It's been a week, so the new chapter has been uploaded.
I have created a small information profile for this fic. You can find it on my profile. It will be used to keep track of any other updates (on this story) that may occur.
Also, a big thank you to 'the DragonBard' for pointing out that Tobi and Madara are not the same person. I will keep his identity as Madara (for this fic) until his real name is revealed, so that I can change it.
Please be patient with me, and thank you to everyone that has read this far.
Convincing the Non-Believers
In the end, Naruto never ended up finding Sasuke. He had to head on home to prepare for the next day, when they were going to be sorted into ninja teams, and even passed by Konohamaru again. Konohamaru was still waiting outside the shut cubical over two hours since Naruto had previously seen him. Naruto decided that he would suggest that Konohamaru should fetch a doctor for his 'Boss', but soon decided against it when he noticed that the back of the cubical had been transformed into a makeshift door.
Naruto wondered how long it would take Konohamaru to figure out that he was no longer waiting for anyone.
Naruto left extra early the next morning. It was a well known fact that Sasuke was one of the first to arrive at school, and it was also a decent time to talk to the boy without a large 'audience'.
Naruto reached the academy, opened the classroom door, and ignored the quizzical stare of Shikamaru as he walked in far earlier than he was known to. Shikamaru (as strange as it may have sounded) was always the first person to be anywhere. It was quite funny, especially considering the boy's normal outlook on things as well as general lazy behaviour.
No, Shikamaru was not lazy, just uncaring for bothering matters.
Naruto glanced around, before sitting down in one of the seats. Sasuke had not arrived yet, and the only other people in were two girls that always sat up the back. Of course, the other students' attentions were all focussed on Naruto. Naruto was always late to class, that was if he even bothered to show up.
Slowly, the class began to fill, but there was still no sign of Sasuke. Naruto grumbled under his breath in slight annoyance. It figured that on the day that he would finally turn up early, Sasuke would possibly not turn up at all.
Naruto was about to nod off, but glanced over when he felt a tap on his shoulder.
"Hmm? Sakura?"
He was confused what did Sakura want with him? Naruto glanced around himself, checking to make sure that he was not actually already sitting next to Sasuke, and he stared back even more confused when that turned out to not be the case.
"Mind if I sit with you?" Sakura asked.
Naruto's eyebrows shot up. This was VERY different to how he could remember it. Sure, Sakura was not blushing, and she also did not sound all too interested, but she was still asking Naruto if she could sit beside him, despite there actually being spare seats all around the classroom.
"Go ahead," Naruto said.
Something was definitely strange with this past.
Sakura nodded her thanks, and waited for Naruto to move a seat over so that she could sit down. She brushed the wrinkles out of her dress, and then tightened the forehead protector that she wore like a headband. Sakura then stretched and turned to face Naruto, who was as confused as ever.
Had he played with the timeline to have Sakura like him?
Sakura cleared her throat. "Are you okay?" she asked.
"Huh?"
"You're acting differently too," she said, flicking a strand of hair out of her face. "I thought that you might have been feeling unwell."
Naruto frowned. "Is this solely because I just said that we should become friends, you know, instead of asking you out on a date, like I normally do?" he asked.
He had a sneaking suspicion. . .
Sakura nodded, and Naruto groaned. His forehead met the desk quite loudly.
"I was also curious as to how you knew what elemental affinities were; we're not meant to learn about them just yet, and you don't strike me as the type of person that would study ahead too far."
Naruto sighed and lifted his head back up. "I told you," he said, "I'm from the future. I was sent back in time due to an accident, I suppose."
It was Sakura's turn to sigh. "Still with that?"
"How else can you explain my sudden bout of 'maturity'?"
"You're still hardly mature," she said, shifting so that she could rest her chin on her hands. "What you said before. . . Do you really think that I'll end up on the same team as Sasuke and you?"
'I hope so,' Naruto thought. "Of course! I've already lived through all of this before."
Sakura suddenly blushed. "I sure hope so," she whispered.
Naruto frowned. It was obvious that she was talking about Sasuke. Well, he should not care at all, this Sakura was twelve, while Naruto was a seventeen year old trapped in a twelve year old's body. Naruto should be the mature one, here.
"What's going on?" Ino asked Shikamaru. The two had been friends (mostly without a choice in the matter) ever since they could first walk. No, it was probably before that. "Why is Sakura sitting next to Naruto?"
Shikamaru blinked at the girl. "Don't know," he said, shrugging. "But if you think that's weird, wait until you hear this: Naruto was the fourth person at school today."
Ino gaped. "He was early?!"
Shikamaru nodded. "I was also quite surprised. Also, Sasuke has not turned up yet."
"I can see that!"
"No, he's always one of the first here. Think, woman, Naruto was here early, and Sasuke has not shown up yet."
Ino ran the thought through her head, and her eyebrows climbed her forehead. "Naruto is Sasuke?"
". . . Ino, please tell me why I bother to put up with you again?"
"Oh, shut it, Shikamaru!" Ino hissed. "I meant that they've switched places, somewhat."
Shikamaru shook his head. "Go annoy someone else," he grumbled.
"Okay, then, smarty-britches, what do YOU think is going on?"
Shikamaru shrugged again. "I have no idea; that was why I decided to ask you. I'll be asking Chouji as soon as he turns up. Now scram."
"Shikamaru, you suck," Ino said, before poking out her tongue and walking off elsewhere.
The classroom soon filled completely, and there was still no sign of Sasuke just yet. Thankfully, there also was no sign of Iruka, or any teacher, for that matter. Naruto shuddered a little. He could not help but to think that both oddities were somehow related.
"Naruto," Sakura spoke up. "Do you have any idea where Sasuke might be?"
Naruto shook his head. "To be completely honest with you, I have no idea."
Sakura sighed again. "Okay, then, I'm going to ask you a few questions."
"Knock yourself out," Naruto said, resting his head on the desk.
"Do I marry Sasuke in the future?" Sakura shyly asked. It was a rare occurrence for the girl to be shy.
"Nope," Naruto said, having dragged out the 'n' a little. "I told you that I was searching for Sasuke. If it matters much to you, you were searching for him too."
"Oh," she said.
Naruto wanted to say "'oh'? You seem rather disappointed", but he decided that he still liked not having a dead arm so early in the morning.
The door to the classroom opened, and Iruka entered with Sasuke at his side. Naruto, Sakura, and the rest of the class perked up at this. It was certainly a strange day, indeed.
"You go find a seat, and I'll be with everyone shortly," Iruka said, half to Sasuke and half to the class.
Sasuke wordlessly nodded, and wandered over to sit beside Naruto.
Naruto began to sweat a little. Since when did Sasuke, of all people, decide to sit beside him on their own free will. Sakura deciding to do so was odd, but she had something to ask, so it made sense. Sasuke, though.
"You're late," Kiba called out, from the back of the class.
"I know," Sasuke replied.
Sasuke was never a man of many words.
"So, where were you?" Kiba continued. The boy seemed genuinely interested, as was the rest of the class.
"Training," Sasuke said.
"And Master Iruka had to go and pick you up?"
"Yes."
"What?"
"I said 'yes'."
Kiba scrunched up his face. "I know what you said, bastard."
Kiba fell silent, having given up, and the class looked away, apparently also losing interest. Naruto huffed, and started to tap his heels on the floor. He stopped as soon as he was elbowed in the side by Sakura.
"Naruto," she whispered. "Mind if we swap seats?"
Naruto shrugged again. "Sure," he said, as he stood up.
Sakura smiled at him, genuinely happy, and then stood up and sat in Naruto's chair. Naruto sat in Sakura's chair, and went back to resting his head on the table.
"Are you really from the future?"
Naruto glanced over in Sasuke's direction with a bored look on his face. He then glanced more at Sakura. "You told him already?" he asked.
"You told me," Sasuke said.
"Oh."
"Well?"
"Why do you ask? I didn't think that you'd be one to believe me on that," Naruto said, sitting up. The morning just became interesting again.
"I don't," Sasuke said.
"Then why ask?"
Sasuke did not answer.
Naruto sighed and stretched. Well, that was certainly weird, if anything. Oh, who was he kidding? With talking to Sasuke, those kinds of 'ask a question, not reply' conversations were always like that. Naruto was elbowed by Sakura again.
"Naruto, when did you tell Sasuke that you were from the future?" she asked.
Sasuke also glanced at Sakura, almost as though he was surprised.
Naruto frowned. Sasuke had said, right in front of Sakura, that Naruto was from the future, and yet he seemed surprised when Sakura questioned him (Naruto) about the same thing. There was a reason why Naruto thought of Sasuke as strange.
"Back when . . . you know . . . at his house," Naruto replied, truthfully.
He half expected Sasuke to glare at him, and was quite surprised when that was not the case.
"Okay," Sakura replied, and then went quiet.
Then Sasuke spoke. "When did you tell Sakura?"
Naruto stared at the boy as though he was an idiot. Sasuke's face was completely serious.
"Yesterday."
"Hn."
Naruto's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. He hated talking to Sasuke. Naruto swore that if one was to have a conversation with Sasuke and a rock, then the rock would be the more talkative of the two. Heck, even Shino was more talkative.
Naruto glanced over to Shino, and froze when he noticed that the boy was also staring at him. In that moment, an unspoken challenge was issued for a staring contest, the first to glance away loses. Naruto stared at Shino for what seemed to be an eternity, but was probably only about twenty seconds, before he noticed a small bug crawl out of Shino's ear, up the boys face, and then disappear into his hair. Naruto shuddered, glancing away, while Shino, then, stared of elsewhere, the hint of a smirk on his lips.
"Alright, everyone, I have your teams and teachers all sorted here for you," Iruka called, re-entering the classroom.
Sakura visibly stiffened. Naruto glanced at her, already knowing what was possibly going through her mind. The girl wanted to know if Naruto had been correct, at all.
"I hope that you're right, Naruto," she whispered to him.
Naruto hid a small laugh. "Of course I'm right," he said, confidently. Inside, though, he was very worried.
"Right about what?" Sasuke asked.
Naruto glared at the boy. So, now Sasuke wants to talk.
"Naruto predicted our team and teacher, as well as Ino-pig's team," Sakura explained.
Sasuke then glanced at Naruto expectantly. "Tell me," he said.
Naruto stuck out his tongue. "Master Iruka will say it in a moment, anyway, idiot."
Surprisingly, Sasuke did not glare at him. "Tell me," he said.
Naruto shook his head. "No."
"What did she mean by 'our team'?"
"No."
"That's not an answer."
"Neither is 'hn', but you tend to use it often enough."
"Hn."
"SEE!" Naruto shouted at the boy.
"Naruto, sit down and shut-up," Iruka ordered, causing a few students to giggle.
Naruto said his apologies and fell silent. Iruka continued with reading to the class, and Sakura began to whisper to Sasuke. Naruto frowned. That was one thing that he hated about Sakura, she would spill pretty much anything.
"Sakura, Sasuke, please pay attention," Iruka reprimanded.
"Yes Master Iruka," Sakura said, smiling. Sasuke just nodded.
"Alright," Iruka continued. "Team Seven contains Sakura Haruno, Naruto Uzumaki, and Sasuke Uchiha. Your instructor will be Kakashi Hatake."
"Holy crap."
"Mind your manners, Sakura."
"Yes Master Iruka."
1
For a change of pace, Naruto had two people sitting with him at lunch. Sakura was happily chatting away to Sasuke, and Sasuke appeared to be quite happily ignoring her. The weird thing, though, was the fact that they had decided to sit on either side of Naruto. Deep down, Naruto suspected that Sasuke was using him as some sort of pseudo shield to hide behind, but he had no real proof of it. Suddenly, Sakura turned to Naruto.
"How old were you when you were thrown back in time?"
"Seventeen," Naruto replied, opening another packet of melon bread.
"Are you really from the future?" Sasuke asked, suddenly deciding to talk.
Naruto sighed. "Yes, or do you still not believe me?"
There was no reply from Sasuke, and Naruto began to wonder how it was that he missed Sasuke again. Naruto began to wonder how he had become friends with the boy in the first place. Certainly he must have been thoroughly crazy the first time around, and had sobered up during the time that he was separated from Sasuke. Yes, that was probably it. He had been crazy for liking the boy at all.
"Admittedly, Naruto," Sakura began, "it is still difficult to believe you. Though it is fun to listen to your stories, just being able to predict our teams and teachers is not enough to prove that you're from the future. Perhaps you stole a look at those papers, or are scarily good with predictions, overall."
"And my sudden increase in 'maturity'?"
"You hit your head, or something."
Naruto gave the girl an incredulous stare. What would he have to do to actually convince them that he was from the future? He had thought that they did finally believe him, but it appeared that they were really just humouring him. He had to think, there should be some way that he could convince them. He could do predictions again, but what could he remember well enough to 'predict' back to them. Did anything really amazing happen on this day at all?
"Do I manage to kill that man?" Sasuke asked, quickly dragging Naruto out of his thoughts.
"Yes, you do," Naruto replied, not even needing to think. "After a couple of run-ins with him, you do manage to kill him."
Sasuke smirked. "I believe that he's from the future."
Both Naruto and Sakura stared at Sasuke as though the boy had sprouted a second head. Sakura seemed to ponder her options for a short while, before grinning and nodding. Naruto frowned at her. Seriously, Sasuke only 'believed' him because he had said something that the boy had wanted to hear. Sakura only believed in him because Sasuke appeared to do so. Naruto sighed, understanding that Sasuke was going to really be the hardest to convince, if he would be able to convince him at all.
Sasuke was a little shit.
Sakura grinned. "So, is there anything that we should know? Anything that we should do? Anything at all?"
Naruto thought for a moment, before inwardly smirking. He was going to have a bit of fun with his teammates. He would change them to be how he wanted them to be, and he would get his 'happy ending', whether others liked it or not. Naruto always had a selfish streak in him, and that streak was tingling with anticipation.
"Yes, there are some suggestions that I have for you," Naruto said, pulling a thoughtful expression on. "Sakura, you need to be very careful."
"What? Why?" she asked, sounding worried.
"You are known for your quick-temper, but not in a good way. I suggest trying to mellow yourself out a bit, make yourself more agreeable. The reason being that you were attacked, by enemy ninja, because of your temper. They used oil and fire to attack you, scarring your face and body severely."
Sakura started to shake, but out of fear instead of anger, and she nodded slowly. "I'll be cooperative, I promise," she said, adding on what appeared to be a small whimper at the end.
Naruto nodded. "Be as friendly as you can be, and no harm will come to you, but, by no means, should you allow yourself to become a pushover. Cheer up and be proud, but remember to be gentle to friends!"
Sakura suddenly smiled widely. "I promise!" she called, pumping her fist into the air.
Naruto grinned. "Good," he said. He then glanced at Sasuke. "And you."
"Hn."
"You need to also become quite friendly, much more than you certainly are now."
"Why? Do I end up deformed too?" Sasuke asked. Naruto could tell that the boy was mocking him.
"In a way, yes," Naruto said. He was going to enjoy this much more than he should. "Because of your general attitude towards everything, and your general distaste for you own team, you were kidnapped by a creepy old man and transformed into a woman." Sasuke's face actually paled a little, but it was something that could only be seen by those that knew what to look for. "Sasuke, in the future, you end up liking men."
Sasuke stared away, seemingly thinking over his 'future predicament'. Naruto was loving this just a little too much, and was surprised to see that it had affected Sasuke to the point that it had. It appeared that Sasuke could really be just a little too trusting of others. Could be a good thing, could be a bad thing, but, right at the moment, it was a wonderful thing that made Naruto happy that he had the chance to discover and exploit.
Suddenly, Sasuke seemed to come to some sort of conclusion. Ignoring Sakura's insisting that he listen to Naruto's advice, he reached over and awkwardly pulled the blond boy into a hug.
Naruto blinked, glanced slowly to Sasuke, and paled.
"Not me, you dolt!" he shouted, pushing Sasuke away from him.
Sasuke was, indeed, a little shit.
And the 'innocent' stare on Sasuke's face meant that he was very much aware of it too.
"We never end up as a couple," Naruto said, glaring at Sasuke. "Ever."
"Hn."
"EVER!"
2
Kakashi knew that, from the very first moment that he met them, he was going to be in for some very powerful migraines.
His day had started off normal, uneventful, and partly relaxing. He woke up a little later than normal, spent the next few hours paying his respects to the memorial stone, and then casually started on his way to the academy to pick up his brat students. On the way there, he was challenged to several rock/paper/scissors games by Gai, and was even 'kidnapped' by the Hokage, made to look through the homes of his students. Less privacy for them, and slightly more annoyance for him.
When he had finally made it to the classroom, a few hours late (not that he really cared), he was greeted by an un-expectant sight. He had expected to arrive and discover a grumpy team as well as several 'booby-traps'.
No, what greeted him was much worse.
The three students were all perfectly silent, sitting side by side in the front row, feet together, backs straight, both arms on the desk (one hand resting on top of the other), and all with calm, happy smiles on their faces.
All at once, the three of them stood and bowed. "Good afternoon, Master Kakashi. We are all pleased to meet you," they said. The stepford smiles refused to leave their faces.
Kakashi shuddered. Something was certainly not right with his team.
"My first opinion of all of you is. . ." He struggled to think of a good word to describe them, without majorly offending them. ". . . I believe that an exorcism may be in order—"
"Just like my brave uncle," the pink-haired girl said, calmly.
"My mother had one of those once; she stopped speaking the dead language after," the black-haired boy said, also not breaking the character he had on.
"We love you, Master Kakashi," the blond-haired boy said.
The three of them all nodded at once.
". . . Meet me on the roof!" Kakashi said quickly, before teleporting himself away as fast as was possible.
As soon as the man was out of the room, Naruto and Sakura high-fived each other. Sasuke just smirked to himself. They all had to admit that what they did was the most fun that any of them had had in a long time. Even Sasuke found that he had fun.
"We should probably head straight on up," Naruto suggested. "Don't want to keep our wonderful teacher waiting."
"Oh, of course not!" Sakura said in agreeance, trying to hold back a laugh. "I would never dream of such a horrid thing."
Sasuke only smirked. He never thought that it would be possible to love his teammates, but he was pretty sure that what he was feeling was not hate.
It was looking to be the start of a very, very beautiful friendship.
Together, the three of them walked straight up to the roof, joking about what they should do next. Well, Naruto and Sakura joked, and Sasuke just listened, giving the occasional 'hn' as his input. In the end, they decided that they would behave normally for their teacher. They would not want to scare him off too quickly.
However, Naruto had one more plan that his friends could help him with.
They could almost see Kakashi flinch as they approached him.
"Well, we should all try and get to know each other better," Kakashi suggested, sounding just the tiniest bit nervous. "We'll give our names, likes, dislikes, hobbies, and dreams for the future. Here, I'll go first. I'm—"
"Kakashi Hatake, a man who likes to read questionable material," Sakura began.
"You dislike being interrupted and challenged to competitions by your 'eternal rival', Maito Gai," Sasuke continued.
"Your hobbies vary from missions, to watching over the memorial stone, and your current dream for the future would be to get the hell away from us three," Naruto finished. "How'd we do?"
Kakashi's one visible eye was opened about as wide as it would go, and his hands shook just the tiniest amount.
"My turn!" Naruto suddenly called, putting his hand up in the air. "Name's Naruto Uzumaki, aka just-plain-awesome. I like ramen and I dislike having to wait the three minutes that it takes for ramen to cook. My hobby would be pranks, and my dream for the future is to get back to my own time!"
Kakashi stared at him, incredulously. At least the boy's confessing to loving pranks could explain the classroom deal, and the knowledge on him.
"Awesome!" Sakura cheered. "My name is Sakura Haruno, aka cute-and-cheerful. I like. . ." she glanced at Sasuke and blushed deeply. ". . . and my good friend, Naruto. My dislikes would be those that oppose my friends. My hobby is . . . And my dream for the future is to. . ." she glanced at Sasuke again. ". . . to become a bride, I guess."
Kakashi inwardly sighed. 'At least she's confident,' he thought.
"Okay," Sasuke started. "My Name is Sasuke Uchiha, aka stronger-than-Naruto—"
"HEY!" Naruto called.
"— There are many things that I dislike, and I don't have many hobbies. My dream for the future is to kill a certain man."
'I thought that might be the case,' Kakashi thought, with a small sigh. "So, what about your likes, then? Got any of those?"
Sasuke thought for a moment, before nodding. "Yes, I do," he admitted, before very seriously tacking on, "I like . . . hugs."
'Wait, what?' Kakashi thought, almost choking on his own saliva.
By the looks of the faces that Naruto and Sakura were pulling, they had not expected Sasuke to say such a thing either. Kakashi was just as shocked as them. Sasuke had said that with the utmost seriousness in his voice, and on his face.
Kakashi sighed; he prayed that he would not have to pass the brats, because, if he had to pass them, he was going to have a very long few years, and he knew it. The best that he could hope for would be that the students were exceptional so that they could graduate early. Or, they could receive a second teacher. He briefly wondered if Anko would be happy with her own team of brats. Well, the woman had been just a little upset that she was not permitted to have her own little group to corrupt, but the Hokage had been worried about the village. One Anko was more than enough. Then Kakashi wondered why Gai had been permitted to have his own team. He thought one Gai would be more than enough for ANY village, but the Hokage had not thought so.
By the looks of how things were going, they were going to end up with two Gai's. Kakashi inwardly groaned.
Kakashi stared back at his team. Perhaps, just perhaps, with his influence, the Sasuke kid could turn into a miniature version of him. That would shut Gai's mini-me up and keep him entertained. Yes, but what could Kakashi do with the other two? Would asking Anko to help him be a good idea? Would Sakura just turn into another Anko? Then there was Naruto . . .
Kakashi supposed that it would be a VERY bad idea to wish that Obito was still alive so that he could train the brat. He also guessed that it would be an even worse idea to bring Obito back to life just to train the brat. Granted, Kakashi would love to see his old friend again, but he was pretty sure that allowing Obito to meet Naruto would be a very, very bad idea. Neither of the two needed any encouragement, and yet he had the sneaking suspicion that they would provide each other with more than enough.
Kakashi thought that he could hear a ghostly chuckle coming from somewhere, but he ignored it.
"Okay, so I have some news for you kids," Kakashi said. "You're not actually ninja yet."
Nothing, not even a peep.
Oh, how Kakashi hated his team.
He coughed. "Well, you all still need to participate in a survival test. If you fail, you'll be sent straight back to the academy, you got that? Also, don't eat breakfast beforehand, because you'll only end up throwing up!"
Still nothing, this was no fun.
"I'll expect to see you all at Training Ground 14 at 6am sharp." He glared at them. "Do. Not. Be. Late."
Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Sakura turned to talk to Naruto. "It was just like you said," she said. "We have to take a survival test before we can become ninja. Failure means that we go back to the academy."
"Yes," Naruto said. "Also, let's remember to meet up. Trust me when I say that you guys WILL want breakfast."
Sakura nodded. Sasuke glanced over.
Naruto frowned. "I've got a question for you, Bastard," he said. Sakura walked away, probably heading back to the classroom.
"What?" Sasuke asked, sounding bored.
"I'm sorry about what happened at your place a few nights ago, but what the heck was up with your introduction?"
Sasuke shrugged. "When you did that, I was surprised, shocked and angry, but part of me could not resist giving your 'suggestion' a go. Sure, I felt stupid hugging a pillow, but I felt so much calmer afterwards. Then I thought, hey, if you were right about the calming properties of hugs, then perhaps you were right on the strengthening ones too. I'll attempt anything if it promises to make me stronger—"
"Oh, boy, tell me about it."
"—Then I tried some techniques that I was previously having trouble with. I'll tell you what, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I had less trouble performing them—"
"That's just general training and optimism."
"—I didn't know that an idiot like you would know so much—"
". . . I hate you. . ."
"—I was ecstatic—"
"Wait, ecstatic?"
"—So I'll have to say 'thank you Naruto'," Sasuke said, before walking away.
Naruto was left on the roof with just a plain, dumb look on his face. He felt that he could not be blamed for it, either. It was not an everyday occurrence that Sasuke was chatty, positive, mentioned that he could feel emotions other than anger and annoyance, and would also thank a person, let alone Naruto.
Naruto groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. "The one time that he ever chooses to listen to me at all, it's when I'm trying to make up an excuse for hugging him. What the hell is wrong with him?"
Deep down, Naruto had the horrible feeling that Sasuke was really just messing with him.
That was chapter four, and I hoped that you enjoyed reading it.
See you again next week.
