Welcome to my new story! I have been plagued with thoughts and ideas about what Team 7 would be like if the massacre never happened. Who would Itachi be and how would Sasuke be the same and different if he had his older brother to guide him?

Note: There will be some changes in their original storylines due to Itachi's presence. I think his love for his brother would have extended to his teammates and impacted their lives.

I hope you enjoy!

Prologue

XxX

Kakashi chose his genin team very carefully.

Well, he got to choose one member of his team carefully. His relationship with Minato, the current Hokage, secured young Naruto Uzimaki a spot on Team 7. Kakashi had originally been wary, but his old sensei insisted he was the only jounin fit for the job. And a job his son definitely was.

Sasuke Uchiha was chosen for his kekkei genkai and for the fact that his older brother specifically requested Kakashi as his instructor. Itachi had learned many things about the sharingan from Kakashi and knew he wouldn't have the time to fully dedicate himself to Sasuke's training. The two men also ran several ANBU black ops missions together over the years and considered themselves a loose but respectable interpretation of friends.

As for the third…

The Copy Ninja asked Iruka for the brightest student in the class. He wanted the student who did well practically and on paper, having both intellectual and ninja prowess. Truthfully, it was due in part to the knowledge that he'd have his hands full with Naruto and Sasuke and needed a more moldable student for the third. With the other two as teammates, they would have their work cut out for them.

What Kakashi never expected to see when he received the student's file was a pretty, brightly smiling pink haired girl. When Kakashi had asked Iruka if he was mistaken, Iruka laughed him off. Apparently, the girl had more chakra control than most jounin and had developed a fierce drive for success. On paper, she seemed like a good fit, but Kakashi was still a bit wary. Having a pretty girl on a team with two hot heads normally wasn't the best thing, but he took her anyway.

He tried to tell himself it wasn't because Guy looked ready to snatch the file if he chose someone else.

The three academy graduates were seated at the bridge leaving the central part of Konoha when he arrived, thirty minutes late. Kakashi observed how loud Naruto was, how nervous Sakura looked, and how utterly bored the Uchiha pretended to be and sighed, wondering if he could actually teach these kids anything.

But, no matter. It was his job and he had had the best sensei, with more tricks up his sleeve than any other shinobi Kakashi had ever met. Maybe he'd take a page out of old Minato's book of ridiculously effective team building exercises.

"Good morning," Kakashi said, poofing into existence in front of the unsuspecting genin.

The three jerked, all obviously startled by his entrance. Sasuke made the quickest recovery, his face naturally falling back into the stoic expression that Kakashi just loved to see on Fugaku at high-security meetings. Naruto fell over and Sakura merely looked a bit unsettled.

"Good morning, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said demurely, the first to respond. She gave him a shaky smile, her knees drawn in and toes pointed out while she wrung her hands in her lap. "I…I guess we were an hour early?"

"Hey, Uncle Kakashi!" Naruto called from where he had fallen over. He sat up and pointed an accusatory finger at the jounin. "You're late! Why are you always late!"

Kakashi stared blankly at them and said, "My apologies, I had to help get a cat out of a tree for a civilian. It took me a while." Then, with a sterner tone, he added, "And, it's not Uncle Kakashi anymore, Naruto. I am your official sensei now, after all."

"Sorry, sorry," Naruto said, though he still looked like he didn't believe Kakashi's story. "Anyway, what are we learning today? Is it ninjutsu? Taijutsu? Genjutsu?"

"Why don't we start by introducing ourselves," Kakashi suggested uneasily.

"What are we supposed to say?" Sakura asked, her head tilting to the side.

"Why don't you talk about the things you like, you hate, your dreams for the future." Kakashi paused, proud of himself for coming up with that on the fly. "Yeah, that sounds good."

"What?" Naruto shouted. "That doesn't make sense! Why don't you go first so we see how it's done!"

Kakashi leaned back and sighed. "Alright. I am Kakashi Hatake. Things I like and things I hate… I don't feel like telling you that. My dreams for the future…? Never really thought about it."

"Well that was totally useless," Sakura muttered to Naruto. "He really only gave us his name. And we already knew that!"

"Okay," Kakashi said, his brow furrowing. "Now, your turn."

"Oh, me, me! Let me go first."

Sigh. "Sure, go ahead, Naruto."

Naruto grinned and said, his thumbs pointing at himself, "I'm Naruto Uzimaki, son of the Fourth Hokage! I like the ramen Iruka-sensei sometimes lets me order at Ichiraku, even though it's waaay too spicy! I don't really hate anything, but I really don't like people who lie. And my dream is to become the greatest Hokage!"

Kakashi, having known the child since he was born, already knew most of those things. However, he hadn't expected what Naruto said he hated. "Hm, very good." Kakashi turned to the pink haired girl. "Your turn."

The girl immediately sat up straighter and eyed the dark haired boy next to her. "I-I'm Sakura Haruno. I like erm, well, the person I like-"

The girl winced, eyeing the ground before continuing, a bit clearer, "I like being a ninja more than anything in the world. I hate people who abuse animals and… although I don't come from a legendary ninja clan-" she looked at both Sasuke and Naruto subtly before continuing, "-I dream of being recognized as one of the greatest kunoichi in the world."

Kakashi pondered over the girl's answer for a moment before finally moving on to the last member. "And, you?"

The boy took a moment before answering, almost as if the whole thing was beneath him. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I like training, I hate sweets, and I dream of growing stronger than my older brother."

Kakashi swore he saw cartoon eyes coming from Sakura when he said, "Great, we've all been introduced. Now, the fun begins!"

Naruto jumped up, a fist held high in the air. "Alright, let's go! Mission here we come!"

"Slow down, Naruto," Kakashi said, holding his hand up. "Remember, you are genin, the lowest rank. You need to learn many things and build up your skills before you're assigned any missions. Training must come first."

"What are we going to do?" Sasuke's first real contribution to the conversation couldn't have been more condescending if he tried.

Kakashi looked at the three genin. "How's your team work?"

"I bet we're awesome!"

"No idea."

"It's probably pretty bad, Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi sighed. "I think we'll need to test that out for ourselves."

Sakura blinked up at him. "What do you mean, Kakashi-sensei? Some kind of training?"

Kakashi was beginning to feel mildly excited for the hell of a day his students were about to have when he pulled out a set of bells. "Yeah, something like that."

XxX

In their first year as Team 7, the three genin became the most dysfunctionally functional team Kakashi had ever seen. While they were a cohesive unit in battle, tested in stride on a bridge in Water Country and against the likes of Orochimaru, they never seemed to get it together when the adrenaline stopped pumping and the enemies were defeated. Sasuke and Naruto argued incessantly and Sakura played mediator until she was too angry at both of them to care. This, of course, always left the two knuckleheads fighting it out until they had to limp home, where yet another woman waited to yell at them to stop arguing with their teammate.

Their first year tested their teamwork more than Kakashi anticipated. After defeating Zabuza and Haku, he witnessed the strangest emotions come out of the three twelve year olds. He watched Naruto rage at Sasuke for risking his life to save him, whilst also grappling with the knowledge that he probably would have done the same. He watched Sasuke deal with his dedication to his teammates as more than what he had bargained for, realizing that worry and care and pain are all emotions one can feel towards a human who wasn't their older brother.

And Sakura, poor Sakura. She had watched both boys nearly die to protect her. She screamed at them to stop, to let her do more than just guard, that she had trained just as hard as they had, but Kakashi had the final word. He knew what she did not.

Sakura, the most selfless and kind of their group, was not to be touched; ever. It was a silent pact made between the boys when the fight first began, the two of them needing only a few glances and nods to understand the other's meaning. Kakashi didn't like the dynamic forming; it could lead to Sakura being left behind, but it was also a rare moment of bonds being made visible. A rare moment that showed how far his team had come in such little time.

Naruto and Sakura might have openly accepted their teammates as family, but Sasuke was slower to warm up. That day, he was in lockstep with his teammate. Nothing would touch her.

Sakura was inconsolable when Sasuke went down, but Kakashi was prepared for a broken hearted girl as well as a grieving teammate if the time ever came to bury the Uchiha boy. Sakura had boldly informed her sensei of her feelings for Sasuke after their third training session together. Although her cheeks were furiously red, she managed to maturely admit that he probably knew (he did) because she was a bit obvious (she was) and this conversation was for her to swear that her personal feelings would never affect her training or a mission again. And, she was true to her word; Sakura was as cutthroat about training as Sasuke ever since.

Yet when Sasuke briefly died, her scream echoed in Kakashi's chest. It wasn't a normal scream of shock or grief and it wasn't normal pain she was feeling. In whatever way a twelve year old girl knew how to, she loved that reckless, scowling boy. It warmed Kakashi's heart more than he cared to admit, but he couldn't help but be reminded of how much he and Obito had loved Rin.

The Team 7's sometimes merged in his brain, but Kakashi couldn't help it; the similarities were uncanny, at times.

Against Orochimaru, Sasuke was saved by his older brother, Itachi. The Snake Sannin was interested in Sasuke's power and potential, but couldn't get to him in time. Truth be told, Kakashi didn't believe it when Itachi reported that Sakura, tiny, desperate to keep up and severely weakened by sound ninja Sakura, defended Sasuke from the snake's attacks for ten minutes while the boy was knocked out. The entire time, Sakura protected his body from getting bitten once and, by the time help arrived, she had cut her hair with a kunai as an escape method and took several shuriken to her entire front side.

She was also half dead by the time Itachi and his ANBU squad drove the creepy ninja back to one of his hideouts. By the time Kakashi got there, Sasuke was a wreck over his unconscious teammate. Itachi had tried to pick her up, but Sasuke insisted on carrying her back. Kakashi didn't like the possessive edge in Sasuke's voice, but he intervened, saying it was good for a teammate to bring her back.

He and Sasuke never spoke about it.

Orochimaru's surprise entrance tilted the entire Chunin Exam on axis, but the three genin of Team 7 still managed to pass after all three took a quick rest in the village hospital. Kakashi was on his way to check in on them a few hours into the evening when he caught Sasuke half walking, half dragging himself to Sakura's room. Of course, Kakashi didn't follow after he saw the young boy slip in and shut the door behind him, but he couldn't help but smile at the floor while he eavesdropped.

Sakura was awake and startled to see Sasuke so relieved to see her, but he was too tired to bite back his emotions. He sat on her bed and thanked her, telling her that he wouldn't be alive if she hadn't found a way to stand up to the legendary Snake Sannin. Sakura of course blushed heavily under the Uchiha's praise, but managed to jokingly tell him that he owed her since she had to cut her hair. Sasuke's response was to grin and tell her she looked more like a kunoichi. From there, a tentative friendship was born.

Eventually, Naruto found out about their "secret meeting" and struggled over to her room. The three of them talked for a bit about what happened, filled each other in on the parts they missed, and Sakura got two apologies she didn't ask for. Naruto openly said he was sorry for ever doubting her or making her feel like she wasn't strong enough to be a part of the team. Sasuke hadn't said it in as many words, but his quietly uttered agreement was all the pink haired girl needed.

They succumbed to sleep not too much later, sitting on Sakura's hospital bed hip to hip, their backs against the wall. Sakura sat in the middle, her boys on either side, and Kakashi had never felt prouder of his students.

That is, until they hit puberty and went fucking nuts.

...

AN: Here's the story! Team 7 at 15-18 with flashbacks to their 12-14 year old selves. Definitely SasuSaku centric. I hope to finish my other story in the next few weeks and really bust this one out. My brain has been overflowing!