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I don't own Naruto

Chapter 3

With a start Naruko leapt out of her bed. Where was Madara? Where was Hashirama? Why were they fighting each other when the three of us promised to build a village? Naruko looked around and she instantly the girl knew that she was in the hospital. So this means I'm back then? Did I really want that?

Immediately Anbu entered her room, looking around for any potential intruders. They gave Naruko a fright as she jumped out of her skin.

"Are you okay Naruko-san," the Anbu asked her.

"Uh yes I'm fine," was Naruko's sharp response. The girl was still trying to figure out exactly what was going on. "Um Anbu san," Naruko asked. The Anbu looked up at her and Naruko took this as confirmation for her to continue her question. "How long has it been since Mizuki…"

"That was two nights ago Naruko, you have your Genin team assignments tomorrow morning," the Anbu answered her.

How, how is that possible. I was with Madara and Hashirama for months, there's no way it could've just been a dream.

"Naruko-san, where did you get those clothes," the Anbu asked her. Initially Naruko didn't understand what was wrong with the Anbu, what did he mean where did she get her clothes. Then she looked down and saw the orange kimono that had been gifted to her from Madara and Hashirama. It stayed with her, even when travelling through time. She cherished those dresses more than she did her ramen.

"I'm not sure Anbu-san they were on my bed when I woke up and I put them on. Afterwards I remembered the Mizuki incident and that's why I jumped out of my bed like that," Naruko created an alibi for herself. Then she bowed her head to cement the story. "Sorry for bothering you Anbu-san."

As this was extremely out of character for the Naruko that the Anbu knew, the prankster who used to run away whilst laughing at them, it completely caught him off guard. Just two days ago Naruko had painted all over the Hokage monument.

"It's fine Naruko-san, if you're feeling okay you can leave if you'd like."

"Thank you Anbu-san," Naruko said in a much quieter voice. Her thoughts had turned to the village. After spending months of being cherished by Madara and Hashirama the girl wasn't sure how she'd react to everyone glaring at her again.

Deciding not to think about it too much Naruko left the hospital and the first thing that she did was walk to the Hokage monument. Looking at it now she could see the face of Hashirama, one of her closest friends. He was older and it was carved into stone so not a perfect image of him but the blonde ninja was able to see him in the face. Immediately Naruko ran to the Hokage tower and inside Hiruzen had been expecting her appearance. For the aging Hokage he expected to have to explain many things to Naruko but above everything he was relieved to see that she was okay.

"Hey Jiji," Naruko smiled at him. This immediately raised Hiruzens spirits; if the girl could still smile like that then he was sure she would be fine.

"Naruko it's good to see you're okay," smiled the Hokage. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions."

She nodded at that before speaking. "I do but can we go somewhere before talking." The Uzumaki looked at the Hokage as if asking for permission to speak and the Hokage nodded at her. "I want to go to the top of the mountain, there's something that I want to see."

"Okay then Naruko, let's go."

The two of them headed outside where they looked at the stone faces. Naruko pointed at the top and Hiruzen grasped Naruko tightly before they both suddenly appeared on top of the mountain via shunshin.

As soon as they got to the top Naruko began to run off, she needed to see where they had stayed. "C'mon Jiji!"

The Hokage walked in the general direction that Naruko was running in, making sure that he didn't let her get out of his sight. The blonde knew exactly where she was going; she recognised many things and knew for sure that this is where her home had been. Suddenly Naruko stopped as she saw it.

The Hiruzen was incredibly confused that Naruko even knew of the existence of this place as he caught up to her and looked at what Naruko was looking at.

The jinchuriki gasped aloud, it was an old landmark, and one that the first Hokage and Madara had placed before the village was properly founded.

"How do you know of this place Naruko," the Hokage questioned her. Looking to the Genin the Hokage could see tears slowly role down her cheeks and now Hiruzen was really confused.

"I didn't know this was here, but if it is then…" tears continued to fall down the village. "What is the landmark jiji?"

Looking at it and taking in all of the details it was a statue of an angel. She wore a kimono, a lot similar to the one that Naruko had on. The hair was long and went down the angels back and its eyes shape also matched Naruko's.

"This, Naruko, is a special landmark. It is less believed these days that this person here, was even real, but in the founding days of the village it was believed that she was an angel who would watch over the village. The story goes that Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha both had the dream to build the village. At a young age they met with a stranger, a young girl. It's said that she scaled this mountain and stayed here in the wild. Madara and Hashirama were so captivated by her beauty that they would return as many days as they could a week, bringing gifts to the angel."

Naruko looked captivated by the story and the Hokage was surprised by this. This was mostly a forgotten story but Hiruzen had enjoyed it as a child.

In the blondes mind she couldn't believe that she was in a story. She waited for the Hokage to continue.

"On August the 18th it's said that was where the three of them made a promise to build the village hidden in the leaves. The day after that promise was made both Hashirama and Madara fought as their families had found out about the friendship between the two. Before any casualties could be caused the angel shouted for them to stop and that's what happened. Her voice was said to be so powerful that everyone on that day froze. When the angel asked about their dream and how both Hashirama and Madara had promised to build the village they both turned their backs on the promise, thinking it couldn't be achieved. Due to the breaking of this promise, the angel Naruko disappeared and the fighting continued. Its said she wouldn't appear again, until the valley of the end," Hiruzen finished the tale.

"What's the valley of the end," Naruko asked.

"That child is a story for another day. Nevertheless how did you know of this place?"

"I dreamed of it," was Naruko's cryptic answer.

"Ah I see," responded Hiruzen who was deep in thought.

"Jiji, what was the angels' name," asked Naruko.

"The angel was called Naruko, just like you."

"I'm named after an angel then?"

"Yes, you were named after the angel of our village." Hiruzen answered. "As the angel is said to protect Konoha, you do too. Naruko child, you've protected Konoha every day of your life, just like the angel."

"Do you think you could bring back the festival this year, it's a shame for this story to go uncelebrated."

"I think I will do that Naruko," the Hokage said. The two of them remained in front of the statue, thanking their guardian angel for protecting Konoha since its founding.

I'll protect Konoha for sure. I'll be Konohas guardian angel Naruko thought.

The rest of that day passed by fairly quickly and Naruko now saw the village in a new light. She'd taken it for granted her entire life, since that was all that she had known. Having lived a short amount of time in the era of the warring clans the girl knew just how important this village was. You did it. Hashirama, Madara, you both made our dream a reality. I'll protect it no matter what.

The only other thing Naruko did that day was go to a clothing store and have more of her kimonos made since that's what Madara and Hashirama had gifted her.

The next day Naruko had woke up early and she put her headband on as well as the dress. One thing the girl realised was that her body carried the strength that she had gained through her training in the past. She felt stronger and faster and more confident. Racing to the academy so that she wouldn't be late, the girl surprised herself by being early.

It must be because I'm faster now then I was; still better early then late.

The next person to walk into the room was Uchiha Sasuke. He had long dark hair and the same eyes that Madara had had. He exerted the same confidence as Naruko's friend and she was caught off guard at how eerily similar the two of them were.

The Uchiha boy was caught off guard by the Uzumaki girl in front of him. She was by all means an annoyance. She performed pranks, messed around and took nothing seriously. Where the Uchiha was calm, cool and collected the girl was loud, clumsy and annoying.

Despite this they were also similar. The two of them were alone, ostracised to the entire village. They were like two sides of the same coin, where Sasuke was dark and cold, Naruko was bright and warm, yet these were there reactions to being in similar situation.

Sasuke had many words he would have described Uzumaki Naruko with. Beautiful had never been one of them, not one, until this moment now. Looking at the girl now her blonde hair shined brightly. Her eyes shined like sapphires and her beaming smile was enough to light up a whole room. He took a closer look at her and saw her golden skin, the marks on her face seemingly enhancing her beauty.

The two of them stared at each other and felt as if time stopped. There was something between them, something unspoken and they both knew it. Then another genin walked through the door and they were out of the trance, Sasuke replacing his shocked expression to a solemn look and Naruko repressed her thoughts, knowing that they wouldn't help her.

As the minutes passed by more and more of the seats were filled out. In one of the corners of the room Naruko sat alone, no one willing to sit near the village pariah. No one thought anything of it; the girl was always like a ray of sunshine, a smile on her face. The Uzumaki didn't blame anyone, but that didn't make it hurt any less. Before Hashirama and Madara, Naruko had never even had one friend. Any time she tried she was ignored, her peers simply telling her that their parents had called her dangerous. Naruko didn't understand this but there was nothing she could do and so she left them alone.

The reason that Naruko began her pranking was to fill in the lonesome hours of the day, preferring to be scolded over being alone. She listened to the others in the class gossip and laugh with her friends. Naruko was left out and this saddened her. NO! This is the price I have to pay to protect the village. They may never know what I do for them and that would still be enough. I promised I would protect them and I will do that.

Eventually Iruka walked in and sparing Naruko a smile, he began to go through the genin teams after quieting the class.

Naruko didn't pay too much attention to him until her name came up.

"Team 7 will consist of Uzumaki Naruko, Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke," Iruka spoke out before continuing. A loud cheer could be heard at the back of the class.

Sakura was delighted to be with Sasuke. She didn't mind being on Naruko's team if it meant that she was able to spend more time with Sakura. Speaking of Naruko, Sakura took a glance at her other team mate. She was shocked by what she saw and it took her a minute to process it. Gone was Naruko's jacket and trousers, replaced by a beautiful kimono dress. The blonde was never given much thought before and now Sakura couldn't help but try to supress two feelings that she had currently. One was awe, Naruko looked like a character from a story book and Sakura was amazed by how beautiful Naruko looked.

The other feeling Sakura had was jealousy and immediately Sakura felt like she had new competition for Sasuke's affections. In her opinion, it was bad enough that she had to fight Ino over him but if the other competition came from her team mate then Sakura would do everything she could to make sure Naruko understood that Sasuke was hers.

Pushing these thoughts away Sakura now felt tremendous guilt. Naruko had done nothing but smile at her after finding out they were to be team mates and Sakura immediately jumped to conclusions. The Haruno decided that she would try to be friends with Naruko; they were to be team mates after all. She just hoped that Naruko didn't go after Sasuke.

Sasuke was unsure how he felt. On one hand both Sakura and Naruko had been weak in the academy. Sakura had been obsessed with him for years and all it did was irritate Sasuke. He couldn't think of any positives to being teamed up with her. He looked at the other team mate and was captivated by her again. She was like him, and understood him to some extent. Naruko was both the best and worst team mate he could have gotten. Best because they had potential to push each other to get stronger. Naruko had determination to become strong, even Sasuke could see that. She was ignored for the majority of the time and the girl still passed the academy, if only barely. The similar circumstances allowed Sasuke to think that they could potentially be friends.

His brother's words rang through his head.

Sasuke immediately hardened his resolve. He could never have a bond with someone, if he did then he would have to kill that person and Sasuke wasn't sure if he could resist doing so if it meant that he would gain the power to kill Itachi, his brother. That was the main reason Sasuke shut himself out from everyone else, he feared losing someone else. For this reason Sasuke was wary about Naruko being his team mate.

Said Blonde was unsure what to think. She hoped she would be able to bond with Sasuke as she had Madara, although Madara was far more open to get to know her. The Uchiha was everything she was not and this made Naruko envious of him. That was until she met Madara and Hashirama. The two of them taught her to love herself no matter what and Naruko decided she would do her best to bond with her team mates.

Naruko had also been envious of Sakura. The girl had been popular since she became friends with Ino and even in their so called 'rivalry' everyone knew the two were still friends and the girls that Naruko would class as 'followers' looked up to the blonde and pink haired ninja. I hope I can make friends with them both. Although I already have the greatest friends I could ever hope for in Hashirama and Madara.

In her thoughts Naruko had failed to notice that people were already leaving the room for lunch. Naruko decided that maybe it would be a good time to get to know her team mates. Having made her decision Naruko rushed out of the room, pushing past a few of her classmates. Now that she had done something people noticed her and all were surprised at how she looked.

Running out of the academy, Naruko saw Sakura and Sasuke about to start talking. She ran over to them and managed to catch them before the conversation started.

"Hey Sasuke-kun, would you maybe want to eat lunch with me, since we're going to be team mates," Sakura asked with a slight blush.

Sasuke gave her a pointed look and went to walk off when he was interrupted.

"Hey Sasuke, Sakura just asked you something. The least you could do is respond. And we should eat lunch together anyway, since we'll be a team," Naruko said sternly.

"Hn"

The Uchiha walked off like nothing had happened.

"Hey Naruko what the hell do you think you're doing. Now Sasuke-kun will hate me because you shouted at him. Honestly just stay out of other people's business."

"I see," Naruko said dejectedly.

Naruko walked back into the academy building, her optimism from before completely shattered. Why did I think things would be different? This is what having hope does. Wait what am I talking about I've already gone over this. Being hated is a price I have to pay for protecting the village and I'm fine with that.

Sakura felt bad as she watched Naruko walk off. She hadn't meant to snap at the blonde like that, she just panicked because she thought that Sasuke might hate her if she was associated with Naruko. As much as she felt bad, she did think that Naruko didn't need to interrupt their conversation, also Sakura didn't miss the fact that Naruko had invited herself along with her and Sasuke's date. Deciding that she would go to Sasuke and explain things through her called out after him.

Having caught up with Sasuke, Sakura finished explaining that she wasn't with Naruko and that she didn't think anything about what she said.

"So you see, please don't lump me in with her."

"Sakura what do you think of Naruko," Sasuke asked. The Uchiha was unsure why, even questioning himself in his head but he was intrigued by the Uzumaki.

"Well what is there to think about her? Everyone says she's dangerous and we all keep away from her. There's nothing much more to her then her pranks. Why do you want to know about her anyway?"

"She was dead last right," Sasuke began and Sakura confirmed with a nod. "How can the dead last of the academy be dangerous?" With that said Sasuke walked back to the academy where they would be meeting their jonin sensei.

Sakura was surprised but when she thought about it, nothing made sense about Naruko. She was the weakest person in their class, yet the adults were most weary of her. She had been a prankster and not much more, yet suddenly she was one of the most beautiful people that Sakura had seen. These thoughts plagued her mind as she made her way back to the academy to find out who her jonin sensei was.

Okay that's another chapter finished. Please review and tell me what you thought. I'm not trying to make Naruko cry all the time yet she seems to continuously be in scenarios where that's her most likely reaction (IMO). While I have a general idea of where this story will go please give some suggestions as they might be better than my own idea.

Thanks.