Chapter 4 up and ready! More of you decided to review my work and a big thank you to Rose Tiger for pointing out things about my sentence structure. I've improved where I could and here is the end result. I hope that you like it!

HARUNO RESIDENCE 1640 HRS

Sakura wearily stumbled into the entryway of her house as she called out to her parents. "I'm home!"

Her parents, Takeo and Sanae, ran a small import/export business in the village, trading wares with various different countries and towns, and were moderately successful at it. Sanae was a somewhat doting woman with a level head on her shoulders. She also had a real knack for numbers, as she handled the finances of the family and business. Her father, Takeo, was a particularly shrewd business man with a keen eye. His flair for wheeling and dealing kept them in the black.

The night of the Kyuubi attack, they were just getting back into the village when all of the carnage died down. When they heard of the demon being sealed into a newborn baby and the Yondaime's last wish, they knew that the fallen Hokage saw something special in the boy. They honored the final wish and even tried adopting him, but was blocked by the council from doing so, as were the few other families and clans that came forward. They could only watch as the poor boy grew up alone and unloved. With how nurturing Sanae was, it broke her heart to see it.

They had a few business dealings with the boy, such as letting him help out in exchange for food or a little extra spending money. His work ethic and knack for quick thinking impressed Takeo so much that he offered Naruto a full-time job with him once he was older. But Naruto declined, saying that he already put them in danger just by being there and he didn't to take advantage of them when they were so nice to him, so he disappeared.

The only things they heard of about him were nothing but the same nasty rumors as before and to make things worse, their daughter, Sakura, had started to spread the same vile rumors and generally make the misunderstood boy's life in school just as bad as his private life. Even worse than that, she was a fan-girl of that Uchiha brat that the rest of the village was so keen on spoiling.

It made Takeo's blood boil just thinking about how the Uchiha clan are the ones responsible for making sure that Naruto was never adopted, and he knew that the apple didn't fall far from the tree. Sanae was of the same opinion. All that she heard about Naruto from her daughter was that he was annoying, stupid, and the dead last. She admonished her daughter for thinking that way, for not getting to know him for herself. She had hoped that Sakura would be his friend or at least be nice to him, but those hopes were dashed.

Takeo had just closed up shop when he heard his daughter come in the door. "Oh, hey there, sweetie!" He greeted her in his usual fashion. "Hi, dad." She responded with a tired sigh that didn't go unnoticed by him.

"So...how did your day go? You got assigned to a team today right?" He asked his daughter.

"I can't believe I've got Sasuke-kun on my team!! Ino-pig was sooo jealous!" She squealed.

Her father, however, was less than enthusiastic about that. He just grunted in acknowledgement, as he never really liked the brat. Every time he turned around, there was someone else lined up to kiss that little brat's ass. The rate at which he was spoiled had quickly become a nuisance.

One day, the brat came into his store and expected the prices to be lowered for him, as well. Takeo didn't really jive with that idea, telling him that he wasn't special and had to pay the same as everyone else. Sasuke didn't really like being told that he couldn't have something he wanted, so he complained to the civilian council and trade commissions about him. In turn, they slapped him with fees, suits, and a few with embargos against him. That brat nearly flushed his and his wife's hard built business down the crapper because he didn't get his way. The only reason why his small business survived was due to the help of Teuchi Ichiraku, and the Ino-Shika-Cho trio. They started to do their business through him because they heard how he tried to help Naruto, so they decided to help him. After that, he was a firm believer in Karma, that you reap what you sow.

"Uh...honey? What about your other teammate?"

The way Sakura pulled a 180 from perky to annoyed was a bit disturbing. "That dobe Naruto is just a third wheel on this team. He'll only get in Sasuke-kun's way. He shouldn't even be a ninja..." She would have continued on, but she was interrupted by the most unlikely person, her mother.

Sanae looked absoultley furious. She had sat there and listened while her daughter repeated all of the vile rumors that were spread about the Uzumaki boy, and it ripped her heart to shreds each time. She knew the boy personally, and found him to be one of the sweetest people she'd ever known, if a not a total innocent.

"Sakura...That boy has done nothing to you but be kind and courteous to you and your classmates, but you constantly cut him down. I've heard of some of your more violent outbursts against him, and I must say that I am VERY disappointed in you. You just blindly followed along with whatever your friends hear from their parents, who have no idea who that poor boy REALLY is. I met him once, and I must say that he is a very sweet and kind boy."

Sakura was struck dumb. Her mother had berated her for her treatment of the dobe, AGAIN. It took her a moment to get her bearings before she tried to mount a defense.

"B-but, Sasuke-kun is the rookie of the year, from a famous and wealthy clan, skilled, handsome, and the village loves him. While that baka is dumb, dead last, and a worthless and poor orphan whose parents didn't even want him..." She started to rant, but didn't realize that her mouth would get her into so much trouble as she was slapped.

"Can you hear yourself, my dear? What has the Uchiha done that was so great? The only reason why he is so skilled is because he has teachers and others bending over backwards and tripping over themselves to help him, while the Uzumaki has had to learn everything on his own with no one to help him." Her father spoke this time.

After this discussion wound down and they ate dinner, Sakura took a bath and headed for bed. As she let her consciousness slip, Inner Sakura took the opportunity to speak with her.

"NOW do you see? Even mom and dad told you to be nicer to him. They know more about him than you do and YOU see him everyday." She admonished.

Sakura wasn't in a very good mood from being scolded by her parents. "Shut up!! This is that baka's fault! He got me yelled at by my parents!"

"UUGGHH...God, you are so dense!! I'm ashamed to be apart of you..." She sighed in disgust.

"Mmmm...Naruto-baka..." She grumbled in her sleep as her parents listened in.

"I can't believe that this village's blind hatred has gotten to our little girl..." Sanae whispered while she hugged herself. "What can we do?"

Her husband placed a hand on her shoulder. "I...I don't know. The most we can do is wait and pray that this is just a phase she's going through. If this continues on, I don't know what we can do..."

NARUTO'S APARTMENT 1720 HRS

Ichigo got Naruto into his apartment, laid him down on his bed, and went home. He couldn't believe how callously the boy was treated by his peers. The hatred their parents had for him had infected their children, as well. It was the same intolerance that he and Shiina had to contend with in the past, and he didn't like it. Not one bit.

He thought back to an hour ago, when he met with Naruto's Jounin sensei, Kakashi Hatake. He had heard of his reputation as an outstanding shinobi, but from what he saw of the records from when his ANBU team took up guarding Naruto, he held a deep dislike for the famous copy-nin.

FLASHBACK : ONE HOUR AGO IN THE HOKAGE'S OFFICE

Sarutobi and Ichigo had just gotten through going over some records on a certain team's mission. Said mission was for an ANBU squad to watch over and protect Naruto, but their performace was pitiful and reeked of foul play. It seemed like Naruto was led into ambushes and they sat there and did nothing.

Inoichi had been called in to check on Naruto's mental state, and after a brief jog through Naruto's memories he was satisfied. However, he was highly upset when he came out. Ichigo asked him what was wrong and Inoichi told him about what his daughter had done, again.

They continued to discuss what happened after Ichigo knocked Naruto out when Kakashi walked into the office.

"What's wrong with Naruto?" He asked in an annoyed voice. The eyes of the three other men in the room hardened at his tone.

"He was assualted by his peers, and in turn provoked the Kyuubi into responding." Ichigo spoke out in a low growl. He spun around and looked Kakashi in the eye studying him carefully.

Kakashi finally got annoyed. "What?"

Ichigo backed off and began to pace in front of him. "I read your file, Kakashi. Genin at 6, Chunnin at 10, Jounin at 12, and ANBU Captain at 14. Very impressive." He noted idly.

"I'm not following what Naruto's condition has to do with me."

"Hold on...I'm getting to that. I have the files and reports on a certain mission your team and yourself had in you ANBU days right here. To guard a certain boy, Naruto here. Surely, an elite ninja such as yourself should have been able to thwart SOME attacks on the boy by civilians and lower level Chuunins, right?" He added, waving the file folder in front of him.

This made the Copy-nin's visible eye go wide with shock. It was like being on a board of inquiry. This Jounin he had never seen before was grilling him on the Naruto Protection missions. "Wha...how...who..." He stammered out before being cut off by a harsh gesture by Ichigo.

"WHO I am is not important right now and should be the least of your concerns. As for how? Hokage-sama was kind enough to allow me time and access to puruse these documents. How very interesting..." He quipped, fitting the Copy-nin with a gimlet eye.

"It seems as though your team actually led the boy INTO ambushes and WATCHED while the beatings happened. They stopped the assailants just short of killing him as to not bring the Hokage's wrath down upon themselves. Where were you when all of this happened?"

Kakashi knew then and there he was caught. "I...I was at the memorial stone..." He uttered. He now realized that he made a grave mistake, one that should not have happened, and Naruto had to pay the price for it.

Ichigo knew from his file why he would be there. "Your teammates...Rin and Obito, right?" He asked in a more understanding tone.

Kakashi's head bowed further. "Yeah..."

Ichigo sighed. "I understand the pain of your loss, but to allow it to hamper your performance so badly that an innocent boy has been all but tortured to death on your watch is completely unacceptible. This lapse in judgement nearly cost that boy his life and betrayed the trust Hokage-sama and the Yondaime placed in you. He trusted you, his remaining student, to watch over this boy and you betrayed him." He scowled at Kakashi.

This served to raise Kakashi's ire. "What do you know about pain?" He snarled at the tall blonde. "You're just an outsider...Who fell into Hokage-sama's good graces. You know NOTHING of the pain and suffering..."

Sarutobi had heard enough. "HATAKE, ENOUGH!!!" The elderly Hokage barked out, seething with anger at the insolence of the Copy Ninja. "This young man knows more about pain and suffereing than anyone save Naruto! His enitre WORLD was ripped from him, as well as his wife and children! Furthermore, he did not 'fall' into my good graces. Do not insult me in such a manner ever again. I have known this young man for many years and is a person that I trust completely. He has acted as thus out of concern for Naruto, which very few have ever done, to my eternal shame."

Kakashi had never seen the Sandaime this angry since the night of the Kyuubi attack, when the council tried to execute Naruto. He felt that discretion was the better part of valor and swallowed his rage. "Hokage-sama, I apologize for my outburst. I was out of line with my comments. Good day, sir." He said curtly as he walked towards the door. He paused for a moment as he opened the door. "Tell Naruto to come to Training Ground 7 at 0600 tomorrow morning." He told Ichigo, then walked out the door.

As he left, all three men let out a collective sigh. Ichigo shook his head,

"This isn't gonna go over very well, is it?" He muttered.

Inoichi nodded and agreed with him. "I know, but it had to be have had it far worse that him, but took it much better. Take you and Naruto for examples. He, however, continuously skips out on his counciling sessions."

Sarutobi cleared his throat to get their attention. "I believe we should see to Naruto and the status of the seal. Ichigo..." He turned toward the younger blonde.

"Yes, sir." He replied with crisp professionalism.

"I would like you to test the state of the seal with Inoichi. In short, you'll be going in with him as an insurance policy against the Kyuubi."

He nodded. 'I'll get to see Saki again!' He thought gleefully as Inoichi made his preperations for his mind jutsu. After a moment, they were ready. With a nod toward each other, they jumped into the seal.

They landed in front of the massive gate that was the demon's prison. They saw Naruto lying on a sort of red furry pillow just inside the gate. They made a move toward him, but a blast of energy forced them back.

They heard growling coming from inside the bars and they looked up to see the mighty Kyuubi no Kitsune herself glowering down at them. Ichigo knew he had nothing to fear and he calmed down Inoichi as he walked up to the demoness calmly. "Saki...It's me, Ichigo."

The demoness stopped growling almost instantly and it began to glow and shrink. The glow died down to reveal a very beautiful woman with crimson hair and eyes, with nine tails and red fox ears, who was smiling sadly at him. "Ichigo-kun...Good..." She sighed in relief. "I really don't know what would have happened if you hadn't put a stop to what was happening. That much demonic chakra in him at one time could have killed him." She mentioned.

"I'm just glad that we stopped him before he did something he would have regretted. I'll just work with him on his anger..." Ichigo said before Inoichi interjected.

"If you want, you could send him to me for counciling sessions. I told you before that I'm also a therapist and I am better suited for these sorts of things." He reasoned.

Ichigo and Saki thought it over for a moment and nodded in agreement. "Alright..." Ichigo replied as they went over the finer details. Soon, they left the seal.

The blonde duo relayed the decsicion to Sarutobi and set up the first session to be in a week. After that, Ichigo picked up Naruto and took him home.

FLASHBACK END

Ichigo looked back down at his last living descendant and sighed. "This village is a real messed up place, y'know that, kiddo?" He muttered as he stood up, made a note for Naruto, telling him about the next day, what he had to do, the counciling sessions and that if he had any questions, just come on over and he'll explain if he could.

APRIL 18TH NARUTO'S APARTMENT 0515 HRS

Naruto woke up slowly and held his gut in his hands. He felt like somebody rammed an electrified battering ram into his gut as he got up and read the note that was left for him. It explained what he had to do and why he did it, along with what his new sensei had in store for him.

He wanted to question the taller blonde about it but he was gone already, the note on the door saying that he had a patrol mission that morning and he would be back later that day. Sighing, he showered up and ran off to the specified training ground to meet his team. Little did he know, that he was in for one hell of a day, again.

TRAINING GROUND #7 0555 HRS

Naruto stumbled into the training area with a few minutes to spare when he spotted two other people there. 'Hmmm...They might be my new teammates!' He thought excitedly as he ran over to them. However, his euphoria died almost instantly as he saw who his teammates were.

His sentiments were mirrored by his new teammates, Sakura and Sasuke, who felt that his mere presense was an annoyance and a burden, an unwanted one. Sasuke believed that Naruto wasn't worthy of breathing the same air as him and Sakura just followed along blindly.

'Hmph. Those two deserve each other.' He thought sourly as he sat down and went through a meditation excersice that Ichigo taught to him to teach him focus and was trying to ignore the glares that they sent his way.

They ended up waiting for three hours until an explosion of smoke signified the arrival of their sensei. "YOU'RE LATE!!" Sakura yelled at him.

Kakashi at least had the decency to look sheepish. "Sorry about that. I just got lost of the road of life." He told them.

'What a load of crap...' Naruto thought as he brought himself out of his meditative state and back to reality. Kakashi noticed him sittling in the lotus position and was taking in the Genin before him until Naruto spoke up first. "What?"

"You must be Naruto Uzumaki, the third member of this team." He spoke out loud. "We already did introductions yesterday while you were talking with Hokage-sama, but if you want, you can do yours now."

Naruto looked around and could already guess that they really wouldn't care, but he sighed and introduced himself anyway. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki. I like ramen, training, and hanging out with my new neighbor, who teaches me all kinds of neat things and is actually nice to me. I don't like short-sighted and closed minded people, arrogance, and people who look down on others for reasons beyond their control. My dream is to become the strongest shinobi I can be, showing everyone that I'm worth something and to make my new friend proud."

Sasuke and Sakura had just blown him off and Kakashi had his nose buried in his smut book. Naruto couldn't believe how rude they were. "HELLO?" He called out loudly. Kakashi snapped out of his reading, "Oh. You're done? Good, now we can get to the test." He said, pulling out two bells. He explained that they had to get the bells from him by any means nesscessary. They had until noon to get them and the one who didn't get a bell would be tied to a stump and not be given any lunch.

Naruto was about to launch himself at Kakashi, but held back, remembering what Ichigo told him of studying his opponents carefully. As Kakashi told them to start, Sasuke and Sakura hid, but Naruto stayed and surveyed the Copy-Nin carefully. "You know, Naruto, most people would hide to do what you're doing." He commented.

"Yeah, and? I'm not most people, I'm me, no one else. Didn't you hear me earlier?" Was his reply.

"Well? Don't you want the bells?" He taunted.

"I'd be lying if I said I didn't, but I'm not stupid enough to attack you without a plan."

"Well, you'd better come up with one quick, then."

Naruto gave him an almost evil smile. "Who's to say I don't already have one?" He countered.

Kakashi really didn't like what he was seeing so he took the iniative and attacked. His attack hit home, but Naruto just poofed out of existence. Kakashi was shocked. 'Kage Bunshin?! How?!' He gasped inwardly. A scant second later, scores of clones popped out of the ground under him like demented daisies, latching on to the Jounin to slow him down so that the real Naruto could sneak in and grab a bell. He silently thanked Ichigo for teaching him to be patient and use his head for once.

Unfortunately, Kakashi was a Jounin for a reason, as he quickly figured out what Naruto had planned. He seeped into the ground to shake off the clones that had latched on and popped out elsewhere. Then he began to slaughter the clones wholesale. Dispite how well he learned from Ichigo during the past week, he could only improve so much. His taijutsu was pathetic compared to that of the Jounin's, but he kept at it. After a few minutes, Kakashi finally scored a solid hit to the head and took Naruto down, HARD.

Kakashi now turned his attention to the other two Genin and began to stalk them. Sasuke watched the whole affair with a jealous gaze. 'Those were SOLID clones, not just illusions! How the hell did that idiot weakling get such a jutsu and not me?!' He seethed with anger.

In the meantime, Naruto stirred and began to recover. "OOOHHH...That really hurt." He commented.

"Of course that hurt, he's a Jounin. Naruto-kun, I think that the key to this test is teamwork. I know that you won't like it, but try to at least give it a shot." Saki advised.

Naruto thought for a moment, then nodded. "Alright, I'll try but just for the record, they're more likely to attack me than cooperate." He replied as he brought himself back to the real world. In the distance, he heard a scream that he knew was Sakura, so he headed there first.

When he reached her, he made some Shadow Clones to scout around for Kakashi and keep him at bay if it came down to it. He felt a faint chakra residue around her that he recognised as the aftermath of a Genjutsu. He concentraited a bit of chakra into a ram seal and barked out "KAI!" As he broke the genjutsu the pink haired girl was under. She stirred and woke up. "Sasuke-kun?" She asked groggily until the world came into focus and she saw the golden haired boy.

"NARUTO-BAKA!!!" She yelled at she threw a punch at him, just for him to deflect it away from him and throw her off balance. "So...this is how you thank me for releasing you from that Genjutsu. I wanted to ask you and Sasuke if you guys wanted to team up on Kakashi-sensei and work together to get the bells."

"Ha! As if we would lower ourselves to working with the dobe." She sneered at him.

"The object of this test is teamwork. You should have figured that out by now. He's trying to divide us and make us work against each other..." He tried to tell her, but she wasn't listening.

"Shut up, Naruto! Me and Sasuke-kun are gonna pass and you are going back to the academy!" She hollered as she ran off to find Sasuke.

"Damn it..." He muttered. "They just won't listen to me." He added as he got up to find Sasuke. As luck would have it, one of his patrolling clones had stumbled upon the Emo-jerk no more than 300 yards away from him and Kakashi was no where in the immeadiate area.

When he got to Sasuke, un-buried him and brought Sakura back around for a second time, he ran his teamwork idea by him just to have it sneered at. "Why should I work with losers like the two of you?" He told them coldly, mainly glaring at Sakura.

Naruto sighed and shook his head. "At least I tried." He commented to no one in particular as he calmly walked off toward the clearing to try and draw Kakashi out.

Sarutobi was watching the whole thing from his crystal ball in his office and was not impressed with Team 7. 'Naruto, the dead last, figured out the meaning behind the test and tried to cooperate with his teammates, but they blew him off, Sasuke because of his arrogance and pride, and Sakura just following along blindly. This is already starting to look like the team that I taught, the Sannin, and not for the better.' The old Hokage thought darkly as he remembered how the Sannin turned out.

Back at the training grounds, a Jounin with similar sentiments was watching the drama unfold. 'Those brats haven't learned their lesson yet...' He growled in his mind as he focused on the rest of the exam.

The alloted time had elapsed and the Genin assembled in front of Kakashi. He chastized Naruto for fighting him solo, but not the Uchiha. He criticized him for not cooperating with Sasuke and Sakura, not the other way around. Naruto was tied to a post in the middle of the field and was forced to watch the others eat while Kakashi walked off somewhere, but he told them that Naruto was not to be fed or they would fail.

Sakura sat there in front of a hungry Naruto, gingerly eating her lunch when she heard Naruto's stomach grumble loudly and saw him grimace. Inner Sakura took the opportunity to speak to her. "That didn't sound good. It sounded like he hadn't eaten in a while, nevermind breakfast." She commented.

"Whatever. I'm not failing just because that loser can't afford to eat properly." Fan Girl Sakura countered.

Inner Sakura seethed with anger but thought of something. "Hey...C'mere..." She said, pulling in and temorarily restraining her annoying main ego and gaining control.

Naruto noticed that Sakura got up, looked around and held up a piece of her shrimp to Naruto for him to eat something. Sasuke saw this and lashed out. "Don't feed him! I'm not going to fail just because of that dobe!"

"We need him to have more energy if we're going to stand a chance against Kakashi-sensei! We can't do it alone!" She countered.

Sasuke thought for a moment, and relented. "Fine. Here." He spat, thrusting the food into his face.

As he did that, Kakashi appeared in front of them, telling them that they passed the test and gave Sasuke the credit for figuring it out. Both Inner Sakura and Ichigo had similar thoughts. 'That bastard!! He's taking all the credit for something he didn't do!!'

Naruto was confused by Sakura's actions. First she treated him like a plague, but then she feeds him and helps him out. Saki, however, he a good idea of what just happened. 'That girl...She has a split personality. One that doesn't seem to mind the kit and doesn't like that Uchiha all that much.'She deduced.

Kakashi had just wrapped up his little speech by telling them when and where to meet and dubbed them Team 7. He then poofed away to parts unknown, leaving Naruto tied to the post. Sasuke got up and got in Sakura's face, just as Inner Sakura lost control and the Fan Girl persona took over again. "You stupid girl...you nearly cost me my chance to avenge my family..." He snarled as he raised his hand to slap her.

Suddenly, a jet of water from the nearly creek shot out and nailed the raven-haired boy just before the blow struck. Sakura looked around to see the source of the jutsu, just to see the Jounin from yesterday with his gloved hand held out and glaring at the stunned Uchiha.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" He growled as he walked toward the stump that Naruto was tied to and snapped his fingers. As he did that, the ropes looked like they were slashed with an invisible knife and fell away to free the young blonde boy.

This got everyone's attention. 'He used a jutsu without handseals! I must have that ability!' Sasuke clamored. "Hey, you...teach me that."

"Teach you what?"

"How you did that. You used a jutsu without handseals or even thinking about it. I must have that power..." He demanded.

" I can't teach anybody to wield this power and even if I could, I wouldn't teach someone who would strike and abandon his teammates in cold blood." He stated simply, but with an edge to his tone.

This got Sasuke's dander up and his pride stung. "I said teach me!!" He roared as he struck out at the tall blonde Jounin, just to be caught by his throat and lifted higher. "Bad idea, kid." He muttered.

Sakura snapped out of he daze just in time to plead for Sasuke. "Don't hurt Sasuke-kun! Please don't! He didn't mean it!"

Ichigo was dumbfounded. This guy was ready to deck her, but she still pleads for him. 'This is sick.' He dropped Sasuke, but the boy wasn't finished yet. He ran through handseals and called out his jutsu. "KATON : GOUKAKYU NO JUTSU!!" He barked out as he spat a huge fireball at the tall man. He was about to dodge, but he noticed that Naruto and Sakura were still behind him. "Damn..." He growled.

With a wave of his hand, he summoned a shield of water around them to protect them from the blazing heat. As the fireball died down, he vanished from view and appeard behind the wannabe avenger with his short blade drawn across his throat. "You could have killed you teammates, you little bastard." He snarled in a calm, yet still fierce manner.

Sakura was again stunned by what this odd man had accomplished. 'No handseals or windup...just execution. Who IS he?'

Naruto had a different frame of mind. He had seen Ichigo do this before, but it still amazed him every time he saw it. "Thanks for the save, Ichigo-san."

Ichigo nodded and swiftly knocked out the boy and picked him up by the collar of his shirt. "You two, go home. I'm taking him to your sensei for a little chat." He ordered them in a tone that demanded compliance. They nodded as he vanished in a swirl of water, taking their violent teammate with him.

Naruto turned and began to walk home until Sakura stopped him. "Naruto...Do you know him or something?"

Naruto paused and thought for a moment. "Yeah. He's my next door neighbor. He moved in a week ago, but he's actually kinda cool to hang around with. He likes to teach me stuff, basic stuff like meditation, some basic grappling and taijutsu and a little chakra control. Everyday, after kicking my butt into shape, he treats me to some ramen at Ichiraku's. He's a real nice guy and wouldn't hurt anyone without a good reason." He replied, obviously proud to know him. He continued on his way home.

The pink-haired girl just stood in silence for a moment before moving. Sasuke's actions gave her more to think about. This was the second time he nearly hit her intentionally and now he nearly killed her. She decided to just put it out of her mind as she trudged home.

A/N: Done and done. Sakura's family is such a blank page that anyone with any imagination could come up with something and make it work. As for the pink haired girl herself, I believe her condition is referred to as Battered Wife Syndrome. It's a sad sight in real life and the people who take advantage of someone in such a vulerable state are truly sick people. As for Naruto's new intelligence, it's always been there. He just needed someone patient enought to help him bring it out and use it more often. A little encouragement can go a LONG way.