Naruto: The Final Hokage of Peace

by Valnaern

What if Kyuubi was not as evil as everyone says? What if Itachi Uchiha said completely different words to Sasuke when he killed the Uchiha clan? What if Sakura wasn't as useless as she usually is? What if Naruto awakens bloodline, which will change his life? Strong Naruto with different Rinnegan. Read the story as Naruto becomes the Hokage and leads the world to PEACE.

3. Chapter 3 Trio

Thanks for reviews. And sorry if I have some grammar problems, English is not my first language (although I live in UK). I'm trying to improve though and I'm still searching for beta. I hope it doesn't ruin the story. Please, if you spot some grammar problem, tell it in review so I can improve on my next one.

And sorry for the late update. I promised to update twice, but i changed my mind. I decided to combine those two chapters and make one, because I didn't want to spent any more time in this time period.

splitheart1120: read and find out :P Naruto will be strong, but not overly. Alicia will not be as strong as Naruto though, because she isn't able to do Kage Bunshin training.

EDIT 05/09/2013: Beta'ed

On with the chapter then.

---

-Chapter 3-

Trio

-Timeskip: 1 year-

It was a Sunday evening and Naruto, now 9 years old, was walking in the silent Konoha streets, relaxing and enjoying the fresh evening air, as well as thinking about the past year. A lot had changed.

First, his appearance. Nothing major there, but still something noticeable. He grew a little, as Kyuubi had said, and his hair grew longer. His hair now almost reached his shoulders, but was still spiky.

Secondly, Naruto got to know Kyuubi better. The fox seemed to be friendly as long as you didn't interrupt him while he was speaking. For some reason, it really annoyed him. Also, they could consider each other acquaintances at best. They didn't talk much outside of the training, but they gained mutual respect for each other. They would sometimes crack some jokes, but those moments were very rare. Also, Kyuubi was a ruthless sensei. When Naruto got too tired to do something, or failed at something, Kyuubi would always somehow taunt him, scold and trick him into continuing.

As for his training, he could now compare himself with the levels of a high genin - low chuunin level shinobi. His chakra control was amazing for a ninja with very large chakra reserves. His ninjutsu training was great as well. Kyuubi guessed Naruto had a natural talent for ninjutsu and chakra control; like it was in his blood. Also, he was smarter; spending days in the library did its job. His taijutsu was okay. He loved the style, but it was hard to master without an opponent and although Kage Bunshin had limitless potential, had its' limits. If that makes sense.

The 'Kitsune Claw' style relied on fast movements and quick counterattacks. Also, this style didn't use fists, instead it used fingers for quick and painful stabs - a person sends chakra to all his fingers and reinforces them, making them harder and stronger. Kyuubi said that with excellent chakra control and good training, Naruto would be able to extend his chakra from his fingers and make chakra claws, or when using his chakra cloak, his nails would be longer and sharper on their own, which is also part of this style. But they still couldn't figure out how to bring out Kyuubi's chakra to make chakra cloak. Something was preventing it.

His kenjutsu was okay as well; just like 'Kitsune Claw', 'Kitsune Blade' relied mostly on parrying, counterattacking and quick stabs. Both of these styles relied on speed and that's why Naruto now had an addition to his dream - he wanted to be as fast or even faster than his dad. No... he wanted to be just like his father, if not better - acknowledged, loved and strong. He wanted to be a hero just like the Yondaime was.

His dojutsu training was going well too, but much slower than everything else, because Naruto didn't use clones to train. He and Kyuubi discovered a very interesting ability of the right eye. They called it "Marking". Now Naruto was working on his gravity manipulation and increasing the number of 'points' Naruto can 'mark'.

Furthermore, he had a good relationship with foxes. Some weeks after signing the contract, he tried to summon a fox. After some tries, he managed to summon two simple, one-tailed foxes. One was yellow with white tip at the end of its tail, and the other was black with blue tip. After they were summoned, both of them wanted to attack Naruto, but when they saw the whisker marks and felt the presence of Kyuubi, they put two and two together and changed their minds. Surprisingly, they could talk...

-Flashback-

"We're sorry, host of the Kyuubi. This is the first time we've been summoned. Imagine our surprise to appear here while in the middle of our dinner." the yellow fox said.

"WOW! THEY TALK!" Naruto shouted, clearly surprised.

"Idiot. I think I told you all the foxes are intelligent and can speak." Kyuubi said within Naruto's mind.

"You told me they are intelligent, but you never mentioned they could talk." the blond answered.

"Oh right... Whatever." the fox replied and cut the link. Sometimes, the fox could really be annoying.

"Uhh, right, sorry about that. So, what are your names and why are you both here. Aren't summons supposed to appear alone?" Naruto asked.

"My name is Yara and her name is Yoru." answered the yellow fox. The speaking actually sounded like the fox was yipping out the words. It was really strange, but for some reason Naruto could clearly understand them.

"To answer your second question, you're right, usually summons appears alone. But we're not your 'usual type' of summons. You see, we have different classes and ranks in our world. They are determined by the number of our tails. Usually one tails and two tails are scouts and medics. Me and Yara are scouts, and scouts always appear in pairs in order to boost our effectiveness of information gathering." Yoru answered. Her voice sounded more feminine than Yara's.

Naruto was listening very carefully, trying not to miss any details. "Oh, I see. That's an interesting system there. Can you tell me more?" he asked.

"Umm, not today. As it is our first time in this world, we would like to... explore. By the way, what's your name?" Yara said.

"Great... two scout foxes searching for adventure in a foreign world..." he thought.

"The name's Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto. But you can just call me Naruto!" Naruto said as he gave a good guy pose and thumbs up.

"Ok then, Naruto-sama. While we're in this world, do you have any requests? I mean, we're scouts after all." Yoru said with small fox-ish smile.

"Please forget about honorifics, I hate them." Naruto said as he put his hand on his chin. He looked to be deep in thought, before his eyes gleamed with bright light... "YES! I actually have a request for you two. As I will become a genin in the near future, I want you to gather all the information you can on possible jounin senseis. In case we're fighting, wherever, training or a test, I would really like an edge in battle. In the shinobi world, information is very important." Naruto said, before muttering "Well, that's what I read anyway... Right, do you know of our ninja system?"

"Of course, Naruto-sama. We're being educated on the human world and we know how to tell the difference between the ranks. Is that all, Naruto-sama?" Yoru said, emphasizing the -sama. Why? Just to annoy Naruto.

Naruto's eyebrow twitched. "You're doing that on purpose, right?" He didn't receive an answer. His eyebrow twitched even more. "Whatever, that's all."

And with that, the foxes were gone.

-Flashback end-

Naruto sighed. Although foxes were friendly, they were tricksters. They somehow managed to annoy him and that was frustrating.

His social life was getting better, too. He still didn't have many friends, but he sometimes went out with Shikamaru and Chouji. It was nice company, where Shikamaru sometimes would challenge him to a shogi game and Chouji would challenge him to an eating contest. Both of these boys knew Naruto was only acting as an idiot, but they promised to keep it a secret, understanding the reasons - there were cases when some people gave him an evil look if Naruto performed better than others. In the academy, Naruto would sometimes even talk with Sasuke, who sat next to him. The guy seemed to be okay, but he had some social problems. Naruto couldn't find out why exactly.

About the academy.

Now, with Mizuki's death, a new assistant had been assigned to Iruka. Her name was Kurenai Yuhi and she was a really beautiful woman. Kurenai had long, black, shoulder-length hair, and very unique eyes that are red in color. She wore make-up consisting of red lipstick and purple eye shadow. Her regular outfit consisted of a red mesh armour blouse with only the right sleeve visible. Over the blouse is a very broad material which resembled bandages with a pattern on it similar to those of rose thorns. Her hands and upper thighs are also wrapped in bandages and she wore the Konoha hitai-ate and regular shinobi sandals.

Kurenai will assist Iruka for a year before she will go and try for the jounin exams. As she said, she needed some experience with kids if she wanted to take a genin team. And she was a better teacher than Mizuki ever was anyway.

Also, when she saw the fan girls, she became furious with them. They were a disgrace to kunoichi (female ninja). That day she asked Iruka for a separate room and asked all the girls to come. There she told them about real kunoichi life - about how men looked down upon them, about the possibilities of rape and death. She told them that without any skills, they will die on their first real mission and that they will be the cause of their team-mates' deaths because of their weakness. She also told them that going on diets and running around worshipping Sasuke will not make them better or stronger. One girl tried to protest, saying how great 'her Sasuke-kun' was and will always protect her. Kurenai became so angry, she cast the weakest genjutsu (where Sasuke was being beaten up) on the girl and threw her out of the academy (of course, with Iruka's approval). She said to girls: "You better quit the academy now, rather than continue this 'fan-girlism', because if you die and take your team-mates with you, no one will be sorry for you. Instead, everyone will think how weak and pathetic you were to drag your team-mates down with you. If I will ever see any fan-girlism again, I will make sure you're kicked out of here!"

With that, everything changed. The boys could see that most of the girls started to become serious about being ninja. Sakura and Ino were examples of this - their grades became better and they sometimes put more effort into their physical training. Both of them still 'loved' Sasuke, but now they didn't show it so much, which Sasuke was grateful for. Some of the girls weren't impressed with Kurenai's speech and continued to fawn over 'their Sasuke-kun', but after some days, they never came back to school.

And lastly, the villagers. Naruto didn't know why, but it was a bit more pleasant to walk on the streets. There were still many who gave him a dark glare of hate, but there also appeared some people who gave him a look of disbelief, sympathy, recognition and respect. Those were mostly of ninja families. Naruto never approached them to ask about their looks, and the people never approached him, either. Naruto still couldn't understand the reason for these looks.

Naruto let out a sigh and went to his apartment. It was already late and tomorrow's a new week, meaning another boring lecture. Geez, he already knew everything the academy was teaching... Hell no, he knew more than a fresh genin would know.

-Timeskip: 1 week-

In the Hokage's office, Homura and Koharu, two Konoha council elders and the Hokage's advisers, along with Hiruzen were listening to Itachi's report.

Itachi was a double agent: he was spying for the Uchiha clan by gathering various information from the council and shinobi activities towards their clan, as well as being a spy for the Hokage within the Uchiha clan. Itachi was a very loyal shinobi and loved Konoha more than his clan, and that was the reason why Itachi said everything he knew.

"Hmm... these are really troubling reports, Itachi. Are you sure they are correct?" asked the old Hokage as Itachi finished his report.

"Yes, Hokage-sama. The Uchiha are planning a coup d'état. They say the village doesn't respect them the way they should and that they don't receive the power they deserve," Itachi let out a sigh before continuing "Their attitude sometimes sickens me. Their arrogance has gone beyond normal."

"What will you do about it, Hiruzen?" Homura asked.

"Call the Uchiha clan head here... I will speak with Fugaku and try to resolve it peacefully," the Hokage answered. He really didn't like this situation and he didn't believe peace talks will do any good any longer.

"You can't really believe that will work, can you?" Koharu asked sceptically.

"What else do you suggest? Slaughter an entire clan? Questions may arise and if the truth leaks out to the public, a civil war may start and that's exactly what I don't want to happen - more lives to be lost," the Hokage tried to reason.

"True, but what if one ninja could kill an entire clan and then is marked as a missing-nin? I think that's a good idea, don't you think so, Homura?" Koharu asked, ignoring the look of disbelief on Itachi's face.

"That is an option, but who will be foolish enough to sacrifice everything they achieved just for the sake of the village?" Homura replied "Besides, who is powerful and skillful enough to slaughter an entire Uchiha clan?"

There was a moment of silence. In this moment Itachi thought about his life in the village, his clan, brother and many other things. Gathering his resolve and courage, he volunteered.

"I will do it. I will become a missing-nin in order to protect this village. The Uchiha have been causing too much trouble and a coup d'état is the last straw, trying my patience. The Uchiha should have been honorable and be a prime example of what ninja should be like. But instead, they've sank in their own arrogance, the quality of Uchiha ninja has fallen, because they rely only on the Sharingan. It's a shame to be in their clan," Itachi said with strong resolve.

Basically, the Hokage and the two elders were shocked at Itachi's volunteering and his reasons. Itachi was their strongest shinobi, and it seemed he was also the most loyal. It was also surprising to see such emotions in him.

"But you're our best shinobi. We can't lose you," Homura tried to reason.

"It doesn't matter. There's no one else who could efficiently kill an entire clan and come out alive. Furthermore, when I become a missing-nin, I can protect the village from the outside. I will always be a loyal nin of the village and I will protect it when the need will arise."

All three elders smiled sadly. Itachi was such a good ninja at such a young age. But they really didn't have any choice.

"It seems we don't have a choice," Koharu said as she let out a sigh, "We won't have any sharingan users left in the village. It will cripple our military force."

"Letting them stay alive will cripple our force even more if the Uchiha will create a civil war to overthrow Hokage-sama. But I have a solution. I will keep my brother, Sasuke, alive." Itachi answered.

"Are you sure it's a good idea? After seeing what happened to his clan, he will seek revenge. He would leave the village at any chance to get more power and would live in hatred. This situation is too familiar to me... Just like the case with Orochimaru," the old Hokage sadly said.

At the mention of the snake Sannin, everyone winced (except for Itachi who kept an indifferent face).

"I will make sure he stays in the village for the right reasons and would not betray it. But there's a favor I will have to ask of you," Itachi said. Seeing the interested faces of the elders, he continued "Do NOT spoil him. He will be 'the last Uchiha' and people would offer him any help - free jutsu scrolls, free food, anything. If that happens, he will get arrogant just like the rest of the clan. Now he is pure and I've made sure he stayed like that so far. Thank Kami father couldn't influence him."

"As you wish, Itachi, I'll make sure Sasuke-kun won't be spoiled. When you will execute the plan?" Hokage asked.

"Tonight. The sooner, the better."

"Good luck Itachi. And thank you for you sacrifice."

"Of course, Hokage-sama."

-That night-

It was a deep night in Konoha, the full moon illuminating the streets, giving some light to those who stayed late outside. It was also one of those rare full moons which gave creepiness to the air. Uchiha Sasuke was one of the few who weren't asleep now. He was returning home from the nearby woods where he spent his day training, but he lost track of time and stayed there until now. As he got closer to Uchiha district, something felt off to him. He couldn't tell what exactly, but something definitely was wrong.

He ran.

Soon, he reached the gates. Usually there would be two gate guards, but today there were none. Also, Sasuke felt a strange scent in the air. He didn't know it, but it was scent of the blood.

He entered the streets of the district and froze. There were countless bodies laying in puddles of blood and sometimes you could even see some insides and gore on the streets. All of them were dead.

All of them.

Sasuke noticed they were from Uchiha.

"Oh Kami, what the hell happened here?" He muttered. Then he realized something "Tou-san, Nii-san.."

He feared they died as well, so Sasuke hurried back home, ignoring all the bodies. Tears started to form in his eyes as he ran "Nii-san, please don't die. Don't leave me alone!"

He entered his house and notice the lights were off and it was too quiet.

"Maybe they're just sleeping," he hoped. What an innocent wish.

He run towards father's room to check on him. As he entered, he saw something what he will always remember.

There was Itachi standing, his tanto stuck in Fugaku's chest and his bloody clothes had some scratches. When Itachi pulled his tanto out, Fugaku's body fell to ground limp and lifeless. Itachi heard someone enter the room and he was ready to strike again, until he saw it was his younger brother. He sheathed his tanto and walked towards Sasuke with a small smile, which was very rare for Itachi.

"Sasuke-'' Itachi started, but was interrupted.

"W-why, Nii-san? W-why? Why d-did you k-kill everyone?" Sasuke asked, as he backed away from Itachi until finally reaching a wall. He looked into Itachi's eyes and gasped - they looked like never before. His eyes looked like sharingan, but it was a bit different. Red eyes with some kind of pinwheel or shuriken in it. "A-and what's with y-your eyes?"

Itachi stopped and looked into Sasuke's eyes.

"I'm sorry, Ototo, but it had to be done. For the sake of the village."

"Sake of the v-village? What are you talking about?"

Itachi sighed. It will not be easy. "Sorry, but I can't tell you. Can you answer one my question?"

Sasuke nodded. But he nodded because he was afraid, not because he wanted to answer his question.

"Do not fear me, Sasuke. I would never harm you, you're too precious to me, just like this village. Tell me, do you have any precious things or people that you love and would protect until your very last breath?"

Sasuke didn't fully understand the question, but he tried to answer "Precious people? Who I love? W-well it would be you, Itachi and I would like to protect you, but you're strong enough so you don't need my protection..."

Itachi smiled. It was one of those rare, true smiles. "Thanks, Ototo. But what about the village? Do you love the village and would you like to protect it as well?"

"Well, I-I guess so. I'm born here and I live here after all..."

"I see. Remember this, Sasuke. Do not hate me nor the village; find friends here, create bonds. Friendship and a wish to protect those precious to you will make you truly strong. I have given you freedom from your father, so you don't have to be afraid to make friends. Follow my footsteps - become strong, don't be arrogant, train really hard and don't rely just on the Sharingan. And protect this village, just like I did. Today, I protected my friends, village and most importantly... my family, from the harm of the Uchiha clan. When you get older, I will answer your questions, but for now, live a happy life and rebuild the Uchiha clan to its former glory, where all the members have a high sense of honor. Do not seek me, but know this, I will always love and protect you wherever you may be. Farewell, my foolish little brother. Tsukuyomi!" Itachi said.

The last thing Sasuke saw, was a single tear coming from Itachi's eyes. Then, the world shifted to black and white with a red moon casting a red light throughout the place, creating a cloudy atmosphere with a red background.

-Tsukuyomi world-

Suddenly, Konoha appeared in the distance. Sasuke ran towards it, hoping to talk to his brother again or to get some help from the other ninjas. When he reached the gates, a sudden explosion was heard in the village. Within the seconds, all the village was aflame.

"No," Sasuke muttered as he backed away from the village, "No no no no, what the hell! HELP!" He shouted in true horror. He then turned away and run in opposite direction until he somehow reappeared in his academy class.

"Hey emo! You're late!" Naruto shouted.

"Sasuke, what happened? It's the first time you're late to academy," Iruka asked.

Sasuke couldn't believe he is here... He just saw the village burn, but nonetheless he was relieved to see them.

"Iruka-sensei! The village is burning!"

"What? Don't talk nonsense. Go and sit in your place," Iruka said, a bit angry.

Sasuke wanted to protest, but he couldn't because... he saw a giant spear shot out from Iruka's chest, with his heart at the end, which was still beating until it stopped.

Sasuke screamed in true horror. His own heart started to beat faster and he barely could stand on his legs. He turned his head and saw how his classmates didn't even notice it. He looked at Shikamaru, who was peacefully sleeping, when suddenly Shikamaru started to scream and burn in white flames, until nothing but ash remained.

Still, no one noticed it. He glanced at Ino who was arguing with Sakura, when suddenly she exploded into blood and gore. Sasuke let out a scream and fell on his knees. He quickly looked at Naruto who was making another prank. As he set his eyes on Naruto, the blond was impaled by a metal spear out of nowhere, just like Iruka.

Sasuke screamed again and again for the next 10 hours...everywhere he looked, he saw death. But then he realized something. It was more painful to watch them die than seeing his clan members dead. Is that what Itachi meant by precious people? He shut his eyes and felt a bit... relaxed?

-Real world-

Roughly 2 seconds has passed in the real world.

Itachi saw Sasuke's eyes snap open. Itachi was relieved that his plan worked. Sasuke's eyes changed - they now had red iris, black pupil and one tomoe in each eye around the pupil. Itachi managed to awaken Sasuke's sharingan by giving him high emotional pain, although Itachi tried to not be so rough so that Sasuke wouldn't have any mental damage, he still succeeded. Furthermore, he killed two birds with one stone - not only did he awaken Sasuke's sharingan, he also showed what he meant by 'precious people'.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke, for doing this, but remember what did I told you," Itachi said. He quickly approached Sasuke and poked his forehead with his index and middle fingers. With that, Sasuke fell to the ground unconscious and the last thing he saw was Itachi's smile. But before Sasuke could touch the ground, Itachi caught him and gently placed him on the ground.

Then Itachi quickly checked his supplies and got the items he was missing from the various houses in the compound. He still had some time before other ninja would arrive. He quickly created a Kage Bunshin and sent it to the safest exit in the village. Meanwhile, the real Itachi went the opposite direction of the clone, to the village gates. Every 15 meters he would cast a strong and wide area of effect genjutsu so no one could see him. After a while, he finally reached the gates. He looked at the village for one last time before leaving. He would wander the elemental nations, gather various information and protect his village from the outside. Just like one Jiraya-sama did.

-With clone-

When the clone finally reached the Uchiha district's east wall, he climbed over it without fear of being detected. On the other side there was a man waiting for him. The man wore a black coat with red clouds on it and an orange, spiraling mask.

"So, how was it?" The man asked.

"Everything was OK. No one saw me," 'Itachi' answered.

"Great, now you're officially a member of Akatsuki. Here's your coat and a ring." the masked man said and gave 'Itachi' both belongings.

'Itachi' didn't accept them though. "No. I'm not joining your criminal organization. I know you're not Madara Uchiha as you state. And don't even bother trying to find me, because it will be proven to be difficult, if not impossible. I'm already gone," he said and poofed out of existence.

The masked man was seething with anger. He was tricked so easily. Itachi said he will join them only so he wouldn't be interrupted from anything he was doing. The man tried to find the smallest trace of Itachi's chakra, but as Itachi said, it was impossible.

"You will regret this, Itachi," the man said, as he disappeared in swirl of vortex which came from his right eye.

---

Four days have passed since the massacre and Sasuke finally was released from the hospital. He couldn't remember how or who had taken him to the hospital, but he didn't really care.

He entered the Uchiha compound and noticed that the streets were clean, without any blood or bodies.

"I guess the Hokage ordered the clean up here." Sasuke muttered.

He continued his way up the street and tried to ignore all the memories of that night, until he finally reached his house. He hesitated to enter, but eventually he did. He walked up the stairs and approached his room. There, on the bedtime table, was a piece of paper; something was written on it.

Sasuke took it and read.

"Ototo, I'm sorry. I didn't want you to see what you saw, but I had no choice. It was my parting gift. Everything you saw that night, even the genjutsu in the end -yes it was a genjutsu- was to awaken your sharingan. You're now a full member of the Uchiha clan. Please don't hate me or the village or anyone else. Remember what I've told you. Make me proud and protect the village and your friends. When the time comes, I will tell you everything. Here, on this table I've left some pills and a key. The key is from our clan library, where various scrolls on nin-, tai-,gen- and kenjutsu are stored. The pills are to heal the mental damage I caused when I cast that genjutsu on you. It will also help you forget that night. Tsunade-sama, one of the Sannin, herself made them. She says the ingredients for these pills are very rare, and are to be used only in emergency, and now is the emergency, so take them. Take care, Sasuke. I love you.

Your niisan,

Itachi."

When Sasuke finished reading, he smiled. That night he thought Itachi had turned into an emotionless murderer, but that wasn't the case. He took the pills and he felt how the headache began to fade. Sasuke then decided to see what's in the library, maybe he would pick up something interesting and train. He didn't have anything better to do anyway.

-Timeskip: 2 weeks-

Naruto was trying to find Sasuke. The only problem was that he didn't know where to look for him, so he just wandered the village aimlessly in the hope of finding him. The reason he wanted to find him was just to talk. Everyone knew about the Uchiha massacre. Sasuke was now alone, without a family, even without friends and he couldn't understand why Sasuke never tried to make friends, but he guessed it had something to do with the Uchiha arrogance and pride. Still, Naruto knew how it was to be alone and he just wanted to help his classmate. Maybe they will finally become friends, seeing as how they shared the same situation.

After two hours of searching, he subconsciously reached the Uchiha district's lake. He couldn't even remember how he came here; it looked like he had spaced out while walking around the village.

It was a beautiful place, though. Various flora surrounded the lake. It would be fascinating to see sunset here.

The lake was pretty big. There also was a footbridge that reached 1 mile into the lake. At the end of the bridge was a lonely figure sitting, its' feet in the water. Naruto sighed. He finally found the person he was looking for.

After 5 minutes of slight jogging he finally reached Sasuke. He heard how he was panting a little. As he finally reached him, he shouted "Hey, Emo!"

Sasuke didn't even need to turn around to see who was calling for him. Only one person called him 'emo'. "I'm not 'emo', dobe. What do you want?"

"Well, you act like an emo. I just wanted to see how are you doing after what happened. You seem more distant than before," Naruto said. He always cared for his classmates, especially after the incident with Mizuki. Even for an emo like Sasuke.

"I'm fine. Now, leave me alone," Sasuke shot back. It was still painful for him to talk about that night. He felt better about it, after he took the pills, but it was still sore subject for him.

"Jeez, Sasuke. If you continue to act that way, you will feel worse than now," Naruto said seriously. He didn't want anyone to feel what he felt - total loneliness.

"What would you know? You don't know how it is to lose your family. Yours is still al-" he then stopped. He remembered that Naruto didn't have parents at all. Naruto even didn't know who they were or how they looked like. No one knew, but Sasuke didn't like to make people feel bad if they didn't have family. "Sorry. I forgot."

"It's okay, Sasuke. I've already accepted that fact," he paused for a second, thinking of his next words, "Sasuke, you're right," Sasuke turned around and looked at him curiously - Naruto almost never acknowledged him. Naruto continued "I don't know how it is to lose family. But I do know how it is to be alone. I know how it is to be without loved ones, friends or family. I know how it is to go home, knowing that no one is waiting for you. I know the loneliness, Sasuke. You can't image how it is to live like that for 9 years. But unlike you, Sasuke, I was also hated and despised. I don't even want to remember my past, because there was a period when I wanted to hurt everyone who hurt me. I even wanted to die or run away from the village.

But then I entered the academy. But even there I couldn't make friends, because parents told their children to stay away from one Naruto Uzumaki. Then I started to do pranks just to be noticed. Until the trip. There, I finally befriended Shikamaru and Choji. And I even got to know you a little, although you still seemed distant. I guess it was Uchiha pride and arrogance.

There, when Mizuki betrayed us, I was afraid for everyone. I didn't want them to be hurt. My wish was to protect them... To protect my precious people - Iruka-sensei, who is like an older brother to me and my new friends - I then awakened my power. It was me who saved everyone that day. Sasuke, if you continue to ignore everyone and stay alone, you will go mad. One day, you will just turn your back on the village and do something wrong. I don't really think it's something you would like to do, or any of your family would like you to do." With his speech finished, he put his hands behind his head in a relaxed manner, turned around and slowly started to walk away. He really hoped his words would reach Sasuke.

Sasuke was shocked by Naruto's speech. Naruto was supposed to be an idiot, and here he was hearing such words from him. He was shocked to hear how Naruto felt in the past, although he partly knew his past. And again, he was shocked because Itachi had told him very similar words.

Get stronger by protecting your precious people...

Make friends...

Loneliness...

And what was that power Naruto told him about? He thought maybe Itachi was right. He will give it a shot. He will try to make friends. Maybe it will help him to forget that night... Maybe what Naruto said about hurting someone out of loneliness was true... Maybe he will get stronger by making bonds...

Too many maybes. He decided to try. And he will start today, with Naruto. After all, Naruto was the only one he had talked to the most. And who knew loneliness.

"Naruto... Wait," Sasuke called out.

Naruto stopped and turned his head, curious about what the emo wanted now. He didn't believe his words reached him THAT fast. "Yes?"

"I... I was afraid to make friends..." Sasuke muttered. Naruto barely heard him.

"Huh? Afraid? Why?" Naruto asked, now fully turning and facing the still sitting Sasuke.

"I wanted to make friends, but I was afraid of my father. My clan was not how it used to be. In the past, the Uchiha clan was noble, powerful and had a sense of honor. But now, they wanted more power, wealth and whatsoever. The Uchiha were now so arrogant. I... I wanted to make friends, wanted to be like everyone else, but my father told me not to make contact with 'low class people'. He said that other than the Hyuuga, no one was worth our time and interacting with 'low class people' in a friendly manner was beneath us, he said it was a disgrace to our clan. I really didn't believe him but my brother, Itachi... He said not to fear my father and to make friends, but I was afraid. My father was a powerful man, and he had a short temper. And I didn't want to bring shame to my clan." Sasuke explained. This was the first time he had ever told anyone about that. It felt somehow... relieving.

So that's why Sasuke was so cold to everyone. Now he finally understood. "Well, that's just plain stupid. Look at what happened to them, they died of their own arrogance. For some reason I've never liked the Uchiha anyway," Seeing the sad look on Sasuke's face, he thought he said something wrong. "Uhh, sorry."

"No, It's okay. I agree with you. I didn't like the clan either. Actually, I'm kind of happy they are dead," seeing Naruto's surprised look, he elaborated as he stood up "Now I'm finally free. I can do what I want. As if a cage has been opened. And I don't have to be afraid anymore. You know... My brother was the one who killed the entire clan. He did that to make me free; Itachi did it for me. He said almost the same words you said to me. But that wasn't enough for me. Thanks, Naruto. Hearing about your past, made me realize Itachi told the truth. That's why I will try to be more friendly."

Naruto was quite surprised that the Uchiha's prodigy would do something like that (he had heard about Itachi), but seeing how he did it for his little brother, he smiled sadly, knowing that no one would do something like that for him.

Naruto then saw Sasuke stretch out his hand. "Hey, dobe. What do you say about us being friends? I figured we could be friends, because you're the one I've talked to the most. Umm... I hope that's a good reason," Sasuke said, worried a bit. He hoped he had made a good reason. Also, he had seen how people shake hands when they meet.

Naruto looked at Sasuke with a deadpan expression, but he still took Sasuke's hand and shook it. He said "Sasuke, of course I'll be your friend. But you don't need any reasons to be friends with someone. You just need to be friendly, talk with people and they will eventually become your friends. You won't even notice it. Well, I'm not a professional but I learned that much during my time with Shikamaru and Chouji."

Sasuke blushed a bit. He couldn't believe he did something like that. At least it wasn't in public and Naruto wasn't laughing about Sasuke's inexperience with interacting with people his age.

"Anyway, what were you up to? When I came here, I heard you panting," Naruto asked as he let go of Sasuke's hand. He was happy that he made yet another friend.

Sasuke couldn't decide whether tell him or not. He decided to tell him, because he heard how friendship relied on trusting each other. Also, he had heard in the classroom how others talked about small things like this - 'what did you do yesterday?', 'what are your plans for tomorrow?', etc.

"Well, I was practicing my new jutsu here. Usually the Uchiha practice their fire jutsu here." Sasuke answered.

"Wow. You too train outside of the academy? Oh, I guess everyone from a clan does so. Can you show it to me, please?" Naruto pleaded.

Sasuke thought about it a little - he felt a bit exhausted, but he had regained some chakra while talking to Naruto. Well, he could try the last time for today.

"Sure."

Sasuke turned his back to Naruto, facing the lake. He did some handseals, stopping on the tiger seal. He inhaled a large amount of air and exhaled while shouting "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu". A medium sized ball of fire shot out from Sasuke's mouth and flew forward. After half a mile, the fireball dispersed. Sasuke was holding his knees, bent forward and panted heavily. It was the last chakra he could use for today without fainting from chakra exhaustion. After the entire day he couldn't improve, every time one and the same result. And there was no one who could tell what his problem was.

"Not bad, Sasuke," Naruto said. Sasuke turned around. He wanted to ask Naruto to elaborate what did he meant by 'not bad'. Surely, Naruto couldn't do better. But what he saw, made his jaw drop.

"N-Naruto... y-your eyes," Sasuke muttered between the panting. Sasuke was staring into Naruto's Rinnegan.

"Huh? Oh. You remember when I told you about the power I awakened on the trip?" After receiving short nod from Sasuke, he continued "Well, I awakened the Rinnegan."

"R-Rinnegan? But it's just a myth."

"Well it was. I won't bother to tell you everything about it now, maybe later. Anyway, I activated my dojutsu to see how much chakra you used for your jutsu. You used enough chakra to make the fireball that big, but you had very little control to keep it burning. That's why the fireball disappears so quickly."

Sasuke, now regained his breath, stood up and said "Hn. If you could do better."

Naruto just smirked. "Well, Sasuke, I surely can."

"Then show me. There's no one better in katon jutsus than the Uchiha."

"And here comes the Uchiha arrogance..." he muttered as he switched places with Sasuke. He did the same handseals, stopped on tiger, inhaled and exhaled as he shouted "Katon: Ao no Gōkakyū no Jutsu" (Blue Grand Fireball technique). A large blue fireball shot from his mouth. It flew forwards until it reached the opposite wall and exploded in blue and red flames.

Sasuke was staring at Naruto with wide eyes. Not only had he made a perfect Grand Fireball Jutsu, he also made it quite powerful. Also, he was shocked - Naruto, the dead last of the class, performed an actual katon jutsu, as well as making the flame blue.

"H-How?" Was the only thing Sasuke could ask.

Naruto just turned around and tilted his head in confusion. "What do you mean 'how'?"

Regaining composure from his shock, Sasuke continued, "How the dead last make such a big, perfect and powerful fireball jutsu? And why was it blue?"

Naruto grinned. "Heh, Sasuke, that's the result of hard work. And I'm dead last only in the academy. Remember, deception is a ninja's greatest tool. As to why it is blue, it's because of my chakra. My chakra is much more potent and dense than others have, and it also is in a different color. You see, everyone has blue chakra, while mine is silver with blue tint. Basically, it's a simple Gōkakyū, but because mine is blue I renamed it to the blue Gōkakyū."

It kind of made sense. "But why is your chakra different?"

"Long story short - my dojutsu and some other... conditions. And that's one of the few jutsu I've mastered." Naruto said, without revealing too much. "Anyway, if you want I can help you with your jutsu."

Sasuke didn't want to accept his help because his pride wouldn't allow him to, he was an Uchiha. But then he remembered how some people in academy helped each other out. Was this what friends did - help each other out? Besides, he really needed the help.

He didn't want to say it, but he eventually did "I... I guess I would need some help from a person who has mastered the jutsu."

Naruto grinned. "That's great. Hey Sasuke, maybe we should train together?"

"What do you mean?" he asked curiously.

"Well, I don't have anything to do after the academy, so I just train for the rest of the day. I've been doing this for a year now. I think now you will have more time as well. Maybe we could train together. I mean, we could spar or teach each other something. And we could help each other with our dojutsu. It will also be more fun to train together than with clones," Naruto said.

Sasuke thought about it. He had to admit it was a nice idea. First of all, he could become stronger, secondly he could see how strong Naruto truly is, thirdly he could train his dojutsu and lastly, he could learn something on how to interact with other kids his age. He really lacked that knowledge. He wasn't shy, it's just that he didn't know how to properly do things. He was a bit confused with 'clones' bit, but he figured it was some kind of Naruto weirdness (since clones are not solid).

"I guess we could. Le'ts come to my training grounds tomorrow. No one could see us training and I like the idea of that 'deception' thing, I will have to remember that," Sasuke said.

"Okay then. See ya tomorrow, emo. Oh and by the way. Continue to act as you did, just don't be so cold to everyone." Naruto said.

And with that, he left. Sasuke wondered where this friendship will lead him, but he had a feeling he chose the right thing to do. After some time, he went home as well.

---

Some weeks have passed since Naruto and Sasuke became friends. In a brief amount of time, they quickly became best friends. In class, they still acted as before, though Sasuke wasn't so cold anymore. He talked more. Other kids noticed that as well. Especially the fan-girls who started to worship him again and ask for dates. Well, it was their fault they got kicked out of the academy.

Then, there was a day when Naruto managed to convince Sasuke to go out with him, Shikamaru and Choji. At the beginning, Shikamaru didn't want Sasuke to come, because he thought he will ruin the day with his attitude, but when Naruto explained Sasuke's situation (without revealing too much), he agreed. Sasuke felt somehow uneasy with others around. In the academy it was one thing, where everyone spent their time learning new things. But going out with friends during free time was a completely new experience to him. He did things he would never do alone, like playing some games and enjoying their time in the park. That was the first time in his life he felt just like an ordinary 9-year-old kid. Shikamaru and Choji didn't mind his company, seeing as how Sasuke tried to make friends.

Also, Sasuke was quite shocked to see Naruto's way of training. When Naruto explained him the Kage Bunshin training, he wondered if he could do the same training, but Naruto said he couldn't. Naruto explained about why it was a kinjutsu and that only he could do this training. When Sasuke asked why only he could, Naruto explained about his massive reserves of chakra and enhanced healing. He didn't tell him about Kyuubi, though. Yet. That was the day Sasuke swore he would train hard to become as strong as his brother and his new best friend, Naruto. That was the day when Naruto became not only his best friend, but his rival as well. And somehow, Sasuke just forgot to ask where he learned Kage Bunshin in the first place.

Naruto also found out about his left eye's ability. He discovered it in the library, when he was reading a scroll on some Doton technique. His clone accidentally (Naruto still didn't know how this 'accident' happened) activated the Rinnegan. The clone then subconsciously started to focus on the written text and images and noticed that he now faster and the text seemed clearer and more understandable. Then the other clone who was nearby saw his left eye's slits slowly spinning. The next day, when Naruto wanted to go through everything the clone read, he was surprised because he remembered everything. Every single word and every single image, even every single detail on the image. After a day or two Kyuubi explained to him about this new ability.

Basically, Naruto now could copy and understand texts. Naruto thought it was stupid, but Kyuubi elaborated - Naruto now didn't have to send 20 clones to the ninjutsu section, one clone was enough. That clone would activate his Rinnegan and scan the needed scrolls which would forever be copied to his memory. Then, he could use that memory to train in his ninjutsu. Long story short - he now needed much less clones and time to read new scrolls. The only downside was that only one clone at a time could activate the Rinnegan and this ability. Also, there was a limit on how much he could copy in one day. That was also the day when Kyuubi added Fuuinjutsu training to the schedule, explaining that this ability and fuuinjutsu are just meant to be great together.

Anyway, today was a Saturday afternoon and you could find Naruto and Sasuke sitting in Ichiraku's and eating ramen. Well, Sasuke had just finished his bowl and Naruto was already eating his 4th.

"Dobe, where is all that food going? It's like you've got black hole instead of a stomach or something," Sasuke said. He still was calling him 'dobe'. It was the way Sasuke showed him respect - because being dead last and stronger than Sasuke was not a small feat (well, you can argue about that being respect). Also, it was a way to annoy Naruto. And to annoy Sasuke, Naruto continued to call him 'emo' although he didn't act like one anymore. Not much anyway.

"Emo, this is food from Kami herself. I just can't eat less," Naruto answered.

Sasuke just sighed. Ramen was okay, although he wasn't fan of it.

"So, why did you call me today here? I was hoping to stay in and read some scrolls or just relax," Sasuke asked.

Naruto finished his bowl, said thanks and paid to the old man. He turned to Sasuke with a serious expression and said "You know Sasuke, we've been friends and trained together for some weeks. We even worked on one collaboration technique and our teamwork is nice. We haven't worked on that, but it's nice," Naruto then paused.

Sasuke still couldn't understand where Naruto is going with this. He knew Naruto long enough to know that, sometimes, he had some crazy ideas.

Naruto continued "Well, do you want to be on one team with me when we become genin?"

Well, it wasn't as crazy as Sasuke was expecting. And it was a nice idea too. They were both strongest in their class and they worked well together. He had an addition to this idea "It's a nice idea, but I've got better."

Well, that made Naruto interested. "Oh yeah? And what would that be?"

"How about we find one more person, he trains with us and then we three become a team once we are made genin?" Sasuke suggested. "Just imagine - our team would be the strongest among the genins. Everyone would think we're some kind of fresh rookies, when actually we could kick some serious ass. We would storm through ranks and no one would know what hit 'em."

That was one of the aspect of Sasuke's personality. He really liked to 'kick some ass' and show how strong he was. But still, it was a great plan.

"That's great Sasuke. But there's a problem."

"Hn? What is it?" Sasuke asked.

"The 3rd member of the team has to be a girl," Naruto said. He knew Sasuke hated fan girls, and all girls in the class liked Sasuke (except for one shy, pale eyed, short haired girl. *wink*wink*nod*nod*).

"Oh great... Although Kurenai-sensei did a great job making the girls take the right path, still all of them are worshiping me. I like my plan anyway so I will need to deal with it. Maybe after some time with us, the girl will take being a kunoichi seriously. Are you sure about a girl being the third member?" Sasuke said, a bit sad. He really didn't want to deal with a fan-girl, but if it meant being able to kick some ass, he would cope with that.

"Yes. I've read that they put the kid with best overall score with the dead last, and because there are three ninja on a squad, they add in the best Academic on the team, which usually is a girl," Naruto answered.

Sasuke sighed. "I see. Do you have any suggestions?"

"Well, yeah. There are three girls which I could suggest to add to our team. Hinata, Ino and Sakura," answering the unspoken question, Naruto explained "All three of them come from a ninja family, where Ino and Hinata are from clans. We can cross out Hinata, because: first, she is too shy and unsure of herself, she almost doesn't have any self confidence. Secondly, she is a Hyuuga, meaning that her parents won't allow her to be with an Uchiha," he finished as he took some moments to regain his breath.

Sasuke just nodded, agreeing to the explanation. "What about the other two?"

"Ino, she comes from good clan and she is average at all subjects. She also has nice clan jutsus which I'm sure you know something about. But I don't think she will be good for our team because of her personality. Though I wouldn't mind her, it's most likely she will be with Shikamaru and Choji, just like their parents were. So I guess we can cross her out as well," he sighed. He somehow liked Ino, but she already had a crush on Sasuke. Naruto then continued "Then there comes Sakura. She is not very good at all subjects, but she has good book smarts. I mean, she is the smartest girl of the class. Sakura has a bit less than average grades on physical subjects. She is decent with bunshin, kawarimi and good at detecting and dispelling genjutsu. She has low chakra reserves but very good chakra control. That's everything I could find out about them from observing in class. She doesn't come from any clan, but her father was a ninja and her mother is a civilian," Naruto finished.

Sasuke was quite surprised about Naruto's information gathering just from observing. He didn't know though that it was one of the requests from Kyuubi to see how Naruto would succeed.

"So basically our chances with Sakura is better than with Ino?" Sasuke said. You could barely notice the smile on his lips, but of course it didn't go unnoticed by Naruto.

"Yeah and I think it's our best option. She is not as loud and bossy as Ino is. Also, I feel she has some kind of hidden power," Naruto said. And of course he didn't mention that it was Kyuubi who sensed some kind of hidden power in the girl, but Sasuke didn't need to know that for now.

"Hn? Hidden power? What do you mean?" Sasuke asked.

"Well I'm not sure, but you better believe me. I think she has some kind of hidden bloodline or something like that. I think Sakura would be an interesting addition to our team. And I'm sure you would like it," Naruto said with a smirk.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, don't give me that crap. I've seen how you look at her in class sometimes. So you like one of your fangirls after all, emo?" Naruto said in teasing voice.

Sasuke barely blushed as he shouted "Shut up, dobe, it's not true. I just like pink color. She is weak and I only like strong and determined girls."

"Yeah, right. Isn't she determined enough to be your girlfriend? I think that's enough determination," Naruto countered. He enjoyed the small twitch in Sasuke's eyebrow.

"And what about you? I've seen how you look at Ino sometimes. What about her? Don't you want her on our team?" Sasuke asked. He thought it was a good counter for Naruto, but that wasn't the case.

Naruto shrugged "Well, at least I'm not shy to admit I somehow like her. And yes, I would like her on our team, but it won't work. First, because she is way too bossy, and her fangirlism will be harder to 'cure'."

Sasuke sighed. Naruto was almost always calm and it was hard to get under his skin, almost just like Itachi. But he had a point about Ino. Sakura was their only choice. Plus, he was intrigued by this 'hidden power' Naruto spoke of. Although he didn't like fangirls, he would give Sakura a chance. And that's only because she had a pink hair... "Fine then. Shall we approach her on Monday?"

"Yes. The sooner, the better," Naruto said.

"Okay then, see you on Monday, dobe."

"See ya, emo."

And with that, they left to their separate homes.

-Monday-

It was another boring day in school. Shikamaru was sleeping, Choji eating, Ino and Sakura arguing, Naruto daydreaming, Sasuke brooding and Iruka randomly switching between calmly giving the lecture and shouting so everyone would wake up.

After lessons had ended, Naruto decided to start their plan. He nodded to Sasuke as they both waited 'til Sakura was alone. They pretended like they had some unfinished work to do in their books. They were lucky that Sakura stayed behind as well to ask about something from Iruka.

When Sakura finished talking to Iruka, she picked up her things and went home. It looked like she didn't notice someone else had also stayed behind.

Seeing that she is going away, both boys collected their bags, bid farewell to Iruka and approached Sakura, just outside of the academy.

"Hey, Sakura-chan," Naruto shouted as he usually did in class.

Already knowing who it was, Sakura shouted back, not turning around "Go away, Naruto-baka. I will not go on a date with you."

Sasuke already knew that Naruto's 'crush' on Sakura was just part of his acting. Knowing that Sakura would rather listen to him than Naruto, he said "We're not here to invite you to any dates."

Sakura froze. She knew who that voice belonged to. She couldn't believe he approached her outside of the school and that she mistook him for that Naruto. She quickly turned around and once again was surprised. By Sasuke's side stood Naruto. But it was still nice that Sasuke had talked to her.

"Sasuke-kun? Did you want something? And why Naruto-baka is here?" She asked as she scowled in Naruto's direction. In the beginning, she thought Naruto was okay. But that was until he became that loudmouth idiot who would always call on her for dates.

"Maybe it wasn't a great idea after all? I don't like her attitude," Sasuke said to Naruto.

"Relax, Sasuke. She knows me as I am in the academy, so I don't blame her. Give her time to know me better and she will change her opinion. Greatly. She is a smart girl after all," Naruto said, seeming to be fully calm.

Originally, Sakura was very confused by their talk. Did Sasuke just ask a question of Naruto? Did Naruto just sound calm and was not shouting? Wait. What did he mean by 'she knows me as I am in academy'? But before she could ask any of questions, Naruto spoke.

"Listen, Sakura," Naruto started off. For Sakura, it was very weird to hear Naruto this serious. The missing -chan suffix made it even weirder.

"You can relax. My crush on you, being a loudmouth and being stupid was nothing but acting so others would underestimate me. 'Deception is a ninja's greatest tool'," Oh, how he loved that line! "You see, I'm stronger than any academy student. I'm even stronger than Sasuke. I've been training hard for a year now, and started training with Sasuke some weeks ago. Do you follow me so far?"

This was the first time Sasuke heard or saw Naruto being so serious. He was impressed, but he didn't show it. On the other hand, Sakura was quite shocked. Not only was Naruto in front of her seeming absolutely different than in class, and speaking intelligently, he also states he is stronger than Sasuke. Sasuke was an Uchiha. No one in class was better than him.

Seeing Sakura's doubt, Sasuke interrupted "Believe me, when Naruto gets this serious, he doesn't lie or joke. And he really is stronger than me."

Sakura just nodded, dumbfounded.

Naruto continued. "You see, we had this great idea to be on one team with Sasuke. We're working on our collaboration jutsu and our teamwork is good enough to pass. It still needs to improve, though. A team consists of 3 genins - two boys and one girl - and one jounin sensei. The thing is, we didn't want some random weak girl who would slow us down. So we're asking you - would you like to be on our team?"

It wasn't how Naruto had imagined it, but what's done is done.

Sakura was speechless. She couldn't believe someone would offer her that kind of chance. If what Sasuke said was true, then Naruto was indeed strong. And she would be with Sasuke on the same team. But then, Sakura realized something. Both boys were strong, much stronger than she was. She would just slow them down.

"You know, no one ever offered me something like this. I would really like to accept, but I think I'll just slow you down, if you're really as strong as you say you are. I'm weaker than anyone in the class. The only thing I'm good at is book smarts," she said sadly. Before Kurenai came, she would have jumped at a chance like this, but now she thought about it a little. Would it be good to slow down Sasuke? Would it be good if they would always need to protect her?

Naruto smiled. It was a smile that could brighten up one's mood, even that of the likes of Orochimaru. And somehow, Sakura felt better. Like a warm and calm aura came past her.

"Naruto! Remember I told you about that hidden power?" Kyuubi said suddenly. Naruto was quite surprised to hear the fox. After receiving a mental nod (Naruto learned how to send mental images to Kyuubi) he continued "I can sense it chaotically rising and dropping. Her chakra is doing the same. Now I'm sure it's a bloodline. And it's an old one. I'm not sure how old though, but now is the moment she will either awaken it or the bloodline will be sealed for next generation to try again."

"What do you suggest? I really want to help her even if she doesn't accept our offer," Naruto mentally asked while at the same time speaking to Sakura (a great feat indeed) "Listen, Sakura. There is still 4 years until we take the exam for genin. We offered you the chance to be on our team because we can see your potential," Sasuke was a bit surprised by that statement, because it wasn't true, but he didn't interfere. He wanted to see where Naruto is going with this. "If you accept our offer, you will train with us. But remember, we train each day except for the weekends. We train hard. If you accept, you will get stronger. By the time we make genin, you will be stronger than an average genin. Furthermore," he smirked "I've heard Sasuke likes pink hair, because he thinks it's unusual for a kunoichi. And I've also heard that he doesn't like weak girls, because they are a disgrace to kunoichi."

Sakura blushed at that while Sasuke glared daggers at Naruto. In their next spar, Naruto will pay...

"Kit, if you really want to help her with acquiring the bloodline, ask her to bite her thumb and you do the same. Then place your wound on hers. I will channel a slight amount of my chakra to increase her chance of getting the bloodline. Hurry, it is close to sealing off," Kyuubi said.

Naruto quickly made up a plan on how to make her bite her thumb. Getting an idea, he said "Sakura, you don't have to answer now. We will give you the whole week to think things through. Do you promise not to tell anyone about what we said to you?" after receiving a slow nod from Sakura, he continued "Unfortunately, that's not enough. I will bite my thumb and you bite yours. We will seal a blood contract to really make sure no one finds out. Please, it is very important for both of us," Naruto said as he bit his thumb without even flinching.

Sasuke really didn't know what the hell was happening, but he played along. He will ask later.

Sakura hesitated a bit. It was painful after all, but then she remembered what Kurenai taught them. How they will face great pain during their missions. A little wounded thumb was nothing. Without thinking about this strange 'blood contract', which clearly didn't exist, she bit her thumb and placed it on Naruto's. After some seconds everything was done. She didn't even feel how the foreign drop of chakra entered her system.

"Thanks, Sasuke-kun, Naruto. I really appreciate your offer. I will think about it," Sakura said with a smile.

Deciding to play his trump card, which he learned from Naruto, Sasuke said "Sakura. We believe in you. I hope you will join our little team, so we could kick some serious ass."

"Thank you."

"So badass! SHANNARO! Don't hesitate and jump at this chance!" Inner Sakura shouted, bumping her fists into the air.

With that, Sakura left.

-With Sasuke and Naruto-

Naruto and Sasuke went to the Uchiha training grounds to continue their training. But before they could start they usual routine, Sasuke called Naruto.

"Dobe," Sasuke called.

"What is it, emo?"

"What was that all about? I mean, all that blood contract thing," Sasuke asked.

Naruto thought a little. Should he tell him about the Kyuubi or not. They've been good friends for some time and this would be a great opportunity to test their friendship.

"I guess I can't hide it from you now, we will be a team in the future," Naruto said as he let out a sigh.

"Hide what?"

"Do you know the truth about the night the Kyuubi attacked? Do you know what happened to it?" Naruto asked.

"Well, I don't know the truth behind Kyuubi's attack, but I know it couldn't be killed. I also know it's been sealed inside you," Sasuke stated as if it was a matter of fact.

"Eeh?" Naruto shouted and face faulted. Seriously? Sasuke knew? "How long?"

"For a week. I didn't have anything to do on Sunday last week, so I decided to find something interesting to read in the library. There, I found the book on bijuu and jinchuuriki. There were also some facts and traits stated about various jinchuuriki. For example, the jinchuuriki of Nibi would get cat-like eyes, senses, and agility. As I read about Kyuubi, I couldn't help but remember you. Those whisker marks do not look like birth marks, then there's your enhanced healing, abnormal chakra reserves and the hatred from villagers, which you told me about few weeks ago. I put two and two together. It wasn't that hard to figure it out," Sasuke explained.

Naruto didn't know what to think. Sasuke saved him trouble of telling him about the jinchuurikis and about telling that he (Naruto) was one of them. But at the same time he couldn't understand why he didn't tell him anything.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Naruto asked.

"I didn't want to force this subject on you, seeing how Kyuubi is hated here. I just waited until you felt ready to tell it to me yourself," Sasuke explained.

"Aren't you afraid of me? Aren't you afraid the Kyuubi could get out, or that I'm Kyuubi's reincarnation as many people say?"

"Don't be such a dobe, dobe. I truly trust Yondaime-sama's sealing abilities, and knowing you for some weeks, you can't possibly be that evil and malicious thing."

Naruto smiled. Sasuke accepted him, even knowing about the Kyuubi. He was a true friend indeed. But Sasuke didn't know the whole story.

"Sasuke, you don't know the whole story..."

And so Naruto spent the whole day retelling Sasuke what Kyuubi had told him. He even told him about how he got the Rinnegan to do some kind of thing to this world. He also told him about who his sensei was, and who suggested this kind of training. He then also explained what he did to Sakura. The entire time Sasuke was listening very carefully, sometimes asking a question or two if he didn't understand something. At the end of the story, he was quite surprised with the burden that was placed on Naruto.

"You've got nice tasks ahead. I'll stick around with you. With you, I'm sure I'll get a chance to kick some ass and to prove I'm strong," Sasuke said at the end.

"Thanks, Sasuke." Naruto said as he smiled. He had really found his first, true friend. Even if said friend still needed to learn some socializing skills and even if he was a bit emo.

For the next two hours they did light physical training and had a small sparring match, before they went home. For the entire time, Naruto had a huge smile on his face.

-With Sakura-

It was a deep night now and everyone in the Haruno's household was sleeping. Well, Sakura's mother was sleeping, but Sakura herself couldn't fall asleep. It was for some hours like this. She thought she had a fever, but she didn't have any raised temperature, or coughing, or any symptoms that accompanied a fever. Maybe it was her period? Nope. Too early for that. It felt like various energy spikes - one moment she felt energized, ready to lift mountains, and in another moment she felt weak and tired. And she didn't want to bother her mom about it. She had lessons tomorrow, and it was really frustrating that she couldn't fall asleep.

It continued for one more hour, until Sakura decided to go to bathroom. Maybe relaxing under the hot shower will help her.

She undressed and entered the shower stall in her bathroom. It was quite large with various switches which could change water flowing modes.

She turned on the hot water and tried to relax. Even after some minutes, the spikes didn't stop. This time it looked like her energy, her chakra, only grew.

"Damn... It still won't stop. What's wrong with me?"she muttered. "By the way, what should I do with Naruto's offer?"

"That's such a stupid question! Accept it! It is our chance to prove to Sasuke-kun we're not weak! SHANNARO!" Inner Sakura shouted and bumped her fists in the air. The inner Sakura was totally oblivious to what's happening with the real Sakura.

"But I'll have to train hard. And each day... I will be so tired. And let's not talk about how dirty I could get."

"Idiot! You just sounded like a pathetic fan-girl. It's no wonder Sasuke-kun never noticed you. You only care about your looks, although you started to put some effort in the academy. Getting on diets will only get you weaker. Your stamina and chakra is non-existent! You should be happy that Sasuke-kun noticed you. He even told you that he believed in you! So stop whining and listen to me at least once. You can become stronger. Much stronger. Even stronger than Ino-pig. Your chances with Sasuke will be better. SHANNARO!"

"Ehh, I guess you're right... I'll do it for Sasuke-kun. I will prove to him I'm not weak and that I'm worthy at least of some of his time," Sakura muttered.

With a new resolution in heart, her condition stabilized. She immediately noticed how the power spikes stopped. She didn't feel too powerful or tired anymore. She felt... normal. Like she usually would feel. Furthermore, she didn't know, but her chakra reserves had increased. It was thrice more than before - she could now compare to a weak-average genin.

But that's not the the only thing she noticed. She felt how something salty was entering her mouth. She touched her mouth with her finger and saw blood on it.

"Why is my nose bleeding?"

But then the weirdest (in her opinion) thing happened. She was staring at her palm. Slowly but steadily, there was a deep cut forming across her palm. And it didn't hurt at all.

Then, the blood from her nose, as well as from the cut on her palm, started to drip down. The drips never reached the cabin's floor, instead they were floating half way to the floor. After some more moments of dripping, the blood stopped coming from the cut. The countless drops of blood, which were now floating, slowly started moving and mixing together into one ball of blood. When the ball finally formed, it floated to Sakura's eye level. The girl froze, staring at the process speechless. She was so shocked that she could do nothing but stare; Never in her life had she seen or read about something like that.

The ball itself was a bit bigger than Sakura's fist. Some seconds passed, after which the ball unformed and fell to the floor with a loud 'splash', sending the blood all around the stall. Sakura stood there for a minute and then looked at her palm which was surprisingly alright. No cuts, no scars. Nothing.

"What the hell..." she muttered, as she regained her composure, cleaned the stall, dried herself and left the bathroom.

She went to her mother's room, because she wanted to tell her what happened just now. Somehow, Sakura knew her mother would have some kind of idea about what happened.

She finally reached the room and knocked, just to check if her mother was asleep. Receiving no answer she sighed and entered.

"Kaa-san..." Sakura called. Receiving no answer, she went closer and shook her mother and called out louder, "Kaa-san!"

The woman barely opened her eyes and yawned. She turned around and looked into her daughter's eyes. Mebuki Haruno is not only a kind and caring woman, but she was also pretty for her age. Mebuki was a tall, fair skinned woman with shoulder-length, blond hair with a single bang which fell into her face. She also had green eyes, just like Sakura.

Seeing Sakura's worried face, she sat up. "What is it, Sakura? Why are you not asleep yet?"

"Sorry, kaa-san, but something weird happened to me just now," Sakura said truthfully. And that got Mebuki's interest. With that, Sakura told her mother about her day, skipping all the story about Naruto and Sasuke. Then she told her how she couldn't fall asleep and what happened while she was taking a shower.

After Sakura had finished, Mebuki was in deep thought.

"Could it be that? Kizashi-kun had told me stories, but why would it reappear in Sakura?" she thought. "There's only one way to find out if that's true."

"Sakura, did you know I took Haruno surname after I married your father?"

"Umm, no. So Haruno was not your original surname?" Sakura asked.

"No. Before we continue, I want to check something. Wait here a second," Mebuki said. She stood up from the bed and went to her wardrobe. There, on the highest shelf, was a box with a strange seal instead of a keyhole. The box was big enough to store two or three scrolls. Mebuki got the box and went back to Sakura. She gave her the box and said, "Please bite one of your fingers and smear the blood along the seal."

Sakura sighed, she will need to bite her thumb. Again. Although she was quite curious about what could be inside the box. She did what she was asked to do and smeared the blood on the seal. For some moments nothing happened, when suddenly the seal glowed bright red and some drops of blood floated into the air before they evaporated and a 'click' sound was heard.

"Sakura, before you open it... Do you know who your grandfather was?" Mebuki asked.

"No. I barely know my dad. How is he related to this?"

"I don't know much about him either, but I know the stories your father told me. Your grandfather's name was Kazuke Haruno. Just like Shodaime Hokage, he had a special ability," Mebuki said.

"If my memory serves me well Shodaime-sama had a Mokuton, which is a very strong bloodline, right? Did Kazuke, my grandfather, have something that powerful? And does that mean we're part of a bloodline clan?" Sakura asked curiously. She was quite surprised that the Haruno was an actual clan with a bloodline.

"No, Sakura. Mokuton has never been a bloodline. And we're not a bloodline clan," Mebuki answered her daughter.

"If it wasn't a bloodline, then why could only Shodaime-sama could do it?" Sakura continued her 'interrogation'.

"It was some kind of chakra mutation or something, which allowed the user to combine suiton and doton chakra to create mokuton. Everyone thought it was a bloodline, but seeing Nidaime-sama and Tsunade-sama, people changed their views. If it was an actual bloodline, then Nidaime-sama would have had the same ability right? But instead, Nidaime-sama had unreal high suiton affinity. Both Shodaime and Nidaime were brothers, both from the Senju clan. And then there's Tsunade-sama, one of the legendary Sannin, who is also from the Senju. But she doesn't have Mokuton nor high suiton affinity. What I mean is - while Mokuton was strong ability, it was just a mutation and didn't pass on as a bloodline. Well, I'm not a shinobi so I don't know very much about all those ninja thingies, I know this much only from reading and listening to your father's stories and theories," Mebuki finished explaining the Mokuton and let out a sigh.

"I see. That explains why we don't have any mokuton users. So basically Kazuke had some powerful chakra mutation which allowed him to use something powerful like mokuton?" Sakura asked hopefully. She couldn't believe that her ancestor had some kind of super-unbelievably-strong ability. Oh man, how she would brag about it to Ino-pig.

Seeing Sakura's face, Mebuki said "I don't want to disappoint you, Sakura, but no. Kazuke didn't have anything strong like mokuton. It didn't even stand close to mokuton seeing how it was a mutation," Sakura just sighed. Great, everything started with mokuton and now her mother says her ancestor's ability wasn't that strong. Mebuki continued, "Kazuke Haruno had an... interesting, for the lack of better term, ability. It allowed him to mix his chakra with his blood to control it. He could make spears, daggers and other kind of techniques from his blood to use in combat. He could also use his chakra to reinforce the blood he used for the techniques, changing it from hard as steel to watery-like where he could bend blood to his will. Neither your grandfather nor your father had this ability, that's why we thought it was just like Shodaime's mokuton. I still don't know how he used those techniques in combat... I mean, he would have to injure himself in order to do so. Anyway, I still don't know why YOU have this ability, but I hope what's inside the box will explain it."

"But that's gross. To use blood in combat..." Sakura said as she scowled. The idea of using blood for combat was not appealing to her.

"I agree with you, daughter. But at the same time it has some kind of advantage in combat."

"What do you mean?"

"I think it would be a good distraction. Imagine, you're fighting an opponent who easily matches you, when suddenly you take a weapon and stab yourself in the palm or gut letting some blood to spill. Opponent would be shocked at such vile action which would give you a good opening to strike or use these blood techniques. I'm sure there would be other advantages, but I'm too tired to think about it right now. Also, I'm not a ninja so maybe I might be wrong. Anyway, lets see what's in the box."

Sakura nodded and opened the box. There were two scrolls and a convert atop of them. She took the convert and read it.

"To anyone who received the same ability as me. I write this message to the Haruno who awakened the Blood Release.

I thought it was just a mutation, just like Hashirama Senju has with his mokuton, but I had hoped it is not. The Blood Style I use has more disadvantages than advantages, but it allowed me to perform some nice jutsus and it is also a nice distraction in combat. But I believed my Blood Style wasn't complete and just developing. It means that it would evolve through the generations until it awakens as a bloodline. I still don't know what has to happen, but time will tell. Haruno is not a clan, it's just a family name, but my dream is for the Haruno to become a bloodline clan and to prosper. That's why I believe someday, Blood Style will appear again in my descendants.

Here, in this box, I've placed two scrolls on a few Blood Style jutsus I've created. I hope they would be of some use to you to get a basic idea of how this style works. Also, there's a special dirk knife inside which I used to get blood from my palm. You will have to get some blood to use it after all, right? The blade of the dirk is made from a rare metal which allows you channel chakra into it, but it's not suitable for combat like a kunai. While I couldn't use my chakra to safely draw my blood, I hope the bloodline will develop enough to allow you to get the blood safely, without pain or anything, using your chakra.

I will pass this box to my son, Kizashi Haruno. If he does not get the bloodline, he will pass the box to his successor. To make sure that only people wielding my ability could open the box, I asked my friend, who is quite good at sealing, to create a seal from my chakra infused blood which could only open with the same chakra infused blood. The dirk too has a similar seal. If you opened the box then congratulations. You're the ascendant of my Blood Release.

Take care and make me proud. Make the Haruno proud and well known.

-Kazuke Haruno"

Sakura was speechless, just like her mother. The man somehow knew about his Blood Style being undeveloped. But that wasn't what left them speechless. Sakura now had a bloodline. While not powerful like the sharingan or byakugan, it was still a bloodline. Haruno will be an official bloodline clan once Sakura revealed it. It was really something.

Sakura regained her composure and opened the scrolls. She didn't read them, just took a glance. They looked like technique scrolls, just like Kazuke said. Sakura decided to deal with them later. She then took the dirk and took a look at it.

Somehow the dirk felt good in her hands, like it belonged there... It was approximately 3 inches long, double edged, grey with a black tinted blade. There was some kind of white seal pattern on the blade. It didn't have a guard and the handle was made from what seemed like wood. Sakura didn't know it, but the wood was reinforced meaning it was almost as strong as steel. The handle was wrapped in leather straps. The blade looked beautiful and rather simple at the same time.

"Wow... that's a lot to take in..." Sakura finally said.

"I agree. I still can't believe my little Sakura-chan has a bloodline. Although a weird one, I'm still proud of you."

"Kaa-san! I'm not little anymore. And thanks."

"You're welcome." Mebuki said and smiled. "Let's go to sleep now, you have academy tomorrow and I have a job. We will discuss it later."

"Sure. Goodnight, kaa-san."

"Goodnight, Sakura."

Sakura placed the scrolls and dirk back into the box, stood up and went back to her room with her box. Before she left Mebuki's room, she remembered something. "By the way, Kaa-san. From this day I will be coming home later, so don't wait me at lunchtime."

"Huh? Why?" Mebuki asked, quite confused on why her daughter would come home later.

"I will be having some extra training after academy. I really lack physical training and I'm only good at book smarts. Also, I need to practice this new thingie after all, right?" she explained, although she had a scowl when she referred to her bloodline. She just can't imagine stabbing her palm each time just to train the Blood release. She will have to find a way around the stabbing.

"I'm happy that you're finally taking being kunoichi seriously. I don't mind you training after academy, but not your new bloodline. I don't want you stabbing yourself each day," Mebuki said seriously.

Sakura knew this was coming. "Don't worry, kaa-san. I won't stab myself right away. I will start with small cuts from a needle to get a feel for it."

Mebuki thought about it and finally agreed "Fine. But every time you train your bloodline you will tell me what you did, okay? I would like to know how badly you injure yourself just to train. If it goes too far, I will forbid you from using the blood style. Is that clear?"

"Yes, kaa-san. Goodnight." Sakura said, as she yawned and finally went back to her room.

Tomorrow was going to be a long day.

-Next day-

It was a usual ninja academy day. Naruto was being an idiot, Sasuke was brooding, Shikamaru sleeping, Choji eating, Kiba playing with his new puppy, Akamaru, Ino bossing everyone around and Shino doing Kami knows what. During the lecture, Sakura, for first time in her life didn't listen to Iruka. She was thinking about what she had discovered last night and about the training she will get.

Soon the bell rang indicating that lunch time had come. Over some weeks, Sakura had noticed how Naruto and Sasuke would leave the classroom last. She thought it was an accident, but remembering yesterday had proven it wrong. That's why she decided to wait until everyone left and approach the boys to tell them about her decision.

As everyone was going out of the class, Ino approached Sakura. "Hey, forehead girl. You coming?" Despite their small rivalry over Sasuke, they still were good friends.

Sakura's eye twitched. "No, Ino-pig. I have to finish reading the last paragraph and then I'll come."

"But you can read while you eat," Ino answered.

Quickly coming up with another excuse, Sakura answered, "Basically yes, but I also wanted to ask Iruka-sensei about today's lecture."

Ino sighed. Sometimes she thought Sakura was obsessed with reading and learning. "Okay, bookworm. But if you don't come after 5 minutes, I will come back and drag you out with me. See you later," And with that, she left.

Sakura sighed in relief and looked around, checking if there's someone else in the room. Apart from Iruka, Kurenai, Naruto and Sasuke, no one was there anymore. Sakura stood up and approached the boys, while Iruka and Kurenai gave her a curious look.

"If I hear something about 'Sasuke-kun' she can forget about coming back," Kurenai thought as she narrowed her eyes.

At the same time, Iruka thought "Hmm... I wonder what they're up to."

Both teachers returned to their work: sorting out some papers and coming up with future lectures, while keeping an eye on the three students.

Both Naruto and Sasuke would've left the class sooner, but they noticed how Sakura wanted to stay longer. Usually she would run out with Ino. That made both boys curious and they decided to stay a little bit longer. And true to their suspicion, Sakura was approaching them.

"Hey, Naruto, Sasuke," She decided to skip the -kun suffix in Sasuke's name, seeing how Kurenai was still in the room and giving her suspicious looks.

"Keep it down, Sakura," Naruto whispered as quiet as possible and glanced towards the teachers. He then took out a piece of paper from his notepad and started writing on it. When he finished writing, he gave the piece of paper to Sakura.

"This way will be safer. Usually chuunin and jounin can enchance the range from which they can hear things, so this will be safer. Have you already decided on our offer? I thought you would use the time we gave you," She read.

Understanding the reasons for writing instead of talking, she took her own pen and started to write an answer. When she finished, she gave the piece of paper back to Naruto, which he and Sasuke read.

"Yes. I've been thinking a lot yesterday and I decided to accept your offer. Also, I can still remember Kurenai-sensei's speech she gave to girls and I don't want to be a nuisance to my future teammates and I want to get strong. I also want to prove that I'm worthy of Sasuke-kun's time," At this point, Sasuke rolled his eyes and continued to read."And something... interesting happened yesterday. But I will tell you about it later, when we have our first training day together. We can start today. I can give you a hint though. I'm now like Hinata or Sasuke. I think that hint was quite obvious, huh?"

At this point both boys curiously looked at Sakura.

"She has a bloodline?" both of them thought.

Sasuke then took the paper from Naruto's hands, wrote on it and gave it back to Sakura.

"Good. After the last lesson, leave as usual. Immediately go to the Uchiha district main gate. I'm sure you know where it is. Make sure you don't look suspicious or anything. We'll meet you there 5 minutes later after you arrive, because we leave the academy last. And Sakura, find another reason to become strong, instead of just proving something to me. Look at how many girls want to 'prove' something and they all are pathetic. Well, it's too soon to judge, but with the way they act, it's not far from the truth."

Sakura was a bit taken back by what Sasuke said. She will need to find another reason? Before she could think more on it or answer, Ino barged in.

"Billboard brow! 5 minutes has passed and you're still here," When she saw WHERE Sakura was standing, she became angry. "YOU! You wanted to stay behind just to get more time with Sasuke-k..." she stopped when she saw Kurenai's look. "I mean, why would you stay behind just to talk with Sasuke?" she angrily asked.

"So, Sakura-chan! You didn't answer me. Wanna go on a date with me?" Naruto shouted, as he would usually do. Seeing the confused look on Sakura's face, he whispered "Do what you usually would do in this situation!" Sakura was standing in front of Naruto so Ino didn't notice the whispering.

Catching Naruto's game, Sasuke said "Hmph. Answer dobe's question faster. I want to get some fresh air."

Still confused about what happened, Naruto's voice rang in her head "Deception is a ninja's greatest tool". Finally understanding what was going on, she hit Naruto and shouted "Shut up Naruto-baka! I was asking Sasuke how to properly throw shuriken! Let's go Ino-pig. I have nothing to do here anymore," With that, she approached Ino, took her hand and left.

"That was a close one..." Sasuke muttered.

Naruto just nodded and they both left to have their lunch. Sasuke was still sitting alone and Naruto was hanging around with Shikamaru, Choji and their newest addition - Shino. Shino would sometimes join them for interesting conversations. Well, if one sentence once in 2 minutes was a conversation...

Both teacher and his assistant remained silent for an entire time. When everyone left, they blinked a few times, confused.

"What the hell just happened?" Iruka asked.

"I don't know. At the begining Sakura approached Naruto and Sasuke. Then, they acted like best friends and talked via writing on a piece of paper so we couldn't overhear them. Then Ino came and everything returned to normal... I think something's going on," Kurenai answered. In her opinion it was rather interesting and somewhat amusing.

"I agree. But Sakura seemed a bit confused when Naruto asked her out on a date," Iruka said.

"Maybe she's new to their group?" Kurenai suggested.

"Maybe... we can't be sure if this 'group' even exists. We will have to keep an eye on them. Just in case."

With that, both of them returned to their work.

-Later that day, Uchiha district-

As usual, Naruto and Sasuke parted ways at the academy and later met up at the Uchiha district. As Naruto came closer, he saw Sasuke and Sakura already waiting for him.

"Naruto, what took you so long? Usually you're first here." Sasuke asked when he saw the blonde.

"I wanted to give you some private time with Sakura." Naruto even winked when he said that. Seeing Sakura's reddening face and Sasuke's angry reaction, he smirked. "Relax, I'm joking. Emos are usually alone, right?"

"Naruto..." Sasuke said, glaring daggers at Naruto.

"Geez, Sasuke. You're taking everything too serious. I was on my way when I saw a black cat crossing the street. I had to take another route that goes around the village, just to be safe," Naruto calmly said, remembering reports on one of the jounin. The scouting foxes did their work and found out three or four facts about different jounins. Naruto asked if they could continue, which they gladly did. Also, it was very strange for Sasuke to see Naruto talking to two yipping foxes...

His anger fading, Sasuke stated, "Dobe, you still need to practice those excuses or show up much later. Think about it, if you would've taken a route around the village, you would be late an hour, not 2 minutes."

"Is it always like that with you two?" Sakura suddenly asked.

Remembering that they weren't alone, both of the simultaneously answered "Yes/Yeah."

"Let's start already," Sasuke said and led the way to the training grounds.

When they finally arrived, Naruto spoke up. "Alright, before we start, tell us about the 'interesting' thing that happened yesterday," Sasuke nodded in agreement, he too wanted to know.

Sakura sighed as she prepared to tell them what happened.

After 10 minutes of retelling everything, Naruto said "Awesome. It means we're team of bloodlines. 'Bloodline trio'. Sounds cool, although your bloodline is weird indeed."

"Bloodline trio sounds rather plain and simple. Our team need a more ass kicking name!" Sasuke stated.

"Wait. What do you mean 'trio'? You want to tell me Naruto has a bloodline?" Sakura asked, not believing her ears.

"Yes. And it might be even stronger than mine." Sasuke said.

Now Sakura's eyes widened. What can possibly be more powerful than the Sharingan? Seeing her look, Naruto closed his eyes.

"Rinnegan!" he said as he opened them, showing his dojutsu to Sakura.

Sakura stared at the Rinnegan with awe. She had read about the legendary dojutsu, but to actually see it...

"H-How-" She stuttered.

"I'll tell you about it later. Did you take that box you told us about?" Naruto asked as he deactivated his Rinnegan.

"Y-yes," Sakura answered and regained her composure from the shock. Wow. She couldn't believe it. She was going to train with two people who has one of the strongest dojutsu. "I took it in hope it would somehow help my training."

"I see. Can you give me the dagger and scrolls please? I want to examine them, maybe I will find out something interesting," Naruto said. Not knowing what he meant by 'interesting' Sakura reached her bag and took out a box. She opened it and gave Naruto what he asked.

While Naruto was examining the scrolls, Sasuke decided to enlighten Sakura on her training.

"Sakura," he started. When Sakura turned and faced Sasuke, he continued "For the first year you will be focusing on your physical training, chakra control and increasing your chakra capacities. I discussed it with Naruto today during Iruka-sensei's lesson in case you would accept the offer. From what we have seen, your chakra control is good but your chakra reserves are very low. Now, when you told us about your bloodline, I think you should train a little bit in it. I mean finding a way to painlessly draw on your blood."

Sakura nodded, agreeing with Sasuke. But he wasn't finished.

"Also, Sakura. I want you to find a new reason for this training. A goal in your life. I already told you what will eventually happen to those who try to 'impress' me," Without awaiting an answer, he stood up and approached Naruto.

"Dobe. Are you gonna read that scroll all day long? You will miss your training."

"Huh? Oh, sorry," he said and shifted his attention to Sakura "By reading this scroll I made a conclusion. Blood release is an interesting bloodline with many possibilities, but it has a drawback of painful performing. Luckily for you, I already have an idea, which I will tell you when you start training in it," He gave back the scrolls and stood up "Today you won't train, but you will observe the way we train. Tomorrow, you will start training with us. And don't worry - your training won't be as intense as ours."

Sakura was a bit surprised by Naruto's commanding voice, but she let it go. She agreed with him and spent the rest of the day watching both boys train. Well, she watched Sasuke more than Naruto for obvious reasons.

Naruto used his shadow clones to train while the real one did physical workout and trained in using his dojutsu - he would sometimes sit and stare at one object, it seemed like for eternity. Instead of asking why he stared at something, she asked why he used Kage Bunshin and why Sasuke didn't use it. Naruto explained the same way he had explained to Sasuke. Sakura nodded and continued to watch. It looked like Naruto worked hard and tried his best to master something.

On the other hand, Sasuke would change each half an hour between training in taijutsu, ninjutsu, weapons (shuriken and kunai) and chakra control. Although Sasuke didn't have access to Kage Bunshin, he wasn't called a prodigy for nothing - he could learn things pretty fast as well.

Then for the last hour, they sparred. The first 20 minutes they spent on fist to fist combat, then 10 minutes using only their weapons, after that 10 minutes throwing learned ninjutsu at each other and the last 20 minutes were spent in all out combat where they used everything they knew.

Sakura was awed by the display of skills both academy students showed. She just couldn't believe an academy student could do something like that. In her very young mind, she couldn't wait to participate in these spars. At the end of the spar she was surprised that Naruto had won. And she was more surprised when she found it wasn't the first time when Naruto won.

"Next time I'll get you, dobe."

"Keep dreaming, Emo. Maybe the day my hair will be black. Besides, you said the same thing last time."

"I wasn't serious then," Sasuke shot back.

"Yeah, right. And now you are?" Naruto said as he let out a small laugh.

"Boys..." Sakura sweatdropped.

"So Sakura. How has it been? I mean, our training," Naruto asked as he approached Sakura, some sweat still on his face.

Sakura didn't know how to answer. "It was some intense training." She will change her mind when she meets two green spandex jumpsuit wearing ninjas calling themselves some kind of beasts. "It was really impressive. And you're not even genin yet! I can't imagine how strong you'll be when we graduate. I'm not sure my place is here - I don't think I would be able to keep up."

Naruto smiled as he, once again, subconsciously radiated that calm, warm and reassuring aura. "No, Sakura-chan. You can't imagine how strong WE will be. You're part of the 'bloodline trio' now. Your training won't be that hard at the beginning though."

Somehow, Sakura believed his words. Somehow she knew he was right. She smiled back, ignoring the random wild -chan suffix.

"Sakura," Sasuke drew said girl's attention to him "Remember to act in the academy as you would before we offered you anything."

"But why?"

"Simple," This time it was Naruto who answered. "Deception is a ninja's greatest tool. If everyone thinks I'm an idiot, Sasuke is an arrogant prick and you're weak, no offense, then people will underestimate us. When we graduate, all the ninjas in the village will think we're weak and imagine their surprise when we will be doing some B rank missions. Also, it will help a lot in chuunin exams. Furthermore, they put the top kid with the worse one and add a girl with good academics."

Fully understanding his reasons, she nodded. It was still weird to hear that kind of thing from Naruto. They said goodbye to each other and left to their separate homes.

The next few years will be long.

-Somewhere-

It looked like some sort of a room which looked like a dark cave and it was lit with candles. The candles themselves didn't light the room. There was a big chair in the room that looked like a throne and in front of it was a man bent on one knee, in front of his master.

"You called me?" the man asked.

"Yes, Kabuto-kun. I have an infiltration and spying mission for you," Someone said from the throne.

"What is it, Orochimaru-sama?" The now revealed Kabuto asked.

"I've heard there was an Uchiha massacre in Konoha. I want you to infiltrate Konoha and get as much information as you can. Also, look for some Uchiha survivors who could easily betray the village," Orochimaru, one of the legendary three, the snake Sannin said.

"As you wish, Orochimaru-sama. I will take my leave," Kabuto said as he stood up and left the room.

"Ku ku ku ku... Soon I will have a Sharingan at my disposal. Ku ku, I just need to wait for some more years..." Orochimaru said to himself as he indulged in his evil 'Ku-Ku' laugh.

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END!

I hope you like it and please review. What do you think about Sakura? I haven't read any fanfiction where Sakura would be stronger than she is in cannon at the beginning.

Next chapter will finally be when Naruto graduates.

As for jutsu names, I decided to mix both japanese and english ones. If I find a technique in Narutopedia, I will write it in japanese. If I can't find or if it's original jutsu, I'll write it in english.