Chapter One


"Naruto wait up!"

Naruto laughed and spun around to run backwards so that he could make a face at his pink haired cousin.

"Nya! Sakura-chan! You're so slow! Like a turtle!"

"What!" A vein popped slightly on Sakura's larger then average forehead as she raced to catch up with the obnoxious blonde.

"Naruto! You are going to pay for that! Get back here!"

Naruto's eyes widened in slight fear as he realized that he may have taken his taunting a bit to far. His wide blue orbs darted from side to side as his cousin rapidly approached where he was standing.

"Ah-hahaha…Come on now Sakura-chan! You know I was just joking! Right? Just a little fun ne?"

"I'll show you fun, you little Hokage-wanna-be!"

Naruto squealed and took of at a frantic pace, hoping to make it to the safety of the academy before he was captured. No such luck. He fell only two feet short of the blessed academy grounds before Sakura managed a rather impressive leap and pinned the struggling fox boy to the ground.

"Now you die!"

"Haruno Sakura! Uzumaki Naruto! That is quite enough!"

The two cousins froze and looked up to see who spoke. Naruto's eyes grew wide and watery as he noted the familiar face of his favorite instructor.

"Iruka-sensei! You saved me! Again!"

Sakura pouted as Naruto pushed her off so he could jump up and hug his teacher. It was just her luck that her flying tackle would knock them both onto academy property. Oh well, she'd get him back later in the dojo.

"Alright, Naruto, alright," Iruka said as he patted the hyper blond on top of his spiky hair. "Now it's about time that the two of you headed off to class. I'll be there in just a minute."

The two turned away before Iruka spoke again, this time addressing his pink haired student. "And Sakura? If you could attempt to keep the peace I would be grateful."

Sakura blushed slightly and nodded. "Hai, sensei. I'll do my best."

Iruka smiled as he looked back and forth between the two. "Please see that you do."

Quickly the two hurried into the academy building and towards their class. At the door they gave each other a half smile and Sakura gently squeezed Naruto's arm before she rushed off to sit next to her best friends Yamanaka Ino and Hyuuga Hinata.

"Well it's about time you got here forehead girl! Do have any idea how long we've been waiting?" Ino glared at Sakura but the pink haired girl just laughed it off. She new that Ino was just joking. That was just the way she was after they became friends again two years ago.

Hinata on the other hand just stuttered and blushed as Sakura slid into the bench next to her. Sakura smiled softly at her and waited for her friend to say what ever it was she wanted to get across. She was very patient about waiting for Hinata to speak in her own time; after all, she wasn't very used to being around them yet. It had only been a few months since they first befriended the shy Hyuuga girl and being around the out spoken Ino didn't do anything but make her feel self-conscious.

"W-where y-ou in-j-jured?" Hinata blushed darkly and ducked her head to stare at her hands when Sakura giggled slightly.

"Nah," Sakura said. "I just woke up late and Naruto-baka left with out me. I had to teach him a lesson."

Ino laughed loudly causing some of their seat neighbors to look over. Hinata shrunk slightly in her bench at the attention but Ino just ignored them before turning her attention back to Sakura.

"So did you beat him up again?"

Hinata looked scandalized at the thought but after Sakura shook her head she seemed to relax.

"No, Iruka-sensei broke it up cause we landed on academy grounds when I knocked him over."

Ino laughed and nudged the other girl with her elbow. "Don't worry. We have a sparring match this afternoon."

Sakura's eyes brightened. "Oh yeah! I forgot!"

"What!" Naruto wailed as he stared at Kiba. "You gotta be kidding me! We have a practice tournament this afternoon?"

"Troublesome," Shikamaru said as he slumped in his seat and attempted to take a nap.

"What's the deal?" Kiba said. "I thought you liked sparing matches."

Naruto sighed and let his forehead drop to the table with a bang. "Usually I do, but today Sakura-chan has it out for me."

Kiba howled with laughter and Akamaru happily barked along.

"Did you make her mad again?" Chouji asked before he put another chip in his mouth.

Naruto grunted and Kiba laughed even harder. "Oh this is going to be classic! I should start selling tickets before everyone realizes that they'll be there anyway."

"Ha ha ha," Naruto said.

"Really though, are you going to fight back?"

Naruto lifted his head and stared at Kiba as though he had grown a second head. "Fight back against Sakura? Are you nuts?"

"Yeah," Kiba said. "I don't get why you just let her hit you all the time. You got something against fighting girls?"

"No. But when you fight back against Sakura, she stops holding back."

Even Shikamaru looked up to stare at Naruto.

"She holds back?" Kiba asked.

"Oh yeah. A lot."

As one the boys all let out a collective shudder.

A snort came from the seat behind them and the four boys looked around to see who it was.

Sasuke sat in his classic position with his chin resting on his thumbs while his bridged hands covered half of his face.

"What's your problem, Sasuke-teme?" Naruto said with a glare.

"You are pathetic."

"What? You think that you can handle Sakura-chan when she's angry?"

Sasuke glanced down at the blonde for half a second before returning his gaze to the front of the room.

"She is a weakling."

"You obviously have never seen her fight for real. You wouldn't last a minute. She's got the strength of an ox."

"Hn."

"Alright then," Naruto said. "When it's Sakura-chan's turn to fight you spar with her." He smirked. "I'll enjoy watching you loose."

Sasuke glared darkly at Naruto but the blonde didn't back down. "Fine. I'll fight her. Dobe."

"Hahahahahahaaah! Sasuke-teme's going down—Hey wait a minute! What did you call me Sasuke-teme! You take that back!" Naruto was just about to climb over Sasuke's desk to punch him in the nose when a purple binder suddenly flew across the room and smacked him in the face.

"Naruto!" Ino said. "Shut up! You total moron! We're trying to have a conversation over here!"

Naruto pealed the binder from his face and glared up at where his cousin and her friends were sitting. Sakura was stifling a laugh behind her hands while Ino was leaning against their desk, her face pink with annoyance, and Hinata sat wide eyed with her hands pressed to her mouth.

Before Naruto had the chance to say anything the Hyuuga heir stumbled out of her seat and hurried down the few stairs that separated their desks so that she could grab the purple binder. Bowing deeply Hinata clutched the book to her chest.

"I-I-I'm sorr-y! P-please forgive Ino-ch-chan for her rudeness!"

Naruto smiled at her and scratched the back of his head. "Don't worry about it Hinata-chan. It's no big deal."

Hinata blushed and held back a squeak before rushing back up to sit with her friends.

Naruto chuckled and sat back down on his seat. "She's so cute."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Yeah. You've said."

"Why don't you just tell her that you like her?" Chouji said as he turned his empty bag of chips upside down in a futile attempt to fish out some more.

Naruto blushed before he laughed it off. "Nah. She'd never like a guy like me anyway."

Shikamaru scoffed. "Troublesome."

Before any of the others had a chance to ask him what was troublesome this time, Iruka walked into the room and raised his hands for quiet.

"Alright guys-."

"And girls!" Ino said.

Iruka rolled his eyes. "-and girls. Today we are going to work on henge and kawarimi before we go outside on the PFT fields to the sparing ring and have a few practice matches."

The class cheered and Iruka motioned for them to quiet down so that he could continue.

"After that we'll begin the weapons reviews that are going to appear on your genin exams and then you all are free to go home for the rest of the week until the exam begins on Friday. Now if you will come down when I call your name we will begin today's lesson."

"Akihara Kayko."

A short red head quickly stood and hurried down to the front of the room where she then proceeded to become a near exact replica of Iruka. Iruka nodded and wrote down Kayko's grade on his clipboard. Kayko grinned and sent a shy look over at Sasuke before she giggled and rushed over to sit back with her friends.

Sasuke resisted the temptation to roll his eyes as a loud bout of giggles erupted from behind him.

"Alright, alright," Iruka said. "Amano Shin."

One by one the members of the class where all called up in order with more and more bouts of spontaneous laughter as the girls all thought that they had managed to impress the Uchiha Sasuke, until it was finally Sakura's turn.

"Haruno Sakura."

"Alright Sakura!" Ino cheered. "You go girl! Show them all how it's done! Yeah!"

Sakura blushed and ducked her head slightly as she made her way to the front of the room with the teasing laughter of her classmates following her down. Once she stood in front of Iruka, Sakura shyly made the seals for the henge jutsu and a puff of smoke engulfed her. Once it cleared it showed a perfect replica of Umino Iruka.

"Very good, Sakura-san."

Sakura blushed slightly at the praise before she hurried back up the stairs, barely glancing at Sasuke as she passed. Sasuke raised his eyebrow slightly as the Haruno girl passed. He had never noticed before but it seemed as though she was the only girl in the class that didn't fawn over him at every turn. It was actually kind of nice.

"Hyuuga Hinata."

Sasuke returned his eyes to the front and filed Haruno Sakura into the back of his mind. She probably wasn't worth remembering, but in the end, you never know.

After what seemed to be ages the basics where finished and the class was ushered out onto the PFT field's sparring ring where they would hold three practice matches. Those who fought wouldn't do so just for their personal benefit but also for the benefit of the on-lookers. After each fight was completed the students would all comment on what was good and what could have been done better. The real problem was finding students who were willing to get up and embarrass themselves.

"Alright who would like to go first?" Iruka said as he lifted his clipboard. No one moved. Iruka sighed. "Whoever steps up will get a point added towards their exam score."

"I'll go," Kayko said. "Not that I need any points seeing as I'm second in the class. After Sasuke-kun of course." She made it a point to flutter her eyelashes at the less then interested boy before turning to leap onto the ring.

"Me too," Ino said. "I've always wanted to teach this brat a lesson."

Kayko scowled. "Who are you calling a brat Ino-pig?"

Ino glared and jumped into the ring. "Oh that is so it! There is only one person who is allowed to call me that and you are so not her!"

"You tell her Ino-pig!" Sakura cheered from the sidelines.

Shikamaru smirked at the Yamanaka girl. It was easy to see who would win this round.

"Begin!"

Ino lunged forward and threw a punch at Kayko that was to fast for the pampered konoichi wanna be to dodge. Kayko yelled as Ino's fist hit her square in the nose and sent her flying from the ring.

"Winner, Yamanaka Ino-san," Iruka said as he noted it down in his book. "Who's next?"

Ino jumped off of the ring and nudged Hinata. "Come on girl, I went so you go next and then Sakura will be last 'kay?"

"I-I-I—."

"Oh come on girl! It'll be fun!"

"B-b-but—."

"Just do it! We'll be cheering for you!"

"A-all r-right…"

"Iruka-sensei! Iruka-sensei!" Ino said as she waved her hand to get her teacher's attention. "Hinata said that she'll go next!"

Iruka turned to face Ino for a second before he looked down at the blushing Hyuuga. He wasn't entirely sure that he should agree but the girl wasn't denying it. She was actually looking rather determined. Well, as determined as Hyuuga Hinata ever looked that is.

"Alright, Hinata-san." Lifting his clipboard Iruka jotted down the girls name. "Who's going to fight against Hinata?"

"Oh! Oh! Oh! I will! I will! Pick me!"

"Alright Naruto," Iruka said with out looking up.

Hinata blushed tomato red as Naruto jumped up onto the ring with her.

"N-N-Naruto-k-kun!"

"Hey Hinata-chan!" Naruto grinned. "Don't go easy on me kay?"

"O-o-oka-y…" Hinata said before sliding into her taijutsu stance.

"Begin!"

Naruto launched himself at Hinata and threw a light punch at her. Hinata flinched just a bit but still managed to clumsily block the blow with the side of her arm.

"Come on Hinata-chan! You can do way better then that! You're awesome!"

Hinata blushed under his praise but her face grew more determined and she struck out with a blow of her own that connected squarely with Naruto's left shoulder making his whole arm go numb. Naruto's eyes widened in surprise and he spun out of the way of another strike.

For nearly ten minutes both fighters exchanged blows until Hinata's stamina finally gave out and she fell to the floor panting. The crowed stood in silence as Naruto knelt down and offered his hand to the girl.

"T-that was awesome Hinata-chan," Naruto said as he struggled to even out his breaths. "You're the best."

"A-arigato Naruto-kun."

"Oi," Shikamaru said. "Just kiss her already."

Naruto and Hinata both blushed but Naruto grinned before he leaned over and gave the Hyuuga heir a gentle peck on her cheek. Hinata squeaked loudly and instantly fell into unconsciousness.

Sakura and Ino giggled as a surprised and worried Naruto fussed over Hinata before Iruka finally went up and lifted her into his arms so he could carry her off the fighting ring. Setting her on the ground in a way that would be comfortable Iruka sighed and picked up his clipboard once again.

"Alright. Who's next?"

"I'll go," Sakura said as she climbed onto the ring, her short hair blowing slightly in the breeze.

"Okay. Who's going to fight with Sakura?"

For half a moment no one spoke until the most unexpected voice rang out.

"I will."

The whole class spun around to stare at a tree a few feet away from the ring where Uchiha Sasuke was leaning against the trunk.

Iruka raised his eyebrow. "Sasuke?"

The young Uchiha said nothing as he coolly pushed away from the tree and walked up to the ring. With a slight leap Sasuke landed, perfectly balanced, on the fighting ring in front of Sakura.

"Alright," Iruka said. "Begin."

Naruto smirked. This was going to be quite the fight.


End Chapter One
Kaliea: Hey guys! Yet another story that I have idiotically decided to write. I guess two isn't enough for me to keep up with. Anyway, let me know what you think and as long as people keep reading I'll keep writing.
Review Answers:

Dittogrrl: I don't know how often I'll update this story since I have two others that I think are more important. But I'll do my best to keep up with it.

Almostinsane: Thank-you very much! And god bless you too!

Dragon Man 180: In some ways, but in others he is still the same old Naruto. Of course Sasuke's life is a lot different in this story too. That will be shown later.

Shadow Reaver: I'll update as long as there are people who read it. I think it's mean of authors to say that they will only update if they get a lot of reviews. It's very selfish. What about the people who do review? They'll never be able to read the end of the story! (Cough) Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter!


Kaliea: Thanks so much for your reviews! I hope you all enjoy the story! Ja for now!