Naruto –Legacy of the Yondaime Hokage

Chapter Six – Enter Uchiha Sasuke, the Dark Avenger

Disclaimer – I don't own Naruto. Naruto is the property Masashi Kishimoto. This is just a story using his characters and I'm not looking to make any money out of this.

"Demon/Inner Sakura" talking/thinking

"Flashbacks"

"Normal"

Warnings – Strong (though not invincibly strong), smart Naruto, Major OOC and possible Lemons (unsure at this point)

Two years later

Weaklings… that was the one word that ran through the mind of Uchiha Sasuke as he made his way towards the academy as everyone who passed him by gave him a polite bow and greeted him in a polite manner. However, the young eight-year-old Uchiha Heir just snorted them off in an uncaring manner, but otherwise just ignored them. They meant nothing to him, but then again, hardly anything meant anything to the young clan heir anymore, other than getting stronger so as he could avenge the destruction of his clan by killing the one responsible for it and that someone was… Uchiha Itachi, Sasuke's older brother.

As Sasuke made his way towards the academy, he couldn't help but think back to that horrible night when he came home to find his entire clan had been massacred and to his absolute horror and disbelief, his older brother, a person he had looked up to and admired his whole life admitted to being the culprit. He had found his brother standing over the bodies of their mother and father and Itachi had said that he killed them to test the limits of his own abilities.

At first, Sasuke just couldn't believe it. He remembered that all throughout his life, he had been seeking his father's acknowledgment and approval. His father, Fugaku had always spent most of his time concentrating on Itachi, since as his eldest son; Itachi was heir to the Uchiha Clan. However, Fugaku didn't seem to have a high opinion of his youngest son and mostly ignored him. After all, Itachi was a genius and a prodigy whose abilities were great, even for an Uchiha. Itachi had quite an outstanding record… graduating from the Ninja Academy when he was only seven, mastering the Sharingan, the Uchiha Clan's dojutsu Kekkei Genkai at age eight, becoming a chunin at age ten and joining the ANBU and ascending to the rank of captain when he reached the age of thirteen. It was clear that Itachi had been naturally gifted. Some of the clan had even commented that Itachi would eventually become unique in the Uchiha Clan, just like the clan's founder, Uchiha Madara had become. However, where as Madara had betrayed the clan in his insane pursuit of more power, the present-day Uchihas didn't think Itachi would follow the footsteps of their ancestor.

It was because of this that Fugaku, who was Clan Head, neglected Sasuke in favour of his older brother, claiming that Sasuke wasn't worth the effort. It was because of this neglect that Sasuke had pushed himself in the academy. Unfortunately, due to the fact that he was an Uchiha, he had developed a massive superiority complex, believing himself to be better than everyone else, even his senseis in the academy and the other adults. Arrogance was a trait that the majority of male members of the Uchiha Clan seemed to possess as if it were a genetic trait. This stemmed from the abilities of the Sharingan, which allowed the users to read their opponents' movements and made it easier to predict their next move. The Sharingan also allowed the user to analyse their opponents' jutsu, chakra etc and was effective in allowing the user to copy their opponents' jutsu and use the jutsu as if it where their own. The Sharingan also possessed hypnotic abilities, allowing the user to control their opponents' movements just by making eye contact with the unsuspecting person. The person would believe that that he or she was moving of their own freewill, but in reality, the Sharingan user was the one controlling their movements and since the Sharingan user was the one controlling the person, they could easily give off the illusion that they were seeing into the future. It was because of this that many of the Uchiha males allowed themselves to fall to arrogance, believing themselves to be gods among men. Heck, some ended up becoming so delusional that they believed that even the gods themselves should bow down and worship them. Anyway, Sasuke always acted like he was better than everyone and it didn't help matters that many of his female classmates thought that it made him look cool. Sasuke was the most popular boy in the academy among the majority of the female student body; many of those girls believing that Sasuke would choose to marry them and that he cared a lot for them.

Unfortunately, blind admiration is the emotion that is furthest from understanding and if those girls knew the real Sasuke and not the heartthrob they portrayed him as, they'd all realise that Sasuke really didn't care about anyone or anything other than himself and his goals. He didn't even care about the village or its rules. As far as he was concerned, as an Uchiha, he was above the rules. The Uchiha Clan had been the most powerful clan in all of Konoha as well as one of the two founding clans of the village. If it was not for an alliance between the Uchiha and their rivals, the Senju, Konoha would not have come into existence and with this knowledge in mind, Sasuke felt that the village owed the Uchiha Clan its loyalty, not the other way around. In other words, the village should be bowing down and kissing his feet and give him everything he wanted. In his mind, even the Sandaime was beneath him.

Anyway, Sasuke had trained hard at the academy, pushing himself to his limits to earn his father's acknowledgement. Unfortunately, Fugaku had just waved him off, and only compared Sasuke's accomplishments to those of his brother's despite the fact that Sasuke was a genius in his own right, scoring the highest marks in all his classes. Luckily for Sasuke, both Itachi and their mother, Mikoto were there to comfort him whenever he was depressed over his father's neglect of him. Sasuke remembered his mother once telling him that whenever she and Fugaku were alone, Sasuke was all she talked about. Itachi helped as well, though he developed a habit of poking his little brother on the forehead whenever he was about to leave. Itachi acknowledged him, though Sasuke couldn't help but feel a growing resentment towards his brother since he was getting the acknowledgement of the one whose acknowledgement he craved the most. Sasuke felt that if he could somehow manage to surpass his brother then his father would have no choice but to acknowledge him; something that Itachi was aware of and even encouraged him to do so. Sasuke had hated it when he discovered that his father had only attended his enrolment in the Ninja Academy because his brother had basically dragged him there. He could tell just by studying his father's body language that Fugaku didn't want to be there, believing it was a waste of time and that only served to strengthen Sasuke's resolve.

However, eventually Itachi had started to act strangely and it led to a deterioration in the relationship between him and his father and it was only then that Fugaku started taking an interest in his youngest son's training, though Sasuke knew that it was only because of the fact that Itachi and his father had had a falling out and Fugaku wouldn't even be acknowledging him if Itachi didn't start to distance himself from the rest of the clan. Sasuke's resentment of his brother grew, since it was only because of him that his father was acknowledging him, though he decided to make the most of it and used his father's acknowledgement to his own advantage; going so far as to master one of the clan's Katon jutsu, the Gokakyu no Jutsu, in just one week. In the Uchiha Clan, the Gokakyu no Jutsu was a coming-of-age jutsu, which meant those who mastered it were considered adults and thus allowed to bare the Uchiha Clan's emblem. It was a jutsu that most genin level ninja wouldn't be able to perform due to their lack of chakra, but Sasuke had mastered it and he hadn't even graduated yet, though the first time he tried, it had ended in failure and Fugaku had deemed that Sasuke wasn't ready to learn the jutsu, but a week later, Sasuke succeeded in impressing his father by mastering it and gave him a demonstration. Sasuke had had the acknowledgement from his father that he always craved, though he held an underlying resentment for Itachi because it was only because of the deterioration in the relationship between him and his father that had given Sasuke that chance. Sasuke continued his work at the academy with the hopes of someday surpassing Itachi and his father started teaching him what it meant to be an Uchiha, which unfortunately manifested as their arrogance and delusional beliefs that they were better than everyone else. His father's teachings only served to bolster his ego further.

However, one night after coming home late from the academy, Sasuke had been shocked to find all his fellow clansmen had been slaughtered. Just that very morning, he had become content with the way things were after a talk with his aunt and uncle. Sasuke growled as he remembered seeing his brother standing over the bodies of their parents and he remembered Itachi throwing shuriken at him and how Itachi explained how he killed everyone just to test the limits of his abilities and explained how his kind and caring self was nothing more than an illusion. Sasuke remembered how Itachi used his Sharingan to put him under a very powerful genjutsu in which he was forced to watch the slaughter of the entire clan over and over again and Itachi explained to Sasuke how he decided to spare him since he wasn't worth killing. Sasuke remembered trying to flee in a mad panic screaming how he didn't want to die. Itachi had gladly given Sasuke his wish, telling him to run and cling to his wretched life and he also gave his little brother a proper incentive to train to surpass him. He told Sasuke that if he was to have any hope of fulfilling his dream, then he had to hate and despise him and use his hate to make himself stronger.

"Foolish little brother," Itachi's voice echoed in his mind, causing him to cringe, "You're not strong enough; your hate's not strong enough. You've always wanted to surpass him, haven't you? Then hate me, despise me, use your hate to becoming stronger. Dedicate your life to trying to kill me and avenge our fallen clansmen."

That was the mission that Sasuke had set himself since awakening in hospital the next day. He would train himself to become stronger and eventually he would find and kill Itachi, avenging their clan. If Itachi wanted him to hate him, then fine. He would do as Itachi wanted. He would use his hatred to make himself stronger. He would overcome all obstacles in his way. He was an Uchiha after all; part of one of the village's founding clans. Nothing was beyond his reach. The people were of little consequence to him... nothing more than sacrificial lambs in his quest for power. Sasuke cared not for the people, not for the village and definitely not for those delusional fangirls at the academy who believed that they were the future Mrs Uchiha. The only use those girls served was to inflate his ego even further. It didn't help matters that the majority of people had pampered him after the massacre; giving him praise for being the only survivor of the massacre and holding him in high regard. Since then, the people gave Sasuke everything he asked for, believing that he would someday restore the Uchiha Clan to greatness and had everyone's best interests at heart.

What they didn't know was that Sasuke could care less about them. All Sasuke cared about was gaining more and more power and everyone and everything else could go to Hell as far as he was concerned. Loyalty to the village… in his mind, the village should be loyal to him and bow down and worship the ground he walked on. The people meant well and yet, their gestures were not appreciated as Sasuke just snorted them off. They were all weak and Sasuke strongly believed in the philosophy of how the strong survive and the weak perish and in his mind, everyone in the village was or should be weaker than him. That was what he learned from his father; that as an Uchiha, he was indisputably entire levels above the rest of the village and that the rest of the village were nothing more than servants to the Uchiha… at least that's how Sasuke felt things should be.

Of course, he wasn't stupid; not by any means. He knew that he wasn't the strongest in the village. However, he had made it his mission to surpass everyone in the village. Those who were stronger than him he vowed to surpass before going after his brother. In his mind everyone was beneath him, even the adults and on the few occasions he had been pulled up for misbehaviour, he regarded the person with nothing but hatred and scorn… hatred that they dared to pull him… an elite Uchiha up, though he was smart enough to hold his tongue as he secretly vowed to kill the person scolding him as soon as he was strong enough to do so. He also vowed that if the village didn't help him in his quest for vengeance, he'd seek power elsewhere and then return to eradicate the village as punishment for their refusal to help him. He was Uchiha Sasuke, the Dark Avenger whose two goals consisted of primarily of killing Itachi and avenging his clan and then he would restore the Uchiha name, making it respected and feared throughout the world. He didn't care what he had to do to accomplish this; just so long as he got was he wanted, he could care less about the consequences. As an Uchiha, he could deal with them and rise above them. Sasuke vowed that he would gain what he felt he rightfully deserved even if he had to conquer the world. He vowed to gain so much power that even the gods themselves would tremble in fear and bow before him.

"Weaklings," Sasuke thought to himself as he walked by everyone that passed him by on the streets.

They were worthless to him. The Ninja Academy was just a means for him to obtain more power and he vowed that as soon as its usefulness expired, he'd show everyone just how powerful he'd become. He'd kill the senseis that dared pull him up for misbehaviour. He'd make his father proud. He remembered how his father had told him not to follow Itachi's footsteps if he wanted his acknowledgement. He wouldn't follow in Itachi's footsteps. He'd live by his father's teachings and he'd make sure the rest of the world knew his name.

He continued making his way towards the Ninja Academy with an evil smile on his face. Those fools really had no idea what they were about to bring upon themselves. He was an Uchiha and he would be denied nothing. One way or another, he would achieve his goals, even if he became an evil monster and had to sell his soul off to the Devil to do so… and then he'd stab the Devil in the back once he fulfilled his usefulness before it came time for him to hold up his end of the bargain.

Meanwhile, outside the academy, Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, Yamanaka Ino and Hyuga Hinata were making their way inside with happy content look on their faces. In the two years that all four had been friends, they had all become really close. They still had to deal with the hatred of the villagers, but since Hinata joined them, the majority of villagers had decided to leave them alone due to Hinata's status as a Hyuga as many had mistakenly believed that since Hinata was hanging out with the "demon" spawn, he had the support of the Hyuga Clan and everyone knew that the Hyuga Clan were not the sort of people you'd want to mess with. Many feared angering the Hyuga Clan as they knew just how the Hyugas vented their anger. Even when Naruto, Sakura or Ino were alone, the people just wouldn't touch them, as they feared Hinata would bring the wrath of the Hyugas upon them. Of course there were a few brave souls who ignored those circumstances and tried to attack them anyway, but Naruto, who was still receiving training from Kakashi, dealt with them and scared them off. Things were definitely looking up, even if the only reason the villagers hardly ever touched him was because of their fear of the Hyuga Clan and they thought that he had their support.

As for Hinata herself, Naruto, Sakura and Ino had helped her confidence grow dramatically. No longer was she the weak useless failure she once was. Her performance and skills with the Jyuken had increased dramatically as she had gone on to defeat some of her sparring partners and those she didn't manage to beat; she managed to last a lot longer against and she had noticed her father raise an eyebrow on a few occasions on his otherwise emotionless face, a sign that he was impressed and Hinata knew that her father wasn't a man that was easily impressed. Of course, there were still those who believed that she was a failure regardless of her improvement. Her cousin Neji was one such person. He dismissed her improvement as nothing and still maintained his view that she would still fail no matter what. However, remembering what Naruto had told her, she had eventually learned to shrug it off.

Of course the clan knew about her friendship with Naruto. It was impossible to keep that a secret and yet, no one from the clan had acted on it. They still ignored him and turned a blind eye to his association with their heiress despite the fact that many villagers believed that Naruto had the clan's support. However, no one from the clan had come forward to clarify the situation. It was almost as if the villagers' mistaken beliefs weren't there to begin with. Maybe they didn't know, though Hinata doubted that. At first she believed that many in the clan were hoping that her association with Naruto get her killed and then they'd be rid of their "disgrace". However, the villagers all developed the mistaking notion that Naruto had support from the Hyuga Clan and yet, no one from the clan came forward to deny this. When she told her father about Naruto and her friendship with him, he had just nodded, but other than that did nothing. She honestly didn't know what was going on with the clan. They clearly knew about the false beliefs that Naruto had their support and yet, they treated it as if it didn't exist. Maybe it was because they felt that it wouldn't cause them trouble or maybe they were just using those false beliefs as a means of intimidation to show off their power. The Hyuga Clan did enjoy flaunting their power and Hinata wouldn't be surprised if they were now using Naruto to do this. In any case, it didn't change how the villagers all felt about him and those who hung around him, but at least the villagers left them alone, though Hinata couldn't help but feel that it was wrong that the villagers were only leaving them alone due to the Hyuga Clan and the Hyuga Clan were possibly using her association with Naruto to show off. Of course, she wouldn't end her friendship with Naruto, but she couldn't help but feel like horrible that her clan could be using Naruto. How no one discovered the truth during those two years was beyond her, but then again, no one dared challenge the Hyuga Clan, especially now since the near-extinction of the Uchiha Clan.

"…And then Ino came up to me as I was crying my eyes out," Sakura was saying as Hinata came out of her thoughts.

She was busy telling the story of how she had met Ino, unaware that Hinata had been absorbed in her thoughts.

"I don't think your forehead makes you look ugly Sakura-chan," Hinata said, deciding to speak up to cover up the fact that she hadn't been listening, "I think it makes you look beautiful. It's big, but not in a hideous way."

Sakura's cheeks turned a shade of red as she blushed in embarrassment, though she was touched that Hinata had complimented her forehead instead of insulting it.

"Uh huh," Naruto said with an agreeing nod, "I told you before, you just wouldn't be you without it Sakura-chan."

Ino nodded.

"That's right," she said in agreement, "You just wouldn't be you without that big forehead of yours. It's not monstrous or anything like it."

She tried picturing her friend with an average-sized forehead, but when she did, the image in her mind just didn't seem right to her. Something looked out of place and to be honest, in Ino's opinion, if Sakura did have an average-sized forehead, she'd look a bit ugly, though she'd never say that aloud.

"And you wouldn't be you without your eyes Hinata-chan," Sakura said with a smile, "I'll admit that before I met you that the eyes of a Hyuga creped me out before, but since meeting you and getting to know you, I've come to see that they make you just as, if not even more beautiful than me."

Hinata's cheeks turned red as she blushed with embarrassment.

"T-thank you Sakura-chan," she said in a quiet tone.

Naruto smiled as he looked at the three girls who had become his friends. He had to admit that he also had a disagreement with the villagers' mistaken beliefs that he had the support of the Hyuga Clan. Even though it gave him relative peace, the fact that that peace was due to untrue assumptions didn't sit right with him. He wanted to earn the villagers' respect and he knew that it didn't change the villagers' feelings towards him. However, the only thing that prevented him from coming forward and revealing the truth was because he knew it would put Sakura, Ino and Hinata in danger and knowing how some of the Hyugas still felt about Hinata, he wouldn't be surprised if they only allowed her to socialise with him in the hope that she'll meet her end at the hands of the villagers. It sickened him that a clan would use him as a means to get rid of their black sheep or that they were possibly using the villagers' mistaken notions to bolster their egos.

However, before he could ponder on this further, he turned back to face the way he was going, only to be violently shoved to the ground.

"Hey, watch where you're going dobe," the person that had violently shoved Naruto to the ground said, causing Naruto to glare up at him as he knew who it was.

The boy was about Naruto's age with dark bluish black short hair styled like a duck's butt and he also had cruel cold onyx black eyes that seemed to take great delight in Naruto's predicament. He wore the same dark blue sandals mostly everyone else wore, light brownish white shorts and a dark blue short-sleeved shirt with a red and white emblem on the back designed to resemble a fan with the red at the top and the white at the bottom.

"Teme," Naruto growled as he picked himself up, all the while glaring at the boy.

He knew who this was; Uchiha Sasuke, the heir to the Uchiha Clan and the biggest pain in the ass Naruto had ever met. If there was anyone that Naruto could honestly say he hated beyond a shadow of a doubt, Sasuke would be at the top of the list. He couldn't stand Sasuke's attitude and his belief that he was better than everyone else. That infuriated him to no end and to make matters worse, Sasuke had developed this nasty habit of rubbing it in everyone else's faces, especially Naruto's since he had been the academy's dead last before he started training with Kakashi. He had improved since then, but Sasuke constantly berated, calling him dobe regardless. Unlike everyone else, Sasuke didn't hate Naruto because everyone else did. In truth, Sasuke didn't care much for Naruto or why he was hated. He just liked bullying him because it made him feel good about himself. That much Naruto knew. Sasuke was basically a male version of Ami when it came to Naruto and the reason for Sasuke picked on Naruto was due to his lack of skills in the beginning and despite showing improvement, Sasuke still berated Naruto just because he felt that he could.

"Yeah, watch where you're going," Sasuke repeated, shooting Naruto a boastful smirk as if to say, "I'm better than you, so deal with it".

Naruto growled. He could see it in Sasuke's eyes. Sasuke had shoved him down on purpose, probably because he felt like it. That was the thing about Sasuke, he felt that he could get away with anything just because of his clan's status and it didn't help that he had the backing of most of the academy's female student body and the villagers who held him in high regard and praised him. The only use Sasuke had for them was to inflate his already overinflated ego even more. Of course, Naruto knew about the massacre of Sasuke's clan, but with everything Sasuke had put him through coupled with the pain that the villagers put him through his own life, Naruto couldn't help but have a sense of indifference towards the Uchiha Clan. True, no one from the Uchiha Clan aside from Sasuke had bothered him in the past or had shown that they were on the side of the villagers, but none of them had stepped in to help him out either, at least as far as he knew. Naruto felt nothing for the loss of Uchiha Clan apart from apathy since he knew how many of them acted and Sasuke himself was a living example of it. Unfortunately, the loss of his family had made Sasuke even worse around his classmates and Naruto couldn't help but notice that since he came back to the academy after the slaughter of his clan, he could sense something dark about Sasuke; something that had not been there before. Sure, Sasuke was still his usual annoying "I'm better than you all" self, but Naruto knew that something was different about him. Sasuke had become more short-tempered and picked fights with his classmates for no apparent reason other than minor insignificant things like he once told this brown haired boy that he didn't like the way he looked at him when the boy had only shot a brief, uninterested glance his way. Naruto cringed at the memory. He remembered that whenever Sasuke was pulled up for his violent behaviour that he would always give his scorner a disapproving look. Naruto knew the look Sasuke would give the adult. It was a look that Naruto himself was all too familiar with. Sasuke believed that as an Uchiha, he was untouchable and he looked down on everyone, the academy senseis and other adults include. It was clear that Sasuke considered everyone else in the village as being beneath him and from the look Naruto remembered Sasuke giving the sensei that had pulled him up for his behaviour… it was the look of a hunter that had just marked his prey like the villagers that had attacked him so many times in the past. Naruto knew that Sasuke would get the person back someday. Of course, Sasuke was smart enough to remain silent and always hung his head as if in defeat, but Naruto could see Sasuke's true feelings in his eyes as he glared at the person scolding him. Naruto only hoped that the academy would pick up on this because he knew that if things went the way they were going right now, then Sasuke would probably eliminate half of the senseis in the academy just to satisfy his injured pride.

"Whatever," he said with a shrug, coming out of his thoughts, deciding not to confront Sasuke as he moved to walk past him.

In all honesty, he wasn't in the mood to confront him and he knew that confronting him would land him in trouble. When it came to him, the academy senseis always took Sasuke's side, aside from Umino Iruka. The senseis didn't like Naruto and since sabotaging his education was now pointless, they skulked around looking for every opportunity they could find to make his life hellish. Besides, it didn't really matter with Sasuke. The Village Council always managed to get him off the hook anyway or at least the civilian portion of the council did. They held Sasuke in high regard and basically saw him as their next Hokage and as far as they were concerned, Sasuke's record was spotless and he could do no wrong in their eyes. The Civilian Council always intervened when it came to Sasuke's punishments for lashing out and he only got away with a slap on the wrist and a "Don't do it again". Naruto just couldn't believe it. Sasuke was arrogant, boastful and so full of himself that it was unreal. He needed to know his place and yet, the Civilian Council turned a blind eye to Sasuke's violent temperament; treating it like it didn't exist. Their "precious" Uchiha was immaculate and pure. He wouldn't do those things. The fault was that of the boy he was fighting. That was the Civilian Council's message. It disgusted Naruto to no end.

"Hey," Sasuke said in a demanding tone as he marched in front of Naruto and glared in his face, "Apologise dobe."

"Alright, I'm sorry I bumped into you Your Greatness," Naruto replied in a sarcastic tone, causing the three girls behind him to giggle, "I should have watched where I was going, but I'm just stupid."

Sasuke's eyes flashed with anger at Naruto's witty reply. He didn't want Naruto apologising. He wanted to fight. He was bored and had nothing to do, so he decided to test himself against Naruto. If there was one person in the world Sasuke could say that he hated next to his brother, Naruto would be that person. At first, he had chosen to berate Naruto just for a laugh and to vent his frustrations due to the fact that Naruto seemed to always mess up on performing even the simplest jutsu. However, somehow, Naruto had started to improve and though Sasuke would never admit this, even to himself under pain of death, he had started to feel his status as the academy's number one student was coming under threat and that infuriated him greatly. To him, Naruto was a nameless nobody who didn't deserve to improve. He was the dead last in the academy and he wasn't supposed to get better. People like Naruto belonged in the trash with all the other rodents and germs and the fact that Naruto was proving him wrong infuriated him for Sasuke was a person who would not alter his beliefs to fit the world. If he could, Sasuke would alter the world to fit his beliefs and he vowed that once he avenged his clan, he would do just that. To him, surpassing an Uchiha was an unpardonable crime. Naruto was nothing compared to him and he was going to prove it.

Apparently, Naruto could sense Sasuke's anger and knew right away that he was itching for a fight.

"Just great," he thought with a groan, "Looks like I'm not going to get out of this, am I?"

"Look teme, I'm not interested in a fight," he said, moving to walk by him.

"What the matter dobe, scared?" Sasuke taunted with a smirk.

However, Naruto just shrugged.

"Yeah, I'm scared," he said in an uncaring tone, "You're an Uchiha and I'm a worthless nobody. I wouldn't last a single second against your awesome skills."

Sasuke's mind immediately flooded with rage at Naruto's dismissal as now he was seeing red. He was an Uchiha and Uchihas always got what they wanted no matter what and right now he wanted to fight and he would get a fight.

He lunged at Naruto with a balled fist ready and brought it forward. However, Naruto just sidestepped Sasuke, causing Sasuke to stumble as he was lunging forward and his fist missed its target and the surprise caused him to keep moving and he fell to the ground as Sakura, Ino and Hinata looked on, having remained silent all this time.

"Hey Ino," Sakura said as she turned her head to face her friend, "Did you ever like that boy?"

Ino just nodded with a regrettable sigh.

"Yeah, but so did you," she said, turning to face Sakura, "Remember, I was there when you told our friends that day."

Four years ago

Five-year-old Sakura ran up to her new friends in a rather excited mood. She had just found someone that she liked and couldn't wait to tell everyone the great news. It rather excited her. The boy she liked seemed to be handsome and good looking and his cool mysterious attitude made him seem cool in Sakura's eyes.

"Hey guess what everyone, I've something to tell you," she said in a rather excited tone as she raised her arms high above her head at a diagonal angle, "It's a secret, you'll never guess who I like; never in a million years."

The two girls just stared at Sakura, with rather uninterested or uncaring looks on their faces.

"So just tell us already," the girl to Sakura's right said in a dismissive tone.

"Just don't say that it's Sasuke," the girl on the left asked in an equally dismissive tone, clearly already knowing that that was who Sakura was referring to.

"What?" Sakura said in a rather disappointed tone; disappointed that her friends had been able to guess her crush right off the bat, "H-how did you know?"

"Oh that's easy," the first girl said in a more interested tone, "Sasuke's like the most popular boy ever."

"He is?" Sakura asked curiously before bursting out in joking laughter, "Well, I guess that means I have a lot of competition, don't I?"

Ino, who was not that far away standing off to the side with another girl turned to look at Sakura with a slightly surprised look on her face after hearing what was said. In truth, she liked Sasuke to and being as popular as she was, she saw herself as the number one favourite to win Sasuke's affections. The fact that her newest friend liked him as well was a bit disturbing to her and she shot Sakura a small glare of jealousy.

"Wow, what an improvement," the girl next to Ino said, commenting on Sakura's increase in confidence, "Sakura's really come out of her shell, hasn't she?"

"Huh?" Ino said as she looked at her friend, acknowledging that she had heard her before turning to glare at the ground like a child taking a temper tantrum.

"Sometimes I'd wish she'd get back in it," she muttered to, mainly to herself rather than her friend… commenting on her disapproval of Sakura's crush on the boy she had a crush on.

Present

That had been two years before they had met Naruto and they both had to admit that back then, they had both gone along with the in-crowd. Sasuke was very popular due to his status as a member of the most powerful clan in Konoha and ever since the massacre, his popularity had increased dramatically since as the last survivor of the clan aside from his brother, who was the one responsible for the massacre, he was the sole heir to the Uchiha Clan and many of the academy's female student body wanted to help him in restoring his clan.

For Sakura and Ino however, since meeting Naruto and everything that had happened since then, both had completely forgotten about their crushes for the Uchiha heir. Seeing the pain and suffering that Naruto had to endure… they just didn't think about Sasuke anymore. They were too busy with Naruto to even mention him and in a way, meeting Naruto had opened their eyes and both girls could now honestly say that they absolutely despised the Uchiha heir. It had been through Naruto that they were able to see Sasuke's true colours and it had been a shock to them both. It had been shocking to see Sasuke just waltz up to Naruto and bully him for no apparent reason. They had just been minding their own business and Sasuke had come up and started berating Naruto for no reason and from Naruto's response, Sasuke had obviously done this before and even more shocking, some of the girls that just so happened to be passing by at the time had actually joined in, obviously looking to score points with Sasuke and as much as both girls hated to admit it, they couldn't help but see themselves as those girls and knew that had it not been for meeting Naruto and gaining an understanding of him before hand, then they'd have probably been among the girls who joined Sasuke in his torment of Naruto… the reason being in the hopes that he'd notice them in the hopes that he'd choose them as his wife someday.

It had been an eye-opener to both girls and through Naruto, they saw Sasuke for what he really was… an arrogant stuck-up snobbish little bastard that didn't care about anyone other than himself. They had seen his total disregard for the girls that blindly fawned over him other than to boast his ego. Those girls were blind and stupid, the two former Sasuke fangirls thought to themselves and neither could deny the fact that if not for Naruto, they would have become just as stupid and delusional as the rest of them and both girls couldn't help but wonder if their friendship would have suffered because of it. Neither Ino nor Sakura could picture themselves becoming bitterly hated rivals, but both had to admit the possibility that their desire to be with Sasuke could potentially have led to their friendship falling apart.

Sure, Naruto was now the most important boy in both their lives, but unlike Sasuke, Naruto cared for them both and enjoyed their company. Because he spent time with both of them and all three of them along with Hinata spent their time together, plus the fact that Naruto had been more than prepared to severe his friendship with Sakura in order to preserve Sakura's friendship with Ino back when he believed that Ino would reject him, neither Ino nor Sakura could consider fighting each other over him. They both knew that Naruto cared for them both and it would upset him greatly if they through away their friendship over him. They knew that it would devastate him to no end if they both started fighting over him and with this in mind, they were able to preserve their friendship as well as maintain their friendship with Naruto and Hinata. Opening their eyes to Sasuke and the potential consequences that chasing after him could have had was another thing that they were thankful to Naruto for. They had both honestly confessed that they had at one point considered him as their "Prince Charming". However, Naruto had just dismissed it, saying that it was in the past and that he knew that they both could see the real Sasuke and not just the illusion that many of the girls had created for themselves. However, both couldn't deny that Naruto could potentially become a flashpoint in their friendship in the future as both girls liked him.

As for Hinata, she never really had a good opinion about Sasuke. She wasn't one of those that had gotten with the in-crowd. She had been too busy admiring Naruto to pay Sasuke any attention unless it happened to be interactions between Naruto and Sasuke and after witnessing Sasuke's cruel treatment of Naruto, she could honestly say that she despised him. It was a well known fact in the village that the Uchiha Clan and the Hyuga Clan never really saw eye to eye and had constantly been at loggerheads with one another since the Uchiha Clan's greatest rivals, the Senju Clan had dissolved into village populace. The main reason for the Hyuga Clan replacing the Senju Clan as the Uchiha Clan's greatest rivals was due to unconfirmed rumours that the Uchiha's prized Sharingan was an evolution of the Byakugan. Even though there was no proof to prove or disprove this claim, the Uchiha Clan took offense to those rumours, as like with everyone else in their minds, the Hyugas were beneath them and the concept, regardless of whether or not it was true that their "greatest" treasure descended from something they viewed as inferior angered them greatly.

However, it was Sasuke's treatment of Naruto that angered Hinata and not the fact that Sasuke was an Uchiha. In truth, Hinata could care less about her clan's affairs. Whether or not the rumours about the connection between the Byakugan and the Sharingan were true or not didn't really matter to Hinata. Sasuke's treatment of Naruto was appalling… that all three girls could agree on and all three knew that Sasuke wasn't influenced by the rest of the village. They knew that Sasuke didn't care much for the villagers' attitude towards Naruto and the main reason he picked on Naruto was simply because he felt that he could. To Sakura and Ino, he was a male version of Ami and to Hinata, he was a physical manifestation of all the reasons why some people didn't like noble clans. He reminded her of her cousin, Neji, who also believed that he was better than everyone else. Neji was quite powerful for his age and regarded as a genius and prodigy in his own right. Hinata knew that her cousin was stronger than her despite her being heiress to the clan and he enjoyed rubbing it in her face whenever he had the opportunity to do so. However, Sasuke was countless times worse than Neji. Where as Neji targeted her specifically, Sasuke would just target people at random and then boast about how he was better than them. It really infuriated Hinata.

Anyway, Naruto walked on leaving Sasuke lying on the ground and the three girls just passed him by without so much as giving him a second glance and that really enraged Sasuke. How dare they brush him off like he was just a lowly common peasant? He was from one of the founding clans of Konoha. They should be bowing down to him and worshipping him like a god. He was a god among men; heck, a god among gods. He was destined to become so powerful that he'd make the gods themselves seem like mortals in comparison. He'd show them.

"Hey, don't just walk away from me," he called out after them, "You're supposed to acknowledge your betters."

"Betters," Naruto said as he stopped, though he did not turn round to face Sasuke, "You live in a fantasy world teme. You're not as great as you think you are. Heck, even Hinata-chan's cousin could beat you in a fight."

"DON'T COMPARE ME WITH THOSE DISGUSTING WEAKLINGS OF THE HYUGA CLAN!" Sasuke practically screamed with rage, "I'M A GOD!"

"And we liked this guy," Ino said aloud, shaking her head in disgust as she thought back to how delusional Sasuke's fangirls were and how she could have been one of those fangirls.

"I know, it's shocking," Sakura said in agreement, shooting Sasuke a nasty look, "I'm glad we were able to come to our senses before we reached the stage that many of those girls chasing after him are at now. I bet if I was still chasing him, it would eventually lead to my downfall."

She cringed at her own statement, fearing that it could have proved to have become more true than she could possibly ever have realised.

"Just ignore him," Hinata, shaking her head as she waved Sasuke off, "He's not worth it."

Sasuke immediately shot the three girls a hate-filled glare of pure rage as he started to see red. How dare they insult like him like that? They were supposed to fawn over him like most of the other girls did. They were worthless and weak and didn't deserve to insult him.

"KNOW YOUR PLACE YOU WRETCHED WEAKLINGS!" he bellowed as he started running towards them, looking to punch one of them in the face, "YOU'RE WEAK BECAUSE YOU'RE GIRLS!"

That one comment caused Naruto to cringe as he slowly but surely turned round to see what was going on. Sasuke had stopped in his tracks as even Naruto could feel the combined killing intent radiating from the three girls. It must've been frightening if it caused Sasuke to stop, Naruto figured as he knew that Sasuke wasn't easily scared or surprised.

"You've done it now Sasuke-teme," he said in a serious tone devoid of his usual carefree and joking undertone, "You should know the meaning of the saying, "Hell hath no fury than a woman scorned". I really wouldn't want to be you right now."

Sakura let a brief smirk creep onto the edges of her lips at hearing Naruto's comment before she went back to glaring at Sasuke.

"You want to say that again," Ino said in a surprisingly calm tone, though the anger in the undertone was clearly evident.

Sasuke just stood there, his rage evaporating to be replaced with a feeling that he hadn't felt since that horrible night he came home to find his clan had been slaughtered; fear. He opened his mouth to talk, but he just couldn't force the words to leave his throat and he shut his mouth and opened it again, and shut it… he was like a gaping fish out of water… too shocked to say anything or even gather his thoughts together. From the way the three girls stared at him, their eyes felt like daggers piercing his flesh. For a few minutes, nothing happened. The silence was deafening and the tension was so thick, one could cut it with a knife. Sasuke just stood there gaping as the separate killing intent from each girl merged together, paralysing him with fear.

Naruto cringed as he envisioned the beating Sasuke was about to receive. He had learned long ago by hanging out with those three girls that getting on their bad side was a mistake. Sure, he himself never got on their bad side, but he had witnessed the beating that some of the other children received when they rubbed the girls up the wrong way, usually they were coming to his defence after the person decided to pick on him. He nodded to himself. Yeah, underestimating those three was a costly mistake and Sasuke was going to find that out the hard way.

Sakura suddenly took a step forward as she started cracking her knuckles and Ino and Hinata followed suit.

"Pick a body part girls," Sakura said as she scanned Sasuke's body with a devilish smirk on her face, "And Hinata, feel free to use your Byakugan."

"I'm gonna pound your diseased cranium into mush, Shannaro!" Inner Sakura said furiously as she appeared surrounded by an aura of fire as she shot a frightening venomous glare directly at Sasuke.

Hinata, who along with Ino was unaware of Sakura's inner-self's threat, nodded as she performed a series of hand seals and channelled her chakra into her eyes, sending a shockwave through them. The veins at the side of her eyes bulged to the point of becoming clearly visible and the outline of her irises and pupils also became visible though her eyes were still the same white colour. The outline of her irises took on the form of a series of small straight lined scribbles that went round in a circle and inside the circle, the outline of her pupils appeared as a faintly and poorly drawn circle. Other than that, her eyes were still white and Sasuke had to admit that staring into Hinata's Byakugan-charged eyes that she looked downright frightening especially with her eyes filled with rage and hate directed solely at him. All he could do was gulp as Sakura lunged towards him, leading the attack and she swung her fist towards Sasuke's face, causing him to fall to the ground as the fist made contact and Naruto cringed at hearing a small crack, indicating that Sakura had broken Sasuke's nose.

"Ouch," he said turning away from the scene for a brief moment before he slowly and rather reluctantly turned back to see what was going on.

Sakura, Ino and Hinata then all rushed Sasuke and started to rather violently stomp on him with the majority of their stomps suspiciously finding their mark on Sasuke's crotch, causing Naruto's hands to automatically fly over and covered his own crotch as he continued to watch Sasuke's humiliation.

"Sure glad that's not me," he though, sighing with relief, not wanting to be on the receiving end of a beating by three really angry girls out to introduce him to a world of pain.

After a few minutes of this, the three girls stopped and moved back and Hinata deactivated her Byakugan, her eyes returning to their usual look. As for Sasuke, he had his hands clutching his crotch as he winced in pain, unable to believe that those three girls had just humiliated him in such a degrading manner.

"Try restoring your clan now," Ino said as her eyes travelled to his battered crotch, "I'm not sure how babies are made, but I know that you need what's down there in order to do so and I think we just put an end to any chances you had of becoming a daddy."

Sasuke was too busy wincing in pain and rolling from side to side to have been listening to Ino, but he did catch that last part.

"Guess the so-called great Uchiha Clan really aren't that great after all," Sakura said with a mocking laugh, "Or maybe they are and you just ended up drawing the short straw."

"Shannaro! I guess that's possible, Inner Sakura put in a boastful tone as she shot Sasuke an arrogant smirk."

"That's enough," Naruto said in a serious tone, interrupting the three girls and their denouncement of Sasuke, "Let's go. I'm sure the teme has a lot to think about."

The three girls nodded, noticing from the look on Naruto's face that it was more of a command that a suggestion. Obviously he felt that enough was enough and they certainly weren't going to argue with him. After all, since he had been on the receiving end of that kind of abuse for his entire life, Naruto knew when to call it quits and the three girls agreed. After all, they didn't want to become just like the villagers and they knew that had they continued with Sasuke, that was what would have happened; they'd just be as cruel and unforgiving as the villagers were to Naruto, only it was Sasuke on the receiving end of their abuse and as much as they all felt he deserved it, they knew better than to push it.

"Sorry Naruto-kun," Sakura apologised with a heavy sigh, "Guess we just got carried away."

"Think nothing of it girls," Naruto said as he turned towards them and flashed one of his fox like grins, "The teme had it coming. Just don't overdo it. Ever since his clan was wiped out, I just get chills thinking about him. I don't know why or how, but I can sense something dark… almost evil about him that wasn't there before."

The three of them then continued on their way leaving Sasuke rolling on the ground with his hands caressing his crotch as he writhed in agony as he fumed over the humiliation the three girls had dealt him and he was attracting quite a crowd.

However, not that far away, unbeknownst to Naruto or any of the three girls, a lone Hyuga had watched the whole thing transpire and nodded to himself as he watched Hinata's performance. In truth, he really had nothing against Hinata and was pleased that she was finally showing signs of improvement and he hoped that someday, she would become a great clan head and end the long-lasting internal feud that had plagued the Hyuga Clan since its formation.

Unfortunately for him, he had orders to follow and his orders to keep an eye on Hinata and report back on her improvements and that was something he hated. Sure, Hinata had shown tremendous improvement in the last two years, but to a few, she was still considered a black sheep and their were those on the Hyuga Council who viewed her kind and caring nature as a threat to the Hyuga Clan's traditions, fearing that Hinata would do away with those traditions and end their way of life. The spy knew that Hinata hated the division in the clan and wanted to bring it to an end and it was that one dream that many on the Hyuga Council feared. They were quite happy with the division and were willing to keep it, consequences be damned. To those people, Hinata was a threat and the spy feared that they may decide to eliminate her since she was no longer the cowardly weak little girl she once was. The Hyuga Council had seen Hinata's reluctance to hurt sparring partners in the beginning and had deliberately destroyed her confidence, knowing that it would give them the excuse to replace her and Hiashi, who was head of the clan was oblivious to the whole thing. The council had deliberately berated and beat down Hinata, knowing that it would lead to an inferiority complex, hoping to keep her weak in order to replace her, but now their plan was under threat. Hinata had grown a spine and stood up to them, causing their blood to boil. They had too many things going for them to let Hinata's increase in confidence and improvements get in the way.

"Senkei-sama's not going to like this," the spy said, shaking his head as he gave Hinata one last sympathetic glance as she disappeared into the academy building.

Out of all those who opposed Hinata's views, Hyuga Senkei, the most influential man in the clan second only to Hiashi himself was the most open and most adamant about Hinata. The spy knew that Senkei was not a man anyone would want to mess with. Sure, he hid his true views on Hinata well and claimed that her improvements had come too little too late and that she was a lost cause, but Hiashi was hearing none of it. He had rescinded his decision to replace Hinata with her younger sister, Hanabi and that had angered Senkei greatly and what the spy was frightened of was that he knew that Senkei was the sort of man that would go to extreme lengths to get what he wanted, even if it meant going behind Hiashi's back and he knew that Senkei could possibly have Hinata killed rather than see all his plans go up in flames.

"Forgive me Hinata-sama," the spy whispered to himself, "But I am bound by Senkei-sama and must carry out his wishes."

He then turned and was about to make his way back to the Hyuga compound.

"Magen: Jubaku Satsu!" a female voice shouted out, causing the spy to stop and look around.

However, before he could comprehend what was going on, he noticed a tree had started to grow behind him at his feet and at an alarming rate. However, what terrified the spy was that the tree also seemed to sprout branches underneath his armpits and grow round his shoulders and then reattach to the tree's trunk. Panic set in as the spy struggled to free himself; momentarily forgetting that he was under a genjutsu and could easily release himself from it and counter his attacker. However, before he had a chance to get his bearings, the upper torso of a woman seemed to come out of the tree's trunk just above the spy. The woman wore a red shirt with a green ninja vest over it and had a hitai-ate tied round her forehead, signifying her as a kunoichi She had long shoulder-length darkish greyish brown hair and crimson red eyes so distinct that they could easily be mistaken for a dojutsu. The woman also had a kunai in her right hand and had it poised, ready to slit the man's throat.

"I do apologise Hyuga-san," the woman said with a sigh as she gave him a genuine sympathetic sad look, "I have no personal quarrel with you, but I cannot allow you to supply that bastard Senkei with the excuse he's been looking for to eradicate Hinata-chan."

With that said, she brought the kunai down and slashed the spy's throat, severing his windpipe as the tree disappeared leaving the woman standing behind the spy as the spy's eyes widened before he started coughing up blood. He took a few steps forward before he fell to the ground, dead, though he trembled for a few second as a twitching motion.

The woman, Yuhi Kurenai shook her head as she looked down at the body. She knew that she would have to dispose of it and quickly. They were out in the open and Kurenai had been rather fortunate that no one had happened to come across her while she had carried out this vile act… not that she wanted to, but she just felt that she had to in order to save Hinata since she knew about Senkei and his desire to get rid of Hinata.

She picked up the spy's body and performing a few hand seals, she seemed to make herself and the body she had hoisted over her shoulder vanish. She wasn't Konoha's number one genjutsu mistress for nothing. When it came to genjutsu, Kurenai was one of the best users the village had. She could rather easily shield herself and dispose of the dead man's body, causing the man to effectively disappear never to be seen or heard from again. She then let out a sigh.

"I'm very sorry for this Hinata-chan," she thought, shaking her head, "However, with people wanting you dead, there must be sacrifices to ensure your safety. Damn that Senkei and his twisted views."

She then jumped to the nearest tree branch and then started making her way to an isolated spot outside the where she could dispose of the body without being discovered. She shook her head, knowing that what she was doing with horrible, but she didn't see any other choice in the matter. She knew that this would weigh heavily on her conscience, especially since the man she had killed had nothing against Hinata. However, he would have reported his findings to Senkei and Kurenai was not going to allow that madman to cause the death of someone whom she had grown to love like her own daughter.

Glossary

Teme – Bastard (also an offence way of saying, you i.e. Damn you and can also be used as a suffix)

Dobe – Dead last

Sharingan – Copy Wheel Eye (Uchiha Clan's Kekkei Genkai)

Hand Seals – Certain shapes that ninja create with their hands to use jutsu. The jutsu depends on the head seals and the order of those hand seals

Genjutsu – Illusionary Techniques (Manipulation of the five senses)

Katon – Fire Release

Gokakyu no Jutsu – Great Fireball Technique

Magen: Jubaku Satsu – Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death

Author's notes – Well that took a bit longer than I had anticipated. I had a small case of writers block this time, but I managed to get back that spark. Anyway, this chapter was mainly just introducing Sasuke into the story and I realise that my portrayal of him may be over the top. However, I've read many fics portraying Sasuke as a bad guy and they seem to be over the top as well (no offence to those authors). However, rather than just have Sasuke wanting to become all-powerful just for revenge, I decided to throw in a little extra… Sasuke's delusions of his superiority being because of his father's teachings. I probably have created one of the most evil Sasukes ever. As time goes on, he'll fall further and further into darkness and I added the beating scene because I wanted a sense of irony as in cannon, Sakura and Ino were the worst of Sasuke's fangirls and I couldn't help but have them beat Sasuke and I also wanted them to realise the potential consequences had they remained loyal Sasuke followers. Well I was hoping to cover more in this chapter, but I really want to limit the length of each individual chapter. However, what wasn't covered in this chapter will be covered next chapter, including the real reason why the Hyuga Clan won't come out and clear the misunderstanding with Naruto up and more about Senkei. Also, Naruto will meet and interact with boys as Sakura, Ino and Hinata's friendship with him cause some of the younger generation to re-evaluate their views of Naruto and the true feelings of those who in cannon are part of the rookie nine will be revealed. I've also gone back over a few chapters and corrected mistakes and spelling errors I missed (the ones that I noticed). I also added two terms I missed to chapter one's Glossary.