Densetsu no Yonnin (The Legendary Four) - Chapter II (Rework in Progress)
Disclaimer: Naruto is not my property.
(Leaf Village Streets)
Hyūga Hinata was walking toward the shinobi academy for the first day. Despite being excited she couldn't help twiddling her fingers while she walked. She also thought back to her first friends, which brought a smile to her face. The blonde Uzumaki and the pink haired Haruno were her first real friends and she hoped that she would see them again soon.
Although, due to her status, she might not be able to. She was the clan heiress, so she shouldn't associate herself with commoners, the elders and her father told her. She often had to hold back a frown every time they gave her lectures on the proper behavior of a clan heiress which often consisted of acting like an arrogant prick to everyone who wasn't of noble status. She planned to change the Hyūga way when she became clan head, and this was the first step towards achieving her dream. She would do her best to face the incoming adversity with her head held high.
"Hinata-sama?" Hyūga Ko called from beside her. Ko was a main branch member that was assigned as her bodyguard. He was also one of the few main branch Hyūgas that treated her kindly.
Hinata jumped from the call but still answered, "Y-Yes, Ko-san?"
"You're doing that thing with your fingers," he pointed out making Hinata put her hands by her sides as her face grew red. "You're nervous, aren't you?"
"S-sorry, Ko-san," she mumbled with a down expression.
"Oh no. It's all right," he reassured as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "It's your first day at the academy. This is a big step in your kunoichi career. In fact, I'd be a little concerned if you weren't nervous."
"R-really?" she asked as she looked up at him.
"Yes. You being nervous means that you want to do well. But you can't let that nervousness control you," Ko explained before giving Hinata a barely noticeable smile. "You're going to do well Hinata-sama."
After thinking it over for a few moments, Hinata realized that Ko was right, "Thank you, Ko-san." Ko nodded in reply and Hinata stood with a little more confidence. She was still nervous, but she was going to make sure she did her best.
(Naruto's Apartment)
The sound of loud snoring could be heard through a small and run-down apartment. The place wasn't a complete pigsty, but it would still cause you to question how long it has been since it was cleaned. There were empty ramen cups everywhere, the walls and floors had cracks in them, dirty clothes were all over the floor, and it smell as if a cow called the place home.
Though, the interesting thing was the windows; they were all brand new.
In the bedroom of the apartment, Naruto was soundly snoring in his bed. The blanket was halfway off the bed and he had a small trail of drool leaving his mouth.
*Snore* "More ramen, please," Naruto mumbled. *Snore* "Hinata, Sasuke, I don't care that I've had 100 bowls. I want more." *Snore* "I knew you'd see it my way," he mumbled before he rolled off the bed and fell flat on his face.
"...Oww," Naruto grumbled as he got up from the floor while rubbing his head. He waited for his vision to clear before he looked at his alarm clock. He rubbed his eyes to make sure he was seeing correctly. "7:00. It's still early," he muttered and almost stepped into his bed to go back to sleep until his eyes shot open. "7:00! Crap! I'm late!" he yelled before he dashed from his bedroom to the bathroom to get ready.
Several minutes later, Naruto dashed out his bathroom to his bedroom and finally into the kitchen. He looked through the cupboards to find breakfast and he pulled out an instant ramen cup. He fixed the ramen, placed the cup in the microwave, and stood there staring at the ramen while it cooked.
"C'mon. C'mon. I can't be late on the first day. Man, I hate waiting three minutes for this ramen," he grumbled. When the ramen finished, he opened the microwave and waited another minute for the ramen to cool down before snatching it up and sprinting out the door. He ran all the way to the academy and ignoring the glares and whispers from the civilians while managing not to spill any ramen.
(Sasuke's Apartment)
When Sasuke woke up, he was surprised to find out that he didn't have any nightmares again. Instead, he dreamt of him, Naruto, and Sakura training in a forest. Naruto was writing kanji on a tag, Sakura was crushing a rock with just her fist, and Sasuke was wielding a sword made of lightning. He wasn't sure why his nightmares hadn't made an appearance the two times he went to sleep yesterday, but he decided to figure it out later. Right now, he had more important things to worry about.
After cleaning himself up, getting dressed, and eating breakfast, Sasuke started his trek towards a certain compound. He was going to the academy, but he needed to make a stop first.
After several minutes of walking, all the while ignoring the glances and comments from the civilians, Sasuke was standing in front of the Uchiha Compound. He stared at the Uchiha fan on the arch above the entrance. He clenched his fist as horrible memories resurfaced from that night, which only served to stoke the fire that was his anger.
"My fallen brethren, this is the start of my destiny," he started as his eyes hardened and he started to tremble. "Mom, Dad, Uncle, Aunt, Shisui, Izumi, everyone. That man will pay, and you all will finally rest in peace. Even if it's the last thing I do," he vowed before walking away from the Compound and to the academy to follow through on his promise.
(Leaf Village Streets)
"Now, remember, Sakura. You're going here just to find a future husband. Understand?" Mebuki told her daughter as they walked towards the academy.
"Yes, Mom," Sakura replied absentmindedly.
"You can participate in the spars to fit in, but your focus needs to be on finding a target, and doing what you can to get his attention," Mebuki explained.
"Yes, Mom," Sakura answered while her mind was elsewhere.
Mebuki noticed this and spoke up, "Sakura, are you listening?"
Sakura jumped at her mother's question. "Oh Uh... Yes ma'am" she lied.
"Then what did I just say?" her mother asked in suspicion.
"You were saying that I need to catch the attention of one of the clan heirs," she answered smoothly.
"I guess you were listening. You were staring off into space, so I thought otherwise."
"Of course, Mom. I'm always listening when you're talking to me," Sakura lied again. "As if! You just say that all the time, so it's easy for me to tune you out and not get punished, you old hag!" Inner Sakura ranted. In truth, Sakura was thinking of Hinata and Sasuke. She was grateful to both for helping her and she was wondering when she would see them again to thank them.
Unfortunately, her mother had to stop that train of thought.
"Good. You're setting yourself up for a great life when you listen to me," Mebuki explained.
"Yes, Mom, Sakura replied. "Why are you listening to her? She doesn't know what she's talking about. She wants us to become one of those snooty, prissy women who act like the world owes them everything; even though they only married someone who was rich instead of earning the money themselves. Aren't we going to be a kunoichi?" Inner Sakura asked and was ignored by her counterpart.
(Ninja Academy)
Sakura was the first of the four to arrive at the academy classroom. She noticed that there were a bunch of other kids present. Some were chatting with other kids while others were just sitting and waiting for the first day to start. When she walked in, she sat in one of the seats in the front after putting her coat on the back of her chair. Deciding to pass the time she looked around at the other kids and potential future shinobi. Of all the kids present, there were only five that caught her attention.
One was a boy with spiky brown hair and black sunglasses sitting at the back of the classroom. He was dressed in a dirty brown trench coat and a high collar jacket that left only part of his face exposed, grey pants, and black winter boots. His emotionless expression and small dots flying around him while the dots let out buzzing sounds informed Sakura that he was part of the Aburame Clan. She involuntarily shuttered at the thought of having bugs inside your body.
Another boy, who was sitting in the middle of the classroom, had short spiky brown hair, slitted pupils, and tattoos in the shape of red triangles on each of his cheeks. He was dressed in a dark blue hooded coat, grey pants, and black snow boots. He also had a small white puppy inside his coat. His feral appearance and the boy's puppy let Sakura know that he was from the Inuzuka Clan. Sakura had to resist cooing at the sight of the adorable puppy.
Another kid was a girl with short platinum blonde hair with red hair pin and blue pupilless eyes. Her attire consisted of an orange red shirt, a purple shirt and pants of the same color, and black snow boots. Her blonde hair and blue eyes gave away that she was part of the Yamanaka Clan. Sakura frowned at how pretty she thought the girl was compared to her.
Near the back of the class was a boy with black eyes, black hair tied into a pineapple shape, and a lazy expression. Well, lazy is an understatement; he looked like he would rather do anything else rather than be here right now. His choice of clothing included a gray shirt, black pants, and black boots. Sakura realized that he was from the Nara Clan due to his pineapple style hair and lazy demeanor. "Seriously, a cardboard cutout of the Second Hokage would have more enthusiasm," Sakura thought in bewilderment.
Finally, next to the Nara boy was a fa-, I mean, "pleasantly plump" kid with chestnut brown hair, and pink swirl marks on his cheeks. He was wearing a jacket of two different shades of green that had the kanji for food on the front, blue pants, and blue sandals. His plump physiques and jolly expression allowed Sakura to figure out that he was from the Akimichi Clan. "Is that boy seriously eating chips right now?" Sakura asked in her head.
Sakura snapped out of her thoughts when she saw a familiar face followed by another familiar face. The first one was Hinata. When she walked into the class momentarily stopped to look at her which caused her to grow a red hue on her cheeks. After a few moments, the class went back to what they were doing. Sakura waved to Hinata, and she received a small wave in return.
"Damn. She's kinda cute," the dog boy muttered. Hinata's cheeks grew redder as she made her way to the back of the classroom. Sakura just rolled her eyes.
The second face was Sasuke. His appearance silenced all conversations. Everyone was staring at him. Sasuke just ignored the looks at walked to an open seat in the front.
"Isn't that Uchiha Sasuke?" a student muttered.
"Yeah. The last Uchiha is gonna be in our class," another student replied.
"I don't know why, but my parents said to be friends with him."
"Oh my god! Sasuke-kun's in our class!" a fangirl squealed.
"This is great! I'm definitely gonna marry him, now," another one proclaimed.
"Not if I get him first," the Yamanaka girl challenged.
Sasuke's eye began to twitch. "It's the same no matter where I go!" he yelled in his head but kept a neutral expression.
Sakura rolled her eyes again. "Disgraceful. Boy, am I glad we're not like that," Inner Sakura grumbled. She turned towards Sasuke and waved to him. Sasuke turned to Sakura and regarded her with a nod and went back to staring off into space.
This exchange did not go unnoticed by Hinata. "She knows Uchiha-san?" she thought while gazing at Sasuke with apprehension. "He has the same eyes as Neji-niisan," she thought before decided to go back to waiting.
The exchange also didn't go unnoticed by the fangirls either.
"Did you see that? That girl waved at Sasuke-kun and he responded."
"Who does that pink haired girl think she is?"
"She's not even that pretty. I mean, is that hair even real, or did she go to a candy shop and say "Ooh, bubble gums would look great on my head"?"
"Don't even get me started on her large forehead."
Sakura ducked her head low to avoid the venomous glares being directed at her. "Why those little-! Let me at 'em! I'll wring every last one of their necks!" Inner Sakura shouted by making a strangling motion with her hands. Both Hinata and Sasuke gave slight frowns when they heard the insults.
All conversations stopped when the academy doors opened to reveal two chunin teachers. One had tanned skin, a scar across his nose, and his hair tied in a ponytail. The other one had pale blue hair and a bandana on his head.
"Hello, class," the scar-nosed chunin greeted the kids. "My name is Umino Iruka. This is Touji Mizuki," he gestured to his blue-haired colleague, "And we will be your chunin instructors." By this point all the students were seated and had their attention fixed on Iruka. "Before we get started, I'm going to call the roll. If I call your name raise your hand or say "here". Understand?" Iruka asked
"Yes, Iruka-sensei," the class replied as one to which Iruka nodded.
As the roll was being called the three found out that their class has people from all Konoha's clans except the Senju. They also found out the names of the clan members. The Aburame was named Shino, the Akimichi was named Chouji, the Inuzuka was named Kiba and his dog: Akamaru, and the Nara was named Shikamaru although Iruka-sensei had to wake up the lazy bum. When Sasuke announced his presence, all the fangirls squealed "SASUKE-KUN!~" in delight. This caused Sasuke's eye to twitch, Hinata to shake her head, and Sakura to roll her eyes once again.
"Uzumaki Naruto," Iruka called out. Both Hinata and Sasuke widened their eyes at the name and looked around to find the blonde, but they didn't see him. When Iruka didn't receive an answer, he looked up from his clipboard. "Uzumaki Naruto?" he called out again.
"Where's Naruto/Naruto-kun," Sasuke and Hinata asked in their heads respectively as the class joined them in looking for him.
"Hmm... I guess he's not he-" Iruka was cut off when the door slammed open and revealed a boy who was panting like he just ran a marathon.
"I'm here... Don't start without me," Naruto stated through several pants.
Hinata's face lit up and Sasuke had a small smirk on his face. Sakura wore a curious expression along with the rest of the class. Iruka's face was one of annoyance and Mizuki initially had a hateful scowl though he quickly changed it to a neutral face. Naruto, however, saw Mizuki's scowl and decided to watch his back around him.
"Would you like to explain why you are late on the first day," Iruka asked.
Naruto rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish grin, "Well, you see I was having another dream about ramen, and it was the best one yet. I didn't want it to end, so I kinda slept through my alarm."
There was silence in the classroom until the class burst out laughing at the perceived stupidity of Naruto's excuse. Hinata was confused, Sasuke raised an eyebrow, and Sakura was incredulous. "He was late on the first day because he was dreaming about ramen?" Inner Sakura asked dumbfounded.
Iruka just rubbed his forehead in exasperation. "I can already tell this kid is gonna be a handful," he thought before addressing the Uzumaki, "Just go sit down".
Naruto walked off to an open seat not paying any mind to the snickers of his classmates or the next called name which was Yamanaka Ino. He sat down with his head in his hand before he heard a "Eep!" and wondered if there was a mouse in the room. He looked to his left and noticed who he was sitting next to. "Sunny place?" he asked in surprise realizing that he was sitting next to Hinata.
"H-Hi, N-Naruto-kun," Hinata greeted.
"We're in the same class? That's awesome!" he cheered.
"R-Really?" she asked surprised that he still wanted to be around her after yesterday.
"Yeah. We're friends and we're in the same class so the academy is gonna be awesome!" he proclaimed with a big grin and Hinata allowed a small smile to grace her lips.
"Hey, Naruto!" Iruka called out.
"What?" Naruto asked back irritated that his conversation was interrupted.
"Can you be quiet? I'm trying to explain the day's activities," Iruka demanded. Naruto and Hinata finally noticed that the entire class was staring at them; Most with irritation, two with curiosity, and one with restrained hate which only Naruto noticed.
"He's/She's friends with her/him?" Sasuke and Sakura thought, respectively.
"Sorry, Iruka-sensei," Naruto muttered with a sheepish grin while Hinata tried to bury herself in her jacket.
"As I was saying," Iruka started as he began a speech explaining all that the students were going to be doing at the academy.
(Academy Training Grounds)
It was lunchtime at the academy. All the students were rushing outside to eat with their friends. Naruto was dragging Hinata by her hand over to an open bench, Sakura was following them, or more specifically Hinata, and Sasuke was struggling to find a place to eat without being hounded by all his fangirls, though he eventually managed to give them the slip. He found his eating spot when he saw Naruto waving him over to eat with him and Sakura.
"Hey, Sasuke how you been?" Naruto asked.
"Hn," Sasuke replied with irritation.
"What's the matter?"
"These damn fangirls. They are so annoying."
"I know right. And it's only gonna get worse from here."
"Don't remind me."
"Um, Naruto-kun," Hinata spoke up.
"Yes, Hinata-chan?" Naruto answered.
"How do you two know each other?" she asked.
"We met each other on a dock. I also treated him to the food of the gods," Naruto explained.
"What do you mean "you treated"? I'm the one that paid for the ramen," Sasuke questioned with eyes narrowed in confusion. "And ramen isn't the food of the gods: It's tomatoes."
"Blasphemy!" Naruto shouted before noticing the pink haired girl in their group, "Who are you?"
Sakura started blankly at him for a few seconds. "You're just now noticing us?" Inner Sakura deadpanned. "Haruno Sakura," she replied shortly, "How do you know Hinata."
"I met her yesterday," Naruto answered. "Some bullies were picking on her and I stepped in to help," he explained as he punched his palm with his fist.
"Someone was bullying you?" Sakura asked in surprise.
"Yes," Hinata mumbled dejectedly, "He st-stepped in to save me, but the bullies j-just beat him up instead and left m-me alone."
"If those stupid jerks didn't leave, I would've shown them what for," Naruto grumbled.
This caught Sakura's interest. "Maybe he's more than just a ramen obsessed idiot" Inner Sakura stated.
"So, how do you know Hinata-chan," Naruto asked.
Sakura snapped out of her thoughts to answer his question. "We met each other in a cinnamon bun shop," she started before she remembered something. "Hinata, I forgot to say thanks for yesterday."
"I-It was n-nothing," Hinata replied with a small red hue. "I could tell that woman was going to do something bad to you. Although, I don't know what came over me."
"Someone was gonna hurt Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked in alarm.
"O-Oh don't worry about it, Naruto," Sakura quickly replied, "Hinata took care of it, and so did Sasuke."
"Really?" Naruto asked and looked over to Sasuke.
"Hn," Sasuke answered Naruto's unasked question with a nod while he looked at the Hyūga in thought. "Maybe there's some strength behind that shyness."
The four continued to engage in more conversation about various things. Although they were being friendly with each other, they knew that they all had their own skeletons in the closet. Since they just became friends, they wouldn't reveal anything too personal. They stopped talking when lunchtime was over, and they walked back into the classroom.
(Outside the Academy)
"That was a pretty nice day," Hinata said as the four walked out the academy at the end of the day.
"It wasn't as exciting as I hoped. It was all just textbooks and stuff," Naruto grumbled.
"Well, it wouldn't be very smart to have the students start fighting each other on the first day." Sasuke replied.
"We need to learn about the village before we can start fighting for it," Sakura explained, and Naruto just sighed.
The four stopped walking to look around at all the parents and kids leaving. Hinata looked up and noticed her bodyguard Hyūga Ko while Sakura noticed her mother.
"Well, I'm going to go home now," Hinata stated as she gave a small wave to her friends. She received a big wave from Naruto, and small nod from Sasuke, and another small wave from Sakura before she too walked off.
"Well, I'm leaving, too. I'll see you guys tomorrow," Sakura stated as well.
"Bye, Sakura-chan!" Naruto called while Sasuke gave Sakura a nod with a 'Hn'.
"Hinata-sama," Ko spoke up.
"Yes, Ko-san,"
"You shouldn't associate yourself with that Uzumaki boy," Ko advised.
Hinata frowned at this, "Why?"
"Because he will bring nothing but trouble to the clan," Ko explained.
"But he doesn't seem like a troublemaker," she thought but didn't voice it as she just nodded her head and kept walking.
"Sakura, stay away from that blonde boy," Mebuki advised.
Sakura wore a curious expression but, on the inside, she was frowning, "Why?"
"Because he'll bring nothing but trouble to you," Mebuki explained.
"Really. He doesn't seem like a bad guy," Sakura thought. "He may be an idiot but I don't think he'll try to bring us trouble," Inner Sakura spoke but Sakura just nodded her head.
"So, you got Uchiha-sama's attention. That's my girl. If you keep this up, everything will go according to plan," Mebuki cheered, and Sakura had to resist groaning.
Naruto and Sasuke stood in front of the academy watching their female friends leave. Their content smiles shifted to thin lines as they heard the various whispers of "It's that monster again/Look it's Uchiha-sama" and "Stay away from him/Try to get close to him". "I'll see you later, Sasuke. I'm gonna head home," Naruto stated feeling his mood slightly dampened. He received a nod from Sasuke, and they both walked off in opposite directions toward their homes.
No one noticed a cloaked figure that was present since Sasuke left the Uchiha Compound. The figure's head followed the retreating form of Sasuke before it disappeared as if it was never there.
Date: Oct/2/2021