REWRITTEN
XxXxXxX
Today was the day. Finally they would begin their training that would allow them to become strong enough to be able to actually do something to assist the village in its time of despair in the up coming events that were going to soon pass. They wouldn't be useless for anyone, would be a valuable resource to the village, and be able to save all those that die.
Including Old man Hokage! Naruto smiled at his reflection, never before had he wanted to simply go to Sasuke and give him a kiss straight on the lips for allowing them a chance to do this; Actually, I don't want to do that.
He looked back towards his reflection and looked himself over; he was finally wearing the suit that they had 'bought' from the man a few days ago to train with. He put the mask up and covered his mouth. I wonder how Kakashi can do this for so long… His had all his Kunai and projectiles taped to his right leg, and his belt was empty of all things, though he planned add some survival scrolls into it. If he were to fight at night, the enemy would never know where he came from.
When I get strong enough, I'll save everyone this time! His thoughts commonly went back to the Hokage that they were serving under at the moment, Sasuke says this is a different time line, and that nothing is going to go the same here.
He walked out of the bathroom he was in feeling refreshed. Sasuke and Sakura were not in sight, so he began to walk down the hallway where he knew the kitchen was, a small snack wouldn't hurt. Sasuke should have something else besides oatmeal. He gagged at the thought of eating that again.
He entered the Kitchen and walked over to the various counters around the place. He finally spotted some cereal, which was not his favorite, but it would have to do. He'd eat the tasteless stuff even if it wasn't ramen, it was like Sasuke and Sakura were trying to keep him away from ramen, all week, since they got here, they have always suggested something else when he attempted to go there.
Hold on, His eyes narrowed, I see what's going on here! He wanted to be angry at his friends, but only a smile found its way to his face, "Meh, maybe it won't stop my growth as people say." He chuckled a little and grabbed the cereal and some milk and walked to a table.
"Well, Kakashi didn't say where to meet him, so I guess I'll wait here. I wonder where Sakura-chan and Sasuke are." He muttered to himself and took a bite of the cereal in front of him. He gagged slightly from the flavor. "What is this?" He looked over the box of cereal and nearly cried, "Damn you Sasuke! Does everything you eat have to be healthy?"
It was simply a cereal brand that added too much fruit to the mix of dry wheat, just what Naruto hated. Ok, this stuff sucks; I need to find something else.
Knowing he wouldn't find anything here, he got up and walked out of the house, not bothering to put the food away, he was sure Sasuke would thank him later for that.
"Well, see you later house!" He said, knowing nothing would respond from the outside of it anyway.
(Konoha, ninja academy.)
"Tell Naruto I am so proud of him. To get so good in such a short period of time, then to have the Sharingan Kakashi be his Genin instructor. He is going to make it far." Iruka praised his favorite student.
Sarutobi had told Iruka and the class the back up story that they created, they being Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi, and himself. They said the three of them were good enough to be on their own team already at such a young age and can begin missions. Of course, the class and Iruka immediately bought it, because it was coming from the mouth of the Hokage.
They were in the ninja academy classroom, Sasuke and Sakura were called by Iruka to pick some things up, but Naruto was sleeping, so they decided to leave him at the home. Both wore their new outfits, all fitting perfectly in place.
He can't do much harm, Sasuke thought to himself, but there was a little bit of doubt in his mind though.
"Class!" Iruka shouted, getting their attention. "As you all know, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura have all passed class three years earlier than planned, so I'd like you all to give a round of applause for them!" Very few people clapped.
A child stood up and yelled, "Why did Naruto pass? That dead last just got lucky against Sasuke!"
Sakura nodded along before saying, "He's much better than you." Her glare caused him to sit back down, and not say another word.
"Naruto," Sasuke began, "Is my equal; none of you can match up to him. Sakura is the smartest person I know, besides you Shikamaru." Shikamaru raised his head and barely gave any acknowledgment, "And she is better in Genjutsu than Naruto and I, and can also use medical jutsus." He stopped and gathered in another breath, "If any of you think you're deserving of graduating early, you'll have to beat one of us to prove it."
Right after he said that most of the people wanted to challenge Naruto and Sakura. They all 'knew' Sasuke was the best in the class and didn't both fighting him, but the other two, the class was very unsure about.
"Enough!" Iruka shouted. The class went silent again and Iruka said, "Sasuke, Sakura, give this to Naruto." He handed them a forehead protector, "And you two can have these." He handed them two different forehead protectors. "I am proud of you two."
Sakura gave the man a hug, "Thanks, Iruka-sensei."
He was shocked slightly at first but hugged her back, "You too, I'll miss you three!" Sasuke waved his hand behind him as he began to walk out, and Sakura followed, right before they walked out of the door Iruka called out, "Make sure Naruto doesn't get into any trouble!"
"I'll make sure of that!" Sakura shouted back and walked out.
Iruka sighed as they left and turned to the class, "Ready?" He asked happily.
"No…" Most of the class responded back.
"Great! Iruka shouted, "Now let's begin." He turned to the board behind him and began to write multiple things.
(Ichiraku Ramen stand)
"Another bowl old man!" Naruto shouted as he drank the last bit of the ramen broth. He put the bowl in the growing stack next to him. He sighed and leaned back slightly, "This taste so much better when you've not gone with it for almost half a week."
Teuchi smiled at Naruto, "For a minute I had thought you've abandoned ramen."
Naruto gasped way over dramatically and screamed, "I WOULD NEVER DO SUCH A THING!"
Another bowl was placed in front of him and the speech he was about to say became void as he dug into it. I love Ramen! Was all that was running though his head at that moment.
"So Naruto. I heard you became a Genin today. At such a young age! I am so proud of you!" The man said while preparing the child's next order, which the child didn't make just yet, but he knew the boy more than most would know.
"Yeah?" Naruto said, "How'd you know?"
Teuchi turned to the child, "A group of people came here complaining about it and ordered some ramen." He said, his face frowning, he leaned towards Naruto and said, "Don't tell anyone this, but I charged them a little extra for complaining."
"You're awesome Old man!" Naruto laughed as he finished the next bowl, and on cue Teuchi replaced the bowl with another one. "Thanks!"
"I know you Naruto; I am guessing you'll be getting," He examined the stack, "About three or four more before you get full and stop."
Naruto snorted, "Ha! Yeah right, I'll eat until I burst!"
"Sure you will." Teuchi sighed, "So Naruto, how'd you become a Genin exactly?"
Naruto swallowed a bundle of noodles and replied, "Kakashi-sensei watched us while we sparred at the academy, seeing how much cooler and advanced we were, he decided to have us graduate early and teach us things that could really help us."
"Oh?" He said, "Not bad Naruto, I'd think getting the attention of Kakashi would require a lot of skill."
Naruto nodded, "Oh yeah!"
"Who are your two teammates? The people didn't exactly give me details on who else passed."
"Sasuke and Sakura, they're the two I introduced to you a few days ago." He looked both left and right before leaning in and saying, "Between you and me, I think they're trying to prevent me from coming here, every time I suggest this place they quickly come up with something else and drag me away. Sasuke only has gross stuff in his house, like HEALTHY crap." Naruto looked bitter.
The look on Teuchi's face was one of disgust, "They force you to not eat ramen? That's," He looked up and screamed, "Horrible! How could they torture any poor soul like that?"
"I know!" Naruto shouted back, "It's like they want me to die or something!"
Teuchi's hands slammed on the bar, "I ought to get them here and force some ramen right down their throats! He made several bowls of ramen himself and sat next to Naruto, "Listening to that horrible story makes me desire to taste ramen to make sure nothing bad will happen to me." He began eating as he placed another bowl in front of Naruto, "This one is on the house!"
Both of them lifted up their chopsticks and shouted, "FOR THE RAMEN!" They began eating it at speeds unimaginable to all mankind.
"Naruto? Are you in there?" Sakura asked from outside the place. She entered along with Sasuke. "Naruto do you know where Kakashi might be?"
"She's the woman?" Teuchi asked, Naruto nodded quickly, "You! How dare you take the power of ramen away from this young boy! What will guide him through the future generations?!"
"… What?" She asked slightly confused.
"You heard him! You have been keeping me away from the power of the ramen! But not anymore! I am in control of this now, and you will do as I ask!" Naruto proclaimed, "NOW!"
Teuchi rolled over the counter and grabbed the two bowls of ramen and threw them at the two children, "This better work!"
Both dodged the bowls and heard sound of things breaking in the background.
"What the hell is up with you Naruto?" Sasuke asked, a twitch was visible in his eyebrow.
"Old man! They AVOIDED THE RAMEN!" Naruto shouted, slamming his hands on the bar, "What will we do?!"
"Who could have guessed two gifted children could dodge two bowls that I threw with an old hand that was at least going at speeds of ten miles per hour!" Teuchi sighed, "I can't stand to look at you Naruto! I have failed you!"
"No Old man! It is I that has failed you! Please, accept this!" He pulled out a huge wad of cash, "Please, it is the only way to restore my honor in the ramen!"
Teuchi sighed and said, "Naruto, honor cannot be bought back by money, you must FIGHT FOR IT!" He turned him to Sakura and said, "Now, do as your destiny as told you to do!"
What? I didn't think they were so close, Sakura thought, if I'd of known that I wouldn't have kept them from each other. "Naruto," She sighed, "I am sorry I have kept you from coming here, I didn't think you two were this close to each other."
"So you'll let me come here now?" Naruto asked, hope evident in his voice.
She looked at the stack of bowls he had and turned slightly green before saying, "Only if you cut the amount of ramen you have by sixteen bowls."
"SIXTEEN!" Naruto counted the bowls that he had and said, "That only leaves me with three bowls!" He sighed, "Ok, I guess that's the best I can get out of her old man." He turned to the man and showed a peace sign with his hands. "I hope that has restored my honor."
Teuchi nodded, "It's enough my boy, it's enough." He gave Naruto a hug and said, "Don't get hurt during any of your missions Naruto, or I'll have to kick your ass so you'll know better."
Naruto nodded while in his friends' arms, "Yeah, you better not close up anytime soon, or I'll come and kick your ass."
Teuchi let go of Naruto and said, "Go far Naruto."
"Am I interrupting something?" Kakashi asked, looking with an amused smile at his new students.
"We were just going out to look for you." Naruto said, He turned back to Teuchi and said, "Thank you for everything." He bowed, showing respect to him and began to leave.
"Naruto! I meant what I said earlier!" Teuchi shouted, "Don't get hurt!"
"Don't worry bout it Old man!" Naruto shouted back, a grin on his face again. Once that exchange was done with Kakashi jumped to the rooftops to see how well his students could keep up with him. To his pleasure, they were able to do this with relative ease, though he wasn't going as fast as he usually would.
"You're close to him Naruto." Kakashi observed.
"I always have been." Naruto confirmed.
Nothing else was said as they made their way to the training fields.
(Training fields)
The four of them got there in a timely fashion. Kakashi checked on his students to see how they were holding up. Sakura was on the ground breathing heavily, while Sasuke and Naruto were holding onto their knees panting.
"This… sucks…" Naruto muttered, "I could run faster than that for almost a day before I even got exhausted."
"All in due time Naruto." Kakashi said, "If you three really do come from the future, I think you know what ANBU testing is like?" The three children looked up at him in horror, "No! I'm not going to give it to you now! That would be way too much strain on your little bodies."
"Ok then, why did you mention it?" Sasuke asked, shakily standing back up.
Kakashi nodded and said, "At the end of the year, I am going to give it to you three. If you each can equal me, or surpass me one on one, then you'll become an ANBU agent, if you're below my skill, another year until the next test." All three looked shocked.
"Another year?" Naruto shouted, "Why so long?"
"Motivation." Sakura answered, "We can't fall behind, and I have a feeling Kakashi-sensei is serious here."
Kakashi grinned, "Right you are," he pulled out some Kunai and said, "You say you need to regain control of your chakra? The best way to do that is doing all the exercises from bottom to top." He threw the kunai at their feet and said, "Get to work." The three nodded, knowing what to do.
They turned to the trees surrounding them and began to climb up. Sakura was again, the first one to easily get up to the top within seconds. Naruto and Sasuke unfortunately were not so fortunate.
"One, two, one, two-" Naruto was saying as he placed one foot after another on the tree as he climbed up it, suddenly the bark exploded under his foot about halfway up the tree and he fell. He quickly recovered in mid air and landed on his feet. "Damn it!"
"Much better than last time Naruto!" Sakura called from above.
Sasuke was having as much success as Naruto. He got a little above the halfway point and the bark exploded under his foot as well. When he landed on his feet Kakashi came up.
"Sakura, since you have this down, I want you to continue walking up and down until you're exhausted. To gain more control of chakra, it is required to be able to use more chakra." The three nodded at his logic. "It seems you three are going to be finished with this exercise a lot faster than I realized, Sasuke, Naruto, when you both get it down I want you to do just what I instructed Sakura to do."
"Yes Kakashi-sensei!" Both boys said.
What Kakashi said held true, Naruto and Sasuke were easily able to get it down within the hour. He made them walk upside down and such, and before they knew it, they were all exhausted and out of chakra to manipulate. The three of them sat back to back of each other, in a small triangular shape.
"Well." Kakashi said, "You three are going to do well. Tomorrow we'll begin the physical training. You need to be in top shape to be an ANBU agent."
The three could only groan, they never knew Kakashi could actually be serious while training people. "Is that all for today?" Sakura groaned.
"Yep, come back here tomorrow at six in the morning." He said, and teleported away in a whirl of leaves.
The three sighed, "Well, I don't think I'm going anywhere." Naruto sighed.
Sasuke groaned, "We have to eat something, and drink something, I'm thirsty as hell."
"Drink your spit…" Naruto replied.
"Naruto, I think that actually makes you thirstier than you already are," Sakura explained, "We have to move, Kakashi wants us to be able to get some good rest and get something to eat so our energy is restored."
"I think I'll be able to get some rest fine here," Naruto said leaning into Sakura, "You're comfortable enough."
"Okay, let's go." Sasuke said, but he fell on deaf ears.
"Naruto I think it's only right for a man to allow a woman to be the one to have a pillow." Sakura giggled slightly, despite her exhausted nature.
Naruto snorted, "Oh? But you're so soft."
"Please…" Sasuke called, trying to end it before it truly began.
"You like it?" Sakura asked, a smile on her face, "Well, if we get home you can rest on me then."
"Really?" Naruto asked sitting up straight, "What about all that stuff about how a man should be a woman's pillow?"
"Are you guys even talking about sleeping on each other anymore?" Sasuke sighed.
"Sasuke's right Naruto." Sakura stood up slowly, and Naruto fell on the ground where she sat. She fell down on top of him however. "My feet hurt." She pouted as she slid off Naruto's chest.
"Want me to carry you?" Naruto offered.
Sakura giggled, "I thought you'd never ask." He shakily got up and stood low so she could get on his back. She complied and got on.
Sasuke stood up and sighed, "You two know that ignoring me is quite rude."
"You say something Sasuke?" Naruto asked glancing at him, "Thanks for being quiet with that moment between me and Sakura, we're glad you didn't interfere."
"Right," Sasuke said, eye twitching once again, "that's what a friend's for."
The three of them went home that like that, and as soon as they got to the room they usually sleep, they all collapsed on the same couch.
(Training Areas, Next day)
Kakashi watched as his students slowly walked forward, all of them were rested and have eaten and were ready for a new day of training.
"You all look well." He said with a sadistic glint in his eyes. "Shall we begin now?"
The three children looked at each other with uncertainty in their eyes, "You won't kill us, right?" Naruto asked. "I mean, you're here on time, and that's weird enough."
"Depends if you're too slow." He simply answered. "Yesterday when we were running here, you three lagged behind a little over halfway here, so I plan to increase your agility a little bit! I want you to run several laps around this place, however, you could stop at anytime, so to motivate you I will do this." He produced a scroll and summoned several rather large dogs. "Here they are!"
"You-" Sakura started.
"Wouldn't-" Sasuke continued.
"Dare!" Naruto concluded.
Kakashi smiled at his students' terrified looks. "Oh, but I would! Boys." The dogs perked up, "I'd like you to all chase them and make sure they don't lag behind while they run around this training field, you have my permission to harm them as you will if they do."
All the large dogs seem to grin at that, and their tails began to wag quickly.
"Nice doggie…" Naruto whispered.
"BEGIN!" Kakashi announced. "I'll be right here." He pulled out a book and his students didn't even have to look at it to know what it was.
This lasted for several hours. Of course, Kakashi knew his students would eventually fall behind far enough so his dogs could get them, but he a secret hand sign his dogs would look out for so they knew when to lay off. His students didn't know of this, but what they didn't know would only help them improve over time.
"Ok!" Kakashi called as he came into the clearing again. The dogs disappeared, and all three of them collapsed as soon as they knew nothing was going to bite their legs off as soon as they slowed down. Each fell down to exhausted to even say a thing at the moment.
"You three did excellent!, tomorrow we'll go back to chakra control exercises, and then we'll switch back to physical things. We'll continue this for about two or so months, and then we'll begin to individually train you in your strengths, so be prepared for some difficult times ahead of you."
True to what he said, they did have to go through very difficult times. They had to learn how to water walk, which took them a little bit longer then tree walking, then they had to learn how to do it simply with hands and no feet. The physical part of the training wasn't much easier, it could probably be considered harder by some. Kakashi had them running some days, and lifting things the other, and Sakura was not allowed to use her super strength abilities with this.
Kakashi didn't lead them on any missions during this time, for his ANBU in training needed to do exactly as the mission stated; to train. They of course were beginning to pass through the chakra exercises when they were slowly but surely getting control of their chakra back, and their physical exercises were becoming easier on them as well.
Finally, after three months, Kakashi had called them to a small meeting with the Hokage. None of his students knew what they were expected to do, but they followed their sensei's orders without question, like any ANBU would do.
In the Hokage office they all sat together. Kakashi standing in front of the desk of the Hokage, the Hokage behind it, and the three ANBU in trainings all sat in chairs behind Kakashi.
"I'm glad to see you all." The Hokage said as he straightened himself on his seat and looked up from all the paperwork he was doing. "What's their strength at the moment Kakashi?"
"Hokage-sama, they're advancing faster than I expected, but I believe it's because they have the chakra within them, they just need to control it. However, they're gaining much better control over it, and their physical status is much better than how embarrassingly bad it was a few months ago."
"I see Kakashi, and what rank would you put them at right now?" The Hokage asked, interested.
Kakashi thought for a moment before saying, "If they were to all go at me at once, I believe I would be the one to fall, but individually they're all mid-chuunin about."
"I see." Sarutobi said. He turned to the three and said, "I guess you're wondering why you're here?"
"Yeah," Sakura admitted, "It just looks like Kakashi is giving you a status report." Naruto and Sasuke nodded in agreement with their teammate.
"That's what that was, yes." He paused and looked proud and said, "As you all know, ANBU cannot go around in public claiming who they are. They need a second identity, and rather than give you all D-rank missions that do little to increase your skill, I have decided to 'promote' you all to Chuunin and allow you all to begin doing C or B ranked missions."
Naruto looked thrilled, as did Sakura. Sasuke just grinned happily. "Really Old man!" Naruto went and hugged him, "Thank god! I had nightmares about doing D-ranked missions, and now I don't have to do them at ALL!" He said gleefully.
"I'm glad you're happy Naruto." Sarutobi smiled and pulled Naruto off of him. "Here are all the available missions you can do." He grabbed a folder that was full of papers and laid them across the table. "All the C and B ranked missions we have for Chuunin."
It's funny, Last time we never became a Chuunin team before I left. Now we're a chuunin team years before we became a Genin team. He hid his smile and looked through the missions with the rest of them.
Naruto eyed another folder and grabbed it and stealthily went away from the group without them noticing, all besides Sarutobi however, but he simply allowed him to continue on, paying no heed to him.
"Well," Sakura said looking through the missions, "This one looks interesting," It was an escort mission to Suna. We may be able to find Gaara, The mission was ranked C.
Sasuke picked one up as well and read through it, this is where people claim Itachi has been recently. He had heard off some gossiping people one day after training of a ninja wearing a black cloak with red clouds on it. Sasuke as usual, connected it with Itachi. The mission itself was a protection mission for some rich family, and was ranked as B.
"Which missions do you all desire to do?" The Hokage asked kindly.
"This one!" Sakura and Sasuke slammed each other papers on the desk and yelled at the same time. When they realized that both of them said it they glared towards each other.
"We're doing this one!" Sakura said, "It's an escort mission to Suna, and in Suna is Gaara. As you know, he's kind of insane right now if I remember correctly, so if we go there and make him sane again he could become a huge help during the Chuunin exams in several years."
Sasuke sighed, "That damn organization, Akatsuki, has been spotted here. If we go there, we may be able to find Itachi!"
"It was just a lead! And we don't even know if Itachi would be the one to be there if we did go there! What if it was someone like Hidan or Sasori? We'd be in huge trouble – I doubt you could convince them to try and join us, though we're not even sure if you could do that with Itachi!"
"What!" Sasuke yelled, glaring at her, "Gaara is hardly important! He will join us in due time! Right now gaining a potential ally out of my brother, or even KILL one of them would really help us in the future!"
"You didn't hear what I just said did you!" Sakura yelled, "If we go there, we WILL BE KILLED! You may have forgotten, but Akatsuki is full of S-class criminals, and with as powerful as we are now they could easily just LOOK at us and we'll die."
Sasuke shouted, "If we try to convert Gaara now what would the Kazekage do? He'd obviously think we're trying to take away his damn toy, and relations with Suna would become worse than they already are!"
Kakashi and Sarutobi both watched on with amusement and were kind of disturbed. When two nine year olds fight about a mission in such detail, it was hard to take any of it seriously, especially when their voices began to get higher in anger.
"I got it!" Naruto shouted as he snatched a paper out of the folder he was skimming through. He ran to the desk and slammed in above both Sasuke's and Sakura's and got in-between both of them and said, "We need to do this one!"
All the other four in the room looked at the paper. "An S-rank assassination mission?" Sarutobi questioned. "Sakura and Sasuke both had a much more reasonable mission, beside the fact that they wanted to do it for different purposes."
"No! You don't get it! Read what it wants us to do!" He pointed at the text on the paper.
"Naruto," Sakura sighed, grabbing the folder that he got the paper from, "These are discarded missions, usually qualified as unsafe, or may injure stability issues with other nations, or simply under paying."
"No," Sasuke looked through the one Naruto picked, "We're doing this."
"Our client wants us to eliminate a so called, 'crime lord' in the Wave country?" Kakashi said looking through it over his student's shoulders.
"Gatou!" Sakura said that moment. "That's perfect; did Tazuna give out this mission again?" She asked, grabbing the page from her friend's hand and reading it over, she let it slip from her hands as she read the name of the client, "Kaiza!"
"Who's that again?" Sasuke asked after a moment of silence, "My memory is a little off. That was like six or seven years ago."
Sakura sighed and said, "Remember the little brat? Inari?"
"Yeah!" Naruto said, "He's the kid whose grandpa couldn't stop saying 'Super' to save his life."
"Anyway," Sakura said, "He's his dad, well not necessarily his dad, but a father figure to the boy."
Sarutobi chose to come in now saying, "I assume you three know how this situation with Gatou will turn out? Care to explain?"
"Gatou is a crime lord; he went to wave country to take all their money away. I think by now he'd have been there for a little more than a month. In about a week he will kill Kaiza, and completely destroy the bravery of the people. We're going to prevent his death." Sakura explained.
"You're playing god!" Kakashi said, eyes widened when he realized the plan.
"No. This is a different timeline, nothing is set in stone. We can do what we want without any consequences occurring because it was 'fated' to happen." Sasuke explained.
Sarutobi nodded, "Are you sure you want to do this? You're abandoning your chances to possibly find your brother Sasuke, and help this Gaara child."
"Sasuke was right, it would hurt our relation with the Sand too much." Sakura admitted.
"And Sakura was right as well, death isn't an option for us right now." Sasuke explained.
"This is an S-rank mission, but what you're planning to do will put your lives at risk." Sarutobi said, the others looked on, fearing that he'd not let them do it, "But, I fear if I say no to you, you'll do it anyways." He grinned at them, "Kakashi said you three could take him down if you fought together, he may travel alone, but you three must stick together, they may have some high ranked missing ninja on their team."
"Kakashi. Protect them well." Sarutobi simply said. "You are dismissed; I expect a successful mission report here by two weeks."
Kakashi turned to his team, "Ok, get ready within ten minutes, we'll begin heading towards the wave country and meet our client there."
The three were about to leave but Kakashi called again, "Naruto."
"Yes Kakashi-sensei?"
Kakashi looked towards the floor, "I am sorry that I once thought you were the demon within you." He bowed down towards Naruto.
"Don't worry Kakashi, you'd have gotten over it in two years anyways," Naruto smiled, "See you in front of the gates."
"He just rubbed off my apology," Kakashi sighed, "He's a good kid."
Sarutobi called from behind Kakashi, "Kakashi, do not let them get harmed in any way, they are the strength of the village at the moment, if one were to die. Our future could be ruined. They are playing with this timeline, they know fate won't kill those that they end up saving, and this could be both bad and good. We'll need them here to correct help our village from any future misfortunes." Sarutobi looked on at Kakashi with a serious look.
"I will not fail." Kakashi simply answered.
When Kakashi disappeared within a swirl of leaves Sarutobi leaned against the back of his chair. Sometimes I forget that they are not simply children, that their minds work like an adults would. It's both unfortunate and fortunate for them.
(Konoha, Front Gates)
The forest of the Fire country was much different than the name of the country would suggest. First of all, it's not at all on fire. Secondly, it was a forest, meaning lots and lots of green and trees. This was good for the ninja of Konoha, as it allowed them to travel quickly between their towns.
Three children all gathered together just as their sensei began to come,
Kakashi walked forth, not late once again. "You guys ready to go?"
Getting over how he was yet again early they all replied saying, "Yes Kakashi-sensei."
"Good. We have a two-week deadline; let's make the most of our time. We're going to be there by tomorrow." Kakashi ran forward and quickly jumped in the trees, no sooner than he did, the three children followed suit.
"Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked nervously, "In the old timeline, you were always late for everything, usually hours late, but now, well, you're really quick, almost early."
Kakashi nodded, "Yes. When it comes to training and protecting the very future of our village, I will do what it takes to do so. Sarutobi trusts me in training you three so you may advise us on what to do in the future. We may make a fatal mistake, but we'll trust you three when it comes to the important situations."
"He trusts us that much?" Sakura asked, a little surprised.
Kakashi nodded, "You three have proven that you are indeed from the future, and all the things you told Sarutobi made him worried about his choices. Of course he'll still do them, but he'll want you three there to correct his mistakes that he made in your, um, old timeline."
"Ah, it makes sense now." Sasuke sighed, "I worked with Orochimaru, and I know all his strategies, and Akatsuki will not kill so many of our ninja as well, and We'll be able to advise him on what to do during the Chuunin exams that will be held in our village in three years."
"When you can," Naruto said, "Appoint Shikamaru's father as the village's advisor. He's the smartest person I know of. His son is almost just as smart, if not more so. He could lead us out of anything."
The three continued through the forest at high speeds until they finally stopped in a relatively small clearing. Naruto and Sakura both unrolled their sleeping bags side by side, and Sasuke and Kakashi were on the opposite side of the both of them, on the other side of the fire they had built.
Kakashi and Sasuke both agreed to do Lookout duty for the night. Sasuke would go first, and then Kakashi would do it for the rest of the night.
Sasuke leaned against a tree a fair distance away from all his companions and sighed. "I hate guard duty."
"Everyone does at first." Sasuke jumped, and pulled out a kunai from his pouch strapped to his right leg and brought it straight up to defend from the attacker. Fortunately it was just Kakashi.
"Don't do that." Sasuke sighed.
"You were too relaxed Sasuke. When guarding your allies you must always be on high alert. The smallest of noises you must make sure is not an ambush." Kakashi criticized.
Sasuke had an annoyed expression on his face, "We're not even being chased by anyone. There's no point to being highly alerted."
"Sasuke, you always have to be highly alert, no matter what the cause is. There could have been a spy in the village that overheard our mission, or a group of bandits might come across us as we sleep. As unlikely as any of these events are, you always have to be highly alert on look out duty."
Sasuke nodded, "I am sorry."
"No need to apologize, just don't make the mistake again."
"Of course." Sasuke answered, and then asked, "What did you mean by what you said earlier?"
"What did I say earlier?"
"You said everyone hates guard duty at first. Why at first?"
"For starters, it allows me to think about things. I can listen to nature, and feel like an essential part of the team. Of course there are the downfalls of which you always have to be alert, and that you lose sleep, but everything in life has draw backs."
"I see."
"Do you mind if I ask you a question Sasuke?"
"Go for it."
"Why did you betray your team?"
Sasuke looked down at the ground, "A lot of reasons, and all of them are stupid."
"Could you elaborate?"
"I was jealous of Naruto's power, I felt like he was surpassing me. I wanted to go to Orochimaru to gain power. I felt like Konoha was a weak place where I wouldn't be able to naturally grow, and you pissed me off with your speech telling me to stop going after vengeance. Only recently have I realized how stupid I was."
"Did your team try to stop you?"
"Try to stop me?" Sasuke let out a bitter laugh, "I fought Naruto at the Valley of the End, and just barely managed to beat him. Though, I think he was holding back because he didn't want to hurt me. Sakura was at the entrance when I was beginning to leave, and she also tried to stop me."
"I see."
"I was a stupid kid. I don't think they'll ever truly forgive me."
"Oh? It seems like they all ready have."
"Yeah, it looks like it, but I am sure that they still hold some sort of grudge against me. I know I would in their shoes."
"I don't know Sasuke, from what I can tell, that just doesn't seem to be Naruto's nature to hold a grudge, and Sakura always is joking around and laughing with you – disregarding when you fought over the mission."
"You might be right." Sasuke allowed, "Why are you asking me these questions?"
"I want to get to know my team. Every conversation with one of you gives me a picture of your personality, and how you'll behave on the team." Kakashi explained.
"I see." Sasuke managed to say, "How do you judge me?"
"There seems to be some issues you need to cover with your friends, but you genuinely want to be their friends now, and truly regret your past actions. I find that you're a good kid Sasuke, I would trust you."
"Thanks." Sasuke sighed, "I wish I could hear it from them though."
"Sasuke, they care for you still. You don't need to prove anything to them; they know you will not betray them again. They trust you not to do that again."
"You think so?" Sasuke asked thoughtfully. He shook his head, "I'm going to bed, and it's your turn to watch us as we sleep. Don't let your guard down."
Kakashi nodded, "Yes Sir." He joked.
With a slight frown on his face, Sasuke went to bed on the opposite side of his friends.
---END---
Documented changes:
-Got rid of a sub plot in which Teuchi dies seven years in the future. I felt it really added nothing but senseless angst for Naruto. All mentions of it have been removed.
-Grammar changes and dropped kun, you know the drill now.
-Got rid of references to Shikamaru's death in the future. They will probably be put back in later on in the story somewhere else.
-Rewrote the entire ending conversation to be about Sasuke's concerns over his friendship with Naruto and Sakura rather than about Shikamaru.