Naruto – Legacy of the Yondaime Hokage

Chapter 8 – Defending Naruto, class walkout

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)

Uchiha Sasuke was absolutely livid as he stormed into the main hallway of the Ninja Academy. Two days previously, he had been subjected a vicious beating by Naruto's three cheerleaders… or at least in his mind, that's what they were. He had been bored with nothing to do and had decided to torment the dobe to feel better. However, the dobe had… to put it simply, disregarded, mocked and humiliated him and if that wasn't enough; his three cheerleaders actually had the nerve to assault his person; him the last Uchiha, one of the elite, the one destined to become a god among gods.

Luckily for him, there was no lasting damage in the area between his legs, as he had seen a doctor afterwards who had informed him that he still was able to restore his clan, which was a relief to him as he heard what the blonde-haired slut had told him before walking off. When asked what had happened, Sasuke had told the doctor that it was a training accident as he knew the Civilian Council's pure hatred of Naruto and would see it as a perfect opportunity to get rid of him. However, as much as Sasuke enjoyed the Civilian Council's blind support and getting him off the hook, he knew that this time, he would not allow them to interfere. He wanted to deal Naruto himself and would not allow anyone else to do so.

In his mind, that whole situation had been Naruto's fault. If Naruto had fought with him like he had wanted, he wouldn't be going through this right now. He would not have been subjected to the thrashing those three whores unleashed on him. The Civilian Council would also see it that way, Sasuke knew, but he didn't want them dealing with Naruto. Since Naruto humiliated him, Naruto was his to deal with and he'd be damned if anyone else was going to take his revenge from him. He honestly didn't care why Naruto was so hated in the village. Naruto had been fun to taunt and tease in the past because Sasuke knew that he had been too weak to retaliate. He didn't know why or what it was, but something about tormenting the weak and showing them just how weak they really were made him feel good. He enjoyed their hurt looks and feelings of helplessness. He enjoyed ruining their day and watching them cry and above all, he absolutely enjoyed hurting their feelings and destroying them psychologically. It felt rather euphoric and made him feel powerful; like he had power over those people and he could do whatever he pleased with them and making them feel absolutely worthless and that they'd never amount to anything was the best part about it and he especially enjoyed the delusional fangirls and their complete cluelessness as they joined in with him in hopes of scoring points with him and impressing him. They were obviously hoping that he'd notice them and make them his wife. However, Sasuke did not care for them in the slightest. They were too weak for his liking, though he enjoyed their support and help in tormenting his fellow classmates as it made him feel important.

"Blind delusional fools," he thought to himself with a stone cold expression on his face, "Any kunoichi I sleep with will strong and useful, not weak and useless."

Sasuke was no fool. He knew that if he wanted to restore his clan, he'd need girls to help him and he also knew that by going down the path he was currently going down, he'd be lucky if any girl would want anything to do with him, but he did not care in the slightest. First, he'd concentrate on gaining the power he needed to kill Itachi and conquer the world and then once that was accomplished… well, if no girl wanted to help them and then he'd force them to help him. He would seek out strong kunoichi the world over and force them to help him. This brought an evil smile to his face. The thought of raping and ruining unsuspecting and unwilling kunoichi brought out a rather dark sadistic pleasure in him to the point where he actually wanted his future "brides" to struggle and fight against him before he destroyed them and if they happened to possess Kekkei Genkais or Hijutsu, that would be a bonus for him. He decided right then and there that he would not take girls who decided to help him willingly. He'd go for those who would refuse to help them and then force them into it for pretty much the same reasons he tormented his classmates; it made him feel powerful; that he was above everyone else; even the gods themselves, whom he vowed to surpass and after they had fulfilled their usefulness, he'd eliminate them and rebuilt the Uchiha Clan as his own personal army. However, before all that, he had to first gain the power to kill Itachi and avenge his fallen clansmen and he also had to deal with Naruto and his little gang of sluts.

His face then twisted in anger as he thought about the blonde-haired knucklehead and his gang of whores, two of which had once been devoted fangirls of his and the last, the biggest disappointment to the Hyuga Clan. Naruto was proving to be a major obstacle in his way. He had originally targeted Naruto due to his poor skills and lack of progress, but then suddenly, he seemed to make major progress overnight and that infuriated him to no end. Naruto was a nobody; he was the last of the Uchiha, one of the two founding clans of Konoha. To Sasuke, Naruto's improvement was a crime against the Uchiha. No one should be allowed to surpass an Uchiha. They were gods among the gods themselves.

Another thing that infuriated Sasuke about Naruto was that the three girls Naruto had apparently befriended had started improving as well, especially the Hyuga slut. Though he would never ever admit it, Sasuke felt threatened by Naruto and the three girls. He feared that they'd show him up. He didn't want that. Naruto was bad enough, but his feelings of humiliation were infinitely amplified when the ones showing him up were girls. Now if those fangirls had any clue as to the real Sasuke, one of the things that would undoubtably stand out in their minds that Uchiha Sasuke was unrealistically delusional in most things, especially when it came the opposite gender, which he had rather cruel chauvinistic views towards. When it came to females, Sasuke believed that they had no business being shinobi and that even the weakest man in the world was countless times stronger then the strongest woman in the world. To him, a woman's place was in the home doing all the housework and looking after the children and her husband. However, he knew that this was wrong. Some of the greatest ninjas in the world were women. Tsunade of the Densetsu no Sannin, the only genin team to have been trained by the Sandaime himself was one such example; a renowned iryo-nin who was rumoured to be unsurpassed in medical techniques and who was also rumoured to have the strength to demolish buildings and was known for her short temper. However, this meant nothing to Sasuke. His views may be wrong, but the stronger the kunoichi, the more chance of her producing offspring worthy of the Uchiha name. He also knew that some men saw women as nothing more than objects that existed for their amusement, though how people found other people's bodies entertaining was beyond him. He definitely did not find the female body particularly interesting and saw that sort of thing as a waste of time. Despite his views regarding women, he did not see any benefit from them other than to help restore his clan; period. Once he conquered the world, he'd go about making his beliefs a reality.

Turning into a classroom he stopped in his tracks right at the door when he saw a familiar spiky blonde-haired boy laughing with Kiba and Choji or as he liked to call them, the dog-boy and the lard-ass.

"Curse you dobe," he thought as he felt his blood boil, gritting his teeth.

Naruto sat with Kiba and Choji laughing at a funny story that Kiba told about his sister, Hana. Sakura, Ino and Hinata were sitting nearby; Sakura with Shino as she was still in the process of getting used to him and his Kikaichu where as Ino and Hinata were both happily chatting away. As for Shikamaru, he just sat at his seat with his arms folded on top of the desk and his head buried in his arms as he slept… nothing surprising about that. One of Shikamaru's greatest hobbies was falling asleep no matter where he was. Heck, even a sloth was more energetic than Shikamaru.

"Troublesome," he grumbled with a yawn, causing Ino to glare at him.

"Honestly," she said, shaking her head as she turned back to face Hinata, "With that lazy attitude of his, I swear that he views even breathing as a strenuous chore. If he raced a snail, I think he'd lose."

"Well, that's Shika-kun for you," Hinata said with a laugh.

Ino nodded.

"Troublesome girls," Shikamaru grumbled to himself having overheard them.

He honestly could not understand girls at all. To him, they were all like his mother; annoying nags that wanted this, that and the next thing and they would not shut up until they got what they wanted. How in the world Naruto managed to put up with it for two years was beyond him. He definitely wouldn't have been able to have stood it for that long. They'd probably have driven him insane in less than a day, but then again, Naruto was hated by the majority of the village and those three obviously must've left him alone when it came to getting what they wanted.

However, before he could go back to his nap, he suddenly felt a wave of killing intent pass him and being directed at Naruto, causing him to jump to his feet wide awake as he saw just who was marching over to Naruto.

"Oh great, it's His Majesty, the almighty Uchiha come down from up high to mingle with us lesser folk, how troublesome," he said sarcastically in a loud voice, alerting everyone else to the Uchiha's presence, though Naruto, Kiba and Choji had already become aware of Sasuke's presence when they felt the wave of killing intent hit them.

"Hn," Sasuke flinched as he heard Shikamaru's comment, which caused him to stop and briefly roll his eye in his direction.

However, he just shook his head and continued making his way towards Naruto. He really didn't have the time to deal with the lazy Nara heir and anyway, Sasuke deemed Shikamaru not worth his time as he figured that it would be a short one-sided battle that wouldn't even last a second with him as the victor due to the Nara's laziness. He was itching for a fight with Naruto and he was determined that this time, he would get one.

"Oh great," Naruto groaned, clearly annoyed as he knew exactly what he was after, "Listen teme, I'm not in the mood to deal with you right now, so just buzz off."

Sasuke just scoffed as he glared with pure murderous rage oozing out his eyes. Damn he hated this… dobe; hated the very sight of him; hated how Naruto was brushing him off like some lowly insect.

"You think I care," he spat venomously as he continued to glare at Naruto as if his very existence was a crime against humanity.

"I guess not," Naruto said with a sigh as he shook his head.

"Listen up you arrogant prick," Kiba said, standing up to defend Naruto, "We ain't interested in yer damn life, so just leave us alone."

"Stay out of this dog-boy, this doesn't concern you!" Sasuke snapped, shooting the Inuzuka heir a murderous look, "I will have my revenge for the humiliation I suffered two days ago."

"Lay off," Choji warned, sending the Uchiha a rather nasty look, though in truth, the look on Sasuke's face was making him feel rather uncomfortable.

From the looks of it, it seemed that Sasuke was out for blood and both Kiba and Choji were concerned that Sasuke was looking to kill their newest friend. They never really liked him that much anyway, but ever since the Uchiha Massacre, Sasuke was becoming more and more violent and darker than he was before. That much, everyone knew. Since the Uchiha Massacre, there was something different about Sasuke; something violent, threatening and evil. It was as if he had been possessed by an evil demon of destruction. However, the Civilian Council had just turned a blind eye to this and whenever Sasuke acted up; his victims were the ones who got the blame. Everyone could agree that the villagers' treatment of Sasuke; how they pampered and gave him everything he asked… or more specifically, demanded was a factor in his behaviour. Naruto had unfortunately upset the applecart and the fact that Sasuke could no longer pick on him like he used to was indeed another factor. It was something Sasuke was not used to. To stand up to him was one thing; to stand up to him and win was just something Sasuke could not handle.

"You stay out of this as well lard-ass," Sasuke said in response to Choji's comment, "Unless you want to die."

Choji's eyes widened at this statement, though he did not back down. Why was this so surprising? The look in Sasuke's eyes told him that it was no mere empty threat and that he was more than capable and he would make good on that threat if need be.

"Look, I'm not interested," Naruto said plainly.

"Beat him up Sasuke-kun!" a girl who was in the room shouted in support of the Uchiha heir, obviously one was his fangirls who overheard them.

Unfortunately, this started off a chain reaction as many girls in the room started shouting their support for Sasuke.

"Great, another headache, how troublesome," Shikamaru groaned upon hearing the banshee like screeching

"Yeah, beat him up!" another girl shouted.

"He's got nothing on you Sasuke-kun!" a third girl screamed.

Sakura, Ino and Hinata immediately rushed over to Naruto, Kiba and Choji and Shikamaru and Shino followed suit.

"I suggest you don't cause a scene Uchiha-san," Shino said in his usual stoic tone, "You may get in trouble."

"That's Uchiha-sama to you, you bug-loving freak!" Sasuke spat, glaring at the Aburame heir; rather infuriated that Naruto had more than his little "whore squad" backing him up.

In fact, Naruto had the heirs of most of the Shinobi Council backing him up and Sasuke knew that the Shinobi Council were unanimously opposed to the Civilian Council and how they had been giving him everything he demanded. He also knew of the tensions between the two sides of the Council and how they waged verbal wars with one another. In the past, the Civilian Council had won out, but this time, Sasuke knew that they may not be so lucky in helping him get off the hook, since the Shinobi Council's future replacements were involved. However, anger overwhelmed logic. He was determined to fight Naruto and he'd be damned in anyone was going to stop him, plus the support his fangirls were giving him only served to bolster his confidence.

"What the matter dobe?" he taunted with an evil smirk as he looked at each of Naruto's friends, "Can't fight your own battles? Last time, you got those three sluts to deal with me and now more. Afraid I'll beat you? You must've been rather desperate if you hired three girls as your bodyguards."

"Excuse me Sasuke-"kun"," Ino said; practically spitting the kun suffix out in disgust, "But I believe that you're forgetting that we totally thrashed you."

"More like stomped on him," Sakura corrected.

Ino nodded.

"Ha, you whores were just lucky enough to catch me off guard," Sasuke boasted smugly though inwardly, he was seething as he remembered how fearful he was before the three girls had started beating him as he remembered their combined killing intent and how his mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water as he struggled to speak.

Before that, the last time he had been afraid had been during the massacre when he was afraid that Itachi was planning on killing him. Back then, he had been so afraid as he believed that he was going to die and no one was around to help him. He hated that feeling; feeling helpless. When the three girls had all glared at him, he felt the same he had felt that terrible night and it infuriated him. He remembered during the massacre how he had screamed like a pathetic weakling and how pathetic he had made himself look. He never screamed two days ago and yet, he felt like the same pathetic weakling he had been that night and with that knowledge, he felt rage overflow mind. He had been completely humiliated because of it; beaten by three girls who he viewed as being weaker than him, especially the Hyuga whore and the fact that she was a Hyuga and that the Hyuga's had bad blood with the Uchihas before the massacre only served to amplify his rage along with the fact that he viewed Hinata as the weakest of the three due to her shy nature before she met Naruto.

"I can assure you that Naruto-kun does not need our help to deal with the likes of you Sasuke-teme," Hinata said as she prepared to go through the hand seals to activate her Byakugan, "You were the one who provoked us into attacking you."

"Yeah, if you don't remember then allow us to jog your memory," Sakura went on, continuing from where Hinata left off in a tone of mock curiosity, "What was it… something about how we were weak because we were girls?"

"Why yes, I do believe he said something like that," Ino finished in a tone of mock triumph.

"Face it teme, you were the one who provoked them," Naruto said in a serious "matter of fact" tone as he glared at Sasuke, "I'm pretty capable of fighting my own battles without their help, though I very much appreciate them helping me."

The three girls all blushed at this and Sasuke just glared at the group of friends with nothing but contempt and revulsion.

"Who the hell cares, just beat them up already Sasuke-kun," the voice of a familiar purple-haired girl, "We're right behind you rooting for you."

"Ami," Sakura and Ino both groaned with a wince, clearly not pleased at the presence of their old nemesis.

Ami walked out from the horde of fangirls, practically shoving those in front of her out of her way. All of Naruto's group then groaned as Ami had reminded them of the horde of Sasuke fangirls that were rooting him on and encouraging him.

"They do realise they're probably creating a monster, right?" Kiba said as he turned to face the others with a look of disbelief; disbelief at how delusional and oblivious those girls were.

"Doubtful," Shikamaru sighed as he shook his head, "I doubt they even realise anything about the world other than their previous "Sasuke-kun"."

Honestly, just what was with these girls anyway? It was like their entire world revolved around Sasuke and everything else didn't exist. To them, Sasuke was everything and that was that. They couldn't stand it whenever something happened that proved their views on Sasuke wrong. Shikamaru remembered one time when Naruto actually did better than Sasuke at throwing shuriken a few days earlier before he, Choji, Kiba and Shino decided to befriend him and he remembered hearing the screeching voices of the fangirls who complained, accusing Naruto of cheating somehow because they couldn't accept the fact that he did better than their precious "Sasuke-kun". Shikamaru knew that it was impossible for Naruto to cheat as there was no way he could have cheated without being caught, but that didn't matter to the fangirls. Naruto cheated because they said so and that was that. They believed that they were right regardless of how ridiculous their claims were. To them, if someone was outdoing their crush then logic and lack of proof did not exist. Their word was law. In completely disgusted Shikamaru to no end that these girls were so stubborn that they'd say just about anything to justify their claims, even if it was logically impossible or if they clearly saw proof that proved them wrong and they actually had the nerve to attend these classes and call themselves kunoichi in training. Heck, Shikamaru had to wonder how many of those girls actually trained in their free time. It was absolutely appalling that he already knew that hardly any of them trained as they were too busy fawning over Sasuke and spending their training time at beauty salons, caring more about their looks than becoming shinobi. It was girls like that that gave kunoichi the world over a bad name.

"Well if it isn't the entire band of freaks," Ami stated in a boastfully cocky tone with a rather smug expression on her face, "The Freak Brigade, that's what we ought to call you."

"What do you want?" Naruto asked the cruel purple-haired girl in a rather infuriated tone, "I thought that after two years you would have learned your lesson, but it seems that you still want to cause misery to others just to make yourself feel good."

Ami glared at Naruto and looked ready to lash out at him, but then she took a deep breath, calming herself down and shook her head before the ends of her lips curled into a rather cruel and evil smile.

"I'm just here to watch Sasuke-kun pummel you into the ground and put you in your rightful place whisker face," the evil girl remarked smugly with her arms folding and stood with a stature that suggested that she was high and mighty.

In the two years since Naruto had humiliated Ami; both when he rescued Sakura from her and when he, Sakura and Ino had rescued Hinata from her, Ami had become rather cold and bitter. Having lost all her so-called friends, she had lost everything that made her who she was. She used her popularity to make other people's lives hellish all because she enjoyed the sensation of seeing other people miserable and she knew that those who followed her joined in just because she did it. However, ever since the last of her so-called friends deserted her after the humiliation she suffered when Naruto stuck up for Hinata, the people she had targeted, to her shock started to stand up to her, having gained confidence due to the fact she was alone. Without her gang backing her up, Ami knew that she was nothing. That had been a lesson she had learned the hard way and it had felt like a slap in the face. However, she found that she just could not accept that. She hated it. She hated being powerless. She hated it that she couldn't make others' lives hellish. To her, bullying was more of a livelihood than a sport. It had brought her pleasure that she rather enjoyed and wanted to feel again. It was like an addiction. She was addicted to bullying people and the fact that she could no longer do it absolutely infuriated her to no end and since her so-called friends had deserted her fearing reprisals from Naruto since Naruto had been the one Ami had provoked; Ami blamed it all on Naruto and vowed that she would have her revenge.

It was one of the reasons she had joined Sasuke's fanclub. Sasuke was a lot like her, Ami knew and unlike her, he was able to bully others by himself and succeed. Sasuke indeed had a lot in common with her and like the majority of his fanclub; she had fallen for the delusion that he would choose her as his wife when they grew up. She believed that Sasuke cared for her and was playing hard-to-get. However, unlike many of those other fangirls, Ami had an ulterior motive, which was why she joined the fanclub. To her, Sasuke was her ticket to regaining everything she had lost. She figured that if she could convince Sasuke to let her join him, then everyone would grow to fear her again and she'd be back on top. She planned on using Sasuke to regain her reputation and upon learning about his hatred for Naruto; that just made things even better. She'd let Sasuke deal with Naruto and then she'd go and deal with Sakura and Hinata while Sasuke dealt with Ino as Ami knew that Ino could stand up to her and cause her to retreat. The hardest part would be convincing Sasuke to let her join him as he completely blew off every attempt his fangirls made at asking him out. She knew that it would be difficult, but she was determined that she was going to get everything that she believed Naruto took from her back. However, for the time being she was content to just watch Sasuke give Naruto the well-deserved thrashing she believed he had coming to him.

Unfortunately, she did not expect four clan heirs to come to his aid, though she was sure that Sasuke was more than capable of dealing with them and the fact that Sakura, Ino and Hinata had humiliated him two days earlier only served to boast the cruel girl's smugness as she knew those three would not escape unscathed either.

"Who says he's gonna beat Naruto up?" Kiba asked in a dangerous tone, glaring at the horde of fangirls; Ami in particular.

"Sasuke-kun's the best," a random girl stated.

"Yeah, he could take you all on with his eyes closed," another said in agreement, causing both Sasuke and Ami to grin evilly.

"Why doesn't he prove it?" Choji challenged, daring him to take them up on the girl's statement.

"No thanks, I will only fight the dobe," Sasuke stated simply, glaring at Naruto.

Damn, even the sight of him caused Sasuke's blood to boil. Naruto just infuriated him that much. He despised Naruto; despised the fact that he existed and despised the fact that he was living proof that his views on reality were wrong; something that he had every intention of "rectifying".

"No, I won't fight you Sasuke-teme," Naruto stated simply as he shook his head with a stern look on his face, "And nothing you say will make me, so just leave us alone."

Sasuke just exploded at that point as he once again saw red. How dare this inferior insect refuse him? He wanted a fight and he would get one. Uchihas were denied nothing and he was an Uchiha. He was destined to rule the world. Looking around, he decided that if words would not get Naruto to fight him, then perhaps threatening one of his little sluts will. As he eyes lay on Hinata, he nodded to himself and lunged towards her as he pulled out a kunai knife his holster.

"She'll do," he thought with an evil demonic smirk on his face.

Before anyone could react, Sasuke was already behind Hinata with his arm wrapped tightly round her chest and the kunai aimed at her throat.

"You will fight me dobe or the Hyuga slut dies," he stated looking towards Naruto with an evil gleam in his eye.

"Yeah, come on Sasuke-kun, slit the bitch's throat!" Ami called out with the backing of the other fangirls; many of which did not believe that Sasuke was seriously going to kill the Hyuga heiress.

However, Naruto and his group all knew that Sasuke was deadly serious and that it was no empty threat. He would seriously kill Hinata if he didn't get what he wanted and looking at Ami's expression, Naruto knew that she not only knew that Sasuke would do it, but was actually encouraging him to do so.

"You made the biggest mistake of your life teme," Naruto said in a rather furious and loud tone as he glared daggers at Sasuke as he looked ready to lunge at him.

"That's more like it," Sasuke said with a smirk.

However, much to Sasuke's confusion, Naruto's glare suddenly transformed into a cocky and somewhat sadistic smirk.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about me," he said in a somewhat excitable tone.

"Huh, just what do you mean?" Sasuke asked, feeling his rage boil over once again as he inched the kunai closer to Hinata's throat.

However, as if to answer his question, Hinata stomped on his foot, causing his arm's grip on her to weaken as she ducked and yanked herself free, avoiding the kunai. Once free, she quickly went through the hand seals to activate her Byakugan and once activated, she took a Jyuken fighting stance and lunged towards the stunned Uchiha heir.

"You little bitch!" Sasuke cursed as he lunged at Hinata with the kunai still in his hand; ready to pierce the girl's heart.

However, Hinata caught Sasuke's wrist and squeezed tightly, causing his hand to open and causing the kunai to fall to the floor and then Hinata brought her free hand up and quickly thrust it towards Sasuke's chest. However, Hinata slowed down once a few centimetres from her hand's target and only touched Sasuke lightly, while making sure not to target any vital areas as the Jyuken was a lethal taijutsu style if hit in the right places. However, the momentum that had built up from the speed of Hinata's arm kept going and slammed into Sasuke, causing him to go flying back and Sasuke felt as if his chest had been slammed by a battering ram.

"Told ya, you underestimated Hinata-chan," Naruto said, shaking his head.

Hinata blushed at hearing Naruto, but turned her attention back to Sasuke, who was struggling to get to his feet as he glared dangerously at the Hyuga heiress with murderous rage in his eyes.

"Curse you bitch," he said as he managed to make it back up onto his feet, "I'll kill you."

Hinata responded by dropping into another Jyuken stance and Sasuke started forming hand seals and with her Byakugan, Hinata saw Sasuke pour his chakra into his chest as he took a deep breath of air before forming an O with his thumb and index fingers of his right hand and positioned the O shape so that the gap was over his mouth.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" Sasuke yelled as he exhaled and fire shot out of his mouth and formed a huge fireball.

Luckily, Hinata had seen what was coming through her Byakugan and had managed to veer to her right, avoiding the fireball; those potency had been diluted somewhat due to Hinata's earlier Jyuken strike to Sasuke's chest. However, once Sasuke stopped, the area of the floor that the bottom of the fireball had touch was now in flames along with the desks that had been caught in the fireball, but Sasuke didn't care. He was already exhausted and to make matters worse, Hinata was already upon him and with a carefully calculated chop to the back of the neck, she rendered Sasuke unconscious.

Just then however, one of the senseis rushed in having heard the commotion.

"Just what the hell is going on here?" he asked and his eyes widened upon seeing the fire and the unconscious Sasuke.

"What happened?" he asked.

Luckily someone else rushed in with a fire extinguisher and doused the flames

The sensei, a man with short black hair and rather sharp brown eyes wearing a standard Konoha Shinobi uniform with his hitai-ate tied round his waist like a belt glared at Naruto, already deciding to blame him.

"I bet this was your fault you little hellspawn," he went on as he glanced at the unconscious Uchiha heir, "And you also assaulted the Uchiha heir. You've really overstepped the mark this time."

"He started it," Naruto protested, much to the annoyance of Sasuke's watching fangirls who all immediately voiced their disapproval and spoke up in Sasuke's defence.

"Liar!" the man snapped, "You attacked him."

"Excuse me Akito-sensei, but that is not true," Shino spoke up, "Uchiha-san was in the wrong. We were all just minding our own business when Uchiha-san just came in and demanded a fight with Naruto-san and when he refused; Uchiha-san threatened Hinata-san who acted in self-defence."

"Yeah, that's right," Kiba spoke up in agreement, "That's exactly what happened.

"That's right, I saw it myself," Choji spoke up with a nod.

Shikamaru nodded, but did not say anything.

Sakura and Ino both looked at the unconscious Sasuke, both trying to figure out how they could have ever considered this evil boy their true love. How could they have ever liked him so much if he was willing to kill his classmates just to satisfy his injured pride and how could those other girls stand there and defend him even after witnessing what he had done? Once again both girls found themselves thankful to Naruto that through him, they had been able to see Sasuke's true colours as they both knew that if not for meeting Naruto, they could very well have ended up being part of that crowd cheering the emo-teme on and seeing Sasuke now, both came to realise that had they continued chasing after him, they both would have undoubtably ended up ruining their own lives.

"They speak the truth," Hinata spoke up, bring both former Sasuke fangirls out of their thoughts and back to reality, "I was the one who rendered Uchiha-san unconscious, but I was acting in self-defence. He was going to kill me."

"Lies, all lies!" Ami screeched furiously; furious that things were not going the way she had wanted them to go, "That boy was annoying Sasuke-kun; him and his little brigade."

The rest of the fangirls all voiced their agreement, not wanting to see their "Sasuke-kun" get into trouble since in their view, Naruto and the others had been in the wrong. Sure they had seen what had happened, but in their minds, Sasuke was pretty justified because in their eyes, Sasuke could do no wrong and that it was okay for him to do what he pleased. Besides, they all knew the Council would get him off the hook anyway.

Anyway, the other students that had been in the classroom; mainly boys, who did not join either side all started speaking up in Naruto's defence as they had all witnessed what had happened and had been shocked at Sasuke's behaviour.

Needless to say, the man, Akito was downright furious. He just couldn't believe that so many were speaking up in defence of the "demon brat". He hated the "demon brat", despised him and wanted nothing more than to see him dead. He remembered how both his father and older brother had died during the fight with the Kyuubi no Yoko eight years previously and like most of the village, saw Naruto as the Kyuubi itself. He had been one of the main ringleaders in sabotaging Naruto's education and ever since his improvements, he had been waiting in the wings, watching Naruto like a hawk; waiting for him to slip up so he could have him ousted from the academy and now he had that opportunity.

Unfortunately though, mostly everyone who wasn't a fangirl of Uchiha Sasuke was standing up for him. Of course, he knew that what they were saying was probably true and Sasuke had been in the wrong, but he didn't care. It was an opportunity to dispose of the "demon brat" and he sure as hell wasn't going to let it pass up.

"Okay demon, release whenever hold you have over these children right now," he stated furiously as he glared at Naruto with nothing but revulsion and contempt.

"I'm not doing anything," Naruto protested, though he knew it was pointless.

He knew that Akito was going to try and get him expelled. He knew that the senseis at the academy had been waiting patiently waiting in the shadows, looking for an excuse to get rid of him as they now knew that sabotaging his education had proved pointless. However, he did not expect what happened next.

"I can quite assure you Akito-sensei, we are not under any influence whatsoever," Shino stated, much to Akito's fury.

"Yeah, what makes you say that?" Kiba asked in a challenging tone, shooting the rage-filled sensei a glare.

Akito was at a loss for words. He had not expected this. He had not expected some of the children to come to his defence. He knew that the children's parents had all warned their sons and daughters to stay away from the "demon brat" and that, as far as he was aware, they had all obediently heeded their parents' warnings. Apparently he had been wrong in that assumption. However, upon looking at the children who had stood up for him, he recognised them both at the heirs to the Aburame and Inuzuka clans; two clans with seats on the Shinobi Council and that rather infuriated him.

"Yeah, what makes you say that?" Choji challenged as he walked up beside Kiba with Shikamaru, Hinata, Ino, Sakura and Shino following suit; all of which had challenging glares on their faces, as if daring him to reveal why Naruto was hated so much; something they were all eager to know.

"Do you not see who he is?" Akito growled through gritted teeth as the clan heirs all stood up for Naruto.

"The boy that mostly everyone hates," Shikamaru replied in an uncaring tone with a shrug, "The boy who was abused, shunned and ridiculed while growing up. His name is Uzumaki Naruto and even he doesn't know why he's hated so much. Everyone hates him and we, the children don't know why. Most of us just followed our parents' examples blindly without an ounce of thought as to why."

After he finished, Choji then turned to face everyone else in the class.

"Many of you befriended him, but once your parents discovered this, you all abandoned him in favour of what your parents said without asking why," he stated with a look of seriousness on his face, "Did you not stop to think why? Did you not ask your parents why they wanted you away from him?"

"I did, but kaa-chan threatened to kill me if I persisted in asking her," Sakura admitted with a nod before turning to face the others in the class, "But that didn't stop me from befriending him, did it?"

The children, minus Sasuke's fangirls, who were all still fuming over Sasuke's predicament all looked down at the feel feeling that they had just been scolded for doing something wrong and once those words sunk in, they started to realise the truth in them. Their parents never really told them why they hated Naruto. They never told them why they should stay away from him. They had just believed what they had been told and not once did they see the reason to question it.

"You're all blind if you haven't seen what Naruto-kun has done for you," Ino spoke up, turning to face them, "It's because of Naruto that you were all able to stand up to Ami for two years."

Said girl let out a vicious growl at being reminded of her misfortunate.

"It was Naruto wh stood up to Ami in Sakura-chan's defence and then in Hinata-chan's defence days later that led to her popularity plummeting," Ino went on explaining, "Think about it, all her friends abandoned and ditched her because they were afraid of what Naruto would do and in doing so, gave you all the courage and confidence to stand up to her and put her in her place and not only that, but many of you were also tormented by Sasuke and Naruto-kun has managed to stand up to him and not get beaten down. If not for Naruto-kun, Ami would probably still be the bossy little snot she always was making your lives hellish."

The children all nodded as they remembered that. Many had been targets of both Ami and Sasuke and thanks to Naruto, Ami had been knocked off her high horse and Sasuke had someone who he could not push around.

However, Sasuke's fangirls all furiously protested at this wanted to speak out in the defence of their "Prince Charming".

"JUST SHUT THE HELL UP!" Kiba shouted as he flashed the group of delusional fangirls a viciously feral glare, causing them all to quieten down with looks of pure terror on their faces.

"Lies, all lies," Akito said as he glared down at Naruto and then at those who dared defend him.

In truth he not only despised Naruto, but he also despised the Shinobi Council and the Sandaime Hokage. The clans of Konoha all had various secrets and genetic aspects that helped them excel on the battlefield and the way Akito saw it, with all those Hijutsu and Kekkei Genkais, the clans all had unfair advantages over everyone else. Akito himself was nothing special. His father had come from a civilian background and his mother was a civilian. There was nothing special about him and seeing the clans and their unique aspects, he couldn't help but feel jealous and it infuriated him to no end that some people had advantages over others; advantages that he saw as being unfair. In his mind, the clans were all just as demonic as Naruto himself was.

He only hated the Sandaime because of his support of Naruto as well as the fact that, like him, he had been of an average background and unlike him, had pushed past those limitations to become one of Konoha's greatest shinobi. After all, the Sandaime had been trained by his predecessor, the Nidaime and there were also rumours that he had also been trained by the Nidaime's older brother, the Shodai Hokage and that rather infuriated him as well.

The Shodai was famous for his Mokuton jutsu, which was his clan, the Senju's main specialty and the Nidaime was famous for the use of Suiton jutsu in areas which there was no source of available water for him to use and yet, the Nidaime was somehow able to manipulate the moisture in the air, turning it to water and as for the Yondaime, he had perfected a jutsu that had allowed him to single-handedly decimate entire armies in a short space of time.

With all that in mind and the knowledge that he was just an average shinobi with no Kekkei Genkai and no Hijutsu filled him with raw passionate fury towards the entire Shinobi Council. Heck, even Haruno Takeshi, who was not from a clan had superb kenjutsu abilities had managed to break the barriers of being average. Heck, he was given a seat of the Shinobi Council because he had been a close friend of the Yondaime and the Yondaime's most trusted advisor and right hand man.

"I can see from the look on your face that you have every intention of punishing Naruto anyway," Shikamaru said, bringing the enraged sensei back to reality.

Shikamaru then turned to face the rest of the class.

"Does anyone think that's fair?" he asked in a serious tone devoid of his usual laziness, "Should he just punish Naruto anyway when it's clear that he's not in the wrong?"

Everyone in the classroom, aside from Ami and Sasuke's fangirls all shook their heads.

"Then what do you suppose we do about it?" Hinata asked in a serious tone, stunning everyone who knew her as the weak, shy and timid girl who couldn't utter a single sentence without stuttering.

"I say that if the academy is going to treat Naruto-san unfairly, then we don't bother turning up," Shino stated, after which there was a brief silence and then the rest of the class all spoke out in agreement after thinking about everything they had been told so far.

"What, you're quitting; you can't all be serious?" Akito said with a mixture of stunned shock and enraged fury in his voice, "You can't do that."

"Yes we can," Shikamaru stated simply, "Rules state that shinobi in training are free to quit at any time and some do as they just aren't cut out for ninja life, but if you're going to treat a student unfairly just because of something you're not willing to tell us about, then I see no reason why I should be here."

"I concur," Shino stated stoically.

"Count me in," Kiba said with a nod.

"Me to," Choji spoke up.

"You know, my mom never really wanted me to become a ninja anyway," Sakura said with a sigh, "She only relented because I wouldn't shut up about it, but now she can rest easy since she won't have to fear me dying on a mission."

"I'm sure tou-chan will understand," Ino spoke up, "After all; this is for Naruto-kun."

"I could care less what my clan says," Hinata spoke up, giving Akito a defiant glare, "The only downside is that Neji-niisan will feel that he's been proven right about all his fate garbage, but I can live with that."

The rest of the class all stood up and started making their way towards the door, much to Akito's fury.

Naruto looked on in astonishment. This was something he had not expected. In truth, he was still a bit wary of the four boys and part of him had feared that they'd end up abandoning him like all the other children had done in the past. However, after seeing them jump to his defence, that part of him was quashed completely and he was rather touched and not only that, but that had convinced the other children save Sasuke's overly obsessed fangirls to help them.

"You guys… you'd all really do that f-f-for me?" he said with tears of happiness starting to well up in his eyes.

"Of course we will," Kiba stated with a smirk, "You're our friend and Inuzuka rules state that we never abandon a member of the pack."

Akito was absolutely livid. Not only was his opportunity that he had been waiting on for two years going up in flames, but the majority of the class was threatening to walk out if he went through with punishing Naruto. The fact was simple; if Naruto went, they would all follow him and that infuriated Akito to no end. Sure, it would mean being rid of the heirs to the major clans; the ones Akito despised the most for having "unfair advantages", but he knew that a class of just one boy and his diehard fanclub of so-called kunoichi in training would not make it far and would be impossible come graduation. With this in mind, he came to a decision.

"You," he said glaring at Naruto as he reached into his kunai and shuriken holster and pulled out a kunai, "This is all your fault. You've poisoned the minds of your classmates and our most esteemed clan heirs."

"You are mistaken," Shino commented in his usual uncaring tone, "I can quite assure you Akito-sensei that he has not poisoned our minds."

"Shut up!" Akito snapped furiously as he glared at the bug user, "I don't give a rat's ass what the truth is. I'm going to do what should have been done eight years ago and if you interfere then you'll die with this demon filth and I don't care if you're from a clan. It'll just be a bonus for me since I can stand those with unfair advantages."

Naruto's eyes widened as Akito lunged at him with his kunai ready to kill and noticed the crazed murderous look on his face.

"Die Kyu…!" Akito shouted, but was immediately cut off when a kunai suddenly flew right into his throat.

Everyone's eyes widened in shock as Akito dropped to the floor, dead and for Naruto, he was briefly reminded of that incident two years ago in which he had thrust that broken glass shard into that man's throat when he lashed out. Looking behind him, he saw Kakashi with an outstretched arm in front of him along with a dark brown haired woman with crimson eyes that he knew was Yuhi Kurenai, Hinata's motherly figure who had tried and failed to increase her confidence before she met him. Standing to Kurenai's left was a woman he did not recognise. She had short dark purple hair with the back in a spiky hairstyle and rather dark brownish grey pupilless eyes. She wore light brown sandal with shin guard that went up to her knees, an orange skirt with mesh shorts running down with the bottom visible beneath her skirt. She also wore a mesh shirt and a light brown trench coat over it though the front was unbuttoned exposing her cleavage and she did nothing to hide it. Her hitai-ate was tied round her forehead and she looked rather disappointed.

"Gee Kakashi, did you really have to kill 'im?" she said in a disappointed tone as her face adorned a frown, "I wanted ta have a little fun with him."

"Sorry Anko," Kakashi said in an apologetic tone, "But I had to act. He was going to kill Naruto."

"Oh yeah, the blonde gaki," the woman, Anko said with a sigh before turning to Naruto and flashing him a grin that Naruto recognised as being similar to his own fake grins that he flashed to hide his feelings whenever he was feeling down, "Hi there, the name's Mitarashi Anko, nice ta meet ya."

"N-n-nice to m-m-meet you to Anko-s-s-san," Naruto said in a polite tone as he bowed.

Sakura completely ignored the interaction between Anko and Naruto as she had overheard Akito's last words before the kunai flew into his throat and knew that he was calling Naruto something, but unfortunately before he could finish, the kunai entered his throat and she swore she heard Kakashi sighing with relief afterwards; relief that Akito had been unable to finish what was being said.

"Kyu, just what does that mean?" she thought to herself as she raced her brain for possible answers and then her realised something that caused her eyes to widen in shock.

"Kyuubi!" she thought as she remembered hearing the story of how the Yondaime Hokage had sacrificed his life to defeat the Kyuubi no Yoko eight years previously, "But what does Naruto-kun have to do with the… no way, they can't possibly believe that… but then…"

That was shocking, but the more she thought about it, the more it seemed to make sense. She knew that Naruto's birthday was on October 10th, the same day the Kyuubi attacked the village and Naruto being eight-years-old meant that his birthday fell on the exact same day the Kyuubi attacked. Of course, she could just pass it off as a coincidence, but with the treatment Naruto had been receiving his entire life, coupled with what she had heard from Akito before he was silenced, Sakura was coming to a rather startling conclusion and looking at Shikamaru, she could tell that he had also came to a similar conclusion and Shino, who was a bit of a genius.. well if he had come to the same conclusion, he certainly didn't show it as he remained his usual mysterious self. It was then she remembered reading up something in the library to do with the name, Jinchuriki.

"I have to go to the library and reread that book," she thought as she believed that she just may have figured out the reason behind Naruto's treatment, "If they believe that Naruto-kun's the Kyuubi no Yoko, then they're sorely mistaken. A Jinchuriki is not the Bijuu that is sealed within them."

That much she did remember reading, but she had decided to do a bit of revision just to be sure that she had indeed come to the right conclusion and if she had, just what then? What would the adults say if they discovered that she knew the truth and still defended Naruto? Perhaps many would make ridiculous claims on how she was being brainwashed, but it made sense why the children were not told. Obviously the Sandaime must've tried to get Naruto to become friends with the younger generation, but unfortunately the parents found ways round that and it also made sense why her mother had threatened to kill her two years ago when she had first befriended Naruto. Fuhei obviously felt that if she did know the truth then she'd have no choice but to kill her. She remembered the unhappiness in her mother's tone when she had made that threat. Her mother must've feared that she would have been silenced if the Sandaime knew that she knew to prevent the truth from getting out, but now that she did now, what now? However, she'd think about that later. First thing's first; she needed to revise that book and also look into the Yondaime's past in order to think of a possible reason why he had chosen Naruto as his sacrifice.

Meanwhile within the Hyuga compound, the branch member stood at the entrance of a dark room trembling in fear as the room's sole occupant sat with his back to the entrance with the curtains draped over the windows darkening the room. This was how Hyuga Senkei liked it. He was a dark man, the branch member knew The curtains were rather thick and black, making them rather effective in blocking the light.

"Report," the man in the room, Senkei stated simply in a stern tone that practically oozed out authority.

"Y-yes Senkei-sama," the branch member said before managing to collect himself and regain his composure and then cleared his throat, "Unfortunately, we've been unable to locate Yusuke."

"I'm not concerned with that," Senkei said sternly, causing the other man to tremble slightly as he knew just how intimidating the old man could be, "I've already concluded that Yusuke's either fled like a coward as he has nothing against our esteemed heiress or he's been killed by that crimson-eyed bitch who believes that she can interfere in my plans. What I'm interested in is Hinata's progress or has another one of your spies failed to report again?"

"No s-s-sir," the branch member said stuttering as he trembled in fear and took a while to regain his composure and the courage to reply, "Well apparently, there was an incident at the academy involving the Uchiha heir that resulted him in threatening Hinata-sama's life. However, Hinata-sama surprised us when she managed to break free and retaliate and not only that, but she rendered the Uchiha heir unconscious, even after he performed the Gokakyu no Jutsu."

"And what was this incident about?" Senkei asked in a tone that demanded an answer.

"Well Senkei-sama, apparently two days earlier, there was an incident involved both Uchiha Sasuke and Hinata-sama's friend, Uzumaki Naruto…"

"Curse that demon brat," Senkei interrupted in a furious tone, causing the branch member to flinch.

"Anyway, from what I heard, Hinata-sama and the other two girls Uzumaki-san hangs out with beat the Uchiha heir and the Uchiha heir was looking for revenge against Uzumaki-san as he clearly blames him for it and afterwards, there was an incident involving one of Hinata-sama's sensei's, though I don't have all the information regarding that."

"It doesn't matter, you've said more than enough," Senkei replied in a rather dissatisfied tone, clearly not happy with Hinata's amazing progress, "You're dismissed."

The branch member gave a bow and then exited the room, quietly closing the doors behind as he left the old Hyuga Council member to brood.

Needless to say, Senkei was not happy in the slightest. He rather despised and loathed Hinata; not because she had been born, but because of her kind and caring nature and what it could mean for the clan and its traditions. Hyugas were all about not showing emotions and fighting mercilessly. To the Hyuga Clan, showing an opponent mercy was a sign of weakness and yet, Hinata showed mercy constantly to her sparring partners, even after displaying remarkable improvements. In the beginning, Senkei had intentionally set out to destroy Hinata's fighting spirit he knew that her dream was to end the division within the clan, something that he himself was opposed to.

He was no fool though. He knew of the bitterness between the two houses in the clan and how it would eventually lead to civil war within the clan. That was what he was planning. Sure, there were steps in place to keep the branch houses in line, but Senkei knew that it was only a matter of time before the branch members found ways round that and it suited his plans perfectly; to usurp Hiashi of his position and then proceed to seize control of the entire village by becoming Godaime Hokage as he knew a civil war in the Hyuga Clan would undoubtably drag the rest of the village's shinobi into it and would weaken the village's defences for him to make his move. That was his intention and why he had set out to ruin Hinata's chances of gaining confidence. Her plans for the clan interfered with his and he was determined to see his plans through.

Unfortunately, thanks that the "demon brat", Hinata's confidence was growing and Hiashi had already rescinded his earlier decision to replace her with her younger sister, Hanabi and that did not sit well with him. Despite his best efforts, he could not convince Hiashi to reconsider.

"Curve that demon brat, he's ruining everything," Senkei thought as he remembered when Hinata first started growing a backbone.

He knew of the villagers' mistaken beliefs that the "demon brat" had the Hyuga's support and from Hiashi's attitude towards the whole affair, Senkei knew that Naruto had at least his support, even though he knew Hiashi would never admit it and as much as Senkei wanted to come forward and straighten things out, he knew that that would potentially be disastrous for him and his plans as it could potentially bring unwanted attention upon the Hyuga Clan and the villagers looking into the Hyuga Clan wondering why they were allowing their heiress to hang out with the "demon brat" was not something he wanted as he knew that someone may end up uncovering his plans and that was something he just could not afford at this point. Sure, the Hyuga Clan was a rather intimidating clan, but Senkei knew that there were brave souls in the village that would try to investigate them and with so many villagers against Naruto and them knowing the truth, their numbers may boast their confidence. Beside, Naruto had the support of the clan head despite his constant denials.

For now, Senkei knew that he was stuck. He'd have to bide his time and wait for an opportunity to deal with Hinata and Yuhi Kurenai as well since he knew that she knew about him and his desire to get rid of Hinata. Yes, he'd also deal with Miss Yuhi in due time, but for now, he'd have to wait. Then a thought passed through his mind as he remembered the bitterness between the two houses.

"Hizashi's son," he thought to himself as he remembered Hiashi's twin brother, Hizashi and how he had died in Hiashi's place after an attempted kidnapping by a ninja from Kumogakure no Sato; an incident that he himself had arranged in his first attempt to get rid of Hinata when she was only three.

That incident had traumatised Neji and filled him with a passionate fury towards the main household and he knew that Neji held Hinata in contempt the most as she was the heiress and was going to succeed Hiashi someday, the one he blamed for his father's death and Senkei knew that Neji felt that Hinata was every bit as responsible for his father's death as Hiashi himself was. Neji didn't know the truth as Hiashi felt that he had not been ready to know. That would be a mistake that Senkei made sure he would come to regret.

"Excellent, I'll just get the fool to do the deed for me," he thought as a wicked smile crossed his face, "It shouldn't be too hard to manipulate him. The tools he needs are already in place."

Glossary

Kumogakure no Sato – Village Hidden in the Clouds

Gaki – Brat

Shodai – First

Godaime – Fifth

Bijuu – Tailed Beast

Densetsu no Sannin – Legendary Three Ninja

Iryo-nin – Medical ninja

Hijutsu – Secret technique (A group of techniques that are unique to a select group of people. Unlike a Kekkei Genkai these techniques are not genetically inherited; just that the group of people are rather secretive about them and don't teach them to outsiders, though it is possible for outsiders to learn them some Hiden jutsu require a Kekkei Genkai to be used to their fullest potential i.e. Jyuken, which needs the Byakugan Kekkei Genkai)

Kenjutsu – Sword techniques (swordplay)

Mokuton – Wood Release

Suiton – Water Release

Katon : Gokakyu no Jutsu – Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique

Nii-san – Brother (The san suffix is used as a sign of respect)

Author's notes – I'm back from my unofficial seven-month hiatus and I have to say that I'm sorry for the long wait. It's just that not long after I finished last chapter, I was busy getting a college placement sorted, which led to a rather bad case of writer's block and I even started some new fics. One of the problems I do find with Naruto fanfiction is that as soon as I think of one idea, it's not long before another pops into my head. Anyway, my two other fics are a Code Geass /Bleach crossover and a Code Geass fic, which I'm not abandoning by the way. I'm just moving back to this fic. Anyway, I finally managed to get Senkei into the picture and his plans are underway. You know I was planning on putting the events I have planned for next chapter into this chapter and the events of this chapter in the next chapter, but then at the last minute when I thought about it, the events concerning the council would be more believable if I swapped the chapters about. I realise that my portrayal of Sasuke may be a over-the-top and that he's becoming evil too soon, but as I said before, I do tend to hype things up and blow them out of proportions and I do have a plan on dealing with Sasuke to ensure that his behaviour is temporarily down-toned for canon events. As I said before, this will be one of the most evil portrayals of Sasuke ever and he won't give up; just bide his time until he gains the curse mark from the hebi-teme. One of the biggest ups about this hiatus is that manga has progressed to a point where Danzo is dead and his fighting style has been revealed (Sharingan arm and Izanagi along with Hashirama's cells), though for some reason I doubt we've heard the last of his activities as some of them may be discovered in future since his ANBU ROOT is still around. Anyway, I'm not happy about Sakura's actions as of late, though to tell you the truth, ever since Naruto and Sakura had that argument after Sakura said she loved Naruto and he saw through her lies, I anticipated that she would say something to Sasuke that was along the lines of "I'll betray Konoha and help you" since it's fairly obvious that she's incapable of letting go of her Sasuke-ism. It may have been a ruse to get Sasuke to drop his guard, but I doubt even if Sasuke hadn't tried to kill her that she would've been able to bring herself to do it. Don't get me wrong, I don't particularly hate Sakura (though I have read a couple of fics that have major Sakura-bashing that I find enjoyable), it's just that her attitude towards Naruto in the beginning is rather off-putting.