I don't own Naruto

Chapter 2

Naruto was tied up to the middle stump, not allowed any food as Sasuke and Sakura were given food. No matter how hard they tried they hadn't been able to get a bell. Kakashi had instructed them not to feed Naruto but Sakura would never turn on a comrade, even if it meant ignoring orders.

"Here," Sasuke stated before Sakura could do the same. The pink haired Kunoichi had been trying to sense Kakashi but he wasn't near as far as she could tell and it seemed Sasuke picked up on it too.

"Naruto-kun you can have some of mine as well," Sakura offered and Naruto had tears in his eyes.

"Are you sure you want to risk it. Honestly I can go without food," Naruto said, he didn't want to get his team into trouble.

"You'll be even more useless to us on an empty stomach and we don't have a chance alone," Sasuke explained with his logic.

"Besides we're comrades, I hope you'd do the same for me if we switched positions," Sakura added.

"But-"

"Quick eat before Kakashi returns," Sasuke interrupted him.

"Thank you. Both of you, however I can't eat with no arms," Naruto responded.

Sakura grabbed her chopsticks and moved them towards Naruto's mouth so he could eat. Naruto, being extremely hungry as he hadn't eaten all day, didn't take much more convincing to eat. Sasuke did the same as Sakura and they both fed Naruto half of each of their food.

"YOU," Kakashi appeared from nowhere. "You disobeyed my orders."

"Yeah and we're a team," Sasuke answered, quickly dispelling any signs of shock that might've showed.

"Yeah exactly, I'd do it again as well," Sakura stated boldly and then picked more food and gave it to Naruto who was still so hungry he ate it before thinking. Kakashi was so surprised that not only stood up to him they weren't even scared of him and wouldn't abandon a comrade even in front of those far more powerful than themselves.

"I knew I liked you," Kakashi muttered under his breath. "If that's the case then I suppose I have no choice but to say that you," Kakashi paused for dramatic effect as he liked doing. "PASS! Here's a lesson for all of you. You see that stone, it's for heroes of this village-"

"I wanna be on that stone dattebayo," Naruto interrupted.

"-who have died in action," Kakashi stated and Naruto quietened down. "Those who break the laws are trash, but those who abandon their friends are worse than trash," Kakashi finished and Sakura took his quote to heart. She agreed with them wholeheartedly, she'd made a friend in Naruto she hoped to do the same with the other two.

"Okay Team 7 today we start our official duties as a team," Kakashi said. Sakura took out her knife and cut the rope that tied Naruto to the tree, the four of them walking off.

As Kakashi walked he pondered the skills of everyone there. First Naruto had been brash and foolish, however the amount of chakra he had to just through shadow clones around was ridiculous and he didn't give up. Naruto would be a capable ninja in the future, of that he had no doubt. Sasuke had been as expected; he had excellent Taijutsu and already knew an elemental ninjutsu. He'd pressed him the closest to getting a bell although Sakura hadn't been a slouch either. She'd been annoying to fight, in a good way, as she was fast and unorthodox yet orthodox as the same time and really confused Kakashi. She'd be going through the normal academy style and then tweak it slightly and catch him off guard. Kakashi understood how she might give Genins trouble and all in all Kakashi was extremely happy with his team.

Sakura walked home and felt a huge weight had been taken off her shoulders; finally she was a proper ninja, finally. As they'd started extremely early and it was only after lunch that they'd been given the day off Sakura decided to go to the library. She'd found a Taijutsu style she felt suited her but decided to wait until practising it when she became a Genin. Picking up the book she also decided to pick up a book on elemental ninjutsu, she'd been extremely surprised at Sasuke who'd fired a fireball out of his mouth. She spent the rest of the day reading on it and was thankful that the book knew how to work on each element so she'd have a starting point if Kakashi didn't know.

The following day she walked to the bridge where they agreed to meet and found that Sasuke was there first.

"Hi Sasuke," Sakura said, hoping to strike up a conversation with him.

"Hn," was his quick reply, indicating he acknowledged her presence.

"What do you recon we'll be training in today," Sakura asked, she knew he liked training and she'd be able to carry a conversation if it was about this.

"I don't know, so long as it helps me I don't mind either way," Sasuke answered her.

"I hope its Taijutsu; the academy style is far too basic and has a lot of holes. I understand it's a good base but we should have learned more in the academy in my opinion."

"I agree I suppose, although I learned the Uchiha style from when I was four so I guess it's different," Sasuke responded and Sakura realised that she'd managed to draw him into a conversation.

"Yeah like with me I'd need to have one centred around speed over strength whereas someone like Naruto would want the opposite so it's stupid to teach us the same thing," Sakura stated. "Where'd you learn elemental ninjutsu?"

"My father taught it to me," Sasuke responded and Sakura knew she was walking on dangerous ground. One wrong comment and she could really piss him off, however back out and Sasuke would continue to assume they'd never talk about anything past training.

"That's cool, your father was head of the police force right," Sakura asked, as long as she kept the conversation off of his brother she'd be fine.

"Yeah he was, how'd you know," Sasuke asked, it wasn't a secret but he was suspicious if Sakura had researched him or something.

"He arrested someone at my home when I was younger. Some drunken asshole harassing me but your father helped me out. That's how I know who he was," Sakura responded.

Sasuke's shoulders seemed to relax slightly as he was finding it quite easy to talk with Sakura. The Uchiha heir had been intrigued by the conversation Sakura had with Naruto but didn't talk with them as one he was weary of making friends thanks to what Itachi said and secondly he felt out of place.

"Yeah he was like that," Sasuke said in quiet comfort. He knew that Sakura likely knew about his brother but she didn't bring it up and she didn't back out the conversation either and Sasuke appreciated it. Out of everyone in the academy Sakura and Naruto were surprisingly the best team mates he could have got, they were both like him to an extent and so they could understand each other, at least to a certain point.

"How long do you think Kakashi-Sensei will be," Sakura asked Sasuke whilst waving to Naruto who walked up to them.

"Could be a few hours potentially," Sasuke answered her question whilst giving a slight nod to Naruto. Thanks to the conversation that he'd had with Sakura he was more relaxed and could drop the cold façade to his teammates. This didn't make him happy like Naruto but he wouldn't just blatantly ignore them like he did to his fan girls in the academy.

"Oi Naruto, what do ya recon we'll be doing today," Sakura asked, letting the blonde into the conversation.

"I dunno I'd take anything to be honest. No one taught me properly in the academy ya know so as long as Kaka-sensei teaches me properly," Naruto responded.

"What do you mean you weren't taught properly," Sasuke asked warily. Maybe Naruto wasn't so useless after all if he still passed whilst be sabotaged.

"Well I played a prank one time and they never really forgave me for it except Iruka-sensei. I suppose it started out as payback and became habit," Naruto replied as if it wasn't a serious problem. This became the vocal point of the conversation with all three of them asking questions then coming up with solutions to help Naruto. A long while later Kakashi appeared.

"Yo," Kakashi stated waiting for a screeching someone to shout at him yet he got nothing.

"Naruto I can help get your smarts back up and then hopefully Kakashi sensei can catch you up in the other areas," Sakura gave a solution. "Sasuke would be a good person to practise Taijutsu with."

"Ahem what are you talking about," Kakashi asked, he was seriously getting bothered by how unaffected they were by how late he was. Was this how Gai felt.

"Sensei you're here, we need to train," Sakura stated calmly. "Naruto needs to be trained properly and I wanted to ask you a few things."

Kakashi paused for a second; this was starting to really bother him how casual they acted to him being late. "What did you want to ask me Sakura-chan?"

"Well Sensei I found this Taijutsu style and it was the best I could find in the genin section of the library. Also do you know if you can help us find out about our elemental affinities," Sakura asked politely.

"Elemental affinities? No one fresh out of the academy usually knows elemental affinities," Kakashi stated, obviously letting on that it was rare for Sasuke to know an affinity.

"But Sensei they'll make us stronger and then we'll be better ninja for the village," Sakura argued, and her point made sensei.

"Ma I suppose I could figure out what you all have at least," Kakashi decided as they'd probably not stop until he did. "All of you take a piece of this paper and put chakra into it," Kakashi told them. "It'll show your chakra affinity. It's likely you'll only have one at the moment considering your only genin but Sasuke, as he's from a clan has a higher probability of having two then you two."

"But sensei Sakura said I was part of the Uzumaki clan," Naruto stated. "Wouldn't that give me a higher chance of having more than one?"

"I suppose it does, who wants to go first," Kakashi asked and was surprised when Sasuke stepped up.

"I'll go," Sasuke stated indifferently although you could see the excitement behind his eyes, he was interested in what he would get. Sasuke infused chakra into his paper and was surprised to see it crinkle up before burning away. "What does that mean?" Sasuke questioned.

"Oh right well basically depending on your chakra nature. If it's fire it'll burn up, if it's wind it'll split in half. If it's lightning it'll crinkle and if it's earth it'll crumble away. Finally if it's water it'll soak up. Naruto you go next," Kakashi explained.

Naruto pushed chakra into his paper and was surprised to see it split in half before both side crinkled up. This interested Kakashi as Naruto had the same affinity as his father had had. His mother also used wind style jutsu so Kakashi expected that but Naruto was able to use lightning as well.

"Yatta," Naruto exclaimed excitedly. "I got two."

Sakura was slightly nervous now. She only expected to get one but was hoping for earth or water, or both. She took the paper and infused her chakra into it and saw it soak and crumble simultaneously. This was slightly different from what Kakashi explained. Looking up she saw his eyes widen slightly and Sakura was slightly worried she did something wrong. He managed to push it down and just exclaimed that it was water and earth.

"Interesting between you three you cover every basis," Kakashi said and he was completely surprised. He was just gonna watch them do D rank missions but looking at the potential leaking out his team he felt an obligation to train them. "Change of plans everyone we're training. Before I start I need to ask you all something, are you willing to train as hard as I push you," Kakashi asked.

"Hai sensei," they all responded, even Sasuke who looked forward to proper training.

"Okay lets go to training ground seven then," Kakashi stated before disappearing via shunshin.

Sakura's legs felt like they wanted to fall off and looking across to her team mates she noticed that they were more or less in the same boat. "I don't think I've ever been as tired as I am right now," Sakura stated and only received grunts in agreement. Despite the fact that she was absolutely exhausted they all felt like they accomplished something great.

"Well done team you did really well. We'll be doing the same training tomorrow but I promise you that after a month of this and D rank missions you'll potentially be the best Genin in the village, perhaps only weaker than Gais team." Kakashi was truly surprised that all three genin had lasted out the training. He was confident Naruto would complete it, that boy was a walking ball of energy but Sakura and Sasuke had also managed to finish it. Sakura had managed to break through her pain barrier and complete it, it seemed her drive was similar to Naruto's and Sasuke's although now that he thought about it, all three of their chakras were far larger than they should have been. Sasuke had his determination for revenge outweighing the pain he felt and so allowed him to complete the training.

When Sakura returned to her home that day she went straight to bed, too exhausted to do anything else. The next day they all got there right on time and Kakashi was only twenty minutes late which meant that he was early.

"Okay we're going to do three C ranked missions and then the same training regiment, can you handle that," Kakashi asked them.

"Hai sensei," was their immediate response. Kakashi truly felt like he might be training the next generation of Sannin. Their potential was higher than Kakashi had ever seen and he was a genius who was a Chunin at six years old, the same age that they started the academy. They spent the rest of their morning completing missions and thanks to the training, and Sakura, their team work seemed to be falling into place effortlessly. They captured Tora quickly, weeded a garden extremely quickly, Sakura was like a force of nature when around nature. And the repainting of the fences was all thanks to Naruto's shadow clones which allowed them to finish all their missions for the day within two hours.

At training ground seven the Genin had all done their warm ups and got ready. "Okay are you ready," Kakashi asked. The Genin hesitated for a second before nodding.

"SUMMONING JUTSU," Kakashi shouted out and his pack of ninja dogs appeared. "Go hunt," was the simple command Kakashi gave them and they chased after the Genin. Kakashi left them at it for an hour, but this was just so they would be tired for the beginning of the proper training. An hour passed by and then they started their work out.

"Up. Down. Up. Down," Kakashi gave these commands as the Genin did their push ups, counting them out loud.

"482, 483, 484," was the combined number that team seven called out.

"834, 835, 836," was the number they all called out as they punched at the wood stumps. The training was brutal but they knew it would help them so they didn't complain.

"High, low, high, low," was the name calling from Kakashi and his clones as they punched at the Genin. This wasn't to fix their taijutsu as much as make their bones and muscles tougher.

"You three I want you to run to the Hokage tower and back 10 times," Kakashi told them and they got started. The other Genin seemed surprised to see how hard team seven was working. They hadn't been a team a week and already they were being trained to the bone.

Later that day all three genin were lying on the ground, exhausted beyond belief. "Well done team, give it another 29 days and your bodies will be ready for everything," Kakashi told them and they didn't dispute it. This was the harshest training they had ever done, if it didn't make them stronger than nothing would.

Kakashi found himself in the Hokages office that day and was issuing a report. He took a day to think it over and he was pretty convinced that he'd just found a hidden Senju in his team.

"Hokage-sama I have a report," Kakashi started.

"Kakashi you've been training your team hard I see," the Hokage stated. "Especially considering you didn't want a team to begin with."

"It's different now Hokage-sama, this team will surpass the sannin, of that I have no doubt."

"That's high praise Kakashi and whilst I know they'll be strong you're speaking like they might become the strongest team to ever exist."

"They might Hokage-sama. With all due respect they have an Uchiha who is without a doubt a genius, I know that word gets thrown around but Sasuke is the different breed of genius like his brother. There's an Uzumaki jinchuriki who is the descendant of the yondaime Hokage and Kushina Uzumaki, the greatest Kunoichi of her generation. And I believe I may have one of the last Senju on my team," Kakashi stated and the Hokages eyes widened.

"Sakura-chan, but how," Hiruzen questioned.

"I'm fairly certain she might have the mokuton and just doesn't realise it yet," Kakashi began to explain. "Her chakra paper did the same thing that Tenzo's did when I looked at what a Mokuton blood line does. She can't be an Orochimaru test subject so she must be related to the shodaime Hokage someway."

Hiruzen sat deep in thought. Sakura wasn't Tsunades child that was impossible as Tsunade didn't have one and even if she did there's no way Hiruzen wouldn't know about it, which meant there was a slim chance that she was directly related to Hashirama.

Suddenly Hiruzen's eyes widened considerably, he may have just figured it out. Could it be?

"Kakashi, it's entirely possible that she is related to Tobirama-sensei. We'll need to have her do a blood test and check their bloods together."

"Rea-really Hokage-sama, that'll be huge if she's related to the first and second Hokage," Kakashi was shocked, whilst all of the facts added up the truth was that maybe he'd misread things but if there was a strong chance Tobirama had a child then that means Sakura could be descendant to one of the greatest clans in the world. "Either way team 7 is doing really well, I expect them to lead the next generation of ninja."

"You may leave now Kakashi. Good job," Hiruzen dismissed the Jonin.

Leaving the Hokages office Kakashi headed to the memorial stone where he would speak to all his precious people.

"Obito your cousins gonna be great I promise. I'll do my best to help him and then he'll be able to revive the Uchiha and I'm sure Sasuke will be a great leader. Naruto's a lot like you, except he seems to have untapped potential and I'm seeking to exploit this and make him stronger. I promise I won't lose anyone else. Sakura's even more strong willed then Rin and I'm positive that she'll be a figure Kunoichi look up to in generations to come. I'll do my best by them, I promise." Kakashi told similar stories to all the graves he passed, he liked to think they might understand what he was saying.

Meanwhile Kakashi did what he was doing Sakura was trying to help Naruto catch up academically.

"Sakura-chan this is SOOOOO boring," Naruto exclaimed. He'd never been good at reading; this is what he'd always been told after all.

"Naruto give it a try, you might realise that you enjoy it," Sakura tried to persuade him. "Do it for me."

"Okay Sakura-chan," Naruto huffed before going back to reading his book. Despite how tired they were after training Naruto seemed to be a lot better than she and Sasuke were, however reading didn't take too much effort and Sakura liked how much knowledge she could gain from her books. They both sat in silence for around half an hour, just reading. Sakura was looking into water and earth affinities whilst Naruto was reading about the basic subjects, yet with the books being unbiased teachers it allowed Naruto to progress far more than he thought he would. After half an hour Sakura got up, despite how saw she felt so long as she moved around and let her chakra naturally heal her she'd be fine. It had nothing on Naruto who regenerated far faster than everyone else but it meant that she would be able to do tomorrow's workout after the D ranks so long as she took it easy.

"Where are you going," Naruto asked, his eyes drawn away from his book for a moment.

"I'm cooking myself dinner, do ya want some?"

"Hai Sakura chan, that'd be great dattebayo," Naruto responded.

"Okay good," Sakura replied to Naruto before walking off to prepare their food. Over the years she'd learned how to cook quite well, living on her own and all. She spent the next half an hour preparing their meal, it was a balanced meal and despite Naruto's protests that it wasn't ramen he ate it and enjoyed it. Sakura had mixed vegetables into it and Naruto hadn't noticed. The pink haired girl decided that if she could get Naruto to eat better than he'd be fine. The main reason Sakura looked so good compared to her classmates was because of how well she ate. She didn't cut anything completely out of her diet and that gave her a better figure, Sakura was sure that Hinata would look good seeing as she appeared to be the only other girl in their class who ate well.

"Naruto did you enjoy your reading," Sakura asked.

"Honestly it wasn't that bad. I learnt loads dattebayo," the hyperactive knucklehead replied.

"Good if you keep it up you should be able to catch up with everyone else pretty quickly. If you wouldn't mind could you come over every three days, firstly it'll help you out academically and I guess I enjoy the company as well," Sakura finished slightly sheepishly.

"Of course Sakura-chan, we'll be the best ninja in no time dattebayo."

"Thanks Naruto," Sakura thanked the blonde.

"Ah I suppose I should go Sakura-chan," Naruto said before heading to the door.

"I'll see you tomorrow Naruto-kun," Sakura called after him.

"Tomorrow," Naruto shouted out before walking out the door. As Sakura cleared out she had a big grin on her face, finally she had two friends, a sensei who went to and beyond for them and Sakura felt like things were truly looking up. I promised I would protect this village, and I'll do so even if it kills me.

Okay that's another chapter please review and tell me what you thought. I have a general plot of where I want my story to go but I'll listen to suggestions and maybe incorporate them into my story.

I hope it was alright and I apologise for any errors that might have been there.