"Today's the day," Sakura muttered, waiting for her class to be dismissed for the day. "Today I finally get Sasuke's attention!"
She'd been waiting for this opportunity ever since the tragedy that befell Sasuke a year ago. When Sasuke finally started attending classes again, only that blond idiot Naruto didn't seem to get all of the various-and not too subtle-hints that he still wanted to be left alone. Everyone waited for Sasuke to knock his block off.
It wasn't long after it became apparent Sasuke wasn't going to hurt the moron that just about every girl in class-Sakura included-practically stampeded over Naruto to offer the apple of their collective eyes their condolences, each one hoping theirs would be the shoulder he cried on.
While some of the other boys laughed at Naruto's misfortune, Sasuke ignored the various girls around him, which of course only made them redouble their efforts. She watched as almost every day after school, Sasuke met with Naruto of all people and trained for hours on end. When they finished, Sakura tried to follow Sasuke home.
He caught her, asking her to tell the other girls to "stop bothering him outside of class," so she did, and instead of joining the others in fawning over Sasuke after school, she tried to shadow him as he kept training with Naruto.
It wasn't long until she figured out the arrangement.
Every day after class, Sasuke would meet with Naruto at a specified location for training. Monday they practiced throwing shuriken in the woods. Tuesday was taijutsu sparring. Wednesday was ninjutsu practice. Sakura made a note of how absolutely abysmal Naruto was at some basic jutsu, yet seemed to excel at stuff that should've been beyond him.
On Thursdays, the boys returned to the woods and-for lack of a better term-played hide and seek. More than once, Sakura almost got caught on those days, but luck was on her side and the two boys never discovered her spying on them, or they just never cared.
On Fridays, however, the two didn't meet. During the weekends, Naruto ran through the village, usually to escape the mob of angry victims of his latest prank, but Sasuke would simply disappear for the weekend.
Sakura knew that if she wanted any shot at Sasuke noticing her, she'd have to get his attention on Friday when he was alone. And today was that day, just as soon as Iruka Sensei dismissed the class, the game would be on.
As usual Naruto was the first one out the door when Iruka Sensei dismissed them. Ignoring the protests of other children as he sprinted past them, he made a beeline straight for his apartment, already thinking of the pranks he'd pull over the weekend.
The scrolls Arashi left him had greatly benefited his humorous antics by providing some very practical advice for a ninja. Every now and then, he'd get caught after the fact, but normally Naruto left very little evidence he was responsible for the deed, so Lord Third Hokage was more or less forced to let him go without punishment.
After all, one of the first lessons Arashi's scrolls taught him was "Even if everyone knows you did something, without proof they can't pin it on you."
Naturally, there were times when he slipped up and got caught, and boy did he get punished for those instances. Like one time, he snuck into the instructor's bathroom at the academy and applied a healthy dose of itching powder to the toilet paper, he'd stupidly forgotten his jacket and when they caught him, his punishment was using the toilet paper. His butt was itchy for a week.
When Naruto reached his door, he unlocked it, opened it, and ducked as a paint can swung out from where he rigged it and passed safely over his head.
Rule #2: "Always keep your home safe."
Catching the can on its return swing, the blond locked the door behind him and reset the trap. Wasting no time, Naruto opened the box of scrolls left to him by Arashi and grabbed the latest scroll he'd been able to open.
Arashi left him several different scrolls of varying subjects and instructions. The first one he'd been able to open was Arashi's will. In it, he stated all of his possessions belonged to Naruto, and explained how he made a deal with the Third Hokage for him to live in the apartment without worrying about payments until he was old enough to earn his own wage. This current scroll contained several different stretch poses to limber him up.
An hour later, the young boy placed the scroll back in the box and reverently set it on shrine he made for his brother. After offering a quick prayer, he grabbed his night bag, went out his window, climbed onto the nearby tree branch, closed his window, and reset his trap before climbing down the tree and making for the bakery. They'd purposefully given him moldy bread for the last time.
A huge fireball shot over the surface of the water.
Sasuke stood on the same docks where he'd perfected the technique. The same dock where he'd first awakened his sharingan. His eyes shone red as his sharingan watched the fireball die about 10 feet away.
Over the past year, the Uchiha had been focusing almost exclusively on training with his sharingan, trying to become accustomed to the tax it drew on his chakra reserves. It was surprisingly lower than what he expected, but his progress with new jutsu wasn't what he'd hoped.
Sasuke scowled, flashing though the hand signs for a higher level fire jutsu, only to have it sizzle and die shortly after leaving his mouth.
The boy cursed his current level of chakra as he let his eyes fade back to normal. Sasuke was displeased with his progress over the last year. He'd only mastered one new fire style jutsu: the Phoenix Flower.
His training with Naruto was helping him with taijutsu, but he had no one to help him with ninjutsu and genjutsu. Sasuke scowled, flashing through the hand seals for the Phoenix Flower and launching the multiple balls of fire across the water. As smoke wisped from his lips, a loud voice behind him cried out.
"Sasuke-kun, that jutsu was amazing!"
Said boy almost jumped out of his skin from the sudden praise. He spun around, finding himself face to face with the pink-haired girl from his class-and one of his stalkers-Sakura Haruno.
"What are you doing here?" Sasuke asked, slightly annoyed he hadn't heard her coming.
She blushed at the question, as if he'd just given her a flower or something. "I just thought you might appreciate some company other than that moron Naruto."
Her reply sounded rehearsed. She didn't notice the glare Sasuke was giving her, though it wasn't entirely her fault, given Sasuke glared at practically everybody.
"I would prefer to be alone right now," he replied, hoping Sakura pick up on the hint and leave.
Naturally, she did not.
"How about if I just stay here and watch you practice?" Sakura offered, deflecting Sasuke's attempt at a gentle dismissal, and instead offering a fairly reasonable suggestion.
Sasuke was about to dismiss her anyway, since he still didn't want anyone else to know about his sharingan. However, the more he considered it-and hated to admit it-the more he believed having her around might help him with his current problem. After all, Sakura did have the best written marks in class, maybe she knew something to make higher level jutsu less complicated. Besides, if she stood behind him, there was no way she'd see his sharingan.
"Okay, fine." Sasuke responded, turning back to the water and activating his sharingan.
He decided to start small with a simple fireball. As he expected, Sakura praised the move, and it wasn't long until she started talking about other things.
"I've waited so long for the opportunity to talk to you Sasuke!" she exclaimed as Sasuke performed the Phoenix Flower one more time, "Why do spend so much time with Naruto?"
Sasuke shrugged while grimacing; this was the part he'd been dreading. He hoped he could get the jutsu to work so he'd be able to avoid having to swallow his pride and ask for help. He started the sequence for the Dragon Flame Jutsu.
"I just don't see why you would want to bother hanging out with him," Sakura continued, "I mean his own brother didn't even want to be around him."
Sasuke immediately stopped the sequence, tensing up at her insensitive statement. "What did you just say?"
It never occurred to Sasuke the events of the Uchiha Massacre and its aftermath wouldn't be common knowledge, including the details for why Naruto's brother Arashi went missing shortly after. Sakura was about to tell him what everyone thought happened, instead of the truth: that Naruto's brother vanished after pursuing Itachi to bring him to justice.
"Well my Father said Arashi finally came to his senses and abandoned Naruto..." Sakura explained nervously.
She'd never heard Sasuke speak with such barely contained fury before. Ever.
Sasuke took a deep breath and blazed through the hand signs for the Dragon Flame Jutsu. When the sequence was finished, he poured all of his rising anger into the justu and blew it all out. A giant stream of fire erupted from his mouth and barreled across the water, reaching the far shore. Sakura stared in horror from the sheer fury of the blaze. When the fires of hell finally died from Sasuke's lips, he turned to face Sakura, his sharingan still blazing.
"Arashi Uzumaki, didn't abandon Naruto," Sasuke began, "He left to catch my brother. He died trying to bring my murderous brother to justice. You tell your father to keep quiet about things that he can't possibly understand."
And with that, the last surviving Uchiha walked past Sakura, leaving the girl weakly trembling.
Sakura walked through the streets of the village in silence, mulling over what Sasuke told her.
"I can't believe I actually said that about Naruto! I mean, sure he's loud and obnoxious in class, but he never really came off as the menace that my parents-and almost the entire village-make him out to be."
While thinking, she noticed a rising dust cloud in the distance. Straining her eyes, she could barely make out a sprinting Naruto heading straight for her.
"Naruto, can I talk to you for minute?" She called once he was in earshot.
"Sorry Sakura!" he yelled as he passed her, "Can't talk now, maybe later!"
He never even slowed down as he turned into an alleyway. A few moments later, the local bakery owner ran by her.
"Which way did he go?" the man asked between deep labored breaths.
Sakura paused a moment, then proceeded to point straight down the street.
"Why, when I get that little brat, he's going to pay for each and every rat he let in my shop!" The man grumbled sprinting off in the direction Sakura pointed to.
She stood silent for a moment, trying to imagine what Naruto managed to pull off with rats apparently.
"What an idiot," the pink-haired girl muttered, continuing home.
Whether she was talking about Naruto, the Baker, or herself, Sakura wasn't sure.
The time has come. Time for Naruto to leave behind the class room and take his first steps as a true ninja of the Hidden Leaf. Next Time. The Path of a Genin
Author's Note: Well hopefully I wrote Sakura well. Was never really a big fan of how Kishimoto would give her a boost and then make her useless again and again, so hopefully I'll be able to make her a bit more useful while still keeping her, well her. Anyway as always hope you enjoy it and please leave a review... Seriously I determine whether or not people like these things based off those.
