Naruto – Legacy of the Yondaime Hokage
Chapter seven – Life improvements, New friendships
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)
The woman sat in the confines of her own home. Sitting in the kitchen with her elbows rested on the table and he hands clasped underneath her chin, she silently cursed the failure in her plan involving that wretched "demon" child. It was past midnight and the woman sat in the dark as she pondered on her next course of action. However, she did not shout or scream; neither did she throw the contents of her house around in a rage. No, she would not bring herself to that level. Beside, her daughter was upstairs asleep and the last thing she wanted was to bring unwanted attention upon herself from both her daughter and everyone else. Fortunately for her, she knew how to manage her anger. As a former kunoichi, she had learned to exact extreme patience as sometimes while on missions in the past, she sometimes had to wait days, even weeks to complete the assignment she had been given and she also knew how to improvise should things not go as planned.
However, in the past two years, things had gone horribly wrong for her. The wretched boy had befriended three girls, two of which were heiresses to two well-respected clans of Konoha; the Yamanaka Clan and the Hyuga Clan. The Yamanaka Clan, unlike the Hyuga Clan were not all that particularly wealthy and they certainly did not have the same noble status as the Hyuga Clan did, but they were still a well-respected clan throughout Konoha and even had their own seat on the village's Shinobi Council. The Yamanaka heiress did not concern the woman in the slightest. In truth, she could care less for the blonde-haired little hussy. In fact, the girl's association with the boy and her father's approval to it had tarnished the Yamanaka Clan's reputation somewhat, though the only reason Yamanaka Inoichi was still alive and still retained his council seat was because of the fact that he owned the only flower shop in the village and his wife had cleared off after discovering that her daughter had made friends with the "demon" spawn and Inoichi had the support of the rest of the shinobi council since hardly any of them went along with the general populace with regards to the boy. Many of the shinobi council either supported the boy or simply just didn't care what was going on with him.
What did concern her though was the Hyuga heiress, Hinata. It was mainly because of her befriending that wretched boy that her plans had gone up in flames. Many of the villagers had mistakenly believed that the boy had the support of the Hyuga Clan, which was a load of bullshit. The woman knew that the Hyugas were among those who didn't care about the boy. As far as they were concerned, so long as he didn't bother them, they would leave him alone. However, what surprised her was that none of the Hyugas had come forward to deny those mistaken notions, which had her seething as she cursed the boy's very existence. Why wouldn't the Hyugas just come forward to clear everything up? She had a good idea as to why; after all, she was on the Shinobi Council herself despite having retired. However, she had been required to take up her late husband's seat until her daughter came of age in which she could sit on the Council herself. She had a fair idea of the Hyuga Clan and how they operated.
She had pondered the prospect of doing away with the two heiresses, but she had quickly dismissed that possibility, as she believed that they could be of use to her alive. After all, she wanted to devastate the boy and what better way than to cause his closest friends to betray him? Besides, she knew that killing Hinata would bring the wrath of the Hyuga Clan down upon her. She knew that some of the Hyugas were adamantly opposed to Hinata because of her beliefs, but since she had met that disgusting boy, many had started to accept her and even though there were still those who would believe that she'd be doing them a favour be eradicating their greatest threat, the woman knew that those people were in the minority and couldn't win against those who accepted their heiress. The possibility of the Hyuga Clan on her case was downright frightening to her and she knew that if anyone had the resources to trace anything back to her, the Hyuga Clan were at the top of the list. They could easily find out who killed their heiress without too much effort, so she had reluctantly elected to leave Hinata alone. Of course, Danzo and his band of ANBU ROOT could also trace her, but unlike with the Hyuga Clan, she had information about Danzo that could incriminate him and label him as a traitor and she had warned Danzo in the past that if anything happened to her, then the information she possessed would go public and that kept him at bay.
In the two years since she had tried to push the boy down the path of hatred and revenge, she had kept a low profile. Sure, the boy had told the senile old coot about her, but since the boy hadn't looked up at her when she had spoken to him, he couldn't give the Sandaime a description of her and therefore, the old coot was powerless. The Sandaime had tried tracking her down, but with no leads to go on, it was a futile task. After all, the boy was the most hated person in the village. The ANBU simply just couldn't go around looking for women acting suspiciously round him. Half the village's population were women and they hated him. Many had stalked him in the past looking for an opportunity to kill him, only to chicken out at the last minute for fear of being caught and would constantly try again only to chicken out each time and as for her… she had observed him since their meeting that 10th October, though she had been careful in the past. She always escaped the ANBU's notice, even when they did see her as they probably just assumed that she was a passer by and in a busy place like Konoha, people tended to pass by each other all the time. However, she had always been sure not to observe him too much so as to avoid suspicion. The Sandaime's hunt for her had been a lost cause. Of course, since she hadn't approached the boy since then, the Sandaime had eventually just passed it off as a one-off incident, assuming that she had just given the boy advice, not caring whether or not he'd take her up on it.
"How wrong you are you senile old fool," she thought to herself with a smirk; smirking at the fact that the person the Sandaime had been trying to find had been right under his nose these past two years and he was none the wiser.
She knew that the three girls had thrown a wrench in the works that were her plans. However, she would endure and continue her quest to bring the "demon" boy down. She just wasn't sure how to go about it yet. However, she would think of something. It could be another few years before her plans yielded results, but it was something she was willing to go through with. In a way she kind of admired the boy's willpower and that helped calm her down somewhat. Her self-appointed mission was to kill the Kyuubi container and the longer that moment was postponed, the greater the ultimate satisfaction.
She stared at a picture sitting on the table... most of which was shrouded in the darkness of the room, but the far left corner was illuminated buy the streetlight outside that shone all the way across from the front of the house behind the woman's house and through a gap between houses. The part of the photo illuminated was that of a redhead girl about twelve-years-old with short hair and light blue eyes, wearing a pair of dark blue sandals, dark blue shorts, a white shirt and a hitai-ate tied round her forehead. In fact, at first glance this girl one could easily mistake this girl for a boy. However, the woman knew that this "boy" was really a girl and she sneered at the girl's image, giving it a disgusted look.
"You must think this is really funny, don't you?" she said to the girl's image in a seething tone that sounded eerily calm as memories of the girl flooded her mind, causing her hands to ball into fists as she shot the girl in the photo a venomous glare of pure hatred and revulsion, "Even though you're dead, you still continue to laugh in my face and ruin my life through that disgusting disease of a boy you call a son. I'll be the one who'll end up having the last laugh this time… and to think that we had been placed in the same team together all because the guys who arranged the teams mistook you for a guy. Sad, isn't it that your son will meet his end at the hands of your former teammate, eh Uzu-mesu?"
One day later (after Sasuke's beating)
Inuzuka Kiba stood out in the courtyard of the ninja academy eating his lunch along with Akimichi Choji, Nara Shikamaru and Aburame Shino, who pretty much stood off to the side as if he wasn't really part of the group. Despite this, all four of them were standing watching Uzumaki Naruto and the three girls that had befriended him two years ago. All four watched in awe as the three girls and one boy ate lunch together and happily chatted away. One day previously, the three girls had been responsible for giving Uchiha Sasuke, who in their opinion was the biggest pain in the ass in all of Konoha a beating after he said that their weakness was due to their gender. Boy… that was the biggest mistake he ever made. Apparently, he had tried to pick a fight with Naruto and Naruto had clearly tried to avoid a confrontation, even going so far as to pretend to praise Sasuke, though Sasuke had obviously wanted a fight, as he had lunged at Naruto anyway and Naruto simply sidestepped him, causing him to fall and the three girls… two of which had been Sasuke's fangirls at one point simply pointed out facts about Sasuke and Sasuke responded by lunging at them and commented on how they were weaker than him because they were girls.
Kiba smirked as he remembered witnessing it. He had just been passing by when he noticed Naruto sidestepping Sasuke. In truth, Kiba had enjoyed watching Sasuke get his ass handed to him by three girls as he remembered how Sasuke had once picked a fight with him before when all he did was just glance briefly in Sasuke's direction. He hadn't even noticed Sasuke, but Sasuke decided to pick on him anyway. Kiba did not like Sasuke one bit. Like Naruto, he couldn't stand Sasuke's "I'm better than everyone else" attitude and it irked him every time he heard Sasuke rub it in someone's face. He was half-tempted to go and pound the crap out of the egotistical idiot, but he refrained from doing so, knowing that Sasuke had the protection of the civilian portion of the Village Council. He remembered after the fight Sasuke started with him that the Civilian Council had interfered when Sasuke had been pulled up for it and placed the blame at his door. In fact, he remembered his mother coming home after a Council Meeting, as the Inuzuka Family was a clan and as head of the clan, his mother, Tsume was a member of the shinobi portion of the council. Anyway she had come home that day in a foul mood after the Civilian Council had berated her on her son's behaviour towards their "precious" Uchiha. Of course, Tsume knew the truth, but the Civilian Council would hear none of it and had made her life hellish in the weeks following the fight. It infuriated Kiba to no end that Sasuke was getting praise that he did not deserve. It only made his superiority complex worse and as far as Kiba was concerned, it was about time someone knocked the arrogant little bastard off his high horse.
As for his feelings towards Naruto… he did have a growing respect for the boy. At first, he, like Sasuke had viewed him as a talentless loser who was just wasting his time. He remembered back to one class three years back when Naruto was told to demonstrate the Henge no Jutsu by transforming into the Sandaime. His attempt had been absolutely pathetic as he looked the Sandaime, though it looked as if someone had punched him in the face and everyone, including Kiba had laughed. However, Naruto just glared back at them and vowed to become Hokage someday and that he wouldn't be pretending. Of course, Kiba had just scoffed, believing it to be impossible and even voiced his opinion to Naruto, but Naruto just vowed to prove everyone wrong.
Ever since Naruto started improving, Kiba couldn't help but have a growing respect for him. Of course he knew about the villagers and their awful treatment of him and at first, he had just shrugged it off and listened to the other children's parents. His own mother, as well as his older sister, Hana never really hated Naruto. In fact, Tsume had at one point tried to adopt him since he was an orphan, but the Civilian Council had intervened and stopped the proceedings, though Kiba didn't know why. His mother would not say anything about it other than the Civilian Council felt that it was for the good of the village. Kiba's father though had been on side with the villagers and had been one of the ones who hated Naruto. It got so bad that Tsume's disagreement with him over Naruto had scared him off, as the Inuzuka Clan were known for their animalistic behaviour and Tsume had a fierce reputation for her feral behaviour. Even Kiba himself was a bit intimidated by her. However, Kiba couldn't say that he hated Naruto since his father cleared off because of him since Kiba and Hana never got on well with their father anyway. Their father had wanted his eldest child to be a boy and he had been open in his disapproval of his eldest being a girl. In short, he hated Hana because she was a girl and his eldest child because he wanted his eldest to be a boy and he hated Kiba for not being born before his sister; so when he left, the Inuzuka children had been glad to be rid of him since he treated them like dirt. However, Kiba had overheard some of the other children's parents telling their children to stay away from Naruto and like the other children, he had blindly followed those orders despite the fact that they didn't come from his own mother, who ironically wanted to help Naruto.
"You know guys," he said looking at Naruto as he was re-evaluating his opinion of him, "I don't think that he's the monster that the adults seem to believe him to be."
He remembered hearing that the adults seemed to hurl names like "monster", "demon" and "hell-spawn" at Naruto and at first, he believed it to be true, but after witnessing Naruto and his interactions with the three girls for the past two years, he had slowly come to realise that the adult were wrong. A monster would not show kindness to others and Kiba had seen how Naruto had shown the three girls kindness and he even defended them when they were in trouble with the villagers. Heck, if Naruto was a monster, Kiba doubted that he would have tried to avoid a confrontation with Sasuke and apparently the other three boys agreed with him as they all nodded their heads, even Shino who stood there, seemingly devoid of emotion.
Shino had to admit that although he didn't know Naruto very well, he could sort of relate to him in a way. He didn't know why Naruto was hated, but he had a feeling that they were both sort of alike. After all, as a member of the Aburame Clan, Shino was basically a living hive with a breed of insects known as Kikaichu living inside him. He had been infused with those insects shortly after birth like all members of the Aburame Clan. The Kikaichu live have a symbiotic relationship with their hosts. The insects are allowed to use the person's body as their home and in exchange, the host is allowed to control the insects and get them to do their bidding. It was because of this that the Aburame Clan specialised in tracking and espionage, since they could communicate with the Kikaichu and could understand what they were saying. Unfortunately, because of this, the Aburame Clan in general were looked down upon by the villagers and they were often creped out just being in the presence of someone from the Aburame Clan. Shino knew this as in the past whenever he walked through the village, people had given him a wide berth and shied away from him, keeping their distance, obviously grossed out that he had bugs living inside his body. Even though no one ever talked down to him, Shino couldn't help but feel somewhat alone. Unlike Naruto, Shino hailed from a respected clan and that combined with the fact he had bugs living inside him; bugs that were pretty deadly when used in combat, no one dared voice their opinion of the Aburame Clan for fear of being attacked by their bugs, but Shino could see it in their eyes… the uncertainty and fear the villagers held for him. Because of it, Shino, like many in his clan had developed a cool, emotionless and stoic personality that gave him an air of mystery about him. He was cool, collected and solitary and combined with his mysterious vibe; it did little to help improve his image in the eyes of the villagers.
Of course, Shino acted like this didn't bother him and his appearance often fooled everyone around him into believing it, but deep down, Shino had this longing for companionship. No one would go near him and those he did business with obviously didn't like being in his company, as he could tell by their body language. He couldn't help but see the contrasts between him and Naruto, though unlike Naruto, the villagers weren't open about their disapproval of him and definitely didn't try to kill him at every opportunity they got. Naruto had had it far worse than Shino ever did. What bothered Shino the most was that he couldn't seem to get near girls without creeping them out. Because of his bugs, they always made excuses to leave and then make a run for it. Naruto didn't have that problem. With the treatment Naruto had endured his whole life, it was a wonder to Shino that he was still alive despite the constant lynch mobs out for his blood before Hinata befriended him and her status as heiress to the Hyuga Clan stopped those mobs altogether. Heck, it was a wonder that Naruto didn't resort to suicide or ran away and even more impressive still, how Naruto was able to hang on to his sanity and not dedicate his life to making the villagers suffer for his mistreatment was something that Shino felt he possibly could never understand and it earned Naruto Shino's respect.
Unfortunately, like Kiba, he had gone along with what everyone was saying in the beginning, though he left Naruto alone. His clan were pretty much neutral on the whole thing, those his father, Shibi had expressed his sympathy towards Naruto for the life that he had to led, but other than that, Shibi had just shrugged his shoulders, claiming that there was nothing they could do to help him. Shino had been apathetic towards the whole thing, listening to the other children's parents when they told their children to stay away from Naruto and that's exactly what Shino did. He never had any interactions with Naruto in the past, believing that whatever it was that the villagers hated him for was not his problem, though he did disagree was the villagers' mistreatment of Naruto. However, since he felt that it wasn't his problem, he just dismissed it and left Naruto to fend for himself.
Now however, he found himself regretting coming to those assumptions. Seeing Naruto with the three girls did make him a tad jealous since girls couldn't seem to stand his company, other than the girls from his clan, but it was the fact that Naruto had made friends and shown them kindness that really moved Shino. He had come to the same conclusions at Kiba and now he felt that he was sorry for his cold indifference to Naruto in the past and the fact that Naruto was still sane and not plotting to destroy the village earned Naruto an awful lot of respect from Shino. If someone like Naruto, who Shino deduced must be hated for something far worse than what he had to deal with could make friends, then he could possibly make friends to and he decided to start with Naruto himself as a way of making up for his past indifference.
"I have to concur with you there Kiba-san," he said in agreement with Kiba's statement, though given his emotionless stature and stoic attitude, his tone sounded rather uncaring, but then again, that was just Shino.
He always sounded like he didn't care about the subject at hand whenever he spoke even when he did care. The other three boys had come to know this trait
As for Shikamaru, when it came to Naruto, like Shino, he had pretty much ignored him in the past, but then again, Shikamaru tended to ignore almost everything round about him due to his lazy attitude. In his opinion, everything, even the most mundane and minor tasks, such as going into the kitchen to get something for his mother was troublesome. He preferred to just lie back and watch clouds roll by rather than do any work no matter how easy the task was. That summed up Nara Shikamaru perfectly. If there was a record for the laziest person in Konoha, Shikamaru would be the number one favourite for that title. In his eyes life in general was troublesome. His laziness affected his grades at the academy, causing him to score even worse than Naruto had scored in the beginning in the written tests. Now Shikamaru was smart; really smart. In fact, he was so smart that he made most geniuses seem average. However, like with everything else, he felt that writing the answers down was troublesome, even if it was just one-word answers, even though he clearly knew the answers right off the bat as soon as he studied the question. Instead of answering the questions on the test, he had just fallen asleep, clearly not caring whether he passed or failed. Heck, some of the academy sensei had started to wonder whether or not Shikamaru cared if he graduated or not.
However, when it came to Naruto, like Kiba and Shino, he had listened to the other children's parents when they warned their children to stay away from him, but in truth, back then Shikamaru could cared less about why the villagers hated Naruto and had only gone along with the in-crowd because he felt that opposing them would be troublesome. As far as he was concerned, Naruto was not his problem and like Shino had done, he left Naruto to fend for himself believing getting involved would be troublesome no matter which side he took and decided to remain neutral to the whole affair.
His parents however; now they were a different story. His father, Shikaku was strongly opposed to Naruto's treatment despite the fact that he himself was just as lazy as his son. The Nara Clan was one of the families that had a seat on the village's Shinobi Council and Shikaku had expressed a desire to adopt Naruto, but both the Civilian Council and his wife, Yoshino had stopped him. Shikamaru didn't know why the Civilian Council had intervened, though he heard his father grumbling on how they were a bunch of arrogant bastards. However, he did know why his mother objected to Naruto's adoption. In truth, Shikamaru felt that his mother was such a nag and a total bitch, but like Shikaku, she didn't view Naruto the way the villagers did. However, she had prevented her husband from adopting him because she feared backlash from the villagers… that adopting Naruto would destroy the Nara Clan's reputation and she also feared that she would be attacked for her support of Naruto. It wasn't that she didn't like Naruto or anything like it, it was just that the fear of the ramifications adopting Naruto would have on the Nara Clan terrified her to no end and Shikaku, being the lazy person that he was had caved into his wife like always since he felt that arguing with her was too troublesome.
At first, Shikamaru had dismissed the whole thing as troublesome like always, but he did notice that Naruto had made friends with Sakura, Ino and Hinata. He knew who Ino was through his father's association with Ino's father and Choji's father, Choza. Heck the Yamanaka, Nara and Akimichi clan heads had all been on the same genin team and was nicknamed the InoShikaCho and they had built a reputation as one of the best teams within Konoha. Anyway, he knew who Ino was and it was through this that he had come to see the true extent of the villagers' treatment of Naruto and needless to say, he had been shocked and appalled. Unlike Shino, he had no idea of the degree of Naruto's treatment and once he discovered what was really going on, he had looked into it, dropping his usual lazy persona and had been shocked to discover the beatings and attempts made on Naruto's life in the past. He had discovered it when he had been passing the local butchers and he noticed the butcher charge Ino who happened to be passing by armed with a meat cleaver with the intent on ending the young heiress's life and screamed how she was a "demon whore". However, Naruto had intervened and managed to fight the deranged butcher off, but he remembered hearing the butcher's infuriated screams and the names he hurtled at Naruto and screaming on how he should have been killed the second he was brought into the world.
It had been an eye-opener for Shikamaru. However, he had been too nervous in the past to approach Naruto and had just observed him. Needless to say, it didn't take long for him to deduce that the adults were wrong about him. He wasn't any of the things the adults accused him of being. He wasn't a monster, demon or whatever else the adults called him and he was also smart enough to know that the majority of the other children only stayed away from him because their parents told them to. That sickened him that the other children blindly followed their parents' lead without asking questions, though he had to admit, he was no better since he had went along with it himself since he felt that the consequences of befriending Naruto would be too troublesome. However, he didn't join them either, also believing it to be too troublesome. He knew how the villagers viewed anyone who befriended Naruto and what he had seen almost happen to Ino was testament to that and he deduced that on some level, he had also been afraid to befriend Naruto in case the villagers came after him for his association with Naruto. Like Shino, he had wondered how Naruto was able to cope with such treatment without developing a hatred for the village. Heck, it was a wonder that he didn't run away or commit suicide. That earned Naruto a great deal of respect from Shikamaru.
"You're absolutely right," he said, nodding in agreement with Kiba and Shino, "No monster would ever risk his life to save another."
Choji nodded as he looked at Naruto conversing happily and couldn't help but feel sorry for him. In truth, he understood what it was like to be alone and friendless. As a member of the Akimichi Clan, Choji was naturally overweight since the Akimichi Clan's jutsu revolved around their weight. Because of this, Choji was often looked down upon by the other children. Because of his weight, he was no good at the game, "ninja", which was a combination of tag and hide 'n' seek with cardboard shuriken. Basically the children were pretending to be ninja. However, because of his weight, Choji lacked the speed and stamina for the game and the other children deduced that the team with Choji in it would lose and eventually, after this was proven right time and again, the children eventually refused to let Choji play altogether, though Shikamaru had pointed out that not letting Choji play would cause an imbalance, but the other children didn't care and refused to let him play regardless, dashing the small shred of hope that Shikamaru had given him. That had upset him greatly and when he confided in his father, Choza had told him that he would someday meet someone who would get along with him and that they'd become best friends. Eventually, Choji met Shikamaru, whom he recognised as the boy who had stuck up for him before. Shikamaru had decided not to play with the other, claiming that it was troublesome and had come to watch clouds and he mentioned that Choji was sitting in his spot. Choji had moved over, allowing Shikamaru to take his spot and offered him snacks to which Shikamaru agreed and from then on they became best friends. Shikamaru had been that person his father had been talking about and it was even better since his father and Shikamaru's father had a long-standing friendship themselves along with Yamanaka Inoichi, Ino's father.
However, in the past, much to his shame, Choji had pretty much gone along with the villagers. Sure, his parents never went along with the villagers, but like the others, he had listened to the parents of the other children when he had overheard them telling their children to stay away from Naruto. However, unlike Shino or Shikamaru, hearing the adults referring to Naruto as a monster and a demon had made him afraid of Naruto… afraid that Naruto would kill him if he saw him and so, like Shino and Shikamaru, he steered clear of Naruto for fear that if he tried to hurt him then Naruto would kill him. Shikamaru's lazy attitude over Naruto didn't help matter. Choji remembered Shikamaru telling him to forget about it since it was all just too troublesome in his opinion, but then again everything was troublesome to Shikamaru and so, he was no help.
As for his parents, they didn't see Naruto like the rest of the villagers did and like Tsume and Shikaku, had tried to adopt him, but the Civilian Council had intervened, stopping the proceedings and when Choji heard this, he had concluded that if the Village Council didn't want him to be adopted then he must be bad despite his father's claims to the contrary. His father had tried explaining to him how Naruto was not a monster and that the villagers were just stupid, though he could tell that his father was clearly hiding something and it only served to fuel his fear of Naruto. His father wouldn't tell him why the villagers hated Naruto and avoided the subject whenever Choji had brought it up. Choji had deduced that it was something that the children were not meant to know and it only made him fear Naruto even more. After all, who would be able to sleep soundly at night knowing that there was a monster living in your village?
However, two years ago, Naruto had befriended Haruno Sakura, a girl whom Choji knew was constantly teased because of the size of her forehead and someone whom he felt he could relate to since like Sakura, he was picked on because of his weight. At first, Choji didn't know what to think. The person who he had come to fear had actually managed to befriend someone and from what he saw, they got on pretty well along with Ino, whom he knew due to his father's association with her father and Hyuga Hinata, the shy heiress who before would rather no one paid her any attention. This had caused him to seriously re-evaluate his views on Naruto and seeing how well the four got on together, he slowly came to realise that his initial views had been wrong and after listening to Naruto whenever he spoke, Choji had come to realise that Naruto was like him in a way. He was shunned and looked down upon just like Choji had been, though Choji had to admit, no one had tried to kill him because of his weight and he had listened to Naruto and was shocked to discover that even Naruto himself didn't know why he was hated so much. However, Choji knew that whatever it was the adult hated him for… that they were wrong about him. Like Shikamaru had said, a monster would not risk his life to save another and he recalled how he had just happened to be passing by when Naruto had saved Sakura from Ami.
Sure he hadn't intervened, but he had just been passing through and had observed from a distance and truth be told, he was glad to see that someone put that snobbish prissy girl, Ami in her place. Ami was another thing that Choji felt that he and Sakura had in common. He had sometimes been the target of Ami's bullying, though unlike Sakura, whom Ami had sought out specifically, she had only harassed Choji whenever she happened to come across him. However, the result was equally as devastating. Shikamaru had rushed to his defence in the past just like Ino had done with Sakura and Ami was usually sent running off with her friends. However, she would always come back. Choji had been pleased to see Ami knocked down a few pegs. It definitely deflated the purple haired girl's ego as many of those whom she saw as her friends had abandoned her, mainly because of their fear of Naruto and of the prospect of becoming his next target. Choji had also been present when Ami had tried to seek out a new target in Hyuga Hinata and again, Naruto came racing to the victim's defence, only this time he had Sakura and Ino, whom had lost everything she had because of her decision to befriend Naruto backing him up and it had ended in another humiliation for Ami and the remainder of her friends, even her two most loyal companions who had hung around with her constantly had abandoned her. Since then, Ami didn't bother anyone since those she had targeted had become confident enough to stand up to her. However, it did make Ami rather cold and bitter and even though she didn't bother anyone, she shot most of her former targets cold chilling glares. Not that Choji cared or anything; after all, thanks to Naruto, Ami had no one to push around and even if the other children didn't realise it, Naruto had helped them in gaining the confidence to stand up to one of the worst bullies in the academy and because of that, Choji felt that he was indebted to Naruto for dealing with Ami.
"Yeah, I hate to admit it, but I once thought that he was a monster to," he said with a sigh, shaking his head, "However, if not for him, that purple-haired banshee would still be prancing around the place like she's more important than everyone else."
The other three nodded, knowing that he was referring to Ami and though none of them had seen what had gone on with Naruto and Ami in the two occasions they had met, they knew that Naruto had been a factor in knocking Ami off her high throne and caused her to come crashing down to reality. In fact, Kiba, Shino and Shikamaru had their own quarrels with Ami… Kiba because of his clan's association and likeness to dogs, Shino because of his clan's association with insects and Shikamaru because of his laziness. Ami had always found some way of bringing those aspects up in the negative and teased them about their respective aspects. If it was the one thing they could agree on, it was that because of Naruto, Ami was out of commission and they were all grateful to him for that.
"I say we go over and say hi," Choji said in an excited tone, "Who knows, maybe he'll let us be his friends."
"Uh huh," Kiba agreed with a nod, "He can't be bad. I mean, he shows kindness to those three girls, not to mention he tried to avoid a confrontation with that stuck-up Uchiha prick."
"And he saved Ino's life from the butcher when he tried to kill her," Shikamaru added.
"He also saved Sakura and Hinata from Ami, don't forget that," Choji put in, "And people used to tease Sakura about her forehead the same way they teased me about my weight."
"Yes, let's see if he'll be our friend," Shino said as the four boys nodded and made their way over to Naruto and the girls.
Naruto, Sakura, Ino and Hinata were busy talking away to one another, happily chatting away about their escapades over the two years in which they had been friends. Ino was busy telling Hinata how Naruto saved her from a deranged butcher the two days after she befriended Naruto when he had apparently attacked her due to her association with the "demon" filth. The butcher had come at her with a meat cleaver, clearing intending to kill her, but Naruto had intervened and fought the butcher off, though the butcher did hurl the usual names at Naruto.
It reminded Sakura of the time Naruto had come to her rescue when that crazed man with the pitch fork came at her before she had talked to Ino about Naruto. In fact, that incident with the pitch forked man was probably instrumental in getting Ino to befriend Naruto… at least Sakura thought so.
Anyway, they were interrupted when they noticed four boys walking towards them… two of who Ino recognised as her father's two best friends' sons. Nevertheless, all three girls got ready to defend Naruto, believing them to have come to pick on him.
Naruto himself looked at the four boys and he recognised one of them as the one who had taunted him that time he made a fool out of himself during the Henge no Jutsu demonstration in which he had tried to transform into the Sandaime, but messed up.
The boy Naruto recognised had dark brown hair and black eyes that those irises were so narrow; they were practically near-slits. Tattooed on his cheeks were two dark reddish pink triangles that were shaped as if they were fangs. Naruto knew this boy had to be from the Inuzuka Clan. He wore dark blue sandals, dark grey trousers that when down to halfway between his knees and feet and a t-shirt that was white with a slight brownish yellow tinge to it.
The first boy Ino noticed had dark brown hair, so dark it was often mistaken to be black. Also, he had his hair tied back in a short spiky pony tail. His brown eyes were equally as dark as his hair and were narrow like the Inuzuka boy's, though not to the point of being near-slits. He wore the same kind of sandals as most of the student body… the same dark blue coloured sandals the Inuzuka boy wore. He also wore dark brown trousers that went down to halfway between his knees and feet, a back brown shirt with a green outline and thin black line that crisscrossed as at diagonal angles, giving the boy the illusion that he was wearing a mesh short. He also wore a light grey open jacket over his shirt. Ino knew him as Nara Shikamaru, Nara Shikaku's son.
The second boy that Ino noticed was clearly fat, though he looked a bit pudgy with light brown hair, so light it had an orange tinge to it and it seemed to stand up on end and his eyes were so dark, small and beady that their colour was impossible to distinguish, though Ino suspected that they were either dark brown or black. He also had light red spirals tattooed on his cheeks and in addition to his sandals, he wore brown trouser that were a lighter shade than Shikamaru's and like Shikamaru's and the Inuzuka boy's trousers, they went down to halfway between his knees and feet. He also wore a green t-shirt that was two shades of green; the left side being a dark green and the right side being a light green. He also had bandages wrapped round his hands that went to just past his wrists, making it look like he was wearing fingerless gloves. Ino recognised him as Akimichi Choji, Akimichi Choza's son.
However, the last boy, whom none of the three girls or Naruto himself recognised took up the rear and his posture mysterious appearance seemed to give off an atmosphere of creepiness about him that caused the three girls to shiver. It wasn't that he was frightening or anything like it… it was just that the air about him seemed to make the three of them feel somewhat uncomfortable.
The boy himself had dark brown spiky hair in a slightly afro style giving the appearance of a spiky bush atop his head. His eyes were indistinguishable due to the fact he wore a pair of circular, pure black sunglasses over them. He wore dark brown trousers that went down to his ankles and had a grey coat over his upper torso with the collar standing up, covering the lower part of his face.
Sakura shuddered just staring at him, guessing he must be from the Aburame Clan, as they were the only clan within the village that the villagers seemed to be a bit nervous about and it was all down to the Aburame Clan's association with insects that creped the majority of people, herself included out. However, that didn't mean to say that she hated them. In a way, the Aburame Clan reminded her of Naruto… people always looking down on them due to something beyond their control. From was Sakura heard, the Aburame Clan produced some of the village's best trackers and spies as they were able to utilise their insects and use them for those purposes.
However, that didn't stop many of the villagers from giving those from the Aburame Clan a wide berth whenever they walked down the street. Sure, no one tried to kill anyone from the Aburame Clan just like they tried to kill Naruto in the past due to the Aburame Clan's status in the village. Sure, like the Inuzuka, Nara, Akimichi and Yamanaka Clans, the Aburame Clan didn't have the same amount of wealth and prestige as the Hyuga or the Uchiha Clans, but they were still a well-respected clan among the village's shinobi.
Despite this however, that didn't stop Sakura from backing away from the Aburame boy. Bugs always creped her out and the Aburame Clan literally had bugs living inside them; bugs that could kill with their sheer numbers. Oh yes, the Aburame Clan also used their insects for battle purposes. The insects the Aburame Clan used fed on chakra and killed by devouring their master's opponent's chakra. Like a swarm of bees, wasps or a colony of army ants on the march, one of those insects was no problem, but a whole swarm coming at you… their was absolutely no choice of survival unless their master decided to spare you, leaving you effectively drained of chakra to the point of being unable to conjure up even the weakest jutsu.
"What do you want?" Hinata asked, dropping into a Jyuken fighting stance after she activated her Byakugan.
"Wow, wow, hey," the Inuzuka boy, bringing his hands up in front of him, waving them in a defensive manner, "Look, we don't want to cause no trouble. We just want to talk."
Shikamaru and Choji just nodded and the Aburame boy just brought his hand up in front of his face, and adjusted his sunglasses slightly with his middle and index finger between his eyes as a sign of confirmation that what his friend meant was the truth.
The three girls looked at one another as if unsure whether or not accept their offer to talk and then they turned to face Naruto for his opinion. Naruto just stared at the four boys, studying them closely as he searched for the telltale signs that they were looking to make trouble. Fortunately, he found none and then nodded to the three girls, who immediately stood down.
"Okay, what do you want," Naruto asked in a relaxed tone, though the four boys could tell by his posture and undertone that he was still on guard just in case.
Not that they could blame him. After all, none of them had ever approached him nor did they make the effort to try and befriend him in the past and they knew that some of the other children had befriended him before, only to abandon him when their parents found out. It wasn't surprising that he was suspicious of them. He probably believed that the same thing was going to happen. The four of them considered it a miracle that he had allowed the three girls a chance at befriending him and from what they had seen; it had paid off.
"That was pretty impressive how you dealt with that arrogant Uchiha prick," the Inuzuka boy said with a smirk, "By the way, I'm Inuzuka Kiba."
"Aburame Shino," the Aburame boy said in a cold emotionless tone as he introduced himself.
"Akimichi Choji," Choji said with a friendly smile.
"Nara Shikamaru," Shikamaru said in his usual lazy tone with a sigh.
"This could get troublesome," he added in his thoughts.
Naruto just looked at the four for a moment as if unsure what to say. However, before anyone could do anything, Ino stepped out in front of Naruto, giving the four boys a half-smile.
"Thanks for the compliment," she said, looking at Kiba since he was the one who had said it, "Uchiha Sasuke is a jerk, isn't he?"
"Oh yes," Shino said in the same tone as before as the other three nodded in agreement.
Another thing that all four boys could agree with Naruto on, it was the fact that Uchiha Sasuke was the biggest nuisance in the academy. All four boys couldn't help but compare him to Ami in the sense that he sought out a specific target and only went after anyone else whenever he happened to come across them, like Kiba. The four of them knew that Sasuke had targeted Naruto specifically because of his poor performance in the beginning and as for them… Sasuke only ever targeted them whenever they happened to cross his path. That was something that Kiba knew. Sasuke was just a male version of Ami.
However, unlike Ami, Sasuke didn't have any friends to back him up. That was the major difference between them. Where as Ami had used her friends to bolster her confidence in making people's lives a living hell, Sasuke had acted on his own with no one to back him up. It was probably due to his clan's status in the village, plus Sasuke seemed to be naturally gifted, which did nothing to deflate his massive ego. The majority of bullies like Ami tended to go about in gangs since if their target ever stood up to them, then they'd have the rest of the gang to back them up. However, Sasuke seemed to rely on his own strength rather than a gang and it didn't help that he had the Civilian Council to bail him out whenever he got in trouble.
"I didn't do anything to the teme," Naruto said, shaking his head, "Sakura-chan, Ino-chan and Hinata-chan beat him up. I never touched him."
"I saw," Kiba said with a shrug, "That's pretty impressive how you managed to ignore his insults and even pretended to praise him just to avoid a confrontation with him."
"That must've taken a lot of courage," Shino put in.
"I doubt any of us would have been able to do that," Choji added.
"Yeah, a confrontation with him would be too troublesome," Shikamaru finished with a yawn.
"Everything's troublesome to you Shikamaru," Ino grumbled under her breath, shooting the lazy boy a glare, clearly annoyed at his constant use of the word, "troublesome".
"Anyway, congrats girls," Kiba went on, "That stuck up little snob needed a good beatin'."
The three girls blushed at this, clearly not expecting the boys to compliment them.
"Anyway, we were wondering…" Choji spoke up nervously as he decided to cut to the chase, "Would it be possible… if… well, y-y-y-you know, if we could be friends."
He shut his eyes, expecting a verbal lashing and to be harshly denied. However, after a full minute went by, he opened his eyes, wondering why no one had said anything.
Naruto and the three girls looked stunned with wide eyes, clearly surprised at Choji's statement. Kiba, Shikamaru and Shino all stepped beside Choji as if agreeing with him and stared at the four friends curiously as they wonder whether or not they were going to be dismissed or accepted.
"Y-y-you guys want to be friends?" Naruto finally said in a tone of disbelief with a hint of happiness and wariness mixed together.
True he couldn't believe that those four wanted to be his friends. He had seen them before in the past and though he never actually walked up and spoke to any of them, they had not shown any signs that they had wanted to be his friends in the past. In fact, Naruto believed that they had listened to the villagers. He remembered seeing them from time to time whenever parents were scolding their children for hanging around with him and though they weren't the ones being scolded, Naruto could tell from their body language that they had been eavesdropping in what the adults were saying. Why would they change their minds?
Nevertheless, part of him was overjoyed at this. It could mean more people acknowledging him for being himself and not whatever it was that the majority hated him for. After all, it had been what he was striving for his whole life, plus they were boys and he had been surrounded by girls these past two years. He needed some male companionship since he knew that sometimes there were certain things that could only be discussed between people of the same gender, plus he felt that if he hung around the three girls his whole life, he could potentially pick up girlish personality traits and become a laughing stock, though he'd never admit this aloud.
On the other hand, another part of him was wary, fearing that it was either a dream and that he could wake up or that the boys' parents might find out about their friendship with him and tell them not to go near him and that they would listen to them. It had happened in the past and Naruto didn't see a reason why those four would be any different. After so many children abandoning him because of their parents, he couldn't help but be wary, fearing that those four would abandon him like most of the other children did.
Apparently, Shikamaru seemed to sense Naruto's insecurity and then walked towards him with a sigh.
"I guess it isn't surprising that you're cautious," he said as he walked up in front of Naruto and placed a hand on his left shoulder, "After all, with everything that's happened to you in the past, how can you trust us? After all, none of us made the effort to become your friend in the past. I have to admit that we… all four of us listened to everyone else before…"
He then proceeded to give his story with the other three giving their stories as well and needless to say, Naruto had been surprised to discovered that many of the shinobi clan heads had not only sided against the villagers, but had actually made efforts to try and adopt him into their clans. However, aside from that, the fact remained that none of them had made an effort to try and save him or make his life easier in the past.
The three girls were also shocked. They had no idea that the majority of shinobi clans had secretly supported Naruto.
"Guess you have more supporters than we all thought Naruto-kun," Hinata said.
Naruto just nodded with a stunned look on his face.
"Uh huh," was all he said.
"You're no monster Naruto man, "Kiba said with a smile, "If you had been, Uchiha-teme wouldn't be alive right now. You would've ripped out his throat by now."
"Yeah and because of you, that mean girl, Ami's been brought down to her proper place," Choji added as he glanced at Sakura, remembering that she had been the main target of the majority of Ami's mistreatments.
"Y-you mean she picked on you too?" Sakura asked curiously, giving Choji a sympathetic look.
"Not as much as you," Choji admitted with a nod, "But whenever she passed by me, she would often tease me about my weight."
"And she sometimes hurled insults at me because of my clan's uniqueness," Shino added, cringing as he remembered Ami and how she would hurl hurtful comments at him about his insects.
"You mean that purple haired little hussy?" Kiba said as he clenched his fist in anger as he remembered Ami had once hurled a hurtful dog insult at him because of his clan's association with dogs and the fact that his physical appearance had dog like traits, "That was you?"
"If you mean that purple haired girl that was bothering Sakura-chan and tried to give Hinata-chan Hell, then yeah, that was me," Naruto admitted with a prideful nod.
"That's the one," Choji said, nodding his head, "Her name's Ami and I happened to be passing by when you stood up for Sakura-san and against when she came you Hinata-san's rescue. No monster would've thought to save them. I know that I was afraid of you in the past and I'm sorry. I was just gullible I guess."
"The bottom line is that because of you, one of the academy's worst bullies has been knocked off her high horse and into reality," Shikamaru said plainly, "Not to mention, you tried to avoid a confrontation with another bully, even going so far as to praise him in an attempt to get him to leave you alone. That must've taken a lot of guts to swallow your pride like that."
Naruto nodded with a sigh.
"I could honestly care less what the teme believes," he said in a slightly agitated tone, "However, it's just that he feels that everyone has to know who he is and what he's capable of. Man, that just pisses me off; it pisses me off so much. He's so hung up over his clan's status that he forgets that he's only human as well."
"I'll say," Kiba said in agreement with a nod, "Damn prick got my mom in trouble all because he decided to pick a fight with me."
Naruto, Sakura, Ino and Hinata looked at Kiba in surprise. Of course Naruto knew that Sasuke had picked fights before and he knew about the Civilian Council's influence in getting Sasuke off the hook with them, but he never imagined that the parents of the children whom Sasuke picked fights with had gotten in trouble because of it. Naruto knew that Kiba had to be the boy that Sasuke decided to fight just because he happened to glance in his direction. He couldn't help but sympathise with Kiba, knowing the feeling. Sasuke had after all tried to pick fights with him as well; the most recent attempt had caused him to suffer a beating at the hands of the three girls. It was a wonder that they hadn't been pulled up by the Civilian Council yet.
However, knowing Sasuke, Naruto reckoned that with his pride being as strong as it was, he wouldn't tell anyone and would eventually seek them out to deal with them himself. Sasuke was the sort of person that believed heavily in fighting his own battles and would not accept help from anyone. Heck, Naruto theorised that if Sasuke was in a situation where his opponent was overpowering him then he'd rather lose the fight and embrace death instead of accepting another's help. To Sasuke, accepting another person's help was the same as saying that he was weak and Naruto knew that Sasuke would rather die than accept the help, even if he did know that he needed it.
"Anyway," Shino spoke up, bringing Naruto out of his thoughts, "How about it Naruto-san, will you give us a chance? I know we didn't have high opinions of you before, but will you give us the chance to make up for it?"
"You know Naruto-kun, Shino-san does have a point," Ino said as she turned to face him before he could reply to Shino, "After all, I never really had a high opinion of you either and if not for Sakura-chan, I probably wouldn't even have considered being your friend."
Shikamaru and Choji both flinched at this, since they both knew that Ino's mother, Shiori had divorced her father and moved out because of Ino's friendship with Naruto. They had heard it from their fathers after they had come home from taking Inoichi out in an attempt to cheer him up after the divorce had been settled. As much as Inoichi didn't let on the fact that divorcing his wife bothered him, Shikamaru, who had seen him from time to time knew that the divorce did bother him… not to the point where he drowned his emotions in alcohol, but Shikamaru could tell that he wasn't as indifferent to the divorce as he led others to believe.
Ino however, from what Shikamaru could gather didn't seem all that affected by the divorce and in reality, seemed quite happy to be rid of her mother, though Shikamaru had to admit given her friendship with Naruto and her mother's attitude towards Naruto, it was hardly surprising that Ino had blown her mother off. Shikamaru remembered seeing that Ino and her mother had passed each other one time and though they didn't speak to one another, he did notice the hate-filled venomous glares they had shot each other and that scared him. What could her mother have possibly said that would cause Ino to hate her so much? Not that he cared… like everything else in his life, he had decided that looking into it was just too troublesome. He did know however that Shiori had most undoubtably had been a factor in Ino's closeness with Naruto.
Anyway, Naruto thought about what Ino had said and he had to admit that she did have a point. She never really had a high opinion of him until Sakura told her how she had rescued her from Ami and had it not been for her mother crashing in on their meeting that Sakura had arranged, Ino probably wouldn't be his friend. He searched their eyes for signs of deception and found none. If he gave Ino a chance, why not them? After all, he couldn't help but notice that most of them had been either picked on or shunned for something they had no control over.
Choji had his weight, Shino had his insects, Kiba had his dog like aspects and Shikamaru was just lazy. Like Sakura had been teased because of her big forehead, Choji had been picked on because of his weight and also shunned and excluded from games as well. However, like Ino had done with Sakura, Shikamaru had done with Choji and they were best friends just like Ino and Sakura were best friends.
Shino had his insects living inside him and because of that, most of the village's populace gave him a wide berth, clearly freaked out by that fact. Naruto could tell that the three girls were a bit creped out as well, but he knew that at least they were making an effort to see past that. Those of the Aburame Clan had the most difficulties in meeting people outside their clan and getting them to marry into the clan because of their insects. However, even though Sakura, Ino and Hinata were nervous of Shino, he could tell that they were giving him a chance. Heck Hinata even walked up to him and was giving him a hug, much to Shino's surprise and though Hinata felt a few of Shino's Kikaichu crawling on the backs of her hands, he didn't scream or withdraw, though she did wince and cringe at first, but her arms remained wrapped round Shino and eventually calmed down as she got used to the feeling.
"I do apologise if my tone seems cold and uncaring whenever I speak," Shino said to the three girls and Naruto, "But that's just the way I am. Just because I sound uncaring and indifferent doesn't mean that I am."
"That's okay Shino-san," Sakura said with a nod of understanding, "It's something you can't control just like I have no control over the size of my forehead and Hinata-chan doesn't have any control over the appearance of her eyes or her status as a Hyuga or Naruto-kun with whatever it is everyone hates him for."
Naruto nodded and noticed that Sakura and Ino started walking over to Shino as they decided to try and get comfortable round him and his insects and then he continued his analysis of the boys.
Kiba's clan, the Inuzuka Clan was known for their animalistic and feral nature as well as their association with dogs. Heck, they even had dog like aspects in their appearances. Though on to the same degree as the Aburame Clan, the Inuzuka Clan frightened people somewhat because of their nature and if what Kiba had said about his mother was true, it was no wonder his father had headed for the hills. Naruto knew that people were a bit intimidated by the Inuzuka Clan, though they did not give them a wide berth like they did with those in the Aburame Clan. However, they were regarded with intimidated and sometimes hatful looks, though not the same degree of hatred as Naruto had suffered.
As for Shikamaru, he was just lazy, though he did get picked on sometimes because of it. However, rather than do something about it, he just ignored the taunts and took it. According to him, dealing with bullies was too troublesome for him, but Naruto had soon learned that Shikamaru considered just about everything in life was troublesome. In Naruto's opinion, Shikamaru would even regard lifting a feather off the ground as troublesome, but that was just his opinion. In any case, Shikamaru was the number one lazybones in Konoha.
He could tell that his actions over the years had changed the four boys' original opinions that they'd made of him… opinions based on them listening to what other children's parents had said about him. Heck, they all seemed to have a mutual hatred for Sasuke and Ami and Naruto knew that since he, Sakura and Ino had saved Hinata from Ami that Ami had lost her fearful influence over her targets due to the fact she had no more friends to back her up and that it had given everyone the confidence to stand up to her. He had seen Ami after that incident a few twice and she regarded him rather bitterly, though she had remained silent, just giving him a bitter stare. In fact, Ami now regarded everyone, aside from Sasuke bitterly.
Oh yes, Ami was part of the Uchiha Sasuke Girls Fan Club as everyone seemed to had dubbed it, though not an official organisation, the name had been given due to the number of girls that chased after Sasuke. Not that Naruto cared. In his opinion, Ami and Sasuke would be perfect together since they seemed to be opposite gender version of each other. However, the fact that both bullies had bothered those four boys in the past meant that they had something in common.
"Okay," he said with a nod as he made up his mind, "Okay. You can be our friends."
Kiba, Choji and Shikamaru's faces lit up with smiles where as Shino remained where he was, seemingly indifferent as Hinata, Ino and Sakura allowed his Kikaichu to crawl over their hands, slowly but surely getting used to the bug user's presence.
"However, I don't take too kindly to betrayal," Naruto went on as his look hardened and his tone had a hint of warning in it, "Too many people have abandoned me in the past and I don't want to feel that again."
The four boys nodded and three of then gulped nervously, knowing that Naruto was being truthful.
Glossary
Uzu-mesu – Whirlpool bitch (The woman's nickname for Kushina, Naruto's mother)
Kikaichu – Parasitic Destruction Insects (Special type of beetle used by the Aburame Clan)
Henge no Jutsu – Transformation Technique
Author's notes – That was an unexpected chapter. I have to admit, introducing the rest of the Rookie Nine was no picnic. I had to use the Narutopedia to get the background info and for most of them, I tried to explain their reasons for neglecting Naruto in the past based on their personalities, which was hard for Choji so I decided that fear was best since in canon he didn't want to fight the Oto nin until Zaku called him fat. I tried to as realistic as possible and I suspect that after hearing everything the adults said about Naruto, I'm sure that some of the children would be fearful of him. Anyway, the part at the beginning with the woman… I wanted to let you all know what she had been up to these past two years since she's one of the major antagonists of the fic and I have been neglecting her recently. Also I wanted a clue to the main reason she hates Naruto to be known. I was going to go more into Senkei, but the chapter was longer than I thought and so I decided to put that in next chapter since what that would fit in quite well with what I have planned for next chapter. By the way, in the recent manga chapter, Sai of all people has just told Sakura about how Naruto loves her and how both she and Sasuke are causing him pain… Sakura thrown that promise that Naruto made to her and from the look on Sai's face in a few panels, he wasn't too happy and I believe had had been clenching his fist in one panel as he spoke. Harsh Sai… but at least it's the truth. Try face up to that if you can Sakura. When I think about it, someone really had to lay it out for her. I'm also a bit annoyed that Kishimoto-san hasn't had Naruto do anything about confession. I mean, come on… she confesses to him and then after Nagato brings everyone he killed in Konoha back to life, he doesn't go up to Hinata and asks if she's alright. It's like Naruto just blew her off like Sakura had blown him off many times in the past and Sasuke blew Sakura off in the past as well, though Naruto doesn't do it through punches to the head or hurtful comments. Hey Naruto, grow a brain and move on man. Anyway, one last thing. I've decided to hold back going into cannon territory (the start of the Naruto series) till chapter ten or eleven. There're still some things I want to establish before I go there and in case you're wondering about Ami, you haven't seen the last of her.