Chapter 3 - The Sun Rises

When Haruno Sakura told her parents that she was going to be a ninja, they doubted her. The Haruno were not known for being ninja. In fact, her parents had been the first generation of their bloodline to try and become one, and they never made it past chuunin. Eventually, the lack of progress on that career and her grandmother's need for people to take over the izakaya that established their family in the village becoming a more lucrative option, eventually made her parents retire from the shinobi forces.

Sakura loved the family izakaya. It's part of what made her so interested in Konoha's history. One could only spend so much time looking at the pictures of the people that visited the place before wondering who they were and why they got a picture up on the wall. Eventually, she decided to ask her grandmother about it, and then started checking the village's public library when she could.

It was how she learned that the first Hokage had actually married an Uzumaki woman and had extended to their rivals, the Uchiha, the invitation of creating a village together.

It was how she found out that Shimura Danzo ─ one of her grandmother's closest friends, and Sakura's own godfather ─ had once been in the running to be the Third Hokage. She'd also learned from her grandmother that he first befriended the Namikaze family in their very izakaya.

It was also how Sakura learned to navigate crowded places while carrying trays of things that shouldn't be spilled while not getting tripped on by people two to three times her size.

What? The lessons could be practical, too.

So Sakura could understand why her parents doubted her. But with the support of her grandmother and the promise of getting tutored by her godfather, they relented. Shimura Danzo ran what was perhaps the most prestigious training organization in Konoha and if could produce some of the village's best specialists, he could definitely turn a girl from some no-name clan with no history into a force to be reckoned with.

That sort of promise didn't come without a price, though, and one Sakura only started to learn after her 'lessons' had begun.

Danzo had started it innocently enough. The day after they'd spoken with her parents, he'd instructed her to go up to Azuchi every day for a week, and then join Naruto on whatever outdoor activity he was doing.

As far as Sakura could see at the time, it was a great deal. She normally only went up the mountain on weekends since that was when she spent time with her grandmother. This time, she was being asked to actually go up every day for a week, and she got to play with one of her best friends.

By mid-afternoon on the first day, Sakura collapsed against a rock in the Azuchi woodlands and had to be carried back into the house by one of the ANBU guards. Sakura wasn't sure why, but she suspected it was one of the guards that Rin liked to bully as an example for Naruto and the others.

It turned out that trying to keep up with her friend for extended periods of time was very difficult to do, and apparently Naruto went harder on weekdays because he didn't have to be considerate of the friends that visited him. Sakura also found out when she woke up and was having dinner with Naruto, Rin, and Jiraiya that her friend had been told to not hold back on her.

So that was to be the first part of her training, her godfather told her when she met with him at the end of that week. She'd build her stamina by trying to keep up with the one person her age that never seemed to run out of it.

Every day for the months leading up to the start of their academy term, Sakura was sleeping in Azuchi, too exhausted to go home under her own power. In the morning she'd come down to have breakfast, and then come back up the mountain after lunch to 'play' with Namikaze Naruto. Originally, she'd asked her godfather why he was making her come down the mountain every day when it would have been more practical for her to stay on Kinenhi-zan full time.

The old councilor smirked at her and said, "Being able to complete objectives is a core part of being a ninja, Sakura-chan. Imagine making it home for breakfast with your parents is an objective of your mission."

Eventually, though, time came for their first day at the academy.

Sakura was up early, and was likely the first of the three of them to arrive. Considering she lived a stone's throw away from the place, she wasn't surprised. Shino lived halfway across the village, and Naruto on top of a mountain that he had to walk down. Sure, he was technically closer than Shino was, but unless her friend was willing to slide down the mountain, she doubted the trip was a short one for him.

She ought to know. She walked up to his house every day.

"Haven't seen you in a while, Sakura."

"Ino!" She cheered before she even turned around, walking up to one of her oldest friends. "We're in the same class?"

"Looks like it!" Yamanaka Ino replied with as much enthusiasm. "We're going to be kunoichi together, Sakura!"

Both girls found themselves hopping at the thought, giving each other a hug before Ino looked at Sakura again.

"So what have you been doing the past few months? I wanted to tell you I got accepted into the academy, but you were never around town when I was looking for you. You weren't even at the Izakaya. Your mom only said you were busy."

Sakura explained to Ino what she'd been doing for the past month, and saw her friend's eyes widen in surprise.

"Shimura-sama made you do what? That's… a really weird way of making you train."

Sakura agreed. "It was fun though." She laughed at remembering exactly how fun it was. "When I wasn't too tired to move, and Naruto had to carry me back to the house."

Ino's eyes flashed at the mention of the other blond. "So is Namikaze-sama going to be attending the academy with us, too? He's the same age as us, right?"

Yamanaka Ino was a gossip. According to her parents ─ and confirmed by her grandmother ─ Yamanaka Inoichi was one hell of a gossip, too, and the girl really took after her father. Sakura's friend had bugged her about Naruto for as long as she could remember. It was usually out of curiosity, and that was something Sakura could sort of understand as she got older.

There wasn't a lot of effort needed to realize that Namikaze Naruto never came down from the mountain on which he lived. He'd been the son of one of their village's greatest heroes, and very few people in the village had seen neither hide nor hair of him. For all intents and purposes, Namikaze Naruto could have been considered a ghost.

A ghost that liked to run around jumping over fallen logs and boulders pretending they were chasing after someone that had kidnapped a princess. A ghost that liked to bother his own ANBU guards to ask them about their day even though a lot of them tended to say the same things.

"Yeah, he's going to be here. You'll finally get to meet him, Ino."

Besides, it wasn't like Sakura hadn't occasionally told Ino about what she got up to on the mountain. Her friend wanted to know what went on up there, having never gone up before. It turned out most people didn't ever go up Kinenhi-zan. There wasn't much reason to.

Maybe she should invite Ino to come up with her sometime, if only just to see the place.

"Hah! Daddy was right then!" The girl nodded while smashing her fist on top of her palm. "He said Namikaze-sama would have been about old enough to start attending the academy. He told me that around the time I got accepted." The blonde gave Sakura a look. "That's why I was looking for you."

The girl leaned closer to Sakura and then whispered. "Also, I know something else that's cool."

At this, the pink-haired girl's eyes narrowed. "Which is?"

"I heard we're getting an Uchiha in the class."

"Oh!" Now it was Sakura's eyes that widened. The Uchiha clan hadn't had any students in academy for a few years from what Sakura had heard from Anko the few times it came up.

"Supposedly, it's the youngest son of their clan head, too."

Itachi-san's younger brother, then, unless there was another boy around their age. The guy sometimes had lunch or dinner at Azuchi when he was dragged there by Izumi during the older girl's deliveries. Sometimes Rin would ask them to stay for lunch.

"This is gonna be one hell of a class, then."

Their conversation moved on to other things after that, both sitting in the front corner near the door while the other students began arriving. Since the room was so big, Sakura figured they were probably expecting a pretty big class, and she was right so far. A lot of the other students were people she recognized from around the village, but never really talked to. For the most part they were kids she saw when going with Ino on her walks.

Eventually, though, the door opened and in came another familiar blond. It was weird seeing him without the usual haori. Instead he was dressed in a plain black shirt with the Uzumaki clan symbol on it.

Immediately, his eyes swung across the room before landing on her. He smiled.

"Morning!"

Sakura got up and pulled Ino up with her as she went to the door to meet him.

"Morning!" She replied. "Did Rin-chan take you here?"

The boy nodded. "Yeah. She also said we'd be having dinner at your family's izakaya after we go around the village a bit." He looked to Ino. "Hi!"

Ah right. She promised Rin she'd show Naruto around the village. Sea-green eyes turned to the Yamanaka beside her. Actually…

"Ino, are you doing anything after classes?"

The girl blinked. "No. Why?"

"I'm showing Naruto around the village since he hasn't actually been down here yet. Do you want to come? You can also join us for dinner after."

As far as Sakura was concerned, this was a great chance for her friend to finally meet the boy Sakura had told her so many stories about. Also, Ino knew the village better than Sakura did, so that would definitely help.

"Sure." Ino answered. "I'll need to talk to daddy about dinner, but he's supposed to pick me up today, so we can ask him then."

Sakura then went about introducing her two blond friends to each other, and had been in the process of getting them into their seats when Shino entered the room and joined them.

"Are you doing anything after class, Shino-kun? Ino and I are showing Naruto around the village before we head to dinner."

It was strange seeing him wear glasses. That had been a recent thing, maybe around the same time that Sakura had started her training. When she asked the Aburame, he'd said it had to do with how they used some of their clan techniques, and not letting other people see made it easier for everyone involved. Sakura wasn't very sure what that meant, but she took her friend's word for it.

She still planned to bug him about it at some point, though.

Unfortunately, Shino had some stuff to do with his own dad, but both he and Tenten would be there for dinner.

"I think Tenten is helping her mom at their store after her classes are done. Maybe you can ask her if Aikuchi-san will let her come?" Shino suggested from his seat nearest the wall.

That wasn't a bad idea, and Sakura told him she'd try that.

More students came in, these made up of more people from clans that Sakura could recognize. An Akimichi, a Nara, an Inuzuka, and a Hyuuga. One of the last students to arrive was a dark-haired, dark eyed boy that Sakura could easily figure was the Uchiha that Ino had told her about.

He'd certainly caught the eye of most of the people in the room.

There wasn't a lot of time for anyone to do or say anything about it though as a ninja dressed in the usual Konoha uniform walked in. He had a scar running over his nose that should have made him very easy to remember.

"Alright, everyone. Take a seat." He walked to the teacher's desk and laid down his bag before taking out a piece of chalk and writing on the board.

"I'm Umino Iruka, and I'm going to be your chunin instructor for the next three years."

~TtT~

The first day of class was relatively relaxed as far as Sakura was concerned. Apparently, almost all of their classes were going to be handled by Iruka up until they graduated. Sakura wasn't entirely sure what she was expecting, but having one teacher per class for the entirety of their stay in the academy was probably not it.

Of course, it being relaxed only had to do with the fact that their only school work for the day was listening to Iruka as he covered some of the things they could expect in their first year as well as their first taste of homework. They were tasked with reading up on the founding of the village. Something Sakura was already familiar with, having been told the story by Danzo before, but she supposed it would be helpful to read up on it, anyway.

Unfortunately, that's as far as it went. Since it was the first day of class, Iruka decided to start by having each of the students introduce themselves.

Sakura wasn't sure if he planned to start on the far end from where they sat for dramatic effect, but it certainly made her a bit nervous. She'd shared a glance with Ino who instead looked excited. Sakura supposed her friend would find what was likely going to happen more than a little amusing.

As their classmates introduced themselves, Sakura tried to remember their names, though she figured she'd get the chance to know them better anyway. Some of the more prominent ones, like the kids from clans, would be easier to remember to start. Nara Shikamaru, Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, Uchiha Sasuke.

Sasuke had caught some attention. Not entirely unexpected from what Ino told her. He seemed friendly enough, looking at everyone with a smile as he introduced himself.

Then the introductions got to them.

Shino was polite and addressed the class with a shallow bow.

Ino was peppy and waved at everyone.

Sakura smiled and waved with both hands.

"Hello!" Said Naruto with a wide smile as he looked around. "I'm Namikaze Naruto. Nice to meet you!"

It was easy for Sakura to tell who recognized the name for one reason or another. Heads snapped to him and those that looked bored out of their minds woke up. The clan kids had wide eyes, while most of the civilian kids or those from smaller or less-established clans frowned in confusion.

Then the whispers started.

Naruto was starting to look uncomfortable, too, and he shot her a glance as though asking her what was happening. She sent him a smile and shrugged.

Ino looked like she'd caught the canary.

Shino gave Naruto a pat on the shoulder.

Iruka got the class to quiet down.

All that did was buy them time, though. When lunch came rolling in, a lot of curious kids were crowding around her friend and bombarding him with questions. Naruto looked so lost it kind of hurt, but the four of them stuck together and tried to answer what they could. Thankfully, they ran into Tenten when they got into the hallway.

"I was looking for you guys. I figured it'd be a bit rough for you Na-kun." She gave Naruto a pat on the shoulder. He took a deep breath.

"Yeah."

Tenten knew a few good places to eat if they wanted quiet, and showed them her favorite spot, one of the big trees near the rear training yards. It afforded them good shade, and was out of the way enough that they wouldn't be bothered. Besides, they could hide behind the trees, worst case.

During this time, Sakura asked if Tenten wanted to join them in showing Naruto around the village. Tenten said she'd check with her mom, but she could walk them to the family store if they liked, and she could ask afterwards.

As they were finishing up, Sakura saw Tenten staring at Shino. The older girl was staring at him long enough that he'd started to fidget. Sakura didn't usually see the Aburame fidget.

"The glasses look nice." the older girl said.

Shino started.

Tenten walked past him. "Let's head back before your teacher starts looking for us. Don't want the other kids to know about this spot, right?"

When classes ended early that afternoon, they walked out to see most of the parents waiting there. Ino went off to talk to her dad while Sakura and Naruto walked towards them. Shino said his goodbyes and said he'd see them later for dinner before a quick departure once he'd greeted his mother.

Off to one side, Sakura spotted Uchiha Izumi greeting Sasuke. She caught the older girl's eye and sent her a wave. She also nudged Naruto with an elbow.

"Izumi-nee is here."

Naruto caught where she was gesturing and gave the older Uchiha a wave, too, much to the confusion of Sasuke, who was giving the baker's daughter a questioning look.

"Huh. Guess he doesn't know she visits the house, sometimes." Naruto asked.

Sakura shrugged. "Well, she doesn't live in the Uchiha compound, remember?"

"Ah, right," Now, he looked back to see Sasuke walking back into the village, Izumi being dragged by the excited boy's hand. "He's Itachi-san's brother, isn't he." It wasn't a question.

Sakura nodded anyway, even though he wasn't looking and turned to see Ino giving her dad a hug. Sakura grinned and dragged Naruto with her towards them.

"Sakura-chan," Yamanaka Inoichi greeted her with a smile. "Looks like you're taking my daughter out to dinner tonight?"

"Nabiki-baa wanted to throw a party for our first day at the academy. I thought Ino might want to come."

Inoichi nodded. "And Ino said you and her were going to give your friend here a tour of the village, too?" He sent Naruto a disarming smile, and one that seemed to work because her friend stepped forward and gave the older man a bow which the man returned.

"Hello, Yamanaka-san. I'm Namikaze Naruto."

"Good to meet you, young man. Can you and Sakura-chan take care of my Ino-chan for me while you three go around the village?" He ignored the whine from his daughter at being treated like a child.

"Four of us actually," Tenten said as she came up from behind Sakura. "Hello, Yamanaka-san. Here to pickup Ino-chan?"

"Ah, Aikuchi-chan!" he turned to the eldest of the girls. "Well, I was, but it looks like Sakura-chan and Naruto-kun here are dragging her off on an adventure in the village and then off to dinner." he gave the girl a measured look. "Are you a part of this little outing?"

Tenten laughed. "I might be. I'm definitely coming to the dinner, since mom and pop were invited, but I still need to ask mom if she'll let me join them on the tour."

At this, Inoichi nodded. "You kids have fun then. And Ino, make sure to be back by ten, alright?"

"Yes, daddy."

~TtT~

Nohara Rin arrived at the Haruno family izakaya just in time to see Naruto, Sakura, and Tenten enter while dragging an unexpected guest in the form of Yamanaka Inoichi's only child. Of course, the girl had been invited by the kids as a new friend that Naruto made, and an old friend of Sakura's. Nabiki had been more than happy to welcome the girl to join them for the evening.

As the other guests arrived, Rin also got to see that Inoichi's little girl was as aware of important people in Konoha as her father was. The way her sky-blue eyes bugged out as Danzo and then Jiraiya had entered had been more than a little amusing. Rin had to cover her mouth with her cup to keep from giggling.

"I thought this was supposed to be a family party!" She'd heard the blond girl whisper to Sakura. Tenten, unfortunately, wasn't as good at keeping in her amusement as Rin had been, and had given the younger student a comforting pat on the shoulder while she laughed.

"Kinda, but not really."

The party went on after that, with Rin catching up with Nana's most recent trip to Kirigakure, while Jiraiya shared what he'd seen on his own trip to the Land of Waves.

Nabiki had the kitchen cook up some of her personal signature recipes, and it was a good time all around. They had some light drinking, too, but neither Rin nor anyone else could really afford to have too much outside since it was a weeknight, and just about all of them had kids to take care of, one way or another.

"I'm telling you, Danzo," Jiraiya had said as he was pouring the older man a drink. "If she's as good at control as you say she is, she'll probably pick it up easily."

Both men toasted and drank before Danzo replied.

"You wouldn't happen to have any notes on how it works, do you? Tsunade never really left any documentation on her non-medical techniques."

The old sage shook his head, laughing. Rin caught his eye and he gave her a nod that she returned before he continued his conversation with the councilman.

"Actually, I think I have some of her old notes from when she was still developing it. I'll try to dig it up and pass it to you." He shrugged. "It'll be a place to start, but you'll probably want to ask her for specifics when she's next in town."

"Good luck with that." Rin chimed in, taking a sip of her own cup of hot sake. "You're better off asking her the next time you run into her on the road, Jiraiya-sama."

Jiraiya scoffed. "Sure, if I run into her. Not that I'm on the road as much as I used to, these days."

Rin gave him a playful shove before he could lift his drink to his lips to avoid getting him to spill any. She sent him a grin that she was positive looked impish. "Thanks for that, by the way. I appreciate your being around, Jiraiya-sama."

The older man stared at her before nodding.

Hours later here they were, walking back to the old house that they were calling home for approaching a decade now.

She looked up to see the moonlight filtering in through the canopy of Kinenhi-zan. She took a deep breath and enjoyed the cool crispness of the air. A walk was exactly what she needed after the meal they'd had at Mitsuko's.

Beside her, Jiraiya was carrying a sleeping Naruto on his back. The poor boy had, somehow, managed to both tucker himself out and eat himself into a coma. Honestly, Rin wasn't sure how he managed to tire out since he usually never did, but he certainly had fallen asleep at the bench that the kids had been sitting at when they decided to walk around outside after dinner and dessert.

Rin had enjoyed being able to go down into the village again. It was the first time she'd gone down the mountain in months. Really, she ought to have the whole thing about her being kept a secret sorted. She wasn't exactly doing any intelligence work anymore, and had technically been retired for years now.

She'd have to go and talk to Kakashi, but she supposed that would be worth it, right? She hadn't gotten to actually spend real time in the place she grew up in despite being here since she started taking care of Naruto. These were perhaps the quietest years of her life, and Rin really wanted to make the most out of that, not living in pseudo-exile the same way Naruto was.

Spirits, even Naruto was going to start going into the village more frequently now that he was on his way to becoming a shinobi. It was about time she did, too.

Jiraiya clearly thought the same. "You should come down more often, Rin." His voice was quiet, but there was a roughness to it she didn't normally hear. "You looked like you had a good time."

Rin agreed, saying she'd probably start bugging Izumi on occasion if she was bored, or spend some time with Nana checking through stock at the shop. The man shook his head.

"You need a hobby."

"Like you're one to talk." She sniped back, grinning. "Last I checked, you're playing house with me when you aren't working on that information network we built all those years ago."

"I still have my books."

"And I haven't seen you do any research when you're in Konoha." In a lower voice, she added, "You've been doing your looking while you're out of town, haven't you?"

He kept quiet for a while after that, pointedly looking away and adjusting the boy on his back so Naruto wouldn't fall.

When they entered the grounds, she heard him whisper, "Have to be a good example for the kid."

Rin felt a flash of warmth for the man. Jiraiya had altered his lifestyle so much when he came back. She gave him a pat on the arm since he was too tall for her to easily reach his shoulder from where she was.

After the boy was put to bed, and some quick goodnights exchanged between the three of them, Rin got Jiraiya to share another bottle of drinks with her before they turned in for the night. She brought out something stronger this time, a bottle of an amber-colored liquid that she'd been given by Namikaze Saiki for her birthday.

Jiraiya took a long draw from his glass, but stayed quiet. Rin took a smaller sip of her own before setting her glass down on the coffee table between them and sending him a considering look.

"You know you're the closest thing to a father he has, right? There's nothing wrong with him calling you that."

"A small part of me still feels responsible for not being there when his old man needed me."

"I wasn't there either, remember? I was on the road when it happened." He just nodded, still not meeting her eyes. She added, "But we're here for him. And I think you've been doing a great job."

Rin leaned forward and took the now-empty glass he was fidgeting with in both hands and placed it on the table between them. His eyes snapped to hers.

"You've made it an effort to be here with us. You spend less time on the road, and when you do have to be travelling you finish up as quickly as you can. I also know this means you have less time to 'research' on your writing, and I know that's no small sacrifice.

"For what it's worth, Jiraiya, I couldn't have asked for a better man to be raising Naruto with. I want you to know that."

The older man gave her this deer in the headlights look that she couldn't help but giggle at. Goodness, he really wasn't used to affection like this, was he?

She didn't give him time to think too hard about it though. Instead, she got up and walked around the table to plop down on the space beside him. She thought she saw him flinch, but ignored it.

"So, what was this about this Gatou person you ran into while you were in Wave? You said he seemed promising?"

Originally, this and the chapter that will follow were just supposed to be one chapter, but I opted to split them on account of length. Considering the naming scheme used for this, I think it turned out pretty good anyway.

Next one should go up next week, as it's actually already done and I just need to go over it for corrections.

Cheers!