Naruto: The Lonely Boy Gets the Girl
Well, I'm currently working on another Narusaku fanfic in the form of an alternate ending where they end up together after the war. But reading The Difference a Kiss can make inspired me to make a story where Naruto and Sakura start falling in love early in the story. Of course, mine will be different from that one.
Chapter One Team Seven Forms.
Sakura sat on the bench where she had almost had her first kiss with Sasuke. But he had ran off after that and when he'd come back he'd said...
I'm annoying? She thought in shock. That's what he said?
Intense pain filled her as she let it sink in. The one she'd devoted the last few years of her life to found her to be nothing but a nuisance. Then a certain blonde haired boy came into her mind's eye and regret filled her.
I feel so alone, this is how Naruto feels. She thought in remorse as she recalled how just a little while ago, she'd pushed him away when he asked her to lunch, as though he were some sort of pest or freak. I shouldn't treat him like that. The next time I see him… I'm gonna be nice.
Then she heard a pained groan nearby and looked to see the blonde spikey haired boy himself making his way toward her with a pained expression on his face as he clutched his stomach.
"Aah! I think I ate something bad!" Naruto grunted, not noticing her presence.
Here he comes, smile! Smile! Sakura told herself as she did her best to try and force herself to do so in the direction of the boy, she'd always found annoying. But now she had to try and be nice. Now that she had a taste of how he felt everyday, she wanted to try and make things up. Just ask him to take a walk with you.
But she stopped herself before she did that. After how she treated him… the first thing she needed to do was apologize. Also, as she looked at him, she took in his painful expression. Something was wrong!
She got up and ran toward him.
"Naruto? What's wrong?" she asked.
"Huh? Sakura?" Naruto asked looking at her.
"You feeling okay?" she asked in genuine concern. While she'd always found him annoying, she took no pleasure in him being in physical pain.
Naruto looked taken aback by her suddenly caring what happened to him.
"Am I feeling okay? You said just a while ago I was annoying," he asked.
She nodded. "Yeah, sorry about that. I just got called that by Sasuke when he walked by me."
Naruto's eyes widened in surprise.
"It was weird," Sakura went on. "First he sat next to me with a smile then he ran off and when he came back, he said I was annoying."
Naruto's mouth fell open. Unknown to Sakura, he had been the Sasuke who'd sat down with her and smiled then almost kissed her before having a bad bathroom rush. Apparently the real Sasuke had crossed paths with her while looking for him. Naruto had trapped Sasuke with his shadow clones to transform into him and find out what Sakura thought of him. Sasuke had found him and they almost had a Round 2, but then Naruto had to go to the bathroom again.
"So… I got a bit of a taste of how you feel Naruto. I'm sorry for how I treated you," Sakura said. "I'm gonna try and be nicer from now."
Naruto blushed. His crush was gonna be nice? He almost smiled at the thought but groaned and clutched his stomach as it lurched again in pain.
Sakura noticed his reaction. "Are you okay?"
Naruto shook his head. "My stomachs been bugging me for a while now. Ahh! I got to go the bathroom again!"
He ran off, clutching his groin. Sakura watched in pity, part of her wanting to follow and help him… at least to try and make up for things. But she couldn't go in a men's restroom. She still needed to try and help though. She dashed to the nearest store in the Leaf village and asked about medicine to relieve stomach pains. The pharmacist handed her a small bottle of pills and she went back to the bench. Hopefully Naruto would come along this route again. If he was stilling having problems this could help. She waited a few minutes. It was hard to believe that she was doing this, just less than an hour ago she would never see herself waiting for Naruto Uzumaki. Funny how a single moment could change everything.
Fortunately, she didn't have to wait long. Naruto came back again and still looked to be in pain.
"Hey!" she called and made her way to him. "Here, these might help."
She offered him the pills. He looked at them and immediately threw some in his mouth. He stood for a second and then smiled.
"Wow, thanks Sakura. I feel better already!" Naruto said.
"You're welcome," Sakura said, doing her best to be friendly.
Naruto had half a mind to ask her for lunch, but that had already passed. It might be best not to push his luck.
"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow when we meet our sensei?" Naruto said.
She nodded. "Yeah, see you then. I hope we can at least be friends."
Naruto nodded. "I'll try not to be too annoying."
He walked off. The next day the squads of Genin gathered in the classroom for a final time. One by one, the groups of three were picked up by Jonin, the elite ninja who would lead them in their missions. Luck was not on their team's side… cause Naruto and Sakura, along with Sasuke were the last ones in the classroom while all the other teams were called and escorted out.
"He's late!" Naruto remarked impatiently. "Ah man!"
"Naruto, complaining about it won't change anything!" Sakura warned him.
She and Naruto were both standing, while Sasuke simply sat at his seat his fingers cross in a cool manner. He was so calm and mature. Unlike goofy Naruto who was always skipping class.
Then Naruto had a brilliant idea. At least for a prank. He grabbed an eraser and stuck it up in the door.
"Hey what are you doing?" Sakura asked the blonde.
"This is what he gets for being late!" Naruto said.
"Naruto, I don't think we should be pulling stuff like that!" Sakura said with her mouth. But her inner self in her head had a different thought. Wow. I love stuff like this. It should be good!
"Our sensei is a Jonin, an elite ninja. You really expect him to fall for something like that?" Sasuke asked without even looking.
"Yeah! Sasuke's right!" Sakura agreed with her crush, hoping to gain some points with him and move out the annoying category.
She was tempted to call Naruto clueless but refrained from it after remembering her promise to be nicer. But to her utter surprise, the door opened and the eraser fell on the incoming Jonin's head. He had a weird haircut with it standing rather high up. And his hair was silver like an older man's but he didn't look more then in his mid-twenties. His head band was slanted so that it covered one eye as well and he had a mask over his lower face so all they could see was his one eye and hair.
Naruto burst out laughing at the Jonin and pointed at him. Sakura tried to apologize with her mouth but in her head praised Naruto on his Perfect shot! She struggled not to laugh. Then her inner self added something.
"1 point to Naruto!" it told only Sakura.
"Shut up inner me!" Sakura thought. "So he's a little funny. He's still got nothing on Sasuke."
Sasuke meanwhile glared and began to doubt this guy was even a Jonin. Their sensei picked up the eraser, looking at it and spoke.
"Hmm. Let's see... how can I put this straight? My first impression of this group… you're a bunch of idiots."
That hurt.
…
The Sensei led them to the top of the Academy and had them introduce themselves. He didn't really give them any information about himself other than his name, Kakashi Hatake. The others went around and said their likes, dislikes, and their dreams for the future.
"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, and I really like the noodles at Ichiraku ramen! I dislike the way everyone in this village treats me. Like I've got some sort of disease or something! And my dream is to become the greatest hokage so that people will stop disrespecting me!"
Sakura looked at him. She was again reminded of how lonely he was and how she'd gotten a taste of it yesterday when Sasuke said she was annoying. She looked from Naruto to Sasuke, hoping that she could change the latter's opinion of her.
"You!" Kakashi pointed at her. "Your turn!"
"Oh right! Sorry sensei!" Sakura said. "I'm Sakura Haruno and I like-"
She looked at Sasuke with a blush. He was at the top of her likes list.
"Um… I like dumplings, I guess. And my dream is…
She looked at Sasuke again.
"Well… I guess my dream is to get married to a certain someone someday. I dislike… well… a certain someone that annoys me. Though I'm trying to be nicer to that someone. He actually might not be all bad," she continued looking at Naruto.
She hoped that that would at least avoid hurting Naruto's feelings too badly. Though her dislike of him was starting to decrease. He'd almost made her laugh with his little prank against Kakashi. Naruto looked at her and their eyes met. He wasn't all pleased, even as the dead last at the Ninja Academy he knew she was talking about him. She'd said it to his face yesterday. Still hearing that he might not be so bad from her gave him a glimmer of hope.
Now it was Sasuke's turn.
"I'm Sasuke Uchiha. I don't particularly like anything and there are a lot of things I dislike. What I have is not a dream… I'm going to make it a reality. I'm going to restore my clan… and destroy a certain someone."
Naruto quivered in fear, hoping Sasuke wasn't talking about him. Sakura stood in awe, thinking of him restoring his clan… with her by his side. Though she was slightly shaken by the killing intent that came with the last part.
Sasuke is so hot! She thought. But also, kind of scary. And he doesn't really like anything? That's cold. How can I get him to like me if he doesn't like anything? Damn I'll be stuck with being annoying to him forever!
It was just as Kakashi thought. He went on to tell them that tomorrow would be their survival test where they would become Genin officially or be sent back to the Academy.
…
The Sensei was late again to their survival test the next morning, leaving them to wait for hours. They had been told not to eat breakfast, so they had to live with the pain in their stomachs. Their test was to take two bells from Kakashi. The two that got the bells became Genin, the other one went back to the Academy. The three of them split up and hid (or at least two of them did). Naruto, however, was eager to jump straight into the fight. He charged Kakashi head on, but his novice level taijutsu was no match for the Jonin. Kakashi stopped the blonde's attacks with one hand, reading a book in his other. He got behind Naruto and then gave him a pair of fingers right in the butt, sending him flying as Sasuke and Sakura watched from their hiding places.
Then Naruto did something Sakura didn't expect. He emerged from the water he'd fallen into… or rather… seven of him emerged. Shadow clones, but they weren't just images like the ones the students had learned in the Academy that Naruto hadn't even been able to do. These were real clones that could actually attack.
How could he do that? Sakura asked.
She was further impressed when one Naruto got Kakashi from behind and five more pinned him, leaving one to attack him. Brilliant strategy! Sakura blushed as she watched. When did Naruto get so cool? She wondered.
Wow you might be better than I thought Naruto! Her inner self said. Keep impressing me like this maybe I will go on a date with you!
But then Naruto was suddenly holding himself and Kakashi was gone. Naruto, thinking that Kakashi had transformed into him with a jutsu, began fighting with himself and all his clones. But Sakura looked and counted seven Narutos still.
"Naruto! He didn't transform! He used the substitution justsu!" she shouted.
The seven Narutos stopped attacking each other upon hearing her words. Sakura flinched in fear, as she realized her shout had given away her position. She ran out from the bushes and stood by Naruto's side. She would have preferred teaming up with Sasuke but she didn't know where he was right now. She held a kunai at ready. But Kakashi didn't appear.
She let out a breath of relief. "He must have gone out to make us look for him all over again. That or he's just watching us."
"Damn!" Naruto undid the jutsu and his clones disappeared.
"Hey look!" Naruto pointed to the ground. "A bell."
She saw it too. But-
"He must have dropped it when he got away. Ah well its mine now!" Naruto lunged for the silver bell.
"No Naruto don't!" Sakura warned again.
Too late this time. Naruto fell into the trap, being pulled up by a rope from a tree right near the bell. Sakura looked at the bell… this was her chance now that Naruto had already triggered the trap. If she got one bell she could still be with Sasuke. Maybe this would impress him as well. But before she could take two steps in that direction, Kakashi swooped and grabbed it. He then turned and lectured Naruto on thinking before he used a jutsu and not taking just obvious bait.
"But she saw both of them!" Kakashi said looking at Sakura, his one eye seeming to glimmer like he was smiling. "Good eye Sakura."
Sakura smiled. "Thank you, sensei."
Then his eye narrowed, "But don't let your guard down!"
And he put her under a genjutsu. The illusion she saw was one of Sasuke coming out of the forest, bleeding and asking for help. She screamed at the sight and fainted.
"Hmmm… I think I over did it a bit. But she's gotta learn to see through these things," Kakashi said.
"What did you do to her!" Naruto asked hanging upside down.
"Genjutsu. Simple mind control," Kakashi told him.
Now it was Sasuke's turn. He attacked from his hiding place, throwing shuriken. He hoped to catch Kakashi off guard while the other two were distracting him. But Kakashi just substituted again. Sasuke moved through the trees and was soon found. The best student of the year managed to put up a good fight, using a kunai to break one of Kakashi's traps which came at him. He then ambushed Kakashi with an attack and managed to actually touch a bell before Kakashi threw him off. He then threw a fireball jutsu at Kakashi. But in the end, the highly skilled Genin was dragged underground by an Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu. He was trapped in the earth, only his head showing on the surface.
…
Sakura woke up. "What-what happened?"
She then recalled the image she'd last seen.
"Sakura!" she heard a voice from above.
Looking up she saw Naruto still dangling from a tree.
"Naruto!" she screamed. "Is Sasuke alright? I saw him! He was on the verge of-
"He's probably fine Sakura!" Naruto said. "What you saw wasn't real, Sensei hit you with a genjutsu!"
She sighed. "Phew. That's a relief."
"Can you get me down?" Naruto asked.
She frowned but nodded. "I suppose."
She walked over and cut the rope. Only for a second one to grab Naruto a mere second after he landed. Scoffing, she cut that one too. That took care of it.
"Thanks Sakura!" Naruto said.
She didn't reply, instead dashing into the woods hoping to find Sasuke.
"Hey wait!" Naruto called and followed.
She ran through the trees and then stopped at the sight. Sasuke looked at her, only his head sticking out of the earth. Naruto caught up with her and saw him too.
"Naruto? Sakura?" Sasuke asked rather calmly.
"Aah! Sasuke is just a head without a body and he's talking!" Sakura screamed.
And she fainted again. Naruto and Sasuke both gave her pitying looks.
"And that's my partner," Sasuke lamented.
"What happened to you jerk?" Naruto asked with a slightly amused expression.
"I got dragged underground you loser!" Sasuke said. "Get me out!"
Naruto sniggered but began using his kunai to stab the earth around Sasuke and soon managed to get him free. They then woke Sakura.
She hugged Sasuke as soon as she saw him. "Oh Sasuke I'm so glad you're alright!"
"Get off of me!" Sasuke snapped as he pulled himself free of her grasp.
Sakura felt her heart take a stab at those words. Why'd he have to be so cold?
"Okay I have to hurry if I want to get a bell," Sasuke said.
"Yeah!" Naruto said. "Let's get back to it!"
Sakura looked at both of them. "Hey, I have an idea. Maybe we should all go after him together. We'll never be able to beat him one on one."
Sasuke frowned, he'd considered these two to be less skilled then him… but were they so useless they couldn't do anything? Naruto did have shadow clones, and Sakura had been able to spot the Sensei's trick and trap. Maybe they weren't worthless. As for Naruto, he immediately took to the idea.
"Yeah I think that could work."
"Alright just this once," Sasuke said.
But they were too late. The clock went off, their time was up. They went back to the center of the training field and found Kakashi.
"Well… you three didn't do quite as a bad as I thought you might," Kakashi said as he looked at them. "But your teamwork needs some serious work."
They looked at him and he began to explain.
"The whole point of this exercise was to divide you and turn you against each other with the bells. Fortunately, you at least made some small efforts to cooperate. Sakura, you pointed out my trick to Naruto. Even if your focus was more devoted to Sasuke you didn't abandon your other teammate. Sasuke, you tried to get a sneak attack on me while I was putting Sakura under genjutsu. And Naruto… well you at least stood by Sakura once she appeared. Not perfect, but not too terrible. If that had gone on any longer you three would have all come together and faced me. Alright… I suppose you pass."
Naruto grinned, Sakura put her hands together and looked at Sasuke longingly, but then gave Naruto a small glance and smile as well. The Uchiha smirked.
"Alright… we'll have to work on our flaws. Naruto… you do everything on your own. And Sasuke… you felt the other two were so far beneath they were worthless! Arrogance like that can get you or squadmates killed. Remember this… those that break the rules are scum but those who would abandon their friends are worse than scum."
He went onto show them a stone nearby that memorialized people killed in action from the last war. But then he congratulated them on passing.
"Well, Team 7 starts its first mission tomorrow. I'd advise you all to go home and celebrate… but maybe spend some time together as well. Have lunch! I bought boxed ones with me!"
He pointed to the three posts which had boxed lunches nearby. Naruto immediately ran over and began stuffing his face. Sakura went over and joined him… he grinned at her and she smiled back. Sasuke came up and took his lunch but then began walking away.
"Hey Sasuke, aren't you gonna eat with us?" Sakura asked.
"Heh!" he scoffed. "There's no point in staying together now. We all passed so I'm heading home."
Sakura winced. He was so cold. What would it take to get his attention?
"Well guess it's just us then huh Sakura?" Naruto asked.
"I suppose," Sakura said. "So, Naruto… how did you learn to use shadow clones like that?"
Naruto began telling her the story of what happened after she and the others managed to pass the initial exam that he'd failed. He'd been approached by Mizuki, a friend of Iruka, their instructor at the Academy. Mizuki had tricked him into stealing the Scroll of Sealing and tried to kill him for the scroll. But it had backfired when Naruto learned the Shadow Clone jutsu from the scroll and defeated him. He left out the part where he'd learned that he also contained the Nine Tailed Fox though.
Sakura listened to the story. Though it felt like he was hiding something.
"Well… I'm impressed you can do those clones Naruto," Sakura said.
"Thanks Sakura."
"But don't think you're cooler than Sasuke," Sakura said.
Yet, her inner self said. Though you have gotten me to like you at least a little bit. You're not that bad after all.
Well, that's the first chapter written. They actually managed to pass since Sakura was willing to work with Naruto. She's still into Sasuke and I have a plan for that, Kakashi did mention she was more of a genjutsu type so I thought maybe I could go along those lines here for some training before the Land of Waves. She could learn under Kurenai in an effort to impress Sasuke, but then maybe change her mind after the Land of Waves and her relationship with Naruto will start after the first round of the Chunin Exams. Most of this chapter is copied off the anime with a few alterations.