This one is short, but I accomplished everything I wanted to, so it seemed silly to stretch it on any longer.
Reviewer Reply
This chapter is for The Dimensional Reader. I am sure the others will show their faces soon.
firebluebird2006 - Yeah, the number in () is what effects everything. The other number is just her unbuffed stats.
Teturo - Ha, I was thinking of a character from his naughty books, but it does sound like Kushina.
The next few days went fairly smoothly for the pair of pre-academy students. Sakura managed to multitask by teaching Naruto to read by going over cooking books. Using the mentoring ability slowed down her progress, but, overall between the two of them, the progression was fifty percent faster. Still, it was a slow process, but so far Naruto had learned the words for everything that could go into ramen, which he was thrilled about. It also brought up concepts like numbers, temperature, and time, which she was then able to discuss with him when he was confused. Sakura could cook without anymore serious issues happening. Sure, there were still some burning every now and then, but the food was still edible, and not at all rotten. Her cooking was at level twentytwo, while her crafting was at level six. Her mentoring skill had risen to level four. Plus, she had gained more Faction with Naruto, bringing him up over the 50k mark. He now considered her a good friend, and trusted her, which made things like persuasion easier with him. However, there had been no more quests, which meant no more experience.
Sadly, it was not to last. While she herself was content to stay inside and grind up her skills, she found that other five year olds got rambunctious while kept in doors. Plus, once she thought about it, most of the kids in her first year had not had anything beyond a basic understanding of reading. She, herself, had been good at it, but even then did not have the complete mastery of her language that she had now. So, while for once Naruto would be slightly ahead of the average student, she had already set herself well above that. It was one thing to show one jounin that she could learn a basic skill quickly, but she had shown the Hokage that she was more advanced than a normal child should be, as well. At first all Sakura could think of was that they would know. She would have to act normal.
"Sakuranee! I'm bored!"
"But Naruto-kun, don't you want to learn more about ramen?" she asked, turning back from the stove to smile at the boy.
"Not today!" The boys pout was simply adorable. Sakura giggled.
"Okay, okay. After breakfast we'll do something fun, alright? I'll even let you pick." She said, and the blonde little boy pumped his fist up into the air. She finished placing the food into bowls, or onto plates, and carried them over to the table. This morning they were having Rice, Miso Soup, and Tamagoyaki, and, luckily enough, it all seemed to come out perfectly. "Now, lets eat! Itadakimasu!"
"Itadakimasu!" Naruto could be quite polite when someone taught him proper manners.
Sometime later the pair were on their way to the playground, at Naruto's request, with a bento for each, as well as some medical supplies, tucked away in Sakura's backpack. Despite the warmer weather from a few days ago, the temperature had gone back down, and it had rained the day before, and so Sakura had been sure to bundle the miniature Naruto up in his new coat, and had him but on his boots. Both of which were orange, just like he had wanted. Sakura's coat, on the other hand, was yellow, as were her rainboots. Together, with their clothes and hair, they made a rather bright, colorful duo. The giggling pair brought a few smiles as they went by, though most of those disappeared once they realised just who they were smiling at. Sakura found it a touch funny that some of those smiles turned to glares aimed Naruto's way. as she was the one who the most dangerous, with the assorted weaponry she had hidden beneath the warm, colorful layers. They could glare all they wanted, but no one had better put their hands on them, or she was going to make them pay.
She would never admit it, but being thrown out of a store in the middle of a crowded street had been humiliating, and she wasn't even close to being over it.
The pair hadn't even gotten a few feet onto the playground when they were stopped by a petite, purple haired monster - Ami. She would have known just who the girl was, regardless, thanks to the text over her head.
Ume Ami
Playground Bully
LV 1
Which likely meant that Ami would be an easy fight, if not for the three girls behind her. Four level ones against a level two? She could take them. She was sure of it.
"Look at what we have here. Two freaks in cheap clothes!"
Which was totally unfair, really, because Sakura's clothes were not cheap, and while Naruto's were bought at a bargain store she had been careful to only pick out decent pieces. You could actually get some really nice stuff at thrift stores if you looked carefully enough.
"What out for the pack of dogs, Naruto-kun. Those mongruls probably carry germs," she said, leaning over towards Naruto, and putting her hand over her mouth. It would have looked like she were whispering to him, but she spoke in a voice loud enough to carry over half the playground.
Naruto wasn't the only one who laughed, but he was the only one who said, "Haha, she called you four bitches!"
Sakura was very proud of how fast he had picked up counting. "Naruto-kun, thats a bad word." Sakura pointed out, kindly.
"Bad words suit bad people." Naruto said, grinning.
"Shut up, you two idiots!" Ami finally screamed, snapping out of her surprise. Sakura had never stood up to her before. Ever.
"Oh dear, is that foam coming out of her mouth? She must be rabid. Stay behind me, Naruto. Don't let it bite you."
And with an enraged scream, Ami threw herself at Sakura. Sakura sidestepped the girl, pulling Naruto with her, and the purple haired girl fell into the muddy ground.
"Get her!" Ami yelled to her friends as she pushed herself up from the ground, tears in her eyes.
"Naruto, please let me handle this one. I want to see how I can do." Sakura shifted into a defencive stance. "I will defend myself," she said coolly to the group of three. Once still came forward, warily. Sakura waited. The girl then charged, and threw a punch. Sakura grabbed the girl's wrist, and threw her towards Ami. The girl tripped over her friend, and the two collapsed into the mud.
The other two charged her. Sakura dropped, and swung a leg to knock the two over, before straightening up.
"Aw, you guys are too easy! You're going to need to seriously practice more if you want to fight on your own like that. Or you could try to be smart, and fight together. Jeez, you guys look gross, all covered in mud like that."
"You just wait, Haruno! We'll kick your ass next time! Lets go, guys. They aren't worth our time."
Sakura had watched Ami get ripped apart in the war. She had never liked the girl, but she didn't want any of her fellow ninja to die like that. She really hoped this encouraged the girl to take things more seriously. She hadn't been any better than Sakura had been, skill wise, back in school, and her grades hadn't been nearly as good.
Encounter Complete!
88 XP Earned!
Which, she quickly figured, brought her up to 151 out of the 500 that she needed!
'Kickass! Fighting gets us experience too! Lets beat up everyone!' … 'Or not. Not sounds a lot more legal.'
"Hehe, you were so cool, Sakuranee! They didn't even get a hit!"
Sakura turned to grin at the boy. "Yeah, but next time they are going to bring their A game! We'd better practice how to fight together, too."
"Yeah, dattebayo! We'll be the best team ever."
"Come on, Naruto-kun, lets go play!" She cheered, dragging the boy off towards the swings.
Sakura munched on a rice ball as she watched the newest newcomer walk onto the playground.
'Funny, I don't recall seeing him at a playground before,' she mused as she chewed.
Sasuke had just arrived at the playground, hand in hand with who Sakura assumed could only be Uchiha Itachi. Some other, slightly older, person followed closely behind the pair. Sakura assumed he was an Uchiha too. He looked like an Uchiha. He was the only one talking, it seemed. Sasuke was intent on getting to the swings, pulling his brother along with him.
His genius brother. Who, if she remembered correctly, had to be at least a chuunin, or something, at this age. He had graduated the academy way young.
'I can just pretend to be a genius too! In fact, that's probably what the Hokage was thinking. He brought the books to see how advanced I was.'
Though, she didn't want to graduate early. She wanted to be on team seven. She only had to test out early is she wanted to, though.
Uchiha Itachi was looking at her. Sasuke-kun was looking at her, with a pout. She had been staring. Chewing, and staring. Her face went red, and she looked away. 'Pretend nothing happened. Pretend nothing happened.'
Naruto had been watching Sakura focus on something besides him. He was positive she had not heard a word he said. He was upset, which was quite obvious by the pout on his face, but that quickly turned to worry as he saw Sakura's face turn colors.
"Sakuranee?" he questioned, reaching his hand out to feel her forehead. Sakura jumped at the contact, so Naruto took his hand away. "Are you alright?"
Sakura looked up at Naruto, and had to stop herself from saying 'aw'. His worried expression was so cute. She grinned. "Hehe, its all okay, Naruto-kun. Here, lets clean up," she said, and started putting lids back onto boxes.
Someone was walking towards them. Someone with little feet. She could hear it. She turned her head. No, three people were walking towards them, but only one was untrained enough to make noise.
"Good afternoon, kiddos!" the oldest spoke. Though he looked very Uchihaish Sakura was starting to doubt he was one. He seemed cheerful, and fun. Kinda like Naruto.
"My brother, Sasuke, was wondering if he could play with you."
Sakura raised an eyebrow as she took in Sasuke's pouting face. "Oh? Is that so?"
Sasuke sent a pleading look at his brother. "Do I have to?" he attempted to whisper.
Sakura heard, and so did Naruto.
"Eh? Have to? You should be grateful to even be able to speak to my Neechan! She is the greatest of the greatest! The strongest! The most prettiest! I bet she could beat your brother up!"
Sakura put her hand to her face.
"She could not!" Sasuke shouted.
"Could too!"
"Not!"
Sakura burst out laughing. "You two are already fighting like an old married couple!"
"Are not!" the two yelled back.
Sakura laughed harder, and was joined by the older maybe Uchiha. "N-no? Silly me."
"She's still cooler," the slightly mollified Naruto said.
"I think the more important question is which of you two is cooler. The cooler person would be able to get to the sandbox first, I think," she said, cutting off Sasuke's reply.
Naruto darted off, and Sasuke followed, yelling "Cheater!"
Sakura giggled once again, and set about packing up the leftovers from lunch.
"I won!" Naruto yelled someway off in the distance.
"No, I won!" Sasuke yelled back.
"It was too close to tell, I think. Still, the coolest person would be able to build a better sandcastle, right?" she yelled back.
Naruto dove right into the sand, while Sasuke pouted, and pointed out that they had no tools.
"Cool kids don't need tools. They are too smart to use them anyways," she said, standing up, throwing her bag over her shoulder. "Naruto is only using his hands," she reminded, her voice still loud enough to carry across to the boys. Sasuke started building.
"That was nicely handled," Itachi spoke. To her. One of the strongest people to ever be born in Konoha was talking to her. He had murdered his entire family. He was smiling at her.
"Thank you, Uchiha-san," she said, bowing her head.
"I don't recall giving you my name."
Sakura raised her head. "That is why I only know half of it. I'm Haruno Sakura,"
"Uchiha Itachi."
Sakura turned her head to the tallest male, the one she was most curious about.
"Uchiha Shisui."
So he was an Uchiha. A rather famous one, at that.
"So, why us?"
"Pardon?" Itachi asked.
"Why did you want your brother to play with us."
"I said he wanted to play with you,"
Sakura sent him an unimpressed look. "I know what you said."
Shisui chuckled. "I like this girl."
Sakura smiled. "Is Sasuke-san going to be joining the academy, too?"
Itachi nodded.
"Good! I've always wanted to spar an Uchiha," she said, giving the impish duo. Shisui chuckled once again, and Itachi cocked an eyebrow up as the corner of his lip pulled up. She had amused him.
"Oh, you think you're tough stuff, do ya, kid?"
She shrugged. "I'd liked to be. I try to practice, but its hard to tell how good you are on your own, you know? The Uchiha clan is reknown for its skilled fighters. If I can do okay against Sasuke, then I must be doing well."
"That is logical."
Sakura nodded. "I'm not bad that. I already know a jutsu."
"I am sure you will be an excellent sparring partner for my brother, then."
So far, Uchiha Itachi seemed nice. He had wanted his brother to get along with other kids. Or had he wanted an excuse to get close to Naruto? Was he already consorting with the Akatsuki? The Uchiha Massacre was not that far away. Sakura had always thought she was decent at reading people, but she wasn't getting psychopath from him, so the game must be messing with her senses.
"Hopefully we'll be good friends, too," she said, which seemed to make the Uchiha genuinely happy. She'd have to watch out for him.
"Nee-chan! Come look at my castle!"
"No, look at mine!"
Sakura grinned. "I can look at both, you know!" she shouted. "I'd better get over there before they find something else to argue about."
And with that, she took off sprinting across the playground. She wasn't fast enough to get there before the creature burst from the sand, and bite onto Naruto's ankle.
Chakra Mutated Sand Beetle
Level 10
100/100 HP
The boy let out a scream of pain as Sakura whipped a kunai out from underneath her rain coat, and chucked it as hard as she could at the giant beetle. Her blade slipped through one of the bug's wings, digging into its shell. The attack wasn't much, though. The other two kunai, however, both hit kill shots.
Critical Hit
Critical Hit
0/100 HP
Encounter Complete
+327 XP
"Naruto-kun!" Sakura yelled, covering the distance between them. The Uchiha got there first, pulling Sasuke away from the sandbox. Sakura grabbed Naruto, pulling him behind her, another blade in her hand. She scanned over the sand, looking for any signs of another bug, All she saw, however, was a game window over the downed beetle.
Loot
'Loot?'
$10 gained
Hard Beetle Shell gained
'What the fuck?'
"Why do you carry weapons?" Sasuke asked, sending her a glare. Was he jealous? He was! Too cute.
"They…" she trailed off, trying to find an answer with three pairs of dark, Uchiha eyes on her. "They were my mom's before she," she sniffled sadly, then her cheeks reddened. "I just like them, okay?" she snapped.
"Well, then," Shisiu said, bending down to retrieve the weapons from the corpse of the bug. "Here is yours back." He said, then threw it at her.
Without even thinking about it she reached out to grab it out of the air as if it were second nature to her. Which it was, but it shouldn't have been. 'Opps.' Sakura thought as she tucked her weapon away.
"See? I really like her. I should make her my student."
"Sasuke, these two will be your classmates. If you bring them over, I will spend time practicing with the three of you."
'Holy shit.'
"Who are you?" Naruto demanded, peeking out from his spot behind Sakura, where she was holding him.
"You are supposed to give your name first," Sakura whispered to Naruto.
"I'm Uzumaki Naruto! Who're you?" he demanded again. Sakura let go of Naruto to place a hand over her mouth as she giggled. He was trying.
"I am Uchiha Itachi, and this is my cousin Uchiha Shisui."
Just then, it started to ran. Sakura pulled up her hood, looking back to see Naruto do the same.
"Aw, looks like it is time to head home. Nice meeting you, kids. Say goodbye to your friends, Sasuke."
Sasuke pouted. "Bye." Did he not want to go?
"Maybe next time we can do something cooler." Sakura said. "See you in school, Sasuke-san."
"I never got your name." Sasuke said.
"Oh! Right. I'm Haruno Sakura. I hope we can be friends."
It started to rain harder, and Naruto started to grumble.
"Well, we should go. Take care. It was nice to meet you three."
And with that, Naruto started to drag her away.
"Its cold, Neechan!"
"Race you home!" And Sakura pulled her hand away to run ahead.
"Cheater!"
Sakura was pretty sure she heard Sasuke giggle.
+962 Faction with Uchiha Clan
+8105 Faction with Uchiha Itachi
+3810 Faction with Uchiha Sasuke
+10783 Faction with Uchiha Shisui
Haruno Sakura
Age - Five
Level - 2
Xp - 478/500
Health - 23/23
Chakra - 21/21
Mind – 16 (21)
Body – 14 (17)
Spirit - 12 (15)
Group Factions
Konoha Civilians : Neutral : 0/20,000
Konoha Ninja : Neutral : 0/20,000
Uchiha Clan : Neutral : 962/20,000
Solo Factions
Uzumaki Naruto :Good Friend / Trusted: 50,561/100,000
Sarutobi Hiruzen : Friendly : 22,212/100,000
Hatake Kakashi : Positive / Curious : 9,844/100,000
Uchiha Itachi : Positive / Curious : 8105/100,000
Uchiha Sasuke : Acquaintance : 3,810/100,000
Uchiha Shisui : Friendly / Curious : 10,783/100,000
Sakura is starting to get attention for knowing more than she should. The Uchiha clan is familiar with geniuses, though, so Sakura won't be that much of a shock to them. Also, I wasn't sure how much Sakura knew about the Uchiha... issue. So, I decided that she only knew the basics. I didn't feel like looking it up, and I like it more this way. Tensions are brewing in the clan, Sakura only has half of the picture, and with the influence the game has on things she doesn't know what to think.