Author's Note: Yo! I'm back from med-school! Had a busy couple of months so my deepest apologies on the greatly delayed update. As for this chapter. We have some drama, some action and some bashing. Sakura bashing, for those of you who are fans skip the end. Hope you enjoy.

Chapter 4: It begins

He checked his gear one last time. Making sure everything was securely strapped on. Senbon needles, dipped in various poisons, were wrapped around his wrists. An assortment of kunai and blades, was carefully hidden in his kimono top for ease of access. He had a trench knife secured to each of his calf. He was ready. Throwing his sensory abilities, he saw that the coast was clear. He sped over the rooftops to a simple storage warehouse on the industrial side of Konoha.

Focusing in on the warehouse, he could feel a very thin veil of chakra around its perimeter; a basic intruder alarm used by chunin in the field to detect enemies enclosing on a command center for ops. In this case, it was not made to detect intruders but, throw off suspicion. Any wealthy merchant could have hired shinobi to ward his warehouse against thieves. No. The real danger was the barrier in the interior of the building supported by the seals placed within the foundations. Judging by their chakra signatures and the way they were set up, they would cause the building to collapse in on itself if triggered. They would have to be deactivated and in a certain order to boot.

'But first…'

He needed to take care of the guards posted on the adjacent buildings and then take down the seals as quick as possible. He had no idea on the timetable the guards rotated so he had to work fast. It was a shame he did not have the chance to scout out the playing field earlier but, his target had been on the move right after the council meeting and had a habit of switching locations frequently.

This was going to be a difficult run. Target was sure to be heavily guarded by unknown number of enemies. Heavy fighting to be expected and target sure to flee if situation turned disadvantageous. Various obstacles to surely be in place. Assailant identity must be kept covert. Oh, not to mention the operation was against the clock.

'At least I have the cover of the night.'

With that thought, he shunshined away towards the watch located on the roof opposite of him. With unrivaled agility, he pivoted on his foot as he landed and plunged a kunai in the back of the guard's head. Yanking it out, the guard went down with a spray of blood. Another body flicker resulted in the same kunai being embedded in another guard's heart. He sent a pulse of chakra, disabling the intruder ward and quickly moved to shut down the array of seals that served keep the secrets of the warehouse from being discovered.

Summoning shadow clones, he had each move over one of the seals and used them to disable the seals that held up the barrier. As he could feel the barrier come down, he dispelled his clones and quickly made his way into the building from an air vent on the roof. As he landed on the floor, he automatically swept the interior with his eyes. Finding nothing out of the ordinary, he made his way to an unmarked crate and kicked it aside to reveal a trapdoor. Another quick analysis let him know that the door had a failsafe that released poison gas if opened. In all likelihood, he deduced, the trapdoor could only be opened safely if the person's chakra signature was keyed in to the seal on the other side. Still holding the kunai he used to kill the guards, he let their blood fall onto the metal lid the served as the door. Freshly taken, the blood should still have chakra residue. Taking caution, he slowly lifted the door.

He dropped down into a long and empty corridor. Knowing he had little time before the next watch came to trade places with the rooftop watch, he flew through the hallway to make his way to the target.

He threw out his sensory ability to find that in approximately four seconds, he would pass an intersection where a patrol unit of three was stationed. Drawing two more kunai, he spun them in his fingers as sped down towards the patrol. As he came around the corner, he slashed backwards as the first guard came into sight. Cold steel cleanly cleaved through carotid artery, the larynx, and then another carotid. The first of the three went down gurgling blood while clutching at a ripped throat.

The second was quick to react and brought down a tanto to split his head. Ducking his head, he surged forward and brought his hand back; impaling a kunai in the base of a neck. Changing his grip on the kunai, he twisted his body into the air, letting the momentum of the falling corpse carry him. A quick flick of his wrist sent a senbon needle through the eye of the last obstacle. The final guard screamed as he dropped to the ground, convulsing in agony as the numerous poisons wreaked havoc in his body and set fire to his brain. Landing softly on his feet, the silent assassin glared down at the twitching body dispassionately.

"Hmph," he scoffed.

He broke back into a dash towards his target. He was close. He could sense it. Two additional guards in a secure room up ahead along with the target. The bodyguards were of an obvious higher stock then the others he had encountered. Their chakra reserves were larger and highly developed. Releasing one of the seals on his body that stored true chakra, he put on a massive burst of speed.

He was sitting at his desk putting together a team for the capture of the jinchuuriki brat. The Hokage be damned, the boy had proven to be far too resourceful to be left unchecked and un-leashed. He needed him under his thumb to utilize his now virtual unlimited political and financial pull. All of his carefully laid out plans would unravel if the brat ran around doing as he pleased. And most importantly, he had proven to have quite the cunning head on his shoulders. It was out of the question to allow him free reign anymore.

'I should have done this years ago,' he thought. However, back then, the Hokage too heavily guarded the boy and approaching him without alerting the old monkey was an impossibility. He no longer had the luxury of waiting for an opportunity. He would have to make one. As he sifted through filed of personnel that were trained in fuuinjutsu, the door to this particular office of his burst open and before he could react, the right side of his peripheral vision was lost in a spray of blood.

Acting on auto-pilot, he drew several kunai from the inside of robes and threw them as he launched himself out of his chair. There was a blur of blonde and black as the soft thuds of the kunai hitting the wall behind him. Following the blur from the corpse of one his most trusted lieutenants to the top corner of the room opposite of him, he gaped as he saw the kyuubi brat crouched on the wall. In one hand, he held a sheathed katana while the other was tightly wrapped around the hilt ready for a draw. He prepared to launch a fire jutsu in his direction but he seemed to disappear. It was only a slight shift in the air that alerted him to his presence. His other lieutenant dived in front of him as he brought a short blade to his side to block a slash. They began to exchange blows and he attempted to maneuver around his lieutenant to get to his assailant, only to be met with a hard kick to the sternum sent him flying into the wall.

With a loud crack, as his back impacted stone, he landed on his feet but weak in the knees. He looked up just in time to see his last lieutenant bisected from hip to shoulder. As blood erupted in the confined space, he had to dodge as projectiles masked in the flying gore came flying at his head. Just as he came out of the roll, he ripped the bandages of his right side to reveal a grotesque arm covered in blood red eyes.

"Aarrgh," Danzo cried out as in a flash of silver, his mutated arm fell, spilling blood all over the stone floor.

Panting, he looked up with a hateful glare to only be met with the impossible. Two glowing orbs of swirling black and crimson were gazing down at him. A dread whisper being the last thing he heard.

"Kotoamatsukami"

Day After the Council Meeting-Senju Compound

Naruto stared at the piles of paper sitting on his study desk. He was going over the various finances that would be needed to pull in the resources for the plan that he had concocted with Fire Daimyo. If everything went according to plan, they should be able to run at optimal efficiency within two and a half years. Already labor was being conscripted and the necessary landscaping had been taken care of. They could begin by the end of the month.

Checking the numbers one last time he headed out of the private study to see how his current project is going. Scores of shadow clones were moving about, restoring the compound to its former glory. The once feared and awed Senju clan had been reduced to this; a simple memory of war.

At least the Uchiha clan had a few members left after Itachi's massacre. Albeit, only women and children were left and most of the women were non-combatants. To make matter's worse, all of the children were too young to be trained or in the earliest stages of their primary education. Which only left one Uchiha to actually be in the academy; the Uchiha heir Sasuke.

Speaking of Itachi, Danzo's files were disturbing to say the least. That he ordered one of Konoha's greatest military assets to be wiped out showed how deranged he had become. Bad enough the damage the village had suffered at the claws of that pain in the ass fox, the loss of the Uchiha was a huge blow to Konoha. Naruto had to stop himself from going back and murdering the idiot. So what if the Uchiha were going to rebel? Would it really be that difficult of a thing to allow a few concessions for Fugaku's damnable pride? No matter. That threat had been neutralized. Danzo ended going from chess master to chess piece.

He shook his head. He was getting distracted. 'Back to the matters at hand,' he thought. He needed to find a way to stabilize the Senju holdings. 'How on earth it's possible to gamble away so much money is beyond me,' he dismayed.

His blasted "cousin" had managed to sink the Senju family treasury into the red. At least she hadn't managed to lose any properties. Luckily, for him, the Fire Daimyo had kept the Uzumaki holdings thriving with various investments off the accumulated interest. He had no luck here. The Senju were practically bankrupt and now that he was head, several debtors were soon going to be knocking on his door. To them it was obvious that a twelve going on thirteen year old would be easier to bully then a Sannin with a rather short and violent temper.

'When I get my hands on that woman, I'm going to throttle her!' The look of savage glee on Naruto's face caused several of the shadow clones to look at him with caution. They slowly began inching away toward the more unoccupied portions of the compound.

Again, Naruto shook his head. He needed to figure out a way out of this and fast. He could funnel money from the Uzumaki accounts into the Senju, but the strain it would put would set back his current plans by at least six months.

He didn't have that kind of time. Iwa was still hostile, Kumo and Suna were quickly building up military power and Mizu was in the middle of a civil war. Not to mention the rumors coming out of Ame and Oto were disturbing to say the least. War was on the horizon and he didn't have the luxury of time.

He needed to find another source of income and quick.

'I suppose setting up a few dummy businesses to smuggle black market goods and weapons would work,' he mused. 'Yes..it would work.'

He could use ROOT's resources to set up a supplier but the question is, where? Selling out of the fire country is folly. No need to arouse suspicion. 'Hmm…Kusa,' he decided. 'The place is perfectly situated to sell to both Iwa and Ame and current diplomatic situations with Kusa are tense to say the least. this way no one would suspect a Konoha based supplier.'

It was a solid idea. The best part was that with Danzo's network, he could make it look like it was an independent weapons cartel instead of a military funded operation in case things went south.

As Naruto was silently congratulating himself, his senses flared as the wards he had put earlier this morning told him that someone had entered the compound. He let out his sensory abilities to find that the intruder had come through the front gates.

'Probably not an intruder in that case,' he rationalized.

Getting a lock on the chakra signature, he recognized it as the Uchiha matriarch; Mikoto
Uchiha. 'Damn, I suppose I did invite her for a conversation. Time to ready myself for the storm of female hormones and sentimentality,' he sighed to himself.

He quickly ordered a few shadow clones to prepare tea and some few foods to be taken with it. He had had the foresight to gather a few pleastaries for conversation when he realized he would spend the next few weeks catering to clan heads, local nobles and the ever opportunistic businessmen. He sent another shadow clone to lead her to the center of the compound, the only portion that was furnished for a polite meeting.

He went back into his study to put away the various documents and placed several strong seals to bar entry to any save him. While he doubted any would try to sneak in with a virtual army of clones jumping about, not to mention get through the barrier he had set up, paranoia is a ninja's best friend.

He paused for moment and resolved to set a small shrine for Mito Uzumaki somewhere in the compound. Her scrolls on fuuinjutsu proved to be invaluable and certainly helped a great deal with his initial training in Hashirama's and Madara's compound.

As he walked towards the sitting room where Mikoto had been led to, he pondered over his current state of affairs. Things were moving fast. The next couple of years would prove to be critical to the return of Konoha as the world's dominant power.

He slid the door open to where Mikoto was seated and saw that she was nervously staring at her hands in her lap. Yet, when he entered, she sharply looked up and he could see the sense of relief that eased its way on to her face as well as the notable sorrow that misted over eyes.

As he beheld her, Naruto saw that, for a woman her age, she had no noticeable wrinkles. No doubt due to the effects of her strong chakra, a testament to her clan genetics as well as her own prowess as a shinobi. She had a round face along with the soft delicate chin that was so common in the Uchiha. Her eyes were hawk-like yet a soft velvet black that shone together with her smooth raven black-hair.

Though it was there. The touch of time accentuated through survival of tragedy and grief. Yet, it did little to deter her attractiveness. In fact, it only enhanced it. All in all, Mikoto Uchiha was an incredibly gorgeous woman.

'It's a shame she has some twenty odd-years on me,' Naruto silently sighed. As she slowly rose and Naruto beheld her figure as well, he decided that the Uchiha are nature's way of making the rest of the human race feel bad. Gifted with both prowess on the battle field of both war and love, they must have been the cause of many a tragedy.

He silently mused on following his no-good godfather's foots steps and writing a tale of loss and passion based on the Uchiha clan. Of course he quickly dismissed the thought. He had a world to subjugate to his rule after all.

"Uchiha-dono," he said with a deep nod of his head accompanied by a small smile. "It is a pleasure to have you grace my home"

"Oh no, it's my pleasure to be here," she said with a respectful bow. Despite their age difference he outranked as the head of two ancient clans, regardless of their fall from grace. Though he contemplated if the situation was of different circumstances, she wouldn't have bowed to him, rather have responded with a polite nod. Uchiha have nothing if not their pride after all.

As she retook her seat, he settled opposite of the sofa she was on in a large comfortable chair. A silence soon overtook the room as he was content to let her take lead of the conversation. However, she was so lost in her thoughts on what to say to him that she fell back to looking at her hands that had settled onto her lap.

Realizing that she was feeling uncomfortable on initiating the conversation, when it was her that desired to speak with him, he resolved to speak up.

Speaking softly and slowly, as to not come off sounding strong and demanding, he asked, "You knew my parents?"

Mikoto looked up from her hand, surprised as she was wrenched from her thoughts. Though, it slowly morphed into sad smile. She nodded her head and smiled a little more widely. "The three of us," she spoke. "We went to the academy together. Same year, same class. We even ended up on the same genin squad."

Here she laughed, in an obvious reverie. She leaned forward in her seat, settling her elbows on her knees. Very un-lady like behavior for a clan head but, Naruto brushed it aside as she was quite clearly happy to speak about her childhood friends. He wondered whether or not she ever spoke about them before to anyone else. Losing your closest comrades on the same night, having to live through her family being butchered at the hands of her own first-born; she must be a psychological mess.

"It was quite the scandal you know. Genin teams are always two males one female. For it to be reversed was…what did they call it? Oh, yes. 'an affront to our time honored traditions.' Never mind the fact that Kushina and I belonged to the clans that began the tradition."

"You were close then," he asked, shifting in his chair.

"Very. Kushina and I grew up together playing in this very compound as well as the Uchiha one. Mito-sama was very open and invited all the children of Konoha to play in her garden. Even though I was an Uchiha and she was the Senju matriarch, she had no problem with me being here and spending time with her grand-daughter."

Again, she began to laugh at another memory and tried to stifle her laughter behind her hands. "Nidaime-sama never liked it when we came over to play. He always grumbled about 'stupid brats ruining my koi pond'. It was always amusing to watch Mito-sama put him in his place. One glare from her and he would melt into a puddle."

There were tears in her eyes now, but she continued to smile and persevere.

"I remember this one time he was gazing at his koi fish when Kushina and I pushed him into it the water. He was so upset that he chased us all around the compound. We ran into Mito-sama's private quarters to hide and he barged in right behind us. Unfortunately for him, she was getting prepared for a banquet and was in the middle of changing. She hit him so hard that he actually went through several houses before landing back in his precious pond."

Even Naruto had to control his laughter at hearing this. He couldn't help but feel just a little smug on Madara's behalf. Madara and Tobirama all ways agued with one another and Naruto knew from Madara's memories that Mito Uzumaki was a force to be reckoned with. It was never strictly stated but everyone who met the woman was deathly afraid of her.

Another silence settled over them as Mikoto was lost in her thoughts while Naruto sifted through Madara's memories. As the silence dragged on, the door slid open to reveal a clone carrying in a tray of tea and assortment of snacks. It left it on the small table between the two of them.

Naruto maneuvered himself across the table and bent over to pick up the pot. "Tea," he asked, as began to pour one cup for himself.

"Yes, please," she said with a small smile. Naruto poured her a cup as well and handed it to her. Accepting it with a grateful smile, she took a biscuit off the plate that he offered it to her from. Naruto settled down beside her as he drank his own cup.

After a few sips, he turned his head to look over at her. "Were you close to my father as well?"

Here she looked at him hard and he could see her eyes sweep over his face. He was greatly interested by the obvious longing on her face.

"You really are Minato's son aren't you?"

"I believe that was evident by the fact of his marriage to my mother."

She gave a small laugh, although there almost no mirth in it. It was an empty laugh. A conclusion reached him and he decided to test it out. He twisted his body on the couch so that he entirely facing her.

"Did the two of you play in your youth often?"

She nodded slowly and got this far away look in her eye. "I met him before Kushina did. Wandering the streets of Konoha one day during the new year's festival."

"He was such a sweet boy," she sighed. "So quiet but full of smiles. He could light up a room with one of those smiles. He had the softest hair of any boy I knew and it was such a beautiful golden blonde color. And then his eyes. His stunning blue eyes. Girls used to get lost in his eyes."

As she was lost in her memories, Naruto had to suppress a predatory smile. Due to his past he had little interaction with people but, he could unravel them easier than Ibiki down at the T&I building. "You loved him."

It wasn't an accusation. Simply a stated fact. Like how someone would say it's raining.

She looked at him with shock and quickly averted her gaze as his words sank in. She looked at the floor with something akin to shame and even a little regret. She looked at him again, this time her eyes pleading. "You have to understand, I loved Fugaku, I really did. But ours was an arranged marriage. I was barely nineteen. Minato was the only man who was really close to me in my life at the time. We were very close and I used to entertain thoughts of having a family with."

At this point she was openly crying and Naruto hoped she would stop soon. Her tears were staining the upholstery. The furniture was antique for crying out loud!

"After our marriage I left the force and settled down. I grew to love a stranger and soon enough Itachi was born." She sobbed at the mention of her wayward son and her grip on the teacup hardened. He really hoped she wouldn't end up shattering it. He was rather fond of the blue floral patterns.

"You have his eyes you know? That same sapphire blue."

'Yes, I suppose I do. Your point being?'

She raised her hand and placed her hand on his cheek. She slowly began to caress his skin with her thumb. "You even look a lot like him."

'Oh dear. This is not going where I wanted it to. I need to diffuse the situation.

"It's strange though," she said with a slight confused look. "You seem almost Uchiha with some of your features."

'An out!'

He gently grabbed her hand and brought it down. Not wanting to startle or upset her. He looked her dead in the eye, his face impassive and a glare which would have frozen a rampaging dragon in its tracks. "Can you keep a secret."

"A secret," she said, slightly disappointed at the sudden turn of the conversation.

"It's a secret my father never told anyone, including my mother. Though seeing it is your clan I suppose you deserve to know."

"M-My clan? What does this have to do with the Uchi…" her words dying in her throat as understanding settled. "No," she whispered incredulously.

Naruto nodded as he said, "My grand-father."

"But h-how? There would have been records. The clan would never let a child go."

Breaking eye contact with her, Naruto looked over to the clock and stood up. "It is getting late. Perhaps we could finish this another time, hmm?"

Mikoto looked like she wanted to do nothing but finish the conversation now but, Naruto flashed her one cold smile that brought shivers to her spine.

"Your right, it's been a long day." She got up and turned around to leave but, tentatively turned back around. "I have a son who is your age. You should come by the Uchiha district and meet him. I'm sure you'd get along great. You could even stay for dinner. I'm sure it can get lonely with nothing but clones to talk to."

His smile still in place, Naruto said, "I'll be glad to."

She hesitantly leaned down and brushed her lips across his temple before abruptly turning and quickly making her way out.

He stood there for a few moments pondering over the last hour before making his way back to his study. 'It's been quite the eventful day,' he reflected. "I've found a way around my money problems. Learned my pseudo-aunt was in love with my father and is projecting her feelings for him onto me and I let out a secret that could potentially cause a public upheaval if let out. Oh yes, let us not forget the interlopers that attempted to sneak in during my conversation with Mikoto. Off to interrogation!'

Naruto turned on his heals as he headed to where his clones had stored the would-be assassins. Really, did the idiots on the council not realize what would happen if he died? Everything would be transferred over to his next of kin. Tsunade! The entire country would be on the brink of economic crisis in a matter of days! He gave a quick shudder at the thought of all his carefully laid out plans being undone by that drunk.

Two-Years Later

It was early morning and the classroom had yet to fill. There were already several taken up seats and only a few of them were empty. It was the final day of the year and the last day for this particular class. They were the graduating year. They would soon be entering the Konoha Shinobi Corps as genin. Those of them that passed the genin exams anyhow. Yet, there were high hopes for this year's crop. Almost every one of Konoha's major clans had an heir in this class. They were the hope of the future of this village. A class like this hadn't been seen in over twenty years.

Some were speculating that the new generation of the sannin would be amongst them. Many were even taking bets as to which would eventually become Hokage. Several of the teachers were predicting which of their pupils would be the fastest to rise through the ranks.

Of course, all of the people in power knew that he would be arriving with them. All of them were fervently praying that their children would end up on the same team as him. To build friendships and cultivate alliances; such was the politics of the shinobi clans. Fathers attempting to get him to notice their daughters; wives angling to endear their homes to him; they all knew the political landscape was changing. Power had shifted significantly in the last past two years. Other nations were had taken notice how Fire Country, which had become complacent in peace, was now boasting the largest economic power in the world.

And it was all due to the young man that walked into that classroom that moment. A young man clad in a pure white yukata with dark blue thorn patterns adorning it. A young man with long pale blonde hair, deep black at the roots, which was loosely, tied in a ponytail that hung over his shoulder. Hair that seemed to shimmer as the sunlight played off it and reflected off his pale white skin.

The female teenagers all became short of breath as he turned his sapphire eyes, layered in ice, onto them. Each of them approaching hyperventilation as his gaze settled on them, one by one. The boys noting the authoritative presence he exuberated and his cold and empty expression that adorned his angelical features.

Eventually his glacial eyes settled on one raven black haired young man. The boy in question had locked gazes with the unearthly visitor to the classroom and all the others grew tense as the very air seemed to grow cold and heavy. A respectful nod from the visitor followed by a simple greeting broke the palpable tension. "Uchiha."

Reciprocating the gesture, the raven haired youth replied, "Senju." The visitor moved and sat down next to the brooding dark haired boy. He pulled out a scroll that he began to read and pointedly ignored all the others. Whispers broke out amongst the classroom populace. The various students wondering what it meant that the unofficial king of the year proclaimed the stranger a Senju. The only ones not speaking to one another were the clan heirs. They were looking at each one another, having been told by their parents that the significant player in Konoha's system was due to make an appearance.

Of course, the speculations of others were broken by the banging of the door being thrown wide open. Two girls rushed in, panting.

"Hah! I win Ino-pig!"

"In your dreams billboard brow! My foot was through the door first!"

"Was not!"

"Was too!"

"Stop lying you're just trying to cheat your way next to Sasuke-kun!"

"Who are you calling a cheat! And besides! Sasuke-kun would never want to sit next to you."

Both girls were obviously so engrossed in their argument as they made their way to the seat next to Sasuke that, they hadn't realized that said seat was already occupied. Naruto, for his part, was doing his best to ignore the two screaming girls, while simultaneously trying to keep himself from laughing from Sasuke's obvious yet, well hidden embarrassment. It was obvious to him but his Uchiha friend managed to hide from the rest quite successfully.

The two girls continued their argument and it was growing continuously more difficult to ignore them. Without meaning to, Naruto began to exude a miniscule of murderous aura. 'The blonde one is Inoichi's daughter. I've met her a few times when I was invited over to his place. As for the other…I can't put my finger on it but something tells me she needs to die…oh well. I'll save murder for another day.

"Look Ino-pig I…Hey! Who the hell are you?!"

There were several sharp intakes as one of the girls so rudely addressed the boy who so openly radiated power. All the clan heirs were inwardly groaning and hoping to avoid a murder on their last day. Well, all the heirs except one dark-haired one who was enthusiastically praying that that would be the case.

"Eeep! Naruto-sama! What are you doing here?!"

Naruto looked up from his scroll and leveled Ino with a glare. The girl blushed furiously upon meeting his eyes. "Hello Ino. It's good to see you again. I must say, you keep rather interesting…company." The girly turned red as a tomato in embarrassment. Recognizing admonishment for her behavior.

"Naruto," the other girl said as if trying to remember something. As she said his name, Naruto, properly looking at her for the first time, realized she had pink hair. Realization hit him. 'She dies first chance I can set up an accident'

"Yeah, you're that loser kid from a few years back. Didn't you get kicked out of the academy? What are you doing here?"

Naruto gaze a glare at the girl that, had she not been so completely brainwashed by her mother, would have shut her up. Unfortunately, Naruto, for the last two years, had slowly stripped the civilian council of its power; restoring Konoha to purely military rule. The civilian portion of the council being more of a ceremonial role now, whose main concern was centered around naming streets and setting up children playgrounds. Thus Sakura's family had lost much of its prestige and wealth that her mother built up. Wanting her previous way of life back, she became obsessed with the Uchiha heir. Young, handsome, wealthy and of obvious ability, he was going places so she, in her delusions of grandeur, decided to fall madly in love with him. He on the other hand views her as a nuisance and a bug he cannot crush under his boot due to a minor technicality called the law.

"Sakura! Shut up," Ino said frantically.

"Oh come on Ino. He's just some loser. A loser whose ruing my Sasuke-kun's image! Get away from him loser!"

Ino shouted incredulously at Sakura, "Shut up right now Sakura!" Turning to Naruto she began bowing and apologizing profusely. "I'm so sorry Naruto-sama. She doesn't know about the ways of the clans. Please forgive her."

Sakura looked at her friend like she had grown a second head. "What are you going on about Ino and what's with all this 'sama' stuff? This is that orphan nobody from a few years ago. You remember the total loser and loner?"

Ino had enough at this point and pointedly smacked Sakura across the face hard. The girl was fuming and looked ready to start a fight.

"WHAT THE HELL INO-PIG! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!"

"You idiot! That's Naruto Senju! He's a direct descendent of Shodaime-sama! He's also the youngest person to hold a seat on the Konoha ruling council! Not only that, but there are rumors that he's a prodigy that hasn't been seen like since the Yondaime!"

Sakura let the words sink in carefully. She really screwed up big time.

"Your Sasuke-kun you say?"

Sakura turned towards the voice that spoke only to see it was the individual that she had been insulting and belittling the whole time. "You said your Sasuke-kun? Why on earth would he want to be with you?"

"W-what…," she asked confused.

"I've done my research. Sakura Haruno; aged 14. Has no outstanding ability save for being able memorize text quickly. Sub-par skills on practical exams and a chakra reserve barely above that of a civilians. What would make Sasuke even look twice at you?"

"I-I…"

However Naruto didn't pause his onslaught. "You come from no significant background, have no affiliations to any clans nor do you even possess a great wealth. You're ugly to boot. Who would ever love you?"

The girl was now crying in silent humiliation. Not being able to look away from Naruto who had found a sudden interest in his nails.

"Really, clanless trash like you should know your place."

"Yeah Sakura," a girl in the back who had been bullied in the past by Sakura spoke up. "Who do you think you are?'

With her outburst, it seemed the dam had broken and several of her classmates who had taken her verbal abuse over the years had begun hurling insults and cries of indignation. Sakura, no longer able to bear the shame and scorn, left the room sobbing hysterically. Ino, not even bothering trying to follow and comfort her friend, apologized one last time to Naruto before taking a seat.

Sasuke, next to him, was giving the signature Uchiha smirk and look of what seemed to be gratefulness. As Naruto gave a nod of acknowledgement in his direction, the instructor walked in.

'Hopefully," Naruto thought merrily. 'She'll kill herself and saves me the trouble.'

Authors Note: Hope you liked. Team selections next chapter! I want hear your opinions. Genin pairings as well as Jonin sensei. Who should be put with who. Anyways this is me heading off to get some pizza and then start on ch.5. Laters!

P.S: I need some beta readers! I've gone through some of my old chapters and there were a lot of mistakes. Too many for my liking. PM if interested!