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Naruto Uzumaki.
A name with very contrasting opinions depending on whose mouth you heard it from. The debate about the nature of the beholder of the name; who he is or even what he is, is always up for debate.
A few people words held Naruto Uzumaki with a sense of worth, respect, and admiration whilst others -the majority- emphasized a sense ineptitude, contempt or blatant disrespect. It was odd. There wasn't a day when this name wasn't brought up in a conversation. And Naruto Uzumaki was but a child.
First of all a question has to be asked. Who were these people? These people were the civilians that resided within The Hidden leaf village; arguably the most powerful ninja in all of the Elemental nations.
The civilians, well most of them anyway, saw Naruto in bad light. They downright hated him the young boy. Harsh words have been let out about him both in public and behind closed doors; the insults behind closed door were certainly more colorful.
Their harsh unrelenting eyes were always sent his way as well whenever he was in public. Naruto couldn't remember a day weren't he had been harshly scrutinized.
He had no friends due to parents telling their children to stay clear of him. And those children ended uo imitating their parents and started hating Naruto as well, without knowing the reaosn why he was hated in the first place.
Some other parents didn't say such things to their children but didn't vouch for him either, as they couldn't care less for the Uzumaki. They had other things to deal with than some child.
Even though Naruto had to deal with a great abundance of negatives in his life, at least there were a few positives. Those positives coming in the form of three people.
The first two being from the Ichiraku family which composed of Teuchi Ichiraku and his daughter Ayame Ichiraku. The last positive came in the form Hiruzen Sarutobi, The Third Hokage; the leader of The Hidden Leaf.
The positives influences from those three pushed away the bullshit that was thrown in Naruto's way. Sure they were only three people in number, but better three friends/friendly acquaintances than none at all, or at least to Naruto anyway. He knows his life could be a lot worse if it wasn't for them.
And even if they weren't enough, what was Naruto going to do anways? Leave the village and do what? Go where exactly? He had never left the village before so he had no idea about the outside world. Also how was going to sneak out of a village filled to the brim of ninjas when he himself hadn't even began ninja training.
Therefore, he decided to stay.
Naruto was eternally grateful for their assisstance. They helped him out when nobody else would. The Ichiraku family helped him by giving him food and water. They even taught him how to cook ramen and other kinds of foods. Even teaching him how to grow his own fruits and vegetables in their family garden, even allowing Naruto to take some of the produce for himself.
To return the favour, he tended their gardens and any other task they needed done. No money was involved. It didn't abide well with the Uzumaki to take money from those who assisted him so much.
Whatever else Naruto needed, Hiruzen Sarutobi had been the one to supply it. Such was giving Naruto a well kept apartment of his own after he had been crudely kicked out of the orphanage. As well as cllothes, books, and amongst other everyday items. Even giving him his own tutor, one who didn't like the Uzumaki much but still honoured his job to teach him as much as he could.
Naruto never complained, fearing he might chase away those who were kind to him. He knew his life may not be the best (not even close), but at least there were a few moments of happiness that the hokage, the Sarutobi family and the Ichiraku family had given him that helped him move on from the not so good aspects of his life.
With a little bit of help, Naruto felt happiness in a village that hated him.
Sasuke Uchiha.
Sasuke Uchiha could be described in one word; determined. Even more so than Naruto Uzumaki whom was a fellow student at the ninja academy, and as well as his classmate.
Sasuke was ever constantly pushing himself beyond his limits, even to levels that some would note as unhealthy (with him ever isolating himself to the confines of his clan home and ever training). Not that Sasuke had cared what others thought. If his ''unhealthy'' amounts of training leads to him improving, then he would carry on. If it worked, then why question it? He simply needed power, nothing else. With power, he would achieve his goal; avenge his fallen brethren. To kill his brother.
Itachi Uchiha, the up and coming ninja of the Uchiha clan had all but eliminated his own clan, leaving his only younger brother alive as the sole survivor. The official reasoning for Itachi's actions was simply he had snapped and went on a killing spree. It wasn't unheard of a ninja snapping due to the harsh realities of the ninja world.
In fact, it had happened more often than one would assume. It would seem that Itachi wasn't an exception to this. But Sasuke didn't care for this. He hadn't cared if his brother had snapped or whatever reasoning was given. Itachi had killed his family, so Sasuke was going to kill him.
As simple as that. Nothing more and nothing less. He was going to make sure of that. The world didn't need a monster as Itachi traversing it's lands, possibly killing more innocent people. Causing more people to lose their loved ones.
So when this old man Danzo appeared before him, and announced himself to be the rival of the third hokage, and that he could train Sasuke and help him realize his goal, Sasuke took the proposal.
With Danzo instructions, he progressed faster than he had ever imagined making jonin by the time he was 15.
With a little bit of help, even coming from a shady old man, Sasuke was going to take whatever he could to progress himself. He was going realize his goal.
Sakura Haruno.
She wasn't sure when she had changed. Sakura had always hated bullies for what they did to her during his childhood days, ever constantly mocking her for her forehead size to the point causing her to hate her appearance and lose what ever self-esteem she had.
It wasn't long until the bullies took interest in another target; Naruto Uzumaki.
Naruto was greatly confusing to in Sakura's opinion. More so, his inability to appear to be affected by insults and not begging phased in the slightest as he wore a nothing but a goofy smile.
How he was able to do that, she didn't know but she sure as hell knew that she envied him for that.
The next thing she knew, she had joined in the bullying and mocking of Naruto. When she did so, she was no longer on their radar. If those insults didn't phase him, then there was no problem, right? Naruto just brushes off Sakura's crude remarks/jokes and she doesn't get bullied herself. It a win-win for everyone.
Oh, how Sakura hated how she used to think. Children typically don't see the bigger world around them and think about how their actions may affect others.
Caught up in her own world, saving her own skin, she didn't consider the fact that Naruto may have been affected but simply didn't show it. Maybe she didn't consider such a thing to avoid feeling guilty.
But no matter what she did, as she got older, she couldn't shake off the feeling of guilt. Lying to herself didn't work because she knew what she was telling herself was in fact a lie. Looking at Naruto's constant smiling face seemed to make things worse; reminding her she bullied someone who didn't do anything to warrant such treatment. Naruto ending up on her ninja team didn't help either.
As mentioned before, Sakura hated bullies. But she also herself. The bullies that used to torment her and her herself weren't all much different. She was one herself. She couldn't chastise bullies without coming off as a hypocrite. So she could only ask herself; why? Why did Naruto still treat her kindly despite all the shit she put him through? Why treat only her nicely and not the other bullies?
The more she thought of it, the more the guilt ate away at her. The guilt, it was disease and she was sick patient laying sickly in a bed, ever wondering when will they get better. But luckily for Sakura, a doctor came with her medicine. A doctor who went by the name of Kakashi Hatake.
Kakashi Hatake, the sensei of team 7, (consisting of Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno and Tobio) had advised Sakura that she should talk things out with Naruto, believing it would help her release her guilt. If anyone knew about guilt, it was Kakashi, he practically drowned in it.
The talk between Sakura and Naruto was a one-sided. With Naruto ever asking Sakura out on a date and showing her with compliments, to which Sakura lightly bonked him on his head to shut him up.
''Naruto, I'm sorry for everything I've done to you. For bullying you back in the academy just so I won't be bullied myself. I'm sorry for being such a coward and letting you suffer because of it. For constantly hitting for little to reason. I'm sorry for...''
"It's ok." Seeing her confused cute face, he elaborated. "Yes. You did bully me. Yes you did do mistakes but we all make mistakes. What matters right now isn't the mistakes, those happened and should stay in the past. What matters is whether you choose to rectify those mistakes and there is one way to do such a thing. It's becoming a better person. So Sakura, you want to become a better person, yes?"
Falling on her knees, Sakura couldn't muster the courage to look Naruto in the eyes as she nodded her head in confirmation. Yes. Of course she wanted to be a better person. Of course she did.
Going on his knees, and warping his arms around Sakura, he gave the whimpering girl a comforting embrace. ''You know Sakura, you lose your beauty when you cry.''
''Shut up dummy.'' Sakura said as she returned the hug.
With a little bit of help, courtesy of Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura had managed to release her guilt.
A/N: Thank you for reading this. I came across this old abandoned document from around a year ago and figured might as well just make something out of this. This is just me writing for the fun of it and finishing it off here. I don't really have a clear idea to carry on with this idea.