Walking a Different Path

By: Jolly

A Naruto Fanfic

XXXXXXXX

Author's note

XXXXXXXX

I really don't know why, but my muse is on a roll. I hope she keeps it up! ^_^ I had this done the same day I posted the last chapter, but after sleeping on an idea I went back and changed it. Which is why it took a bit longer to get this chapter out. At first I couldn't figure out how to start this fic, but after I got that first chapter written, it just started flowing for me. It could be that I've been jamming to my anime playlist for the past few days... Naaahhh! XD

I'd like to point out that me writing this story was something I did for my wife. Therefore I'll tell the rest of you in advance that this fic will stay canonical in some ways and be completely NON-canonical in others. For those instances where I throw the manga and anime out the window (such as in this chapter), I'll be providing backstory so you aren't completely like 'WTF?'. I will try to keep it as believable as possible.

To my lone reviewer: this will indeed be a NaruHina fic. However, the story isn't going to focus mainly on them. I'm going to work Hinata into the story soon, but for now just bear with me as I focus on Team 7.

Finally, I'd like to thank lord of the land of fire for allowing me to use the seal jutsu from his fic, A Mother's Love. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend you check it out along with all his other fics. You can find a good portion of them under the 'My Favorite Stories' tab on my profile. I hope to one day be able to write as well as he does. Here's chapter three!

Enjoy!

XXXXXXXX

The next morning, Sakura woke up early so she could get started on her training. It was a Sunday, so she had the day off from the Academy. Normally she would sleep in, then try to find Sasuke to ask for a date only to fail in her endeavor. Today was different though. She threw on her ninja gear and strapped on four of the weapon pouches she had bought the day before (two of each type) and left her house after a light breakfast.

She had never been to Training Area 4 before, so she had to ask around before she found her way. She made her way through the forest at a sedate pace due to the weight she was currently lugging around on her waist. By the time she made it to the forested area around Training Area 4, it was already 9 o'clock and she was already winded.

'Okay, I really need to work on my stamina...' 'No kidding... I hate to say it, but Naruto was right...' 'Shut up... You don't have to rub it in.'

She couldn't help but think back to what happened the day before. The day had started normally enough. It had been a day like any other day up until Sasuke and Naruto's spar. After she had confronted him, it was like he changed into a completely different person. 'Or has he always been like this? Has he just been hiding his real personality all this time?' she asked herself. She realized that she had never tried to actually get to know the blond.

To her, he had always been the annoying prankster that wouldn't stop bugging her for dates and was constantly getting between her and Sasuke-kun. But this 'new' Naruto...

'Did what I say really affect him that much...?'

She knew that what he said to her had really made her stop and think about things that she had always seen as a matter of course. What he suggested had actually seemed to work. She'd repressed the urge to get into her normal catfight with Ino when she saw the blond hanging onto Sasuke like a leech and had even managed to hold an actual conversation with him to boot. He didn't even go 'Hn' once! Which means...

'Which means... that he's not as dumb as he seems?'

As she stepped into the clearing that was Training Area 4, she saw that she wasn't the only one there. She froze mid step at what she saw.

Standing with their backs to her were two unmistakable figures. One was blond and wore a bright orange and blue jumpsuit and the other had raven colored hair and wore khaki shorts and a blue shirt with a fan-shaped crest on the back. The latter was apparently giving pointers to the former on his throwing technique while the former was listening intently.

"Na... ni?" she asked the air around her in complete shock and confusion.

XXXXXXXX

Naruto's morning was much the same, but his day had started much earlier. Before the sun had fully broken over the horizon, he was walking out of his apartment and making his way to Training Area 4. Very few people were awake this early on Sundays, the exception being the bakery owners and the handful of ninja either on their way to do missions or out for some early morning training like himself.

As he left the streets and made his way through the forest leading to the Training Areas, his thoughts wandered to the previous day and what would be in store for him that afternoon when he went to talk to the Hokage. He was so deep in thought that he didn't realize his feet had carried him into the clearing until a familiar voice called out, "About time, dobe. I was beginning to wonder if you had chickened out after yesterday."

Bringing himself back to reality, he finally noticed that he was standing right in the middle of the clearing. "Damn, I'm really out of it today... I didn't even notice my seal reacting."

Sasuke gave the blond a look of mild surprise. "Don't tell me that losing to me yesterday shook you up that badly..."

Naruto shook his head. "It's not that. Well, not directly at least..."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, slightly concerned with how his friend was acting. During the week and whenever they were in public, they acted like they couldn't stand the sight of each other. However, their attitudes were exactly that; an act. Contrary to what most people were led to believe, the two boys were best friends. During their first year in the Academy, the two of them had become fast friends and rivals.

Looking at the blond, Sasuke saw the same brooding expression that he had seen in his own mirror after his brother had killed his entire clan many years ago. He really hoped he didn't have to resort to the same method that Naruto had used to bring him back to his senses. The blond had a notoriously thick skull...

After the Uchiha Massacre, he had been driven solely by his desire for revenge and had turned away from his friends. After about two weeks of dealing with his attitude Naruto had lost his patience and tracked Sasuke down to the very place they were at now.

XXXXXXXX

Flashback

XXXXXXXX

Naruto had been searching for Sasuke all afternoon and had finally managed to track him down. As he walked into the clearing, he saw his best friend throwing the last of his kunai at the targets that were set up.

"Sasuke!"

The other boy turned slightly to glance at the blond.

"What do you want, dobe?"

Naruto walked right up to the Uchiha, forcing the boy to face his entire body towards him, and glared at him.

"What do I want? I want my friend back, that's what! You don't talk to me, you ignore everyone else, and you barely even acknowledge my existence! What the hell happened?! You disappeared for a week and when you came back, you were like this! Why are you being this way?"

Sasuke was looking at Naruto in disgust. "None of your business. If that's all you wanted, then go. You're in the way. I need to get stronger and I can't do that when everyone holds me back." He turned away from the blond and started walking towards the targets to pick up his weapons. He never saw the fist that hit him in the back of the head.

He landed facedown in the grass and rolled to the side, only to find Naruto already on top of him and throwing another punch. The blow connected solidly with his jaw. "What the hell is your problem?! Why won't you talk to me? Whatever it is, let me help damn it!"

Naruto may have been an idiot, but there was one thing he knew for certain: You helped your friends when they were in trouble. Sasuke was his best friend, so there was no way in hell he was letting him just walk away.

Sasuke slowly brought his face to meet Naruto's gaze. He matched the glare the blond was giving him and spit the blood in his mouth to the side. Just looking at the blond infuriated him.

"What the hell do you know?! You didn't have your entire clan killed in front of your eyes! You didn't see your parents killed by your own brother! You didn't relive that horror for three damn days in your mind! You don't understand! You'll never understand losing your family!" Even as the words left his mouth, he felt bad for saying them. The hurt look on Naruto's face only made him feel worse.

After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence between them, Naruto finally spoke in almost a whisper.

"You're right... I'll never understand what it's like to lose family. I've never had a mother or a father... or any real family... But... I do sort of have a family. The Hokage is like my adopted grandfather... Iruka-sensei treats the way I see other people treat their younger siblings... Teuchi-san and Ayame-neechan are like my uncle and cousin... but you, Sasuke... you're my brother. I don't know what it's like to lose your real family since I've never had one, but I do know that it hurts just thinking about losing any one of you."

Naruto got off of Sasuke and sat in the grass next to him. Sasuke sat up and glanced over at the blond, who was staring at the ground in front of him. He couldn't stand looking at him when he looked like that; it just made him feel worse.

"I need to get strong enough to kill Itachi. I'm an avenger; I have to kill him. I'm the only one who can," he said, but it just didn't have the same passion as before.

"Fine. I won't stop you. In fact, I'll help you." Sasuke looked over at Naruto in surprise, only to see the blond looking at him with a sad smile on his face. "What kind of family would I be if I let my brother do this on his own? We'll both train like crazy until we're strong enough to take him out. Itachi won't know what hit him! What do you say teme?"

Sasuke dropped his gaze to the ground. Here Naruto was, still trying to help him. Even after what he'd said, the blond was willing to train with him and even go after Itachi with him when they were ready. Sasuke shook his head slightly in amazement. He really was a...

"Dobe..." he said under his breath. The Uchiha looked up once again to see him smiling his normal foxy grin. A small smirk appeared on his face, though if anyone had mentioned it, he would have denied it.

"We've got to work on your punches. You hit like a girl," he said as he got to his feet.

"HEY!"

XXXXXXXX

End Flashback

XXXXXXXX

Ever since that day, they had been meeting here almost every Sunday to train. They constantly pushed each other to do their best, regardless of the fact that the Uchiha always beat him in almost everything they competed in. Sasuke was just naturally more talented in every area, whether because of his heritage or just plain skill. The two exceptions were endurance and determination.

The blond just never seemed to tire out. Sasuke may have been better than Naruto at everything, but the blond could always outlast him at everything they did, which worked out just fine for both of them. Naruto always strove to get better than Sasuke at everything they did and whenever Sasuke thought he was empty and saw Naruto still going strong, it would cause the 'genius' to reach deep down inside of himself and pull on reserves he didn't realize he had.

It had actually been Naruto who suggested that they act coldly towards each other in public due to the Council. When the civilian body had heard about their friendship, they had been up in arms about the 'demon brat' associating with the Uchiha prodigy.

Neither boy had been willing to break off their friendship, so they decided that the easiest solution was to simply hide it. They were going to be ninja after all, weren't they? If they couldn't keep something as simple as a friendship secret, it didn't bode well for their future careers.

"You wanna explain what you mean by that?" Sasuke asked

Naruto just sighed. "Nevermind. I'll tell you later, okay? Let's just get started. I need to clear my head." He removed his goggles so they wouldn't get damaged during their training. Their spars had a tendency to get a little rough.

The goggles had been a birthday gift from the year he had enrolled in the Academy, but he had never figured out who had left the present by his front door. Whoever the sender was didn't leave a card or note with it. He'd originally thought it was Iruka-sensei. However, the young chunin had denied it claiming that the blond had a secret admirer. The blond still wondered about it to this day.

The Uchiha shrugged and started to do some light stretches. "Sure. I'm surprised though. It's not like you to be so lost in thought that you don't even notice your seal reacting," he said, pointing to the small ramen bowl over the kanji for 'one' on his left wrist.

Naruto looked down at his own left wrist at the seal that was beginning to fade. The large kanji for 'one' with a small picture of a flame above it completely disappeared after a few seconds. He just shook his head and started to do his own stretches.

The seal was actually the fruit of one of Naruto's late night forays into the scroll closet in the Hokage's office from almost a year ago. The Academy instructors hadn't been teaching him any jutsu, or at least not properly teaching him, and he figured since the Hokage was the strongest ninja in the village that he had to have some awesome jutsu scrolls that he could learn from.

Much to his disappointment, he discovered most of the scrolls and tomes in the small library had seals on them that he was unable to open. Only a handful of the scrolls were accessible to him, one of which being a scroll belonging to the Yondaime Hokage that contained a very interesting fuinjutsu. It was a complex jutsu, but the Yondaime had left notes throughout the scroll that simplified each step to the point that even Naruto could understand it.

Though he usually had trouble learning, he absorbed anything and everything related to the Hokages like a sponge. After painstakingly copying the entire scroll and returning the original to its proper spot, he had made a beeline to the Uchiha compound to have his friend help him in testing it out.

There were a few variations of the jutsu, and the two boys were only able to get the simplest one of them to work at first. Over the last year, the two of them had managed to get the 'true' seal to work and Naruto had even added to it using the notes left by the Yondaime.

The original seal alerted the user or users whenever someone crossed the 'barrier' seal and would indicate what area the seal had been crossed at, allowing the user to react accordingly. The 'improved' seal that Naruto and Sasuke had made worked similarly, but went a step or two further. Whenever someone crossed one of their seals, it would alert them both as to the direction and number of the intruders, relative to them, as well as indicate the 'threat level' they posed.

'Ichi' indicated that someone with a 'user' seal on them had crossed the barrier, as well as indicating which user it was; Naruto's symbol was a bowl of ramen and Sasuke's was a flame. 'Ni' indicated a civilian or genin level ninja. 'San' was chuunin level ninja and, at Sasuke's insistence due to break-ins at the Uchiha compound, fangirls. 'Yon' was special jounin or jounin level ninja and 'go' was Kage level. The seal based the 'threat level' off of chakra levels (and intent in the case of fangirls).

Users also had the ability to check if there was anybody already in the seal before entering it themselves. This allowed the two boys to check their residences for intruders from the outside. They had both had surprises waiting for them at home before and neither wanted to constantly repeat the experience.

The last thing that had been a necessity was the ability to cut off the signal between the user and the barrier. With the Training Area being open to anyone, their seals would be constantly going off during the day if left activated. So every Sunday, after they were finished, the boys would cut the connection between their seals and the barrier around Training Area 4 and reactivate them the following Sunday morning.

There were currently a total of four of these seals inside the village to the boys' knowledge: the one on Naruto's apartment, the one around the Uchiha compound, the one around Training Area 4, and the original that was set up by the Yondaime himself around the Namikaze estates.

After stretching, they did some calisthenics and 20 laps around the clearing to finish up their warm-up. Next they did some light sparring. About 10 minutes into that, Naruto dropped his stance and sighed. Sasuke looked at his friend in surprise.

"What's wrong?"

"What am I doing wrong? I haven't landed a solid hit on you in over two months!"

Sasuke was very surprised now. Naruto hadn't asked for advice on his techniques in forever. Something was up with the blond today. He paused in thought for a few seconds.

"What's wrong, Naruto? You've been acting weirder than usual today. Did something happen after our spar yesterday?"

Naruto sighed again and dropped to the grass. Sasuke sat down next to him and waited for his reply. He didn't have to wait long.

"Yeah, something did happen yesterday. When everybody left after our spar, Sakura stayed behind and talked down to me like she normally does. I don't know why, but what she said really pissed me off and I ended up blowing up at her. Even though what I said was true, I was pretty harsh to her."

"That doesn't seem bad enough to make you act like this, though…"

Naruto shook his head. "It wouldn't be, but that wasn't the only thing that happened. I found out the real reason that everyone treats me the way they do."

Sasuke quirked an eyebrow. "Really? Everyone I've ever asked has told me they couldn't say. They all seem to be under the impression that you know what it is that they hate you for."

Naruto nodded. "I do now, but it's not something I had any control over. I didn't even do anything!"

"What do you mean?"

Naruto looked over at his friend. They had been through a lot together and they were as close as any real brothers were. Naruto didn't want to lose his best friend if Sasuke hated him because of the fox. How would he react? Would he accept him? Would he run away?

'Only one way to find out, Kit,' said the fox in the back of his mind. Naruto could only nod.

'You're right. Here goes nothing…'

"Remember back in our first year at the Academy, when Iruka-sensei told us the story of how the Yondaime Hokage sacrificed his life to kill the Kyuubi no Kitsune 12 years ago?" Sasuke nodded as he started to get a bad feeling, prompting Naruto to continue. "Well it turns out that he couldn't kill the Kyuubi. Apparently nothing can kill a being of pure chakra." He paused, waiting for an outburst from Sasuke, only to find the boy looking at him silently waiting for him to continue. Naruto sighed yet again and continued.

"In order to stop the Kyuubi, the Yondaime sacrificed his life to seal the demon into a newborn child," he said as he lifted up his jacket and shirt and molded some chakra, revealing the seal on his stomach. "I have the Kyuubi sealed inside me, Sasuke."

Naruto closed his eyes and waited for the explosion. It never came. Instead he heard Sasuke get to his feet and start to walk away.

'Damn it! I knew it…' He could feel tears burning behind his eyes and knew that he couldn't hold them back much longer. Suddenly, he heard something that he wasn't expecting at all. He heard a soft chuckling that steadily turned into a full laugh. Naruto opened his eyes to see Sasuke leaning against a tree holding his gut with both arms as he laughed.

"What's so funny, teme?!" he yelled as he jumped to his feet, tears in his eyes, and put a fist up threateningly. Sasuke didn't even look up, just waved his hand towards Naruto as he continued to laugh. Once he finally got control of his mirth, the raven-haired boy looked at the blond with a smile as he wiped the tears from his eye.

"I'm sorry, Naruto. I couldn't help myself. The first thing I thought when you told me you had the Kyuubi sealed in you…" he didn't finish as he started to laugh again. Naruto wasn't mad anymore; he was confused. After a minute, Sasuke finally got himself under control.

"The first thing I thought was…" he paused and looked Naruto right in the eye. "…'Itachi is SO fucked!'" He immediately broke into laughter yet again.

Naruto couldn't help himself. He started to laugh along with his best friend, amused at what he had said and relieved beyond belief that his brother wasn't going to turn his back on him.

Once the two of them got control of themselves again, their training went on like it usually did. Sasuke gave Naruto pointers whenever he was struggling with something, which ended up making it one of the most productive sessions to date. After a couple of hours, they moved on to weapons where Sasuke continued to help him with his technique whenever Naruto did something wrong.

Doing so caused them to take longer in emptying their pouches of weapons, but led to Naruto being able to see immediate results as he consistently hit the target where he wanted to.

"Wow… I didn't think that adjusting my grip would affect my aim so much," Naruto said with awe in his voice.

"That's just the basics. By the time we graduate, hopefully you'll have mastered the Kunai Deflection Technique or at least gotten the basics," Sasuke replied with a smirk. He was about to explain how to better improve his accuracy when he felt the familiar tingling sensation on his left wrist, causing both boys to look at their seals.

The large 'ni' with the number 1 above it had appeared, indicating that a genin or lower ninja had entered the area (since only ninja and Academy students are allowed to use the training fields). The boys looked up at each other and shrugged, unconcerned.

It wasn't the first time a genin had wandered into their training. Usually they left to train elsewhere when they saw the field was in use, but on a few occasions they had even stayed and trained with them with the promise that they would keep quiet about the two of them. They only worried about adult ninja and fangirls finding them while they were training.

"Okay, so the next thing you should try is to flick your wrist more when you release. That should give your throws more penetrating power against armored enemies," Sasuke continued, ignoring the brief interruption.

Naruto tried a couple of throws, but the added torque was messing up his aim. "Damn it!"

Sasuke sighed and pulled out a kunai of his own. "Here watch me. I'll go slow so you can see how it's done."

Naruto watched the other boy with determined interest as he showed him the steps and where he was messing up. All of a sudden they heard a familiar voice from behind them.

"Na... ni?"

Both boys whipped around to see a pink-haired girl staring at them with her mouth open in surprise. They quickly checked the seals on their wrists again to find that the third stroke in 'san' was halfway complete and was wavering back and forth.

"What the hell? Is the seal messed up?" Sasuke asked with a little heat.

"No, I don't think so… It reacts based on intent. She must not have come here looking for you, which is surprising in and of itself," the blond replied with a grimace. He looked over at his friend with a sigh. "You want me to keep her busy while you make a break for it?"

Sasuke looked over at the frozen pinkette and sighed. "No… This is my fault after all. I was the one that mentioned this place to her. I just didn't think she'd actually come here the very next day."

"You WHAT?"

Sasuke stuck his finger in his ear and hoped the ringing would go away soon. "Do you have to be so loud, dobe? Yesterday I ran into her on the way to Keisuke's place and she asked me for a good location to practice weapons. So I suggested this place and figured if she came looking for me, we'd know and have time to clear out. I didn't expect her to actually come and train…" he looked down once again at the wavering seal. "Though it seems like she's torn."

As he said that, Sakura mentally shook herself from her stupor and closed her mouth with a 'clomp.' She was still having trouble processing what she was seeing, but regardless of her disbelief, it was still real.

'Sasuke-kun and Naruto are training together? I thought they couldn't stand each other!' she thought. 'Yesterday, it looked like they hated each other's guts! So what changed?'

"What's going on? I thought you two hated each other?" she asked, hoping to shed some light on the situation before her.

Sasuke sighed, not wanting to explain himself to his number one fangirl. Naruto, on the other hand, decided that it was time to lay down the law.

"I didn't realize that we had to explain ourselves to the President of the Sasuke Fanclub," he growled out harshly.

Sakura flinched at his words, being reminded of their conversation the day before. Apparently he was still mad. Sasuke gave his friend a surprised look, having never heard him talk to the pinkette in that tone before.

'She must have really pissed him off.'

"If you're here to actually train, there are some targets over there that haven't been used yet. There're only two rules you have to follow if you're going to train with us. One: You can't tell anyone that you saw us training together. Don't ask why either; our reasons are our own. Two: Leave the 'fan girl' crap at the edge of the clearing. If you're here to train, train for yourself – not to impress Sasuke. If at any time you start acting like a fan girl, we'll make you leave. If you're not here to train, then leave now. If you don't leave, we will," he explained with a cold stare.

Sasuke may have 'invited' her, but that didn't mean he had to be nice to her. He was tired of putting up with her.

Sakura stood there, speechless. She had hoped that the previous day had been a one-time thing, but that little fantasy had just been squashed. He was really pissed with her and it didn't look like he was going to treat her any differently anytime soon.

Despite her surprise, she hardened her resolve and nodded to the blond.

"I won't tell anyone, I was just surprised is all," she said, finally finding her voice. She lowered her head as she continued. "I… I realized you were right, Naruto. I'm weak and I've had my priorities mixed up… Just walking here from my house with my gear and I'm already tired. I also thought about what you said and I want to apologize for the way I've treated you in the past. It's just…"

Naruto cut her off with a slicing motion. "Doesn't matter anymore. Are you here to train or not?"

She nodded.

"Are you going to act like a fan girl?"

She shook her head vigorously. Naruto glanced over at Sasuke, who had been watching his seal. He looked up to meet the blond's gaze and gave a slight nod. Naruto turned back to Sakura. "Okay, then get started. I suggest dropping your gear and doing some push-ups and sit-ups to warm up."

With that, he turned his back to her and started throwing kunai at the training dummy. Sasuke looked at her for a few seconds more before joining Naruto and giving him pointers once again.

Sakura just sighed and got started.

XXXXXXXX

Author's Note

XXXXXXXX

Chapter three complete! I had a hard time deciding how I wanted to end this chapter. I think it came out alright, but I'm sure it could have been better. That's what I get for trying to finish a chapter at 3AM… Anyway, let me know what you think!

Looking forward to writing the next chapter! Ja-ne!