Kenji was currently on Fu's trail as he ran past wandering civilians who were going about their day. They both woke up later than they expected, and they had less than 10 minutes to report to their homeroom for the first day at the academy. It took longer for him to get ready than it took her, so she left without him which he found aggravating. Realizing that he wouldn't make it without having to utilize some of his training, he poured chakra to his legs to boost himself and jumped over the fence across from him. He eventually made it with a couple of seconds to spare and when he made it there he saw Fu at the front entrance smirking at him.

"When did you get so slow?" Fu teased as she stuck her tongue out.

"Shut up. Let's just get to class" Kenji responded looking away from her

The Ninja Academy was a large building that was built into the Hokage administration building. Kenji made his way to the homeroom designated for final year academy students along with Fu. He reached for the knob and started to walk in before a chalkboard eraser hit his head. The room echoed in laughter from the back of the room. Kenji scanned the room and identified the source of the voice. The source of the voice came from a short looking blond boy in a black shirt and orange pants. Kenji picked up the eraser and smiled before throwing it straight at the boy. The erase hit the boy square in the head and he fell off his chair which caused everyone in the room to laugh.

"HEY WHAT'D YOU DO THAT FOR" The blond boy yelled in anger

"Maybe you shouldn't be playing around with erasers if you're scared of being hit by one" Kenji said matter of factly

The blond boy made a lunge for Kenji and in response, Kenji put up his battle stance expecting a fight to go down but a brown haired man in a flat jacket similar to the jonin that Kenji and Fu met outside of the Hokage building stepped in between the two.

"CUT IT OUT NARUTO" Iruka said before knocking him on his head. Naruto immediately reached for his head and fell on the ground before rolling around.

"He started it Iruka-sensei!" Naruto said in frustration while pointing directly at Kenji.

"I wouldn't have done it if you didn't prank me with an eraser" Kenji responded in a childish manner.

"ENOUGH YOU TWO" Iruka screamed before the room went into silence due to how thunderous his voice rang in the moment.

"Just sit-down Naruto" Iruka said before turning his attention to the rest of the classs.

"Good morning class, today we have two new students attending the academy". Iruka motioned for both students to come up and introduce themselves. "Why don't our new students tell us a bit about themselves and their goals" Iruka continued.

"Hi everyone, I'm Fu and I hope we all become great friends." Fu said in a cheerful way which attracted a few blushes from some of the boys in the class. Kenji didn't like what he was seeing in that regard. The last thing he wanted to be concerned about is Fu's love life, but he pushed the thought to the side.

"My goal is to become a remarkable kunoichi, so I can make someone precious in my life proud of me"

Kenji waited for a moment to make sure she was done with what she was saying before giving his introduction.

"I'm Kenji Takahashi and my goal is to incite change in the world" Kenji stated.

Iruka raised an eyebrow after hearing his goal and wanted to gain a little bit of insight. "In what way would you change the world?". Kenji thought for a second before answering.

"I want to create a world of peace where kids don't have to flee their homes because of the threat of war. A world where people don't have to fear others who are different and use violence as a response" Kenji replied.

Iruka was shocked at how elegant the answer was as the black-haired boy was willing to fight Naruto over an eraser prank, but he smiled at the determination that shined through the boy. Iruka wasn't the only one who saw it. Naruto who was initially antagonistic towards Kenji empathized with what he said and started to think he had Kenji pegged wrong. He was nothing like Sasuke who was more of a pessimist but with his history it was understandable. The red-haired girl with glasses who sat next to Naruto also felt every word he said. She wanted to know more about the boy and she thought about when the right time would be to introduce herself.

Kenji took a seat next to Naruto and the red-haired girl while Fu sat at the table above him next to a pink haired girl and a blonde girl. Not really following the conversation they were having, he did hear the two eventually identify themselves as Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka. Kenji turned to Naruto who was staring at him before narrowing his eyes.

"Why are you looking at me?" Kenji questioned with no malice.

"Sorry about the eraser and all. It was meant for Iruka sensei" Naruto apologized while giving his sheepish grin.

"It's cool, what's done is done" Kenji smiled as his gaze lightened up. He could see how the prank could be funny at someone with Iruka's personality.

"I'm Naruto Namikaze and my goals to become the Hokage of the village" Naruto exclaimed proudly much to the dismay of a lot of other students in the room.

Kenji figured that this wouldn't be the last time he'd hear that statement but he still smiled and took a mental note to ask about Naruto's abilities later. He brought back his focus to Iruka who was giving a lecture on the shinobi rules.

"I could go on about the many rules that we as ninja are supposed to follow but the two basic ones are the ones you should never forget. Who can tell me what these two rules are?" Iruka asked as he looked in the direction of where Kenji and Fu were sitting.

Kenji had no idea what the answer was as he never learned much about shinobi rules during his time at the waterfall village but it was kind of clear that Iruka wanted one of the two to answer and he didn't want Fu to look like she knew nothing on the first day so he would take the blunt of the questioning.

Kenji was about to say something but as he was, he noticed the girl beside him slide a paper towards him with the first part saying "READ BELOW" with an arrow point down to an paragraph.

"A shinobi must never show any weakness and A shinobi must always be two steps ahead" Kenji read off the paper.

"That's correct but next time I would like it if you didn't get the assist of Karin" Iruka said slightly disappointed that the boy opted to cheat instead of just admitting he didn't know but he couldn't fault him. Iruka went back to lecturing while Kenji took out a pencil to write the words thank you with a smile before passing back to her.

Karin didn't appear to look at the note, but Kenji noticed a smile creep onto her face as she paid attention to Iruka's lecture.

The class was currently outside in the academy sparring area preparing for Taijutsu training. Earlier they had been practicing a bunch of stances and then they had a free period where they practiced what styles they were interested in with a few of the academy teachers roaming to give advice. Eventually the class was brought together to begin sparring.

"Alright now let's see what our new students can do" Mizuki, the current proctor for the taijutsu said

Fu stepped up first as it had been a while since she had last sparred. The last time she sparred was against Kenji at the waterfall village. She would not admit that she lost as she was very competitive, but the spar did end with Kenji having the upper hand. Mizuki was thinking who would be a good opponent for Fu but a girl stepped up to the challenge. Mizuki just smiled and nodded thinking that the spar would be over very fast. The person who stepped forward was none other than Sarada Uchiha. From what, Fu heard from the gossip by Sakura, she was the only other Uchiha alive in the village and she had the top marks in the academy along with her brother Sasuke Uchiha. Smirking, she knew that this would be a good spar.

"Now Fu, before we begin sparring it is customary to show the Seal of Confrontation" Mizuki said before putting his hand in the form of a one hand tiger hand seal

Fu just nodded before putting up the seal and Sarada did the same.

"Good luck" Fu said with a smile to be friendly

"Don't worry, I'll end it quick" Sarada responded in an arrogant tone which made Fu less than ecstatic to be sparring with her. Fu decided then and there that she wouldn't hold much back in this spar.

Neither girl made a move at the start as they both were waiting for the other to make a move. Fu began by launching towards Sarada's direction and swung a light jab towards Sarada. Sarada ducked under the jab and rotated her body while extending her leg to sweep Fu off her feet. Fu jump over the sweep only to see Sarada's other leg going at her at an incredible speed. Unable to dodge while she was in the air, she extended her arms out to shield her face and upper body. Fu was not expecting the force the kick and it launched Fu into the ground. Fu slammed into the ground with a loud thud. Sarada seeing an opening rushed towards Fu with the intent of finishing the fight but Fu got back on her feet and got back into her stance.

The two exchanged a flurry of strikes, both taking the time to parry strikes from others while sending strikes of their own towards the other. Sarada deflected one of Fu's punches and began to send her own only for Fu to spin and slam her back elbow to the side of her temple which shocked a lot of people. Sarada instinctively put her hand to her temple and had her mouth agape at the fact that she got rocked by Fu's elbow. She was in shock that she got such a clear hit on her so easily and that made her upset.

Fu was breathing heavily and felt pain on the arm that took the kick earlier in the fight, but she wanted to put Sarada in her place.

"So, what happened to ending it quick" Fu bragged with a smirk in between the breaths for air.

"That was a lucky shot, you won't get another one" Sarada declared with a glare.

Sarada didn't show it as much but she was also fatigued as she'd been going all out to take out Fu. She had one more trick up her sleeve but Mizuki stood in between them before they could continue.

"That's far enough. Good job both of you" Mizuki said impressed by the showing that both students had. Mizuki then looked towards Fu before speaking again "At the end of our sparring we give the Seal of Reconciliation to show that there are no hard feelings and the shinobi are still comrades"

Mizuki made the motions of locking his index and middle fingers together to show the seal of reconciliation. Fu extended her arm and locked her fingers within Sarada's fingers. The two released their fingers and walked back to the sidelines. Sarada gave a look to Sasuke to read his face but frowned at the look of disappointment that he seemed to be showing. The Uchiha were said to be the strongest clan in the Leaf Village before the massacre. Sarada and Sasuke were two of three Uchiha that survived the tragedy known as the Uchiha Massacre. The last Uchiha, known as Itachi Uchiha was the one who survived and committed the atrocity. Sarada was sleeping over at her friend Sakura's house but Sasuke had come home from the academy late and saw his bloodstained older brother standing over his parents. The smell of blood was nauseating and was something Sasuke could never forget. He could never forget the moment as Itachi used his sharingan to ingrain the moment in his mind. The Uchiha being massacred in cold blood, not only the military force but the civilians, the children, the mothers, the innocent. He constantly relived this trauma and justice had to be served. He lived for vengeance and would go to the ends of the earth to be the one to kill Itachi along with his sister. For this to happen, they would have to get much stronger. Therefore, he was slightly disappointed that Sarada was finding a challenge in this new academy member. He felt he had to show her how it's done and figured the boy couldn't have been as good as he was.

"Alright Kenji, are you ready? Mizuki asked as he was really wondering how Kenji would be since Fu performed so well.

"I'll face him" Naruto exclaimed loudly.

Naruto was in the process of getting up before Sasuke brushed past Naruto and stood in front of Kenji.

"HEY SASUKE, I CALLED IT FIRST" Naruto yelled angry that Sasuke completely disregarded the challenge Naruto gave to Kenji.

"Sit down Naruto" Mizuki declared while motioning to Sasuke. Naruto could tell from his tone that he wasn't going to change his mind, so he begrudgingly sat down with his arms crossed.

Mizuki felt bad that he had shut down Naruto in this manner, but he felt that the best way to test Kenji's talents was to pair him against his top student Sasuke Uchiha.

Kenji didn't like that the proctor had shut Naruto down like that and he really didn't like the elitist vibe that Sasuke had so he decided that he was not going to hold much back against him to put him in his place. Kenji put up the seal of confrontation and Sasuke did the same.

'This is going to be a piece of cake' Sasuke thought while staring at Kenji.

Kenji just stood there while glaring down Sasuke which he found amusing. He wouldn't have that look for long. Mizuki raised his hand and then dropped it to signify the spar had begun and immediately Sasuke charge at him with blinding speed looking to end Kenji with one move. He stretched his arm back looking to pin Kenji down with his fist ready if Kenji were to react.

There was an audible gasp before total silence. Sasuke blinked before he realized that he was on the floor and there was a foot on his chest pinning him down so that he would be unable to move. He looked up to see Kenji looking down at him. His eyes bore into his and he felt chills because the glare that he had was reminiscent of Itachi eyes.

"Don't be rude, wait your turn next time" Kenji said before taking his foot off and walking back to the sides of the field.

The entire class was in utter shock at what just transpired. Most of them hadn't even registered what took place and no one knew how to take it.

"What just happened" Sakura said shocked that anyone could stand up to Sasuke. It was no secret that she had an immense crush on the Uchiha boy and was rivals with Ino for his love.

"Kenji waited until the last minute to counter Sasuke's tackle. He just went with his flow and flipped him over his shoulder" Fu said matter-of-factly

"He probably cheated!" Ino shouted with anger with the assumption that kissing up to Sasuke could finally get him to notice her, but he didn't even glance at her to her disappointment.

"How old earth did he cheat Ino?" Karin questioned annoyed that the girl was making up excuses

"He had to have cheated or something! There is no way that Sasuke would lose so easily" Sakura sreeched in response and Karin just rolled her eyes.

Sarada knew that there was no basis in this argument, so she didn't even try to argue but she just stared at Kenji at wonder as he was able to take down her brother with just redirecting his body. She looked at Sasuke and could clearly see that he was fuming and would not let this go.

Sasuke was infuriated that he was practically embarrassed by this new student and began to step towards him before Sarada grabbed his hand. Sasuke felt her hand and immediately had a change in demeanor.

'This kid will do just fine' Mizuki thought before faking a cheery smile. "I have to say that was pretty impressive Kenji"

"Thanks" Kenji said before beginning to walk away.

"Hold on, you two have to do the seal of reconciliation" Mizuki said reminding both students that they should not have bad blood about the spar.

Sasuke walked towards Kenji and instead grabbed Kenji's shirt while staring at him.

"You got lucky with that one, but it won't EVER happen again" Sasuke declared with emphasis on ever.

"The result is always going to be the same." Kenji said clearly intending to provoke Sasuke further. Sasuke clenched his fist and was tempted to just punch the boy right there

"Sasuke, please stop" Sarada said with a slightly disapproving tone. Sasuke let go of the boy and reluctantly put his fingers out. Kenji deciding that he had his fun also put his fingers out and they locked fingers before quickly releasing.

It had been one month since the spar where Kenji defeated Sasuke and they had been settling in the leaf village very well. Sasuke had hostile towards Kenji since the spar and Kenji felt uncomfortable being near him because he could feel his eyes in class. The class also seem to segregate into several groups. There was the Anti-Kenji group which consisted of fanboys of Sasuke who despised Kenji. This group included Sakura Haruno who constantly downplayed him. Then there was the neutral crowd which consisted of much of the class. These were the people who did not really have an opinion either way. Then there was Kenji's group which consisted of friends. This included Fu, Naruto, Karin, Hinata, Sarada and sometimes Ino.

Hinata shortly began joining the group for lunch after Kenji realized that she would more than often stare at Naruto from afar, so he invited her to hang out with them. She rarely talked and only chimed in when directly asked a question but they all appreciated her presence there. Sarada began hanging out with Kenji and Fu as early as the week before. She formally apologized for her attitude and since has been friends with Fu. Sasuke didn't seem to like that she was hanging out with the guy who beat him but to watch out for his sister, he occasionally lurked from the shadows. Kenji got the impression that he was trying to soften up to them because he was planning something but he didn't really have any proof so he let it go.

Ino was a complex case since she had a conflict of interest. She liked Kenji and once they started getting to know each other, they would occasionally talk about Ino's interest in flowers and Kenji's interest in flashy gimmick jutsu. However, she still had her ridiculous crush on Sasuke and when questioned about it, she just gave the response that he was so cool. She tended to fluctuate on hating on Kenji depending on how she was feeling.

Kenji and Fu made their way to one of the public training areas to practice their ninjutsu. They decided that on the off days from the academy, they would be doing specialized training to be ahead of the pack. They would have invited more people, but everyone was busy, so it would have to be just the two of them for now. They finally made it to the training area and Kenji began to unpack the stuff that he brought. The first thing he took was the Chakra Induction Paper that he got from the Third Hokage along with a couple of scrolls that was brought from their village.

"Here Fu" Kenji said while handing the Chakra Induction Paper. Fu took the paper from Kenji and looked at it.

"How does it work?"

"I guess you just hold it in your hands and then pour chakra into it and it will tell you the natural affinity you have"

Fu held the paper in her palm before clasping her hands together and focusing chakra to her hands for a minute. Kenji didn't want to ruin her concentration, so he remained silent until Fu unclasped her hands and revealed a damp piece of paper in her hand.

"So that means you have a natural affinity for water" Kenji said while smiling.

"How about you?" Fu asked curious as to whether Kenji would have the same affinity as her

Kenji took a paper of his own and channeled the chakra from his body to his hand and immediately the paper split in his hands.

"Guess I'm a wind type" Kenji commented before pulling out the wind and the water scrolls for techniques. He handed Fu the water scroll while he took the wind scroll. He went to one of the trees and sat down to look at the scroll.

He opened it up and observed some of the techniques. A lot of the techniques revolved around using chakra infused wind to sharpen the weapons to but the one that caught his eye was the Wind Style: Air Bullet technique. Kenji preferred a mid to long range technique and that seemed like a perfect fit. The next couple of hours, he spent time learning the hand signs of the jutsu and properly using his chakra to compress the air within his body before releasing. He only took a break to check on Fu's progress. By the end of the day, he could begin to formulate a light breeze from the technique. It wasn't ideal, but it was a start. Fu on the other hand was making bubbles with her techniques.

Kenji was in the process of forming the hand seal for the technique before he felt a shift in the air. The feeling was all too familiar to him and it caused him to instinctively jump back, three shuriken whizzed and hit the spot where Kenji was. Kenji immediately pulled out three kunai while throwing two in the direction that the shuriken came from. He sped towards where Fu was to warn her of the impending danger, but she was nowhere to be found. All that was at the scene was a medium sized crater near where she was sitting. Kenji almost freaked out, but he knew that was the worst thing he could do at the moment. Pulling his focus back, he saw a shadowy figure run through the woods and Kenji charged the chakra in his leg to leap towards the woods. He landed on a tree to scan the surroundings before he felt his leg buckle. He turned to see the shadowy figure behind him who had just stomped his foot into the back of Kenji's knees. The force of the stomp and the surprise of it made Kenji slip and fall off the tree but he recovered before he hit the ground.

Now they were in a clearing near a pond where the moonlight shined above them and for the first time, Kenji saw who his assailant was. Sasuke Uchiha stood across from him with his hands in his pocket smirking

"What the hell dude? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?" Kenji yelled.

"I had to put you in your place and now nobody can interrupt us" Sasuke said arrogantly before reaching in his back pocket.

Kenji had no intentions to let him use anything, so he rushed towards Sasuke but the distance between the two allowed Sasuke to throw two kunai at Kenji. Kenji ducked below the two kunai and with the kunai he had in his hand attempted to swipe at Sasuke. Sasuke with a kunai of his own deflected the kunai and threw his free hand at Kenji but Kenji ducked and went back on the attack. The two slashed at each other while successfully dogding each other's kunai, neither could get the advantage over the other. Kenji got an idea and feinted a slash before pulling back, Sasuke returned with a stab but Kenji retaliated by grabbing his wrist and pulling him down before hitting him square in the face with a knee. Sasuke staggered back and drop to a knee.

"I told you, the result will always be the same. Go home" Kenji declared before beginning to turn his back on Sasuke.

"DON'T TURN YOUR BACK ON ME" Sasuke snarled before beginning to weave hand signs.

Fu had been practicing the Water Release: Bubbles Technique from the scroll Kenji gave to her. When she first saw it, she facepalmed at how ridiculous it sounds but after further reading the scroll, she saw that the many applications of the jutsu could be very useful for a multitude of reasons. So, she began practicing how to mold her chakra from within to form the liquid in her body into the composition of a bubble. This was much easier said than done for her and she was able to spit out multiple bubbles, but she was having the problem of keeping them formed as they popped a couple of seconds after being released. She was trying to create the application where she would be able to make the bubbles explode on command and was thinking about how useful it would be when she heard a step on a branch. She swung her head towards the trees wondering who it could be.

"Kenji?" Fu said with a bit of doubt in her voice before instantly frowning when seeing who it was

Sarada Uchiha stepped out of the shadows and walked towards Fu.

"Kenji's fighting Sasuke, I don't want to fight you, but I can't let you stop them" Sarada said with a frown. She really wanted no part of this but Sasuke insisted that they reclaim their honor. There was the part of her that wanted a rematch, but she at least knew that there was a time and a place for everything. Sasuke wasn't thinking and was blinded by his pride but Sarada could see that this was not the brightest idea. Nevertheless, she decided to follow Sasuke's lead as he was the only family she had left, and he was right that they needed to get stronger for Itachi.

Fu was speechless at the idea that Sasuke would pick a fight against Kenji out of school grounds and began to run towards the direction where she last saw him. A tingle hit Fu's spine and she instinctively dodged the punch Sarada threw at her from behind. Fu was expecting her to land softly but Sarada's fist hit the ground with an excessive amount of force and the ground crumbled around her. Sarada now stood within a small crater that was done by her fist.

'When did she get so strong' Fu thought before making a beeline for the forest to find Kenji. Sarada trailed her throwing multiple shurikens to slow her down.

Fu could do nothing but dodge while she ran through the forest, ducking under branches, side stepping trees and ducking shurikens aimed at her head. She could feel the fatigue hitting her, but she had to keep running to stop Sasuke. Her heart was beating so hard and she had never been more anxious in her life, she questioned whether this was really the kind of life that kunochi and shinobi alike had to deal with every time they left the safety of their village. Lost in her thoughts, she tripped over a branch and turned around expecting Sarada to pummel her, but she was nowhere in sight. She realized that it had been a while since ninja tools were thrown at her and she assumed that Sarada ran out, but it had been because she escaped and managed to lose her in the forest.

The forest was now silent, and all Fu could hear were the crickets and her beating heart drumming against her chest. She exhaled the breath she had been keeping in and realized she was much tired than she was before. The adrenaline she had from the ambush was wearing off and her entire body felt sore. She felt so exhausted and was contemplating taking a break but then she heard someone shout out from the clearing ahead. Curious to see who it was she pushed chakra to her legs to start running towards the clearing.

Finally making it to the clearing, Fu saw Kenji beginning to walk away from Sasuke while Sasuke yelled at him and started to weave hand signs. Knowing nothing good would come from this, Fu began focusing what little chakra she had to her feet.

"FIRE STYLE: FIREBALL JUTSU" Sasuke yelled as he put the tiger sign up and a stream of fire engulfed the clearing.

Kenji had been in shock that Sasuke knew a technique and had began running to try to outrun the jutsu, but the flame was roaring at a high rate of speed towards Kenji. Kenji put his hands up and closed his eyes to wait for the flames to scorch his body. Fu without any regards for her body and without any hesitation leaped towards Kenji, bracing her arms around him to shield him from the fire. She closed her eyes unsure of what would happen next but instead of a hot scorching pain, she felt a splash and a cool sensation around her body.

Sasuke fell to his knees after depleting his chakra on the jutsu. He could not hold his smirk as he breathed heavily and wiped the sweat from his forehead. He then looked up and his face turned to one of absolute horror. Sasuke immediately regretted his decision of using his fire ninjutsu. What Sasuke witnessed was a out of control wildfire that was running rampant in the area. It was as if it were hell on earth.

A/N: Wowzers now that was kind of a long chapter. I missed my deadline of posting by one day but at least I got it by the end of the week. This was meant to be an introductory chapter for the relationships of several characters but like all things, it took a left turn with some hostility. We are already starting to see a bit of divergence from the canon as Karin and Sarada are a part of the story. Karin has always been an underrated character for me that could have been developed a lot and Sarada is one of the only few things I really like from the Boruto series so naturally she's here.

I took the liberty of making Naruto a Namikaze instead of an Uzumaki. How it affects the story will be addressed in future chapters. As always, leave your reviews, questions, critiques and correction down below.