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"They're dead," his father was saying.
Shikamaru stared, incomprehensive.
"What?" he breathed.
"Your two classmates, Naruto and Sasayaki, they died along with the Uchiha clan. It was Kakashi, an elite jounin, who massacred them. Only Itachi and Sasuke live.
Shikaku's face was blank and composed like it always is when he gives a report. A report that could be full of lies, for all Shikamaru knew.
(But still he grieved)
(Because something dreadful had happened, of that he knew.)
-Graduation Day-
Imagine; 4 years stuck in an underground lair, forced to train every day for hours and hours and only having a break of an hour to leave the compound each day. There was food; a bland breakfast of plain porridge and steamed vegetables for dinner. Two meals a day.
A shared bunk room was where we slept, white walls, white beds, white pillows. Pale kids who hadn't seen the sun for a long time.
No one ever spoke.
That precious one hour was used by Naruto and I to see either the Gang or Sasuke, and to do the occasional prank and it was probably the only thing keeping us sane.
We had to go out in disguises, because everyone believed us dead.
Danzo informed us that it was to protect us.
It was better for everyone, he said.
You may start anew, he said.
Not that we ever had a choice.
Learning to do, well, life with only one arm was another major problem. I had to have it up in a sling whenever I was fighting, so it wouldn't flop around everywhere and become a target. Anb basically anything you can think of that needs two hands, like eating, showering, lifting things, general multitasking is near impossible. But overtime, I began to get used to it, and in some cases I could substitute my arm for a chain.
Sasuke wasn't doing so well, either. I didn't do so well after The Mischievous Maidens massacre, and they weren't even real family.
Everyone he loved was gone, and the only one left was Itachi.
(Sasuke avoided him at all costs – he knew the truth, we knew the truth, it didn't matter that it had been ordered, Itachi killed everyone he loved.)
Sasuke had requested to live alone far from his clan, and it had been granted. Itachi still resided in the Uchiha clan, now entitled to all properties and possessions in the district of his clan.
Now, 4 years down the track, Naruto's and my time in the Root compound expired.
It was graduation day.
We were given plain brown clothes to wear until we could get our own, our old clothes long since outgrown. The upside to being in Root was that all expenses for us were covered, even if the conditions were shoddy. But it meant that the stipend we were receiving from the hokage had been accumulating over the years, and it meant as soon as we could get out of the compound and access it we could go on a spending spree!
Danzo didn't even see us off, not that I wanted to see his ugly mug. It had been Yugi who had been training us these four years, pushing us beyond our limits.
I hated her, for becoming the cold faceless machine she was supposed to be. The days where she was loose and open when doing weekly training with me had dramatically changed upon Danzo's new orders all those years ago;
"Train the jinchuuriki and Usagi until they are at an acceptable level. You have four years."
Apparently 'acceptable level' meant train until you drop, and then some more. And some more again.
Not that I could blame her. Yugi-sensei probably would have been punished if we weren't good enough at the end of our time.
Naruto put on the makeup to cover his whiskers, and I slathered myself with the stuff as well. Precautionary. I had no defining features apart from my hair, but that was what my brown wig was for. Naruto put in some green contacts, and then we were off.
Needless to say, the moment Naruto and I were free, the first thing we did was visit the Hokage monument.
This time, there were no whispers, no sneers of hatred as we ran through the village. In fact, people barely took any notice of the two kids running through the street. It was… nice.
Despite this, I screamed out over the village when we stood atop the monument, screamed out all my anger and frustration, everything that had been pent up for so long. And then I tackled Naruto and we hugged so hard my ribs cracked.
"We're free," he whispered, then louder he screeched "WE'RE FREE!"
And in the few hours we had before we had to go to the academy, we spent buying new clothes and disguises. I settled for a simple long-sleeved black shirt with a hood and white ninja pants, and reflective silver glasses. I got a beanie to hide the majority of my hair so I wouldn't need the wig anymore. My braid was long now, almost down to my mid-back. I tucked it into the black shirt.
I looked badass, if I said so myself.
Naruto ended up with a red jumpsuit. Honestly, it was almost as bad as the orange eyesore he used to wear.
Still though, I wasn't going to say anything.
"I'm going to dye my hair red!" he declared, "So then I won't have to wear these stupid contacts!"
Oh god, he's going to be all red, like a walking splotch of blood.
Oops, that sounded more morbid than I intended.
Before we left to do that though, Naruto noticed something. It was a rack with black masks, just like Kakashi's.
"No more make-up, this will cover my face marks just fine," he murmured, but I knew his mind was far away.
We paid and left, Naruto got his hair dyed, and just in time for us to face the academy.
"Remember, we're meant to be transfer students. My name is Sora and you're Asahi. We're orphans from the south who transferred here to join the genin program."
Naruto took a deep breath beneath his mask and nodded. He looked so different now, but at least his eyes were the same.
There was no way to prepare, really. No way to prepare to face the people we hadn't seen for four years, and pretend to not know them. Would they recognise us?
We had no choice but to walk through those doors and pretend everything would be ok.
And we did. We entered the room we had sat in so long ago, and there were our old classmates. Our whole class already present, sitting at their respective desks in the auditorium-style room.
They all look so… old. Well, older. 4 Years could change so much, which was clear.
My eyes searched for Sasuke and they locked with his. He nodded slightly, before looking away with faux disinterest.
Iruka cleared his throat at the front of the room.
Iruka…
"I know you're all excited about graduation, but I would like to introduce the two transfers who will be graduating with you. They are from the South of Konoha. Please introduce yourselves," Iruka said, smiling patiently.
No one knew who we were, not even Iruka. Only Sasuke, and the Hokage, and maybe a few others. Probably our Jounin sensei would know, too.
"I'm Sora!" I piped up. "And this is Asahi!"
Naruto and I bowed politely, before going to take a seat at the empty seat at the back. The class stared at us until Iruka coughed and got their attention back.
I wonder who we'll be on a team with?
Now that Kakashi was no longer here, we could end up with anyone as sensei.
I ignored the teams until-
"Team Seven, Sora, Asahi and Haruno Sakura."
"WHAT?" I roared, jumping to my feet before remembering myself.
Ah fuck.
"Is there a problem, Sora?" Iruka asked, arching a brow. I gaped for a couple of moments like a dying fish. The class stared.
"U-um, sorry sir, no problem…"
I sat back down slowly.
Naruto nudged me.
"Look, don't worry about it, this doesn't mean anything. We'll still see Sasuke every day," he whispered into my ear.
Still, I couldn't help but sigh. No Sasuke on our team? This screwed up everything!
"Anyway, as I was saying, you three will be taught by Anko Mitarashi."
I choked, and quickly dissolved into a coughing fit.
"Sora, if you keep disrupting I may have to send you outside. I know this is very new and exciting, but-"
"N-no it's nothing Sensei, just swallowed the wrong way," I interceded quickly, ignoring the sideways glance Naruto was giving me, as was Sasuke a few rows down.
Iruka sighed and continued. The teams remained the same as in canon.
So what team was Sasuke in?
"Sasuke Uchiha will be apprenticed under Akio-sensei," Iruka finished.
Akio-sensei?
Who was that? Was it someone I had forgotten from canon?
Anko, it turned out was the first sensei to arrive.
Before Iruka ven announced lunch break. With a bang, unsurprisingly.
She broke through the window, causing several students to scream including Sakura, and proceeded to throw confetti about.
"TEAM 7," She roared, "UPSTAIRS IMMEDIATELY, SHRIMPS!"
And then she disappeared, leaving the class in utter confusion. Iruka simply sighed and shook his head.
I traded a glance with Naruto.
"Wait, we know her, she's the one from the vents. She's crazy," he whispered, to which I nodded.
"We didn't even get to have a lunch break!"
None-the-less, Naruto, Sakura and I left while the rest of the class got to have lunch.
"Hi, my name is Sakura, nice to meet you," Sakura said, smiling shyly as we walked down the corridor together.
Sakura, shy? Had the world gone mad?
"Yea, we know-"
I slapped a hand over Naruto's mask, roughly where his mouth was, my smile twitching.
Idiot.
"Nice to meet you, Sakura-chan! We'll make an awesome team!"
Even as I said it, I couldn't help but notice that Sakura and Naruto matched in redness. Her dress and pink hair clashed horribly. It almost made me gag.
We walked up the stairs to the roof, and low and behold, there lay Anko as if she were sun-tanning on the beach. Except she was lying on a bench instead.
"Hey brats, get over here and let's get these introductions out of the way."
We hurried over and sat down in front of her.
"Tell me your name, your hobbies, your dreams, your likes and dislikes and all that crap," she yawned with a lazy flick of her hand. "You, Pinkie, hit us up."
Even years later, she was still hot as, and killing it with the mesh and beige overcoat look. I was suddenly reminded that Orochimaru wore a beige tunic if I remembered correctly from the canon.
Coincidence? Probably…
"U-um… My name is Sakura Haruno… I like… I mean the person I like is-"
"Interesting," Anko drawled, interrupting her. "Next."
I smothered a giggle at the offended look on Sakura's face, though she couldn't seem to keep her eyes off Anko's barely concealed boobs.
"I'm Sora," I said. "I have a question though; why didn't you wait until after lunchtime? That's when all the Sensei were supposed to arrive."
Anko sniffed imperiously.
"Brat, a ninja doesn't wait around."
"Actually, if the mission requires it, a ninja may be forced to wait in order to ambush or-"
Naruto was cut off by a glare from Anko. Sakura giggled.
"Shut up, smart-ass. You know what, I think I've lost enough brain cells for today. I'm leaving. Meet me tomorrow at the village gates for our first mission."
Then she disappeared. We stared.
There was a puff of smoke that quickly dispersed.
She didn't even introduce herself, or tell us anything about her!
There was a sudden pop and puff of smoke, and there she was again.
"Oh, and so you know, dango trumps anything in this world. All hail the dango god."
Then she disappeared again, leaving Naruto spluttering about how the ramen god was better.
Wait, and what about the bell test?
Oh, I suddenly realised, there's no point in it because she couldn't fail us anyway. Naruto is a jinchuuriki, after all.
"So, um, should we get lunch?" Sakura asked.
Team bonding, begin!
My exams are so soon. Please slaughter me.
On another note, I recently broke both the bones in my ankle (one is broken in 3 places) and got the cartilage ripped off, so yeh my leg is kinda dead rn. I did it attempting a sideflip off a height onto a mat. Lesson learned.
I hope all of you are going well though!
Please review etc you know the drill.
I didn't do an edit of this chapter so I may come back one day and do that. Maybe. Probs not.
Anyhoo, hope you enjoyed!
Question: Should I make a separate fic for the omakes and extra stuff?