Altered Story

Chapter 6: Friends of Travelers & a Snake


Hi no Kuni

In the many forests that surrounded the Land of Fire, 5 shinobi flew through the trees at unbelievable speeds to do their mission. The reason for the haste was that it seemed their target, Senju Tsunade, seemed to have caught on to her pursuers and was jumping towns. Unfortunately for the pinkette in the team she tired out easily compared to the other 4 powerhouses. It really irked the teen, but she knew it would be an unfair comparison as two of them were living legends and the other two were time travelers. She was perched on the back of a Kage Bunshin that Naruto had created and she stared at the blonde-red head that flew ahead of her. She didn't think that her teammate could continue to surprise her, but she should have expected that something as seemingly impossible as time travel would be nothing compared to the willpower contained in her.

She was her best friend next to Ino. She was the one who encouraged her to become a shinobi who protected her friends and fellow shinobi. She never pitied her for not being as powerful as them and would constantly help her find skills she was better at. That was how they found her perfect chakra control. It was exhilarating when Kakashi-sensei had moved to block a punch from her and found himself catapulted several yards away.

Then she turned to look at her former crush. It wasn't hard to see him like that as she had never fully developed any feelings for him in the first place. Maybe when she was younger she had naive thoughts of being the one to help him from his despair, but she had seen a better person for that. Naruto had brought out a side of Sasuke that she never thought she would see.

It was that of an older brother figure.

(Not the one like Itachi. She would never tell this to anyone, maybe Naruto, but she had a few chakra enhanced punches to give to the elder Uchiha for what he had done. The two time travelers had decided that they didn't want to leave her out because they still considered her part of their team, so they told her what she could handle.)

Sasuke looked after her in his own way insulting the skills she was lacking on nagging her to eat more even though she had already quit her idiotic diet plan. Even when he found out that she couldn't stand staying at her house after the argument with her parents, he immediately pulled her and all the belongings she had over to a room in the Uzumaki compound. She would never tell him any of this though as she didn't know how he would react to it.

All she could do was watch their backs since they would definitely find ways to put themselves in danger somehow. She was in for a wild ride but it would be a fun one. After all, normal was boring.


Konohagakure

Yamanaka Flower Shop

Part of Ino's day started with helping out in the flower shop that her mother and father ran. It was why their team meetings always started later in the day. She didn't mind tending to the flowers as it had become routine for most of her life so she let her mind wander to the current enigmas plaguing her mind.

Naruto and Sasuke.

Those two had changed and to a daughter of a former head of T&I, it was obvious to her. The sudden confidence in the stance of her fellow blonde to the protective aura Sasuke directed towards Naruto. Something was up and she could tell that a lot of the Jonins and upper ranks were in on it. She had even seen her father for a brief moment in the tower which would have meant that the Hokage had specifically requested for him. The man was retired after all. Then when Sasuke's match in the preliminaries began she had seen the strange way that the teen had asked permission from Naruto.

Their relationship with each other had definitely changed. For once it was hard to get a read on Naruto, but the little glimpses of fondness told her all that she needed. Sasuke on the other hand, was an open book and didn't bother to hide the affection he had for Naruto. Though it might seem obvious to her since she was looking for it. It made the Yamanaka sigh in relief that their relationship was finally progressing and her conversation with Sakura only served to confirm it.

Ino thought it was nice to finally stop the facade after years of faking a crush on the Last Uchiha.

Flashback

There were days when it seemed that Naruto couldn't be bothered to put on mask of happiness and it was never good for the class when it happened. One, she would be more likely to put one of them through a wall for disturbing her, two, Sasuke only talked with her, so it was also days were the fangirls were treated to glares from him as well.

Today had been one of those days. Ino was almost late and was running towards the Academy when she abruptly stopped to avoid crashing into Naruto

"Hey! Wat-"

Cold blue eyes snapped to the Yamanaka. When the girl didn't speak, the blond-red head continued on her journey towards the school. That prompted Ino to take a shortcut onto the rooftops and rush over to class to warn the others.

It was another disastrous day avoided. Iruka-sensei sometimes wished the class would actually be loud and disruptive instead of the cold silence he had to deal with.

The end of the day happened when Naruto left the room to which the class collectively sighed in relief. Everyone began to pack up their things, but Ino had noticed that a certain Uchiha was already headed out as well. It was strange since he was one of the ones who would take their time in leaving so she pointed it out to Sakura and they both decided to follow.

They eventually found him catching up to Naruto who had only been a block away. Then they watched one of the weirdest things ever.

Sasuke began speaking. After several tries to release the genjutsu the scene still continued so they decided that it was actually real.

It was awkward. The boy obviously had no clue how to do small talk, but it didn't deter him from speaking about whatever came to mind. It dawned on Ino that he was trying to comfort her and she looked over to see that Sakura had also come to the same conclusion and they tried not to 'aw' out loud for fear of being overheard.

It was then and there that the co-presidents of the NaruSasu club emerged from the ashes of a small crush on the Last Uchiha

Flashback End

Of course, the moments between the two were not to be interrupted so they had devised a plan to keep the facade of still having a crush on the boy. It would serve to allow them to be distractions to the fangirls and fanboys should the two need a moment alone.

Sighing at the thought of those two finally being together, a stray thought interrupted her.

Naruto is an oblivious idiot who wouldn't understand the difference between love for her Ramen and being in love with someone.

Somewhere in a secluded area. . .

Naruto was fighting Tsunade on a lake after they had crashed onto it and a sudden sneeze made her lose her concentration. The only consolation is that her sinking into the water meant that the chakra enhanced punch meant for her gut had missed her by inches.

Kurama of course, was laughing his butt off.


Konohagakure

Training Ground 10

In typical Nara fashion, we see the young heir of the clan laying on the hillside where his team usually trained in staring at the clouds above. It was the perfect time to cloud watch with no teammates to bother him and the clouds looking especially fluffy, but it was not to be. He sometimes cursed his curiosity.

The boy had too many puzzles circling around his mind to relax and the person to blame was Naruto. And maybe Sasuke if you counted the fact that he didn't seem like a total flight risk anymore. Those two had changed a lot, but he couldn't figure out how. It was weird enough that his father came home after the preliminaries to give both him and his mother a hug. The look in his eyes stopped him from asking though so he let it be.

He thought back to the match Hinata had forfeited. He could see that Naruto had interrupted them to make sure Hinata didn't go against the Suna-nin. Not that he blamed her, he had seen the blood-thirst in that kid's eyes and it made him shiver to see them.

Must have broken Hinata to have Naruto tell her that the fight would have been too much for her. She had always looked up to her as a kid and still did to this day.

He didn't know what she knew about the red-headed guy, but it must've been enough to worry Naruto. And not a lot of things usually do. He had seen her go against kids older than them, she took on the weight of hatred from most of the villagers, and she never once faltered in her journey. It was why he respected her and followed his dad's advice to form his own opinions about her.

Naruto was one of the most fascinating people he'd ever met. Ever since that day, he wondered what other sides the blonde-red head hid. Watching her when she had successfully finished a prank and not one of the elites ever caught her unless she wanted to. And she was still in the Academy! Seeing the village treat her like trash made him angry when all she wanted was their respect, but all he could do was be there for her. It hurt to see her fake smiles as she walked down the streets and made sure to recognize her real ones so he could remember them. This time the mask was still there but no desperation lingered. The blonde-red head didn't care if they looked at her and he felt relief knowing the village's opinion didn't matter that much to her anymore. Confidence in her skills and bonds with her friends truly made a difference in her image.

Now, Sasuke was a guy he didn't particularly care about most days and mildly disliked on others. He was a piece of work that he never wanted to interact with and thanked their resident sunshine for taking the job. The darkest days were the ones he was always alert for because he knew the one who would take the brunt of it would be Naruto. He would never be able to understand those two but he knew if either of them broke, the other would follow suit. He had to be prepared for the fallout in case the guy really did leave.

It seemed his worries were for naught, since the guy had done a complete one-eighty by the time they reached the tower. His position within the team screamed protector and it certainly made him do a double take. The Uchiha interacted with his team and didn't just grunt to answer. He saw the fondness for his pink-haired teammate and sensei in the way his eyes softened. But the greatest change was his relationship with Naruto. He had always bounced from seeing her as his best friend to a liability that he needed to get rid of. Now there was nothing but resolve to protect her and, not to his surprise, love. The Nara heir didn't think he was wrong since he had seen the look in Sasuke's eyes in his own father's when he looked at his mother.

Shikamaru let out a groan of frustration. Troublesome. Sitting up, he was surprised to see his teammates sitting next to him.

"Thinking about Naruto and Sasuke," Ino spoke first, making the two turn to her. She continued with a nod. "Yeah, I was thinking about them too."

"Troublesome," repeating his earlier thoughts and turning towards them.

"Hmm, I don't know, seems interesting if you ask me." Choji added his own input.

Ino was interested. "How come?"

"Those two have always been fun to watch and we knew they would be in the center of chaos anyway. This just seems like another thing to add to the pile but we definitely don't want to miss out." The boy explained his thoughts in rare moments of wisdom and the two had to agree.

"Well, we won't get much further without the subjects here anyway, plus, Sakura's getting too far so we need to train more. Up boys!"

Two groans burst from both boys, but complied to her whims.


Hi no Kuni

Kakashi had volunteered to watch with Sasuke thinking it was the perfect time to muse on his students that never failed to surprise him. Though they're not really my students anymore.

It was not like he didn't believe it was possible, but it seemed ludicrous at the time. He should've known better than to doubt his sensei's daughter. Becoming a Hokage even younger than her own father and figuring out time travel, all in horrible circumstances, but it was still amazing. He was so proud of her for achieving her dreams and becoming the wonderful ninja he hoped she'd become. He did wonder why she never asked him about his whereabouts when she was younger, surely she should be furious at him for not being there for her. He certainly deserved it, but she looked at him only with fondness with a hint of guilt. It was obvious he had died and he was glad it was before any of his students. He would have broken and he didn't think he would be able to pick up the pieces again.

He looked over at his other student Sakura. He did not want to pity her because she deserved better than that, but she would have a hard time catching up to those two. She'd expressed that she felt so far behind and felt helpless. The fire in her eyes the moment after made him feel proud when she told him she wouldn't let it stay that way. He would make sure that she wouldn't fall behind and help her learn whatever those two haven't gotten their hands on. No one was getting left behind. That also meant he would have to start up his training again. The fight with Zabuza really opened his eyes to how complacent he had become. He had trouble fighting an A-rank nuke-nin when he was listed as S-rank. He would try to pull in a few favors from old friends and maybe take the offer of some spars that Gai's been talking about.

A movement from his left broke his thoughts and he realized it was only Sasuke shifting his position to something more comfortable. The wariness he felt whenever he looked at his student was replaced by relief knowing that he had changed. He hadn't known what else he could do after the disastrous C-rank happened and Sasuke began to pull back from the bonds he was forming. Those bonds were so strong he didn't think they would ever break. Sasuke would look at them and actually see them without the haunted look in his eyes or thirst for power. As always, he was thankful that Naruto never gave up on him. It was obvious that he did leave but she had brought him back more loyal than any ANBU he had ever seen.

Though he didn't know whether to be amused or irritated at the potential romance between the two. There wasn't a hint of a previous relationship between the two, but the obvious feelings of attraction were there. It was his duty to his sensei's daughter to protect her but he knew that Sasuke would rather die than betray her again. He would still keep his eyes on them.

One thought creeped into the Naruto Protection Squad(sans Sasuke)

If that bastard hurts her we'll make sure he knows the true power of an avenger.

Sasuke felt a shiver down his spine and turned to look at his sensei. Though he was smiling the sound of him sharpening his tanto made the teen feel dread.


Somewhere in the darkness of the shadows. . .

Nothing was going according to plan. The Hebi Sennin thought pacing as he thought over all that had happened. Sasuke was stronger than he thought and Kabuto never told him that he knew Chidori. He would punish the boy if he were still here but Kabuto had to go and get killed during the preliminaries because the Uchiha had used his Mangekyou Sharingan. I was sure he hadn't manifested it yet. Now he had no good spy within the village and none of his subordinates on hand were as good as Kabuto. Worse is that all the villages still had genin in the exams making sure that all Kages would be here for the Final Exam.

Orochimaru may be strong and considered a genius, but he was not arrogant enough to believe he could take on all 5 Kage at the same time.

But. . . maybe we can still salvage this. . .


Alright. I kept forgetting to upload this and that is all I can say. Sorry.

Other news, this was suggested to me in Ao3 as I cross-post there. They wanted to see the points of views of the others and I thought it was a great idea!

We are now finally caught up after rewriting a lot of the first chapters. Though I'm sad to say you probably won't see a lot of me, as usual, because school will begin again and I need to prepare.

Let me just say that I will not abandon this, even if it becomes the only thing I will ever post, this is not getting abandoned. Through sheer stubbornness and my continuous love for writing. I just have the worst writer's block that comes up all the time.

Peace!

Keep Calm and Stay Safe! 3