Disclaimer: I don't own this.
Ch. 4
There were approximately two months left in school before the summer break and Sasuke found himself watching something he'd never thought he'd see. The pink haired girl was beating the crap out of the blonde haired girl. Sasuke frowned. When had the pink haired girl gotten so good? The last he had seen of her she'd been awful in taijutsu and only doing so well because of her ginourmous brain. And wasn't she supposed to be best friends with the blonde? Sasuke frowned again. What was the blonde's name again? He knew by know he should have leaned the names' of his classmates, but he hadn't. They were, after all, Namikaze followers and as such not worth his time. Sasuke sighed. He desperately wanted friends, but he didn't want the Namikaze's leftovers. Then a brilliant thought occurred to Sasuke like a light bulb turning on in his brain. What if he stole all of the Namikaze's friends and made them his? He'd have to start with learning their names, though.
"Let's go Ino! Don't let Sakura steamroll you!" Naruto cheered with a fist pump. Sasuke grinned. He was already on his way! So, the blonde's name was Ino and the pink haired one was Sakura. He really should have known that by now. Oops. Well, now he did, so it didn't really matter, right? He knew almost everyone else's name anyways. Well, anyone who was important. Now that Sasuke thought about it he only really knew Naruto's name, bug boy's name (Shino), and the annoying purple haired girl who was always complaining (Ami). Sasuke frowned. Oops. Well, it was kind of too late to fix that now. No, if he wanted these people to be friends with him instead of Naruto he'd have to learn their names starting now. Sasuke turned back to the fight just in time to see Sakura win the fight. He stared. How had she done it?
Naruto grinned and shouted, "Nice job Sakura!"
A blush colored Sakura's face and she turned to smile at Naruto.
"You really think so?" Sakura asked uncertainly.
Naruto gave her his trade mark smile and a thumb up, "Of course!"
Sasuke snorted. If Sasuke ever wanted to prove loudness was hereditary Naruto would be the perfect case sample. His mother Namikaze Kushina was just as loud and obnoxious as him. It was said that you could hear her all the way in Suna and Sasuke didn't doubt it.
He tuned back into their conversation just in time to hear Sakura tell Naruto, "You know it's all really because of you! I'd never have started taking this seriously otherwise," Another blush painted Sakura's face before she continued in a softer tone, so Sasuke had to strain to hear, "You really helped me you know."
She smiled softly at Naruto who grinned back. Sasuke frowned deeper. How had Naruto helped Sakura? It didn't make any sense to him. Narrowing his eyes Sasuke pulled himself up and decided it was time to confront Naruto about this. He should be the one helping people and gaining their respect and admiration, not Naruto!
"How did you help Sakura?" he demanded. Naruto looked at him surprised and then a slight smile made its way onto his lips.
"You're talking to me now?" Naruto asked before grinning rapidly at him looking pleased with himself. Sasuke groaned. Ugh, he'd just inflated the blonde's already giant sized ego.
He glared at Naruto before asking again, "How did you help Sakura?"
Naruto grinned yet again before dragging Sasuke away from the others to talk somewhere private. It wasn't really that hard to do. Of course that was only probably due to the fact that Yakumi-sensei was busy being interrogated by that brown haired boy. Sasuke frowned and scowled. He didn't want to ask the blonde what the boy's name was, but he supposed he'd have to if he wanted his plan to work.
"What's his name?" Sasuke asked while pointing at the boy. Naruto turned around and followed Sasuke's finger to the boy.
He nodded before saying, "Kōta. Shouldn't you know his name by now?"
Naruto was now frowning slightly while looking at Sasuke. Sasuke merely shrugged, but he found a blush coming to his cheeks. He turned again to look at the boy, Kōta. Sasuke almost pitied Yakumi-sensei. Kōta was absolutely obsessed with anything pertaining to the Uchiha and had been driving poor Yakumi- sensei crazy with all his questions throughout the year. During this time Naruto had gotten far ahead of Sasuke.
He now looked back at Sasuke and questioned with a wide grin, "Don't you want your question answered?"
Sasuke nodded and quickly followed the blonde. They found themselves soon enough on the roof of the academy. Naruto was looking surprisingly serious.
Solemnly he asked, "Do you know how Sakura and Ino became friends?" Sasuke thought deeply. He vaguely recalled some story about picking flowers and a hair ribbon.
"Kind of," he finally answered. Naruto nodded and seriously looked over Sasuke.
"So you know that Sakura has some self- esteem issues when it comes to her forehead?" he asked. Sasuke hadn't, but he nodded anyways. He wasn't going to let Naruto know he didn't know!
Naruto continued with an almost embarrassed look on his face, "Well, she and Ino got in a fight a couple months ago," he ruffled his hair as a light red blush appeared onto his face, "Do you remember?"
Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he tried to remember blondie and pinkie getting into a fight. He sighed and then slowly he remembered. He glowered. The fight had been over Naruto. They had both declared their undying love for him and ended their friendship abruptly. Sasuke recalled being extremely jealous of Naruto. No, not jealous. Sasuke was never jealous. A slight pout appeared on Sasuke's face. So, maybe he had been a little jealous, but just a little.
"Yeah I remember," he finally told Naruto with the pout still evident on his lips.
Naruto relaxed before responding, "Good. Well, after I heard about this, well," Naruto paused for a moment, "Well, I kind of told them that I couldn't respect people who gave up their friends. You know the whole people who ditch their friends are worse than trash thing?" Naruto asked. Sasuke didn't, not really, but he nodded anyways.
Naruto grinned before continuing, "Well, anyways it turned out that Sakura really didn't have a crush on me. It was just that it was normal to and she just wanted to have something to um, compete, yeah, compete for against Ino. Haha! Apparently I'm a hot commodity!"
He looked over at Sasuke with a grin as if expecting him to laugh with him, but Sasuke merely stared back at him. Naruto didn't even look phased, though, and merely continued.
"Well, yeah. So, I told them that they should compete to be the better ninja. I guess Sakura just really took that to heart!" Another grin passed on Naruto's face and Sasuke couldn't help wondering why his face didn't get stuck like that.
"Well, that's it. You know, the end of the story." Naruto got up and then put his hand out to help Sasuke up. Sasuke stared at it before grudgingly picking it up. Naruto looked beyond pleased. He almost looked smug. Sasuke glared.
"This doesn't mean we're friends," Sasuke grumbled, "I'm going to beat you, no matter what! I swear it!"
He glared at Naruto before walking back to class leaving a dumbfounded Naruto to stare at his retreating back.
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Sasuke was making great progress in learning everyone's name. Two weeks had passed and he almost had every clan kids name down. The rude boy with the tattoos was Inuzuka Kiba, the fat boy or big boned as the boy liked to say was Chōji (Sasuke still didn't know his last name), and the lazy boy was Nara Shikamaru. Sasuke was pretty sure that the girl who Yukimi- sensei and Naruto were constantly working with to open up was a Hyuuga named Hinata. She hardly spoke to anybody and there were rumors that she'd been involved in the cloud incident a couple years ago. Sasuke had no idea if it was true or not and hardly knew what the cloud incident was anyways. He was having a lot more trouble with the non clan kids though. Sure he knew Ami, and Kōta, but he couldn't even tell the difference between Ami's followers. He knew their names were Fuki and Kasumi, but he didn't know which was which. So all in all he knew thirteen names including his. Sasuke growled. It wasn't good enough! There were twenty seven people in the class, so Sasuke knew less than half! He knew all the clan kids' names though which was good. The clan kids were more important and a whole lot more skillful than the clanless. The only clan kids in the bottom half of the class were the Nara, Chōji, and Inuzuka, but Sasuke had a funny feeling they just didn't care to try enough.
In fact, Sasuke was having trouble keeping his spot as second in the class. All he could learn was what the academy had to offer, while the clan kids had family techniques. Aburame Shino or bug boy as he was dubbed in Sasuke's head was fast catching up and Ino Yamanaka (blondie), now that she was actually trying, was a force to be reckoned with. It wasn't fair! During the summer they'd have their clan to help them, but Sasuke wouldn't. He wouldn't be able to keep up. When school started again he'd be right back where he first started, smack dab in the middle of the pack. Sasuke groaned. What could he do?
As he walked outside for break Sasuke thought long and hard. What to do? He thought about asking Yukimi-sensei for help, but then remembered that that wasn't allowed. Sasuke frowned. Maybe senseis weren't allowed to help students during the summer because they wanted the clanless to fall behind. Sasuke's eyes widened. There weren't that many clanless ninjas. Were the higher up's purposely sabotaging the clanless? Sasuke wouldn't be surprised. They were ninja after all. He wasn't going to fail! No way! Just because he didn't have a clan didn't mean he wasn't just as good!
Deep in his thoughts Sasuke accidentally walked into Naruto who looked surprised before grinning. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the boy. It seemed he still didn't understand that Sasuke didn't want to be friends with him. Naruto being the great awesome son of the Yondaime could not possibly comprehend someone not wanting to be friends with his awesomeness Sasuke thought almost bitterly.
"Hey Sasuke! Want to play?" the blonde asked happily. Sasuke slowly nodded. The adrenaline might help him think after all. And well, Sasuke liked the other kids besides Naruto and sometimes Kiba. Kiba thought he was so cool, being from a clan, and talked nonstop about the super awesome dog he'd be getting. But Sasuke liked the other kids. He wanted friends. In fact, he desperately wanted friends, just not the Namikaze's friends. Unfortunately, it seemed everyone was friends with the Namikaze.
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It didn't take long just a couple days, but soon Sasuke had an answer to his summer problem. Now he'd just have to get the other kids to agree to it. That day he walked into school with a bounce in his step. His plan was brilliant. Of course the other kids would agree with it! During break he decided he would fly his plan by them.
"So, if we all meet over summer every day we can help each other become better ninja!" Sasuke concluded. He slowly looked around. Kōta was grinning and his eyes were shining with excitement. That wasn't really surprising though as everything excited Kōta. He looked at the other kids. They all looked interested and maybe even excited.
Suddenly Naruto stood up with a grin and said, "That sounds brilliant, Sasuke!"
Sasuke frowned slightly at Naruto. He didn't need his endorsement, but it definitely helped. Soon everyone was proclaiming what a good idea it was even Ami.
"Humph. We don't need clanless losers to teach us how to be ninja. Hell, the clanless shouldn't even be allowed to come unless they can teach us something. This is about becoming better, right? What can the clanless teach us? They'll just be deadweight," Kiba suddenly said with a superior look appearing on his face. Shino Aburame slowly nodded.
"I agree. Kiba may have not said it eloquently, but unless you can teach something you shouldn't be allowed to come," Shino said. Slowly the other clan kids started to nod. It made sense after all. If you couldn't teach anything you shouldn't come. Ami looked furious.
She shouted, "What do you mean only the clan kids should be included? We're just as good as you! You clan kids aren't any better no matter what you think!"
She looked like she was going to cry. It was the first time Sasuke ever found himself in complete agreement with Ami. He almost hoped it was the last. In less than five minutes it looked like a fight was going to break out between the clanless and the clan kids. Naruto was busy trying to get everyone to get along, but was failing miserably. If Sasuke wasn't about to get in a fight he probably would have been gloating. Right before the fight could begin, though, Yakumi-sensei came outside. When he saw what was going on he immediately broke it up. Now they were all sitting in the classroom being fiercely glared at by their sensei.
"What was going on out there? Shikamaru explain." Sensei commanded. Shikamaru glanced up at their sensei before sighing and muttering something that sounded like troublesome.
"Eh someone suggested that we meet every day over the summer and teach each other ninja moves, so we'd all get better. Kiba mentioned that if you had nothing to teach you shouldn't come," Shikamaru shrugged before continuing, "Some people took offense at that and it turned into the clan kids against the clanless kids."
Yakumi-sensei's eyes narrowed before he nodded. He looked around the room before saying, "Thank you Shikamaru. Now, whose idea was this?"
Sasuke gulped and lowered his head. The other children glanced at each other before pointing at Sasuke. Their teachers eyebrows rose, but he said nothing. Instead he glanced around the room. Finally he said, "It's a good idea, but Kiba's right. If you don't have anything to teach you shouldn't go."
Their sensei shrugged, but Sasuke found his mouth hanging wide open. He couldn't believe their sensei. There was no way Sasuke would be able to go to the session then. He'd have nothing at all to teach. He scowled. The clan kids would get more and more ahead while the clanless fell farther and farther behind. He wasn't really surprised to see Sakura take the side of the clan kids. Ino would probably teach her enough so she could get entry to the sessions. It had been Sasuke's idea and he wouldn't even be allowed to go! Instead that stupid Namikaze was taking control of it. Soon everyone would even forget it had been Sasuke's idea and the blonde would get all the credit. Sasuke fiercely scowled at the clan kids, Naruto, and Yakumi-sensei. No, not Yakumi-sensei just Yakumi. He didn't deserve to be called Sensei.
As they filed out of class that day Sasuke heard a clanless kid mutter, "Of course sensei agrees with them. He's from a clan too."
The kid had a fierce scowl on his face. Sasuke privately agreed. Yakumi as an Uchiha had probably never struggled one day in his life. He had no idea what it was like to be an orphan or even clanless. Right then and there Sasuke envied their sensei more than anything in the world. He'd give anything to belong to a clan especially the Uchiha.
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There were two weeks left in the academy before the summer break and still Sasuke had no idea what he could possibly teach the other kids to get entry into the summer sessions. He'd thought about asking the Sandaime for help, but his pride wouldn't let him. There was no way he'd let that old man know that the blonde was beating him again. He glared at the floor. There was only two weeks left. Sasuke sighed and slowly glanced around the classroom. Everything was almost back to normal. Clanless kids were again sitting with clan kids. For awhile one side of the room had been clanless kids and the other clan kids. The segregation had been almost unbearable and the tension extremely high.
Five clanless kids had beaten up Kiba a few days after the almost fight for running his mouth again. Kiba just didn't know when to shut up. It hadn't been safe to be alone after that. There had been a constant fear of being ambushed by the other group and no one wanted to be by themselves. Sasuke found himself spending an inordinate amount of time with Ami who told him she was protecting him. Sasuke knew it was because she really wanted his protection. No one would mess with the number two in the class after all. The only good thing to come out of Kiba being beat up, Sasuke thought rather bitterly, was that he was a whole lot quieter. Sasuke knew it wouldn't last long, but it was still nice while it did. By now however it had calmed down and the segregation was finally over. However, Sasuke still had nothing that would allow him access the summer sessions. Sasuke frowned again and glared angrily at his desk.
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Similarly Uchiha Fugaku was having problems as well. He wanted to help Sasuke by teaching him, but he couldn't possibly teach him the Uchiha taijutsu style. But Fugaku wasn't an Uchiha for nothing. He knew plenty of other styles thanks to his eyes, but none of them seemed to fit Sasuke. Sasuke, after all, had the build of an Uchiha. He needed a style that depended on speed, but the best one would be the Uchiha style. Fugaku didn't want to teach him a subpar taijutsu style. So he wouldn't teach Sasuke taijutsu and definitely no genjutsu. Sasuke had no control over his chakra. That was it! He'd start Sasuke with chakra control exercises until he had perfect control. Fugaku grinned before he sighed. Where could he possibly teach Sasuke where no one could see? And what would he tell the boy? Would Sasuke even want him to teach him? Fugaku frowned. What would he teach him after he mastered the chakra control exercises anyway? He could feel a headache coming on.