle of the clearing reading an orange book. He didn't even look up as we rushed at him from all directions.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu," I chanted, slightly ahead of the mass of clones. Kakashi dodged the fireball, though he took his eyes off his book for it. I threw Sakura the kunai. She landed at Kakashi's feet as Naruto, the mass of clones, and I converged on him.

Kakashi barely had to work to start dispelling the clones, but that was fine. I threw more kunai and shuriken to distract him even as Naruto made even more clones.

"Now!" I said, because we wouldn't be able to keep this up much longer.

Naruto, amazing Naruto, pretended the command had been for him and started doing hand seals for something I didn't recognize. Kakashi turned his attention to the blond even as Sakura surged up and grabbed the two bells.

All activity stopped. Naruto dropped his hands, grinning. His clones dispelled in one big poof. "We did it, believe it!"

"My my," Kakashi said. "Well then, Sakura, who are you going to give the other bell to?"

I gestured for her to give it to Naruto, but she shook her head and held both out. "Sasuke and Naruto should have them," she said. There was strength in her voice and determination in her eyes. "They'll work best as a team together. And I… I'm not that good."

Huh. I frowned. That wasn't entirely inaccurate, but I knew Sakura would become a very strong kunoichi. Her lack of confidence was half of what was holding her back.

"Shut up, Sakura," Naruto said. I recognized that serious voice from the show. It was the same voice he used before doing what the fans dubbed his Therapy Jutsu. "You're going to be awesome. You're really smart and you had the easiest time learning henge of anyone in class, didn't you? You just need to keep training, like all of us. We're going to be a super strong team together, aren't we?"

"What Naruto said," I agreed.

Sakura stared and I winced as the noticed the start of tears in her eyes. Oh no.

"Well," Kakashi said, interrupting Sakura's emotional moment. "You all pass. Congratulations."

"Yeah!" Naruto jumped in joy. "You were right, Sakura-chan. It was a trick!"

I saw Kakashi give Sakura a considering look. Maybe he hadn't been listening to us, content with the knowledge he'd be fine holding off whatever we threw at him.

"Will you keep your promise now, Kakashi-sensei?" I asked, crossing my arms.

Kakashi snorted. "Saa, I suppose I'd better. Very well. My name is Hatake Kakashi. My likes are the Icha Icha series and my ninken. My dislikes are people who are trash and worse than trash. My dream for the future is to continue protecting my village. My hobbies are being late and now, I suppose, being the sensei for Team Seven."

"Trash, sensei?" Sakura asked.

"Yes." Kakashi looked at us. "Remember, those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash."

I looked away, thinking of the other Sasuke.

"We'll start training tomorrow," Kakashi said. "This will be our training ground from now on unless we need a specialty area. Training will start at eight every morning."

"Which means… ten every morning?" I said, smirking.

"Aah." Kakashi scratched his cheek and then shunshin'd away.

"Hey!" Naruto yelled, but Kakashi was long gone.

"Should we show up at ten, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked.

"Nah," I said. "Eight is fine. Even if it takes him a couple hours to get here, we can always train together."

"And you can teach us that awesome fire jutsu you used!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Probably not," I told him. "It's one of my clan's techniques. But we can work on new jutsu together?"

"Oh." I could tell Naruto was a little disappointed. I frowned.

"Don't you have some clan techniques of your own?" I asked. "The Uzumaki clan is pretty old. They hailed from Whirlpool, but surely they brought some scrolls with them when they moved here." I honestly had no idea. The only jutsus I knew Naruto inherited were his dad's, but surely there was more to the Uzumakis then just sealing the Kyūbi.

"I- I don't know." Naruto's wide blue eyes locked on mine. "My parents are dead and Ojii-san never gave me anything."

"Maybe you can ask him?" Sakura suggested. "Maybe he was just waiting for you to become a genin?"

"Worth a shot," I agreed.

"I will." Naruto looked down, and when he looked back up his cheerful face was back. "And then I'll be strong enough to defeat you and lead this team, believe it!"

"Probably," I agreed, and then mentally winced. I probably shouldn't have been flippant about that.

Both Naruto and Sakura stared at me. I cast around for a way to salvage the situation. I couldn't just saw that I knew Naruto would be stronger than basically anybody, come a couple years.

"It's just, you have a serious amount of chakra," I said. "And I already said that wasn't all. Someone with good tactics will be able to work around and find a way to defeat you if all you do is rush into a fight. But you'll probably learn to be more than that. I mean, look at today. You were having your clones fight together in small units, instead of just one mass pile. That's natural strategy right there."

Naruto's mouth was hanging open. Actually, so was Sakura's. I felt my cheeks redden in embarrassment.

"You said I had to be good at tactics to be Hokage," Naruto said after a moment. "The Hokage has to be mega strong and smart—so I'll be both." He grinned and gave us a thumbs up. "Believe it!"

Naruto's stomach took that moment to grumble. I snorted and Sakura giggled. He flushed. "Um, lunch?"

"Sure," I said. "But not ramen. We had that for breakfast."

"You can have ramen for every meal!" Naruto said.

"No you can't," Sakura argued. "That's not healthy, Naruto. Ramen is fattening."

I shook my head. "It's not the fat we have to worry about. We're ninjas, we burn off a lot of calories every day. What we need is a proper balance of protein, fiber, and other nutrients so that we can sustain that pace and grow even stronger. Different types of ramen are fine a couple times a week, but not every day and certainly not multiple times a day."

Sakura spent a moment visibly turning over my words. I wondered if she'd been dieting. Considering how slender she was—lacking both fat and muscle—I wouldn't be surprised. "Um, sushi then?" She suggested.

"Fine by me."

"Okay!" Naruto led the way.

I trailed behind. Sakura fell into step next to me.

"Sasuke-kun," Sakura whispered. "About what you said about Naruto…" I saw Naruto twitch a little. I knew the Kyūbi gave him some advanced senses. Even if Sakura thought we were far enough back, he could probably hear us.

That was fine by me, if I knew where this conversation was going.

"I know he was an idiot at the Academy," I said back, just as quietly. "But Naruto has a lot of potential, if you know to look for it."

Sakura stayed silent for a moment, watching our orange teammate. "He did better than I would have thought, today," she agreed finally. "And his shadow clones. I looked them up last night. They are a really dangerous technique to do with as much frequency as he does, but he doesn't even seem tired."

"His chakra levels are larger than anyone in the village," I said.

"Even the Hokage?"

"Even him. I think it might be a Kekkai Genkai. I've heard the Uzumakis always had a lot of chakra."

"Oh." Sakura clasped her hands together. "So you think he can be Hokage?"

"We're only genin," I pointed out. "But maybe. I'm certainly not going to dismiss him like the others." I grinned. "Come the Chūnin Exam, I think he'll surprise everyone, except us. Because we'll be here, watching him grow."

"You really believe that." There was a hint of wonder in Sakura's voice. "You really want to be a team."

"We're going to stick together, Sakura," I said. "That means that we help train each other. We support each other. And we never betray each other."

We'd gotten back to the village proper now. Naruto was a good meter ahead of us, enough that the villagers felt safe to glare at him without accidentally catching me in the path of it. They were idiots. By the end of the Chūnin Exam, I knew they'd be changing their tune. Or, I hoped so.

"Do you see it, Sakura?" I asked, even softer now.

She looked confused for a moment, but though the glares weren't directed at us we were close enough to see them. Sakura had probably never walked with Naruto for any length of time, never seen just how different the village acted around him.

"Wh-what?" she whispered back. "I know he's a bit annoying, but…"

"Do you know when Naruto's birthday is?" I asked.

Sakura shook her head.

"October 10th," I told her. She was smart, she'd figure it out.

Maybe I was betraying some of Naruto's confidence giving her that hint, but if I knew Sakura, if I knew the kunoichi she'd become, then I knew she'd learn to accept it. And I also knew that as a team we'd need to know.

Naruto was visibly tense now, having heard what I said on top of walking under the glares of the villagers.

I quickened my pace until I was walking just next to him. "You'll show them," I said, glaring back at the civilians. They turned away.

Naruto looked at me for a moment, those sharp blue eyes searching for something on my face. I continued glaring at the villagers.

"Why are you so different?" he asked finally. Sakura had come up on my other side. In the future, I hoped we'd walk with Naruto in the middle, to protect him from the village's distaste, but she wasn't ready for that yet.

I snorted. "I'm not. I just didn't have any teammates in the Academy, did I? Only two other teams passed, so only those other six genin in our year will be some of our comrades fighting for Konoha."

"You didn't know who was worthy of that title yet," Sakura said.

"Right," I said.

Naruto shook his head. "Doesn't matter. Everyone in this village is worth protecting, because the people are what make up Konoha." He looked around, the glares flowing off him like water.

I found my steps faltering at those words. I knew Naruto would eventually see things like that, but had it really started so early?

No, I reasoned. It must have started when he learned the truth about the reason they all hated him. He knew, I realized, that they were just scared. That the Kyūbi's attack had been the worst night of many of these people's lives.

Yeah, I told myself. Naruto was definitely going to be Hokage. I was excited to see it happen.

The next morning, Naruto, Sakura, and I sparred until Kakashi arrived. Naruto's taijutsu style was a mess, but instead of telling him that I just taught by targeting his obvious weak points. He did learn best by doing, after all, and by the end of the hour he'd tightened up his defense considerably.

Sakura, on the other hand, still hesitated too much.

"Come on," I said. "You're not going to kill me."

"But I might hurt you!" Sakura argued. "And you're my teammate. Aren't we supposed to protect each other?"

"Sparring is protecting each other," I argued back. "What will you do if me and Naruto are too injured to fight? You're too weak to protect us right now." I remember the second part of the Chūnin Exam. Sakura would have died if that Sasuke hadn't been overtaken by the Curse Seal to fight against the Sound-nin.

Sakura quivered. I sighed. "If you're so worried, why don't you learn some simple medical jutsu? That way you can heal us if we get injured in sparring, or even on the field."

"Oh." Sakura stepped back. "I can do that, I think."

"Okay. Until then, you can spar against Naruto's shadow clones. That'll help both of you, since Naruto will get those memories and you won't have to worry about injuring Naruto."

Sakura seemed happier with that compromise and I was pleased with the excuse to get her to start learning medical jutsus faster. She'd be a natural at them, I was positive.

Kakashi arrived after Sakura had managed to 'kill' one of Naruto's clones. "Yo," he said.

"Late!" Naruto and Sakura told him.

"It seems you've been busy," he said instead of dignifying that with a response. He had warned us, after all. "Sakura, I can bring you some E and D-rank medical scrolls tomorrow."

"You were listening?" Naruto exclaimed even as Sakura nodded and thanked him.

"Here's the deal," Kakashi said. "Since you guys have already worked out a sparring schedule for the early morning, we'll be working on chakra control until lunch. After lunch, we can go to the mission desk and pick up some D-ranks."

"Real missions!" Naruto yelled. "I can't wait."

"They won't be too exciting, Naruto," I told him. "D-ranks are all chores. Konoha citizens can request for genin to do menial labor for mission pay."

"Oh." Naruto scowled.

Before he could fully complain, I continued. "But we're probably not ready to do any C-ranks yet. We just became a team, after all."

"Sasuke is correct. Now let's go, it's already far too late."

"That's your fault," Sakura complained as Kakashi led us to the edge of the clearing.

Huh, I thought. I knew Kakashi hadn't taught Tree Walking until the Wave mission. Actually, I didn't remember what exactly he taught the team pre that mission. Hell, there may have only been one episode of D-ranks before it started. I wouldn't be surprised.

Maybe he'd taught more taijutsu? But since we'd already been working on that, he'd decided to start Tree Walking early? Either way, I wasn't complaining. I'd tried it a couple times at home, but I hadn't yet been able to walk up a wall.

"One of the first steps to chakra control is learning how to mold chakra at different parts of your body," Kakashi said. "Nearly all jutsu above E-rank require jutsu to be pushed a certain way to work. Sasuke's Fireball Jutsu needs chakra to be pushed to the mouth and out, am I right?"

I nodded.

Kakashi walked up the tree, coming to stand on the lowest branch.

"Cool," Naruto said.

"Ninja are able to push their chakra to the surface of their body, often their feet, to stick to their landscape. It needs to be just the right about. Too much and the object will break under the strain of the chakra. Too little and you'll just fall off."

When Kakashi actually deemed to explain something, he wasn't a bad teacher. I guess he had to be decent at it, considering he'd taught the other Sasuke Chidori in only a month.

He threw three kunai at our feet. "Use that to mark your place." With that, Kakashi jumped down and leaned against a tree farther down. He pulled out his book and began giggling.

I sighed. Well, he certainly wasn't a perfect teacher.

Grabbing the kunai, I walked up to the tree. I put one foot on and tested out pushing chakra into it. It didn't really feel stable, so I pushed some more. The tree cracked slightly and I jumped back. Frowning, I put my foot back and pushed a little less.

I felt a grip. Grinning, I pushed my other leg up, but as I moved I lost control of the chakra in my one foot and fell down.

To my right, I saw that Sakura had already managed to make it a few steps. Naruto, I saw, had managed to create a hole in the tree. I shook my head and kept working.

I was starving by the time I managed to get more than five steps up the tree. Sakura had already managed to make it to the lowest branch. Naruto was only a couple steps behind me.

"That's enough for today," Kakashi announced. "We'll get lunch and then your first mission."

Lunch was ramen, at Naruto's insistence. After, we headed to the mission desk. Iruka was the one handing out missions, which was pretty cool. He congratulated us on passing Kakashi's test and then gave us a mission to help an old man paint his fence.

The painting was easy enough, once I asked Naruto to make a couple shadow clones to help us out. We went back to the desk to get another mission, which was gardening. This time, Naruto didn't even have to be asked to make ten shadow clones.

"I feel like this is cheating," Sakura said as she pulled out another weed. Naruto's shadow clones had already done three-fourths of the garden.

"It's only cheating if we don't work also," I said. "Beside, we're ninja. Shouldn't we use all our skills to complete our missions?"

"True." Sakura wiped her hands off on her dress. "Keep up the good work, Naruto!"

"Okay, Sakura-chan!" Eleven Narutos replied.

I smiled. There was a warmth in my chest I hadn't felt in a long time. I was happy, actually happy doing gardening with my team. Considering how much I actually hated yard work, that was shocking.

We did one more mission, cleaning up some trash in the river, before calling it a day.

"Good work, team," Kakashi said. "Three D-ranks on the first day. That might be a record."

"We're awesome!" Naruto cheered. "Um, dinner?"

"I don't want to go out again," I said. "I can make some, though?"

Sakura shook her head. "My parents will be expecting me." She seemed really disappointed to not get to eat dinner at my house.

"Saa, it's our first day together. I'm sure they'll understand," Kakashi said.

I wonder if he thought I'd retract my offer if the whole team weren't coming. Sure, I hadn't ever invited anyone else to the compound before… well I hadn't, had I? I hadn't had any friends before this.

That was depressing. I don't think I realized that before then.

Sakura agreed and soon enough we were all walking to my house.

Naruto and Sakura stared as we walked through the compound. I suppose it was strange, the empty houses. I'd gotten used to it.

"I like your house, Sasuke-kun," Sakura said once we finally reached it.

"Thanks," I said, heading to the kitchen. "You can just sit wherever."

I saw out of the corner of my eye that Kakashi was studying the ancient scroll on the wall. I left him to it and got out the ingredients to make salmon. My dad, my old dad, had taught me his special honey salmon recipe when I left for college. I hadn't made it yet in this world… but this was a special occasion.

It took about forty minutes for the salmon to bake. The rice took less time, as did the greens. By the time we sat down at the table to eat, Sakura had convinced Naruto to play shogi with her. Naruto sucked at it, but I could tell that he was happy to have Sakura's attention. I wonder if his crush was still raging, or if he was just pleased to have a friend.

"This is delicious, Sasuke-kun," Sakura said when we started eating.

"I've never tasted this recipe before," Kakashi stated. "What is it?"

"Honey and mustard seeds," I said. "I did some experimenting when… I started having to cook my own food." That was the closest I could say to the truth.

"I've never had salmon before," Naruto said around a mouthful of food. "It's good."

"Why not?" Sakura asked, frowning.

Naruto looked suddenly embarrassed.

"It's not that expensive at Asuka's Market," I agreed.

"I can't shop there," Naruto mumbled.

"Why not?" Sakura asked again.

"Not a lot of places let me get food, is all," Naruto said, glaring as if daring us to press the subject. "I'm going to get seconds!"

"Help yourself," I told him. I saw as Kakashi watched Naruto get up with anger and sadness in his one eye. Kakashi flicked his gaze to me. I raised an eyebrow, challenging.

"I'll go with you tomorrow, Naruto," Kakashi said. "You're a shinobi of Konoha now. No one should turn you away."

Naruto didn't look like he believed Kakashi, but he said nothing and the subject was dropped.

Sakura helped me clean up after dinner and then I walked my team to the gates of the compound and said goodbye. That night I fell asleep with a smile on my face.

We fell into a routine the next few days. In the morning, I sparred with the real Naruto while a couple of Naruto's clones sparred with Sakura. Once Kakashi arrived, we worked again on Tree Walking. Sakura was the first to master it, which prompted Kakashi to start her on Water Walking. Naruto and I figured it out a couple days later. Of course, by then Sakura had mastered Water Walking. Kakashi gave her time to practice on medical jutsus as we worked to catch up.

In the afternoons, we did D-rank after D-rank. Even with Naruto's clones, I was sick of them by the end of the week.

Naruto was the first to break, demanding a C-rank mission.

"Come on, Kakashi-sensei!" He said. "We've figured out Water Walking and Sakura can heal bruises now! And we've been sparring every day. Aren't we ready?"

Kakashi agreed and we went to the Hokage for a C-rank. I wondered if every first big mission for a genin team had to go through the Hokage. Usually, C-ranks were fine to be given out at the regular mission desk.

"I do have one," Sarutobi said. "You'll be escorting a bridge building to the Land of Waves so that he can complete his bridge."

And there it was, I thought as Tazuna came in and immediately insulted me, Naruto, and Sakura. I scowled at him, even as Kakashi defended us.

"We'll head out in two hours," Kakashi said. "Gather a mission bag. Pack lightly, but don't forget provisions and sleeping gear."

We'd been taught what to put in a mission pack during the Academy. I hoped Naruto would remember. Actually... "Hey Naruto, have you bought a mission pack yet?"

Naruto shook his head, looking embarrassed. I bet he'd been thrown out of the stores when he'd tried to get one before, especially since he hadn't been a genin then.

"Come on, I've got an extra." I actually had enough for a small army, but that wasn't the point.

A couple hours later, we stood together at the gate of Konoha, ready to head out.

"I'm so excited!" Naruto said. "An escort mission, believe it!"

I watched him bouncing and couldn't help the feeling of dread that pooled in my gut. Were we ready to face the Demon Brothers and Haku and Zabuza?

Would I almost die like the other Sasuke had?

"Ready, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked.

"Hn," I murmured and set foot outside.

I had no other choice but to see.