All Over Again...
By Bananamilkshake101
My eyes stayed glued to the ceiling of my bedroom. The clock in my room showed the time of 01.30am. It isn't that late for me, but it is late for a twelve year old- especially before a really important day.
-Sigh-
I can't fall asleep; I don't feel tired at all. The memories of my past- well, actually my future now- keep on replaying in my mind. Sasuke's psychotic face whilst he mercilessly killed our ninja, the Hidden Village being destroyed by the masked man, all my friends being injured right before my eyes. No, I need to stop thinking these thoughts. That was what was going to happen, not what is going to happen. I swear on my way of ninja that I will complete my secret mission no matter what!
If I don't go to sleep now, there is no way in hell that I am going to be up early tomorrow. The Academy starts at 08.30am and when I was younger I used to wake up at 07.00am. But this morning I want to wake up at 6ish so I can get ready properly. I've decided to change my look completely. From that little weak girl who always needs protecting and only cares about how she looks, to a strong and independent young woman who won't look at the mirror 24/7. I need to prove myself to Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi, the whole shinobi world! They need to know that I am capable of being a skilful kunoichi.
I laid me head down on my soft, white pillow. I imagined what the world would be like if the Fourth Great Shinobi War never occurred... Would Sasuke have come back? Would Naruto have met Killer Bee-sama? Would the Five Great Shinobi Nations have as much trust and faith in each other as they do now? I guess not- for all three questions.
Slowly, I drifted into my first peaceful sleep in what felt like years.
My eyes shot open in an instant. What had woken me? Ah, it must have been the wind outside; I can hear it whistling right now. I noticed the kunai I defensively held in my right hand. I guess my reflexes would be more advanced now that I have had a lot more experience, due to the war.
I swivelled my head to the digital clock that sat on the bedside table, next to my lamp. It read 05.48am. What a perfect time to be up. I mentally don't really feel that tired because I'm used to the lack of sleep because of the war. No one really had a fixed routine anymore since we never knew when the reanimations were going to attack our camps or when some alert from HQ was going to come in. Every night we all fell asleep at different time to the night before. Some nights were harder than others because sometimes we'd be inured and it was really hard and maybe even painful when trying to doze off.
Physically, I was feeling pretty tired. My movement was sluggish and slow. I decided to have a cold shower to wake me up properly. But before I do that, I have to decide what to wear.
I remember the times when I used to spend all day just sitting down with a pile of clothes in front of me, wandering which outfit I should wear to impress Sasuke. Kami, what a waste of my day. I could have spent it training instead. And I never even wore one of those other stupid outfits; it was always that red dress with the green leggings. Don't even ask why I used to wear that. It was way to girly, but at least it was kind of practical.
I pulled out some clothes from my wardrobe and evaluated the efficiency of them all and threw all the ones that I saw were reasonable onto my bed the load up into a messy pile. After juggling through them for a bit, I picked out a red vest top with the Haruno circle which was aligned at the middle-top of the back, and some thigh length tan shorts. I also decided to wear a sleeveless netted shirt underneath my best top for some modesty. It went from my just above my collar bone to underneath my chest. You couldn't see my stomach since the vest would be covering it.
After a refreshing, cool shower, I got dressed and wrapped some bandages around my thigh so I could attach my weapons pouch onto it. I towel dried my hair and left it in its natural wavy state.
I examined myself in the mirror. When I was younger I always used to look in the mirror. I never used to think much good about myself because I mainly focused on my faults; namely my gigantic forehead. But now that I look at myself through more mature eyes, I decided that I didn't actually look that bad. I have wavy pink hair that I always used to straighten, but now I've noticed that my wavy hair suits me more. My huge forehead isn't as huge as I made it out to myself to be, but it still is kind of big, though that adds to my facial features. My eyes are quite big and are a pretty nice emerald green colour, framed with long thick lashes. My skin was a snowy white tone and I hide small, kind of plump, pink lips. All in all, I wouldn't say I am the most beautiful girl there is, but I am also not an ugly duckling. But remember, all ugly ducklings transform into beautiful swans.
I quickly brushed out all the knots in my hair and tied it into a high pony. I left my bangs out to frame my face.
I wore my usual dark blue pair of ninja sandals and ran downstairs to eat some breakfast. But I don't really feel like eating. Like...at all. No shinobi really ate proper solid or even liquid food during the war. We all survived on food pills. This was because we used to get all our food transported to our camps by the nearest Hidden Village, but they had all been broken out and there was only enough food to feed the civilians and Genin. So everyone started living off of food pills. Now even thinking of eating proper solid food makes me feel a bit sick. It's be so long since I've eaten real food, and I don't think I even want to; but I guess I have to otherwise I'm not going to get used to eating around others and I'd look weird.
I poured some cereal into a bowl and splashed in the amount of milk I want. After forcing the food down my throat, I shakily stood up to wash my plate and spoon.
"Sakura?" I voice called. I turned back to see my mum looking at me in slight disbelief. "You're up early, aren't you? I usually have shout at you to get you up," she chuckled.
"Yeah, it's the Genin exams today and I want to have an early start," I explained.
"Ooh and look at you!" she exclaimed. "You've changed your look. My daughter looks so beautiful!"
"...Thanks," I replied, slightly embarrassed by her words.
"You've already eaten?" my mum said, looking at the empty cereal bowl in my hand. I nodded my head in reply. "Oh, good, now you can relax for a little while before setting off since you do have a lot of spare time." She smiled.
"Errm... actually, I was thinking of going to the training grounds for a bit before I go to the Academy." I told her.
"...Ah, yeah, sure. But be careful not to get your clothes dirty!" she shouted as I ran out of the door towards the villages training ground.
Seriously? 'Be careful not to get your clothes dirty'? When I was younger, I would have probably taken the advice for real. But now... as if. Shinobi are expected to give their life in a heartbeat for the village, and she expects me to keep my clothes all neat and tidy. Sigh, well I guess I can't blame her. She knows me as the little girly-girl who wants everything to do with her appearance being no less than perfect. Well not anymore! I have to prove myself.
I trained for about one hour before resting so I wouldn't look like a panting dog when I finally reach the Academy. I said I wanted to give myself a new look and approach, but not one of a tired, stinky, sweaty animal.
After I recomposed myself, I stood up and walked out of the Training Grounds that was only available for Academy students and walked to the Academy, which wasn't that far away from the grounds. People at the Academy have their own separate training ground to share so they won't get in the way of other ninja. Not many people come here because they aren't really focused on their training at this age, so it's usually empty. Plus it's still morning right now so it wasn't unexpected for me to be alone there.
"Hey Forehead!" I heard a familiar voice shout as I passed by a house. I looked back at the direction of where the voice came from and saw Yamanaka Ino narrowing her eyes at me in a fierce glare. I kept my face impassive as she made her way towards me and tried to stare me down.
"Hey Ino-pig," I greeted as if we were friends.
To be honest, I've always regretted ending mine and Ino's friendship. She saved me from becoming a meek and shy cowardly girl. She taught me to stand up for myself and became my friend when nobody else wanted to; this made me feel incredibly guilty when reflecting. And what made me feel even worse, is that I ended such a beautiful friendship over a boy. Sure that boy was Uchiha Sasuke, but it's 'sisters before misters', right? Then we had this stupid sort of rivalry, which was nothing really; just petty fangirlishness over a stupid (fit) guy. But I'm ending my fangirlish ways. Whenever I think back to them times when I hugged and asked Sasuke out and dates all the times so openly, and persistently too (I was always rejected), I feel so embarrassed. Ugh, I want to kill myself just if I think about it. It's not that I have anything against Sasuke (the younger one), it's just that how I used to act towards him made me realise how stupid I was. How Rock Lee is to me, is probably how I was to him.
"I see someone's trying to impress my Sasuke-kun today," Ino spoke angrily. I just raised an eyebrow at her and tuned away, mind set ready to reach my original destination. "Chotto matte! (Hey wait!)" Ino shouted behind me before she began to pick up her pace to walk next to me. "Oh, I know why you're so eager to leave. You want to show off your new look to Sasuke-kun. Well let me tell you now Billboard-brow, it's not going to work." She told me. I just acted as if she wasn't there and continued walking. "Why are you ignoring me?!" she screamed, obviously agitated.
Suddenly, I stopped walking. Ino noticed this and stopped her tracks too. I slowly turned to face her and smiled innocently, and then began walking again. "Ugh!" she groaned loudly.
She still tried to keep her steps in sync with mine as I continued my footsteps.
"I'm going to get there before you so I can sit down next to my Sasuke-kun," Ino declared.
"Hmm, okay; do what you want." I said in a bored tone. I noticed her eyes widen at me a fraction in disbelief. I had to fight to keep a small smirk off my face. "O-Okay then... I guess someone finally realised that she is not near pretty enough as me to compete for Sasuke-kun!" Ino sang arrogantly.
"Hmm," I replied, not really paying attention.
"What's with you today Forehead?!" Ino screamed.
"Shhh Ino, you're interrupting the whole village screeching like that," I told her.
"Screeching?!" she screeched. I covered my ears with my hand and made a pained facial expression.
"Yes, screeching!"
The rest of the walk there was in silence; Ino had an annoyed expression throughout the end of the journey.
After battling to get through the door, Ino and Sakura entered the classroom.
"Good morning class," a voice spoke.
"Good morning Iruka-sensei," the class chorused in unison.
"As you know," the Chuunin ranked Academy teacher began, "today is the Genin Exams." The class were silent. "Me and Mizuki-sensei will be calling you one by one to take your exam. Those who pass will become Genin ranked shinobi."
The class cheered.
"But those who fail will have to stay in the Academy for another year."
The class were silent once again.
"Now please take your seats and wait patiently." With that, the brown haired man left.
"Sasuke-kun," Ino sang as she skipped in his direction.
"Heeheehee," a voice nervously laughed. Sakura turned to see who it was. "Good morning, Sakura-chan!" Ah, Naruto.
"Good morning Naruto," Sakura greeted back to the yellow haired boy.
The boy blushed. Usually, she ignores me and runs to Sasuke-teme.
"I hope this seat isn't taken Naruto," Sakura said, gesturing to the seat on his left. Both seats were empty besides him. "Ah, Sakura-chan, of course you can sit here dattebyo!" The pink haired girl smiled sweetly at him as she sat down. "Thanks," she slightly whispered. A proud grin was now displayed on the Uzumaki boys face.
Little did they know, they were being watched through sad eyes by a certain Hyuuga heiress.
"Haruno Sakura," Iruka's voice called. The girls stood up and left to do her exam after saying a small goodbye to Naruto.
The aim of the exam was extremely simple: compose at least three decent bunshins (clones). Sakura passed without fault.
Everyone had passed, except for one person. A sad boy sat with his head down on the wooden swing, gently rocking it.
"I'm so happy I passed! The exam was so easy. Iruka-sensei was getting us all worried over nothing!" exclaimed a brunette girl.
"Yeah I know! Everyone passed! I bet Sasuke-kun got top of the class. It would be no surprise. He's so cool," another girl sighed dreamily in reply.
"The only person who didn't pass was that Naruto kid. Imagine letting him run around the village as a shinobi!"
"Yeah; especially since he's the-"
"Shhh. You know we're not allowed to mention that."
"Naruto," a gentle voice called.
"Hey, Sakura-chan" he sadly smiled.
The girl dropped her body to sit on the ground beside the swing. "Sakura-chan, don't sit on the ground. It's dirty. Here, sit on the swing," Naruto said, standing up.
"No, I'm fine Naruto. You sit on the swing," she told him.
Naruto stood up and sat on the ground besides Sakura, leaving the creaking swing unoccupied.
"...Are you okay Naruto?" Sakura asked worriedly.
"Sakura-chan, I should be asking you the same thing" Naruto said. "Usually you ignore me and treat me like I'm a nuisance. What's happened that's suddenly made you wilfully want to spend time with me?
"O-Oh... Urrrmm, well I guess I just wanted to," she laughed. "You're a really sweet guy Naruto, so I just really want to spend time with you. I hope you don't mind...?"
"N-No, not at all!" Naruto blushed.
"Thanks... So back to the original question: are you okay?"
Naruto's face went back to its normal colour as he tilted his head down to face the ground.
"Ever since I can remember, everyone... everyone hated me. The villagers shunned me and I have no friends. No one wants to be my friend. And I don't even know why. That's why, Sakura-chan, I want to become our villages' hero- so everyone will finally acknowledge me. I want to become Hokage!" By this point, Naruto was standing with his right fist clenched in the air and a determined expression planted on his face.
Sakura stood up and gently placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm your friend Naruto," she smiled. "And I know you will achieve your goal." Naruto's cheeks reddened at her words.
"T-Thanks, Sakura-chan."
"Now come," she began as she grabbed his hand. "Let's go home."
"A-Ah"
Today was an alright start for Sakura, she concluded. Tomorrow would be the day when the teams will be formed.
"Class, settle down. I know you are all excited for today, but you still have to keep quiet so I can prepare everything. Okay, so now let's get on with the teams. Team 7: Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto and... Uchiha Sasuke."
Envious sighs from fangirls could be heard in the classroom.
"Team 10," Iruka continued, ignoring the girls. "Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Chouji" the three Genin looked at each other.
"Team 8: Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, and Abarame Shino."
Sakura drowned the rest out.
"Hey, why did I get teamed up with Sasuke-teme! I'm way better than him!" Naruto shouted.
"Ah, Naruto," Iruka started to explain. "All the teams chosen are balanced. Sasuke, was at the top of the class. You, are last."
"NANI?! (WHAT?!)"
"You heard him dobe," Sasuke smirked. "You're a dead last."
"Sasuke-teme!" Naruto screamed and lunged at him. He pounced on top of the wooden desk in front of Sasuke, when his foot got caught at the front of the desk and he fell straight forward.
Kiss
"AAAAAAAAAAH! I was supposed to be Sasuke-kuns first kiss!" cried an army of very pissed of girls.
Sakura could barely stifle her laughter, and both boys noticed this.
'What's up with her today? Usually she's constantly fangirling me...'
'Sakura-chan?'
"I'm sorry," Sakura giggled, "it's just too funny."
She received a glare from Sasuke and an odd look from Naruto.
"AAAGH! When is our sensei going to come?! We've been waiting hours now. Even Iruka-sensei's left to go home!" Naruto screamed in frustration.
"Uh, just give home some time, Naruto. I'm sure he'll be here soon."
"Yeah but FOUR HOURS, Sakura-chan, FOUR HOURS! My butt's getting numb from sitting on the edge of the desk all that time," big fat fake tears sprouted out of the boys eyes.
"Too much information dobe."
A spark inflamed in Naruto's head. "I KNOW! I'll play a prank on him or her as payback for being so late," Naruto decided.
"It's not going to work dobe, our sensei's Jonin. An elite shinobi. As if a Jonin would fall for such a pathetic prank," Sasuke stated.
"I'll show you Sasuke-teme," Naruto mumbles under his breath as he pulls an eraser off the chalk board. He all too familiarly stuffed it in between the door and wooden doorframe.
"I told you, you stupid dobe. It's not going to work! Now stop being yourself and wait like a person."
Before Naruto could reply, the Genin heard the door slowly creak open...
PLOP
The eraser bounced straight off a grey-haired man's head.
"My first impression of you all... I hate you." He flatly said, causing everyone else to feel slightly depressed.
A/N HEY! SO I decided to continue this story... :p I hope you all enjoyed this chapter I'll need at least five reviews before I start writing the next chapter because I want to know someone actually is reading this ;)
I also said that I might include romance in later chapters... Some of you might have got the wrong idea in this chapter. And that wrong idea is... NaruSaku. I'm sorry but I'm SasuSaku all the way :p I also got a review saying something about GaaSaku. I'll see what I can do about that ;) I like NejiSaku too but not as much as SasuSaku... If you don't want me to do romance or a certain pairing, tell me and I'll think about it.
Please read my other story 'Uchiha Sakura' and review! It's a SasuSaku story so don't read if you don't like he pairing
Oh and did anyone watch the latest Anime episode 'I will always love you'? OMG I was crying my eyes out :'(
R.I.P (once again) Uchiha Itachi
We all love you xx
I've got another two fanfiction ideas but (warning), they're SasuSaku :p
Please no flaming the story or pairings...
Thanks for reading! Please review :D
I'm HappyCrayons Beta for her story 'The One That Got Away' Please read and tell her I sent you ;) Heehee
Oh, and check out this cool YouTuber called Ryan Higa. His channel is called 'nigahiga'. A while ago, he made this awesome Naruto Fake Movie Trailer Parody and it is just HILARIOUS. I love Ryans's video, check them out! He used to be the most subscribed guy on YouTube but RayWilliamJohnson passed him (I still don't understand WHY) and then SMOSH came and killed both of them. Then came Jenna Marbles and PewdiePie. (I like Jenna lol, check her videos out too :p) Ryan's also got another channel called 'Higa TV' with his behind the scenes of his videos. His Naruto behind the scenes are three parts long. He put's a LOT of effort into his videos; he even had to go to hospital when he was making a fruit ninja video and hit his nose with a sword... But he's fine now! He's just got a little scar.
Anyways... thanks for reading and please review (again :p)
-Mary Xx