So, basically, I'm switching Sarada Uchiha's role with her own father: Sasuke. It'll be a Sarada x Naruto fanfiction.

A white circle inscribed a small portion of the ground, and a crowd of eight-year-olds encompassed the outside of the round figure, shouting an identical chant over and again: Sarada, Sarada, Sarada! Sarada was one of the people on the inside of the circle. She had short, dark hair which reminded everyone of a raven, though that only seemed to add to her beauty. Speaking of beauty, she was infamous for being the class heartthrob as well as a prodigy in both academics and fighting ability. Her grades and scores were an example of that, being ranked in first place far beyond everyone else. Her opponent was Naruto Uzumaki, a blonde haired and cerulean-eyed boy who was almost the complete opposite of Sarada in every way you could imagine. Naruto was melancholy and tentative boy who had a bit of a habit for being skittish. He was quite infamous for being the class punching bag both literally and figuratively. His grades were absolutely terrible, not because he was an idiot. He was actually quite smart for his age, and boasted a vast array of knowledge in a variety of subjects but if he ever answered a question correctly or showed any signs of being superior to themselves or heaven forbid their precious Sarada, he was beat up. So, he kept quiet. Which obviously meant he was dead last in the entire academy. Sarada stood with her left leg front and center straightened, while her right leg was kept in the back bent slightly and turned sideways. Her arms were kept at her sides, elbows bent to form a resemblance to an obtuse angle and her fists unclenched. Naruto didn't even make a form of any kind, just standing there with a look of worry plastered on his face. Sarada felt sorry for the boy. Unlike the other boys in her class, Naruto wasn't loud or impulsive, egotistical or cocky. He was quite the opposite of all of those things, along with a hearty side of depression. Satsuki decided to go easy on her opponent, after all he looked as if he was having a horrible day and she didn't want to make it worse.

Iruka Umino, who stood just outside of the circle, shouted.

"Haijima!"

With a heavy heart, Sarada used her front leg to push herself forward and to get in close to Naruto. Her back leg swung from the side and nailed Naruto in the stomach. Though, this strike was heavily restraint and didn't pack a lot of weight behind it. However, it was enough to knock Naruto out of the ring and despite his fragile appearance, years of beatings from both the villagers and the academy students awarded him with some impressive durability. He knew how-to tank a beating and get right back up afterwards.

Sarada's fanboys and admirers cheered in rejoice, but she ignored them and walked up to Naruto, holding out a hand. "Are you okay?" She asked, a hint of concern in her voice. The blonde's mouth moved, but it failed to formulate words. Poor guy, he's too scared to even speak. After a solid minute of attempting to speak, he eventually picked himself and ran off much to the amusement of everyone. Everyone except Satsuki, who looked at Naruto with heaps of sympathy. "Naruto Uzumaki is knocked out of the ring, thus the winner is Sarada Uchiha!" Iruka proclaimed, receiving another cacophony of cheers and whistles.

Sarada walked out of the circle and made her way out of the crowd and sat on a bench near the class. The ebony haired Uchiha gazed at Naruto, who laid under a tree a couple feet away from the rest of the class. Come to think of it, Naruto didn't have any friends that Sarada knew of. Though, considering his skittish and quiet nature, she was almost certain that he had none. Everyone always picked on the boy, and she didn't know why. Was it because of his blonde hair? Well, no. Ino Yamanaka had blonde hair, and Sakura Haruno even had pink hair and they were some of the most popular kids in class. Was it because of his whisker marks on his cheeks? Well, again, no. Numerous people in the class had similar markings on their face like Naruto, some a lot weirder than others and they weren't picked on. Was it because of his shyness? Numerous other people in the class were shy like Hinata Hyūga and she was never picked on to the same extent as Naruto. Was it because he was an orphan? Sarada herself was an orphan too, and everybody loved her. So, what about Naruto was different? It was anyone's guess, really. And whatever it was, she was going to find out. After some time had passed, Satsuki heard another cacophony of cheers and some boos. The two children in particular were Kiba Inuzuka and Shikamaru Nara, and apparently Shikamaru had won despite the boy's laziness and Kiba's aptitude for taijutsu. While she didn't witness the fight herself, Sarada assumed Shikamaru had won by outsmarting the dog-boy somehow. From some of her spars she witnessed, Shikamaru was most of the time able to outsmart his opponents in clever ways that even some of their academy teachers admired.

"Lunchtime!" Iruka proclaimed. Immediately, everyone hurried over to their bags and took out their respective lunches. Some had Bento Boxes, others had normal lunches that their parents made for them. Sarada was forced to make her own lunches because of her lack of parents, and she was surprisingly good at making them too. Today, she had made a basic ham and cheese sandwich cut diagonally with the crust cut off and a freshly picked Tomato from her garden cut into small, triangular slices. She looked back at Naruto, wondering what he had packed. Predictably, Naruto only had a ramen cup with two chopsticks that acted as utensils.

As friend groups all around them spoke, laughed, joked, Naruto sat there with a look of dejection plastered upon his face as if he was about to cry at any given moment. Sarada stomped her foot on the ground, pissed off that everyone ignored him. The last Uchiha stood from the bench and walked over to Naruto, holding her lunch bag. Naruto watched Satsuki in horror as she walked towards him, each step filling him with more dread. When Sarada finally stood over Naruto, he looked as if he was about to have a heart attack.

"May I sit here?" She asked, a smile present on her face. Naruto's panic seemed to calm a bit, only a little bit though. Nobody ever looked at him with such genuine kindness and sympathy. However, many people had done this same thing before, and they all turned out to be jokes. Cruel ones at that.

Before Naruto could attempt a response, Satsuki had already plopped herself next to Naruto much to his horror and... joy?

Sarada gave off a general warmth, something which made Naruto more comfortable. "What did you pack for lunch today, Naruto?" Sarada asked as if she didn't already know. Without saying anything, Naruto showed her his cup of ramen. "Mmm, look's good." The Uzumaki pulled out another Ramen Cup from behind his back, offering it to Sarada "Wh-What? No, you eat it. I just thought it looked good." Naruto didn't persist however and kept inching his hand towards Sarada. "W-Well...if you insist." The Uchiha said with a hint of begrudges in her voice. She didn't particularly like Ramen, though she wasn't about to reject his offer. "In that case," Sarada grabbed her sandwich and handed it to Naruto. "You take part of my sandwich, then."

Naruto tried to refute the offer, attempting to be polite but he ended up taking it anyway. He secretly desired the Sandwich, it looked good. Really good. And it was. In fact, it was probably the best thing he'd ever eaten. Besides Ramen, of course. Though, if he was being honest with himself, a regular old Sandwich was a nice change of pace. One couldn't eat Ninja Rations and Ramen Cups forever. "You don't talk much, do you?" Naruto looked down into his Ramen again. "Th-That's B-B-B-Because...most of the time, I feel like I have nothing important or interesting to say. I think I'm mostly a nuisance, so I don't say anything." Those words broke Sarada's heart. His anxiousness, his apprehensiveness...it all made Sarada's character crumble. When she became Hokage, she wouldn't let anyone struggle like this boy was. The Raven gave the blonde a smile, "Just having you around is enough to make me happy."

Suddenly, Naruto started to cry profusely. Tears streamed down his cheeks faster than a river would flow. "Wh-What's wrong? Is it something I said?" She asked lavishly. "N-No one has ever said something like that to me...no one's ever been so kind to me! But I know you're just teasing me, so stop pretending you care about me and let me know when I'm becoming the butt of this joke!" Sarada's eyes widened, but they returned to affectionate and sympathetic ones. She put her hand on his shoulder, another smile plastered on her face. "It's not a joke, Naruto. I... care about you. Seeing you alone everyday makes me feel sorry for you. N-Naruto..., I just want to be your friend."

A/N:

Sorry the ending got lazy.