My sincerest apologies for keeping everyone waiting. I'm near completion of my NaruHina tale, "The Sun-Kissed Bride", and then this one will have my full attention for the time being. So glad to see some favorited and followed, but I'm very sad no one left reviews. (puppy dog face)

So, rather than going forward just yet, this here is the first part of the past which takes place before what we saw happened to Tsunade in the previous chapter, which means Kaguya has not yet come. Instead, we are given introductions to the main "five heroes" of this story, so have fun getting to know them. :D

I also did some more looking into as to how Japanese high school students attend as well as their age groups then, and finally decided to adhere by a certain dress code they live by for propriety. Apparently, they dress casually OUTSIDE the classroom.

Chapter Two

Make Way - Part One

Three years ago...

It was about damned time the year was almost over for them, and then they were onward to high school. There were a lot of things to look forward to now that one of their favorite times of the year was here.

None other than the Hanami Festival. And that meant picnics underneath the cherry blossom trees, or wherever you could find the best view, and the tri-colored dango of the event's name. Oh, yeah, and that special drink with pickled blossoms that weddings in this season used instead of green tea.

Naru Namikaze was looking forward to every bit of it, but when this day was over and she was leaving Konoha Preparatory with her two best friends since childhood, there was the devil in the form of the group who gave her hell since they were kids. Even after their final year of school was almost over before they would go to the next step - all of them in the age range of fifteen to even sixteen - maturity had not reached them because of dominating hormones and other shit.

"Naru, just ignore them and keep walking," Neji Hyuuga hissed into her ear, steering her away by the arm, his cousin Hinata on the other side as they rushed to get away from Shion Kurama and her posse, which consisted of Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka.

Great, those bitches. And what else would they do against me this time if they catch us?

And thank the Kami they made it to his car in time, hightailing out of there without breaking any laws. And it was onward home so that they could look forward to tomorrow when they would head to the park where the best of the cherry blossoms had to offer.

"There she is!" Jiraiya chortled when he saw her come in, being at the dining room table which was seen through an opened doorway from the house's front entrance. The highlight which made her want to sing opera: Ichiraku's ramen on the go! "You're home just in time; you've earned it after all the hard work!"

"Indeed she did." There was his lifelong friend, Orochimaru - a renowned scientist for the government. Naru didn't know a lot about what her guardians did, except that it was so confidential they were so good separating it from their home lives, which meant she didn't have to use them as a window. "How was your day, Naru?" the snake-like man asked, having been in midst of pulling his long, raven hair from its tie which he kept during the day at work.

Jiraiya, on the other hand, had lax ambitions compared to his friend as well as the other one who wasn't home yet - or so Naru thought, because she heard the voice to her right. Tsunade had the bottle of sake and the cups ready, as always. She and Orochimaru were both home early today, for some reason, but she was glad to see all three of them together.

Her parents, Minato and Kushina - mom's maiden name being Uzumaki - were taken from her when she was just a little girl of eight, so these three were everything she could ever ask for, even if they had some...questionable things about them that her mom and dad accepted but used to get on them about. Old man Jiraiya, who was like a father to Minato, was an opened flirt towards younger women and often used them in his "romantic adventure" novels, until he settled down with his true love, none other than Tsunade Senju who was a professional photographer for Konoha's government, and that left Orochimaru who was long widowed and something like a young-looking great-uncle.

The three reminded her of the Hyuuga cousins and herself; she just hoped they could survive what life threw at them the way this trio had.

"Oh, well, kiddo? Gonna just stand there or are you gonna come and enjoy your reward?" Tsunade joked, ruffling Naru's short shockwave of blonde hair as she passed her by.

"Oh, yeah! Good day for a change."

"Lemme guess: those little bitches didn't give you a hard time for once?" Jiraiya asked her with a laugh as he put down his pen which he clicked close, setting it atop the pile of papers which was his newest Make-Out novel in the making. Orochimaru scowled at him as he sat to the left and Tsunade the right, the latter reaching to bop him lightly on the head to behave. "Ow, I had to ask! You know those girls should deserve punishment, but that Shion's mother is on the board of the school while Ino's father is the biggest investor." All of which is true, and Sakura isn't from an important family but runs with the pack. Even when she and Ino have been best friends since they were kids. They just wanted to join the popular crowd because it sounded better than "average".

Naru hated popular crowds; they were the worst bullies ever, and those girls as well as what they did to her made her hell-bent on getting out of Konoha one day. This had been a home where she felt safe, but it was just a piece of crap thanks to them. She and her friends were making plans even now.

At least she looked forward to tomorrow with them, as her foster family was saying. "So, does that mean you picked out something cute for tomorrow?" Orochimaru asked with his famous leer which many would regard as pedo, but he was NOT that. Gave off the vibe, but she'd known him all her life.

In answer to his question: that sweatshirt they all got her for her last birthday, which had the sun mandala symbol, and speaking of which, Tsunade - young and gorgeous as ever, looking like she was still in her twenties thanks to her little cosmetics secret - had something for her which she wanted to give by the time the middle school year ended, but patience ran out, and Naru burst into tears as well as lost her appetite for her favorite food in the world.

A dainty, sleek and icy blue crystal which might have come from a glacier - the necklace which belonged to her grandfather, had been worn by her brother who died in the war.

"OH, I LOVE YOU ALL!"

One gigantic bear hug which ran in the family was a simple heart warm anyone could ask for.

But when she went out on her own, taking everything she learned from them as well as school, she was gonna miss them dearly but stay in touch.

~o~

Why was he "volunteering" at the festival if not for the fun of it, and not out of the kindness of his heart? Because I deserve it, that's what.

He could still hear his brother's voice as he told him - over and over in his mind - that he was nothing but a big disappointment after everything he'd done for him as both a father and a sibling since their parents' deaths.

He had been doing this stuff ever since last year when he had just turned fourteen. He'd been told he had been so lucky thus far because of his previously perfect record and family history, but he would no longer be let off the hook so easily for his recent actions. He was given community service which would last into next year, but if he screwed up again, he'd throw his whole life away. He scoffed; why the hell should he even care since he had no one to turn to, when nii-san wasn't home much and he started fending for himself? When he was partially forced to grow up when he hadn't even become an adult just yet?

The courts told him that the laws of this country were getting all the more tighter and depriving minors his age of certain protective measures, to make them learn lessons the hard way. And he'd done nothing to threaten the lives of other people, just some stupid petty things like theft - being an accomplice when his friend Suigetsu stole some fish bait so that he had the equipment to feed himself and his alcoholic father, Sasuke feeling the need to do the same for himself - as well as pranks as part of rites of passage before high school would begin.

Itachi said that it seemed they'd never understand each other, and just when he thought he couldn't have possibly done one dumb thing, he'd find something even dumber to do. Sasuke Uchiha just had to agree with the "never understanding" part.

Yeah, well, can't wait till I am old enough to graduate, my record cleaned out after community service - and then I might as well get the hell out of Konoha so I can do whatever the hell I want.

Too bad that college and adulthood period were a long way off. If only the country would just speed up making legal adult age at eighteen rather than twenty, like in the West.

His newest debacle included pranking the high school with a cattle in the football locker room, therefore adding a final warning strike to his record. Itachi even went far as to threaten to kick him onto the streets if he wanted to act like he was so tough. "On the other hand, it might make you crack your head to see the big picture. You should start making some real, normal friends instead of the ones you have now. They're just dragging you down with them, since they took advantage when you were still grieving for Mom and Dad."

Who the hell was Itachi to say that when he was almost never home anymore, ever since he was enlisted into the ANBU to survey the borders of Konoha? When they weren't as close as they'd been when they were kids?

He pushed his condescending older sibling out of his head so that he could continue picking up the garbage that attending people of the park had left behind - a big no-no in Japan as a whole, since it valued cleanliness - but when he loaded up the latest of litter into the trash vehicle which took off to dump it, he heard those damned insipid giggles which made him exhale sharply and wipe his forehead with the back of his wrist, exposed from the protective gloves.

"Oh, look, it's Sasuke-kun! It's so good to see you!" The speaker was "beautifully" garbed in a white yukata which featured black roses, arrows and cherry blossoms in their respectable pink hues - and as always, her verdant eyes were wide and hungry when they rested on his face. He suppressed a snort when he glared at Sakura Haruno and then her gang: Ino Yamanaka in blue which matched her eyes and was in flight with butterfly shapes filled with colorful blossoms of the season, as well as magenta dragonflies.

That just left the cold-hearted leader herself: Shion Kurama, in "cheerful" yellow with white, purple and pink carnation flowers. "You don't look happy to see us. You should at least show some enthusiasm since Sakura and Ino wanted to see you more than I did."

"Why?" he snapped, hands on his hips and uncaring about how filthy he looked. He didn't want to get into a physical fight with these girls if he lost his temper. No doubt his superiors were surveying him on hidden security, as part of his probation. "So you can add someone else to humiliate?" He knew all about their ways of degrading other students who didn't fit with their so-called norm, and they especially spat on those who worked their asses off to get to where they wanted to go - Shion and Ino in particular because of who their parents were, but Sakura just had to join the club because of a lack of self-esteem. He saw her falling with them if they all thought their good stuff would last.

Wasn't he one to talk when he himself did some shitty things and admitted it only to himself?

"Go away, all of you. I have work to do. I don't have time for whatever bullshit you will pull off this time. All three of you - you're so annoying I can't stand it. You have no better lives than me, picking on those inferior to you just to get kicks and make yourselves mighty and powerful. You don't even know what it's like to really suffer..." He strangled himself on the words. "...much less lose someone you love. You're all spoiled and won't know what the world is like until it's too late."

Before he knew it, Shion struck him hard across the face, and he found himself down on the ground with his flesh rolling about like a tidal wave. He grimaced and reached to rub it only to be kicked in the face. She had no sense of dignity and just let her emotions get the better of her while the other two stood by, shocked and covering their faces. Just shows how pitiful they both are.

"Aren't you one to talk, you damned juvie?" Shion spat at him. "You who has a record nearly as long as your arm because Mommy and Daddy were taken from you - you're just looking to ask for some trouble, so I'll do the honors of giving it to you." And then she knelt before him, not caring this was a public park - but a slightly isolated area leading to a hillside with more blossoming trees, the breeze blowing the pastel petals about - and reached for the line of his jeans to unbutton the top, and he snapped immediately on alert, jerking away from her just as a male voice shouted from somewhere in the bushes.

"All right, stop it, you hoes! That's more than enough!"

Who the hell was coming to his rescue when he was on the verge of being groped out of vengeance by mean girls from school?! He tilted his head backwards to see the person showing up from behind the artistically trimmed shrubs with his smartphone in hand...having recorded everything that was there. The guy had long brunette hair in a low tie, eyes clear and broad as the full moon, and was in a silky-looking white shirt with pressed khakis - unlike Sasuke in his dirty white t-shirt and dark jeans covered with debris.

"Neji Hyuuga," Ino said, shocked. "Then that means -"

"Yup, skanks, Naru Namikaze and the Hyuuga cousins to the rescue! Take your slutty hand off him, Shion!"

Sasuke couldn't believe what he was seeing: the girl whom everyone knew at school as the "fox girl" - because of those whiskers on her cheeks - and her two best friends in front of him. And he didn't even have a good history with them, just seeing the blonde as an annoyance like the others as they were all the same to him, but here they were and documenting what these three bitches were doing to him.

There was shy and sweet Hinata Hyuuga herself with her waist-length raven hair streaked with lilac, eyes matching as her cousin Neji's - now that everything came back together - and in a gray tee which showed off her womanly curves, her dark blue jeans having black lace on the pockets, but his attention was mostly on Naru Namikaze herself in that flowing black hoodie with the ombre-dyed sun going from orange to gold, joined with ripped faded denims...

...except he was more distracted by that whiskered face framed with a short, shock of gold around her ears as well as those eyes broad and bright as the sky, glowing with obvious disgust and rage at what she was seeing, while her girl friend was horrified and might be wishing she could do something.

And also: "Sasuke, get the hell up and close those damned pants of yours! You three girls - you're going into my office at once, and the rest of you are witnesses!"

It was just like his boss to be this livid over any little thing as much as the severe ones, but damn it, he had to see Sasuke's jeans partially opened like that, and it all but made his cheeks burn with anger more than humiliation.

Great - I might get blamed for this, never mind that there is proof those three came on first.

~o~

The big guy who owned the park really could scare the hell out of anyone - especially with his explosive rage, now that this had to happen today, and in a public park, but it wasn't like any of these hoes cared.

Actually, two of them were afraid, but their leader overruled as usual.

We came to just have fun, and ended up saving what everyone calls the "biggest emo" out of us all.

She never once associated herself with Sasuke Uchiha, since he was nothing but a snobby jerk who turned down anyone who smiled at him, got the top grades but never really seemed to have a goal or motivation that he wanted out of life. It didn't appear he had real friends besides that crowd he hung with which often got him into trouble. So, she and her friends came across none other than THIS, and something snapped inside Naru when she saw Shion's hand try to go to a certain place after she did the job of slapping him and kicking him to the ground.

Why didn't he fight back? Because hitting girls would just add to his criminal record.

And just when Shion and her posse couldn't have done more damage - like they did with her - they screwed up this time when he verbally fought back while in community service. They should have known that old man Ay would have the best security there was to catch something like this...but then Neji also had a trick of his own. Good old Neji.

Ay was someone she'd always been afraid to reason with when she was a little girl, when she used to come here with her parents before they died. Having once been a Marine from Kumo before retiring and coming out here with his younger brother, Bee - who was also a musical artist and famous for his "terrible raps" - he was extremely intimidating that it would be such a miracle anyone could convince him of anything. Therefore, Naru pitied Sasuke Uchiha for being forced to work for him in order to try and clear his criminal record.

She was immensely surprised that, when they were all in the big man's office, he saw Neji's capture of the footage and believed that his delinquent employee was innocent this time; he hated young people who thought they could get away with anything if they came from an important family - just like Shion, Ino and Sakura. Never mind the latter two were scared and just stood by; they were going to get the same punishment by Ay, and that was forbidding them to come to his park again without their parents until they learned their lessons. He was scared of no one, just that he cared about protecting the people who came and went in his establishment.

Sasuke grunted as he was ordered to get back to work; he even ignored Ay's threats of his grouchy ungratefulness that "these kids saved your skin".

Naru and her friends were allowed to enjoy the rest of the time in the park, all three of them on a bench beneath a flowering tree, savoring the rice balls Hinata made, the tri-colored dumplings they bought together as well as the green tea Neji did the honors of brewing for them. After this, it might be onward to Ichiraku's before the day ended. Next time, we are gonna do it at night, which is also a best time. Ero-Sannin, Granny and Orochimaru are gonna do that tonight, which leaves me a chance to be out again.

Unfortunately, she and the Hyuuga cousins ended up talking about none other than the boy whose ass they unwittingly rescued today. This much they knew: he was no doubt isolated, because nearly everyone knew he was being raised by his older brother Itachi, who was hardly home because he was in the special services. No communication with other students - no good social skills at all, as well as an obvious rebellious spirit. He had committed petty theft on a lot of occasions and had gotten off well most of the time because of his family history, but this was clearly the last chance.

Somehow...Naru wondered if there was something she might do to help, but when she told her friends, Neji was ever suspicious and had his reservations while Hinata was nervous but inclined to agree with her.

Ay the Fourth Raikage (A in Japanese version) - I have not used him in any of my stories thus far, but I felt now could work. :)

The law system regarding Japanese delinquency I found on an article "Juvenile Crime and Punishment" from The Japan Times, and the dialogue between Sasuke and Itachi comes from between Jason Scott and his father early in Saban's Power Rangers (a tense and emotional scene, one of many.

Don't go away; the second part of this prologue will be coming soon, and PLEASE REVIEW - LOTS OF LOVING DETAIL!