Disclamer: I don't own naruto.

AU: Non-massacre.

Summary: Haruno Sakura was one of the few civilian children present in the esteemed Konoha Ninja Academy. Her previous records showed her as a Straight A student, curious by nature and quick to grasp things. However, her homeroom teacher constantly found her to be spaced-out and almost earmarked to be a dropout soon for reasons beyond his comprehension. Can a chanced meeting with the Uchiha prodigy save Sakura and her failing dream of being a ninja?

Koji and Ishikawa are fictional characters.

A big Thank You to everyone who reviewed, followed and marked open-eyed dreams as favourite. Thank You ,Thank you. I'm terribly sorry for this long gap in posting. Terribly sorry! I thought I just cannot write stuff people would like to read, but then I saw your reviews and I was elated!

Itachi stood in the dark room adjoining the classroom watching as his brother and his classmates struggled with his questions. A peep hole was pulled back, allowing him to see clearly what the kids were doing. Itachi still felt unsure of what to do next. His annoyance was wiped off the instant he gazed into Naruto's expectant eyes. At this moment, he was at a loss what to do next. His battle instincts screamed at him to quickly assess the situation and formulate a plan, but so far he had not been able to do so. The questions he had improvised were nothing but a move to buy some time. When in confusion, always observe. This had been his core philosophy for most of his career, and he was doing so now as well. The questions were an improvisation tactic he had devised to buy some time to think, to observe and come up with a good idea of shaping up these bunch of toddlers. It would serve two purposes simultaneously. One, he would be able to see firsthand how the kids respond to an unforeseen situation, and two, he would understand how their minds really processed the situation and how good an answer they come up with.

A part of him was worried how Sasuke would take this development. It was a huge shocker for his kid brother to see him standing at the classroom podium. Itachi had told him nothing about this mission. And that possessive declaration he made in front of the whole class...well, he would have to take care of that too. Itachi mentally prepared to be bombarded with questions, pouts, and possessive talks from his kiddo. Almost reflexively, a fond smile spread on his lips at the thought of his brother, all worked up, huffing in annoyance to see his big brother sharing his exclusive training time with all of his classmates.

For the moment, the antics of the children were getting really difficult to ignore. As expected, Naruto was bobbing his head frantically, leafing over pages of his textbooks. Sasuke had his eyebrows scrunched up, and the top of his pencil was nearing his mouth, in an unconscious attempt of gnawing. Itachi made a mental note of nipping this in the bud before it developed into a habit. His eyes then flitted over to Shikamaru, and widened imperceptibly.

The Nara kid was looking straight in his direction! His eyes roved about, not really fixed at a specific point. Either he was just plainly looking at the details of the wall, or maybe he was trying to figure out the peephole. Could he have figured out that he was spying on the kids? Either way, Itachi could not be sure what was on Nara kid's mind. Instinctively, Itachi shrank back a bit, seeking to stick to shadows, despite the fact that he didn't need to do it.

His eyes then landed on a mass of pink hair. The girl had her head bent, supposedly in a deep thought. Her inattentiveness to the continuous chatter of the Yamanaka girl next to her was completely obvious. She seemed to be lost in some thought. Inattentiveness screamed out loud from her body posture. She was a civilian child right? So what was she doing in the ninja academy?

While the presence of civilian children in the ninja academy was by no means a rare thing, it was a well known fact among the shinobi circles that civilian children never made it far. It was a simple fact-shinobi children brought their clan techniques, superior stamina, strength, healing ability, endurance and enhanced genetic composition. With such peer circles, civilians without a doubt were considered as inferior breed. It would be considered as a major feat if civilian children even passed the Jounin Instructor's test.

His curiosity has been roused by this pink haired odd child. He kept going back to the stare he had received from her. 'The burning stare, rather'. Itachi mentally corrected his thoughts.. It was nothing short of disconcerting to see such a powerful gaze coming from a meek civilian. He felt he was missing something big, something in that little pinkie. Something gave him an odd feeling of keeping the girl in his sight all the time while forcing her to use that gaze again. It would be wise to learn about her first and her reasons for joining the ninja academy. If the girl wasn't good enough, she would be just wasting her time...and his as well.

One by one, Itachi took every child's behaviour into account. It was no difficult thing for him to remember the individual tendencies and assess the skill level of the children. However, most of them seemed to fail the real test. Out of a class of thirty students, only some nine or ten seemed to be actually raking their brains in order to come up with a solution. Most of the students were either too nervous, no, panicked, to actually think while others seemed to have already accepted the fate that their test papers would have a bright red zero stamped on it.

Still hidden in the dark room, Itachi resisted the urge to mutter under his breath, 'this was bad' he thought to himself. If the majority of the student population broke into nervous jitters over some simple questions, just how would they handle the simulated missions Itachi was supposed to draft for them? Lips thinning,he pushed himself off the wall and proceeded towards the staff room. A last glance at the girl showed her to be busy scribbling away at the test paper.

The staff room office of Konoha Ninja Academy was a large hall, lined with cubicles criss-crossing the centre of the room, in a large square. Comfortable couches lined the walls, separated intermittently by a flower pot or an aquarium. Scrolls, parchments, test papers, blunt kunais and shurikens dominated the room, to be found on every desk. Adjoining the staff room was the Record Room, with an ominous sign of "Authorised Personnel Only" stamped of its wooden contour. On a normal day, the staff room would be bustling with teachers who would either be busy gossiping about, or trying hard to ignore others while concentrating on grading a stack of test papers. The hot topics of gossip usually revolved around the lamentations of being stuck with slow-witted ninja-would-be's , the latest batch, the rookie of the year and the ever present teacher's woes of facing the dropping standards of Academy students every year.

Today however, the staff room was completely quiet, except for one low voice addressing all the other teachers. Iruka stood in the middle of the room, surrounded by all the staff members. One single topic has been doing rounds for more than a week.

"I know he's Anbu, but, this mission requires a different kind of skill set. Do you think he would be able to keep the children in check without losing his temper? I wouldn't be surprised if he fishes out a kunai."

"He's ANBU, Ishikawa. ANBU's simply do not lose focus. Besides, have you ever seen him angry? The kid is a prodigy, the kind that comes once in generations. Teaching a class of Academy students would be like a vacation to him. The kids are really lucky to have him as an external teacher"

"I just hope the kids actually learn something despite their nervousness. His presence must be intimidating enough. There hasn't been a single sound from 301 this morning! I'd always wished the children be nice and quiet, but this quietness feels so unnatural!"

"Little Sasuke is in the same class, is he not? I think he will throw a tantrum, from what you have told us about the introduction, Iruka."

"I wonder why Hokage-sama assigned him of all people. Any of the Chunins or Jounins could have done it. Has he displeased Hokage-sama in some manner that he had been assigned this mission? His skills certainly could be utilized in the higher-ups."

"Rubbish, Koji. Do you have a problem with Hokage-sama's decision?"

Among the multitude of varying voices, all spoken in low whispers, no one really noticed the figure standing in the doorway until there was a deliberate sound of the scraping of shoes. The huddled group of Academy staff teachers jumped out of their skins as if someone has just chidori-sparked them.

They almost held their breaths as they saw who exactly has been standing in the doorway.

"Iruka-san, a moment please?"

"h-Hai, Itachi-san"

Iruka really hated his voice as it came out stuttered. His voice always betrayed the emotions he felt.

"I would like to go through the profiles of all the students under my charge"

"Sure. I'll just get them."

As Iruka proceeded towards the door marked "Authorised Personnel Only" he caught Ishikawa's eye and immediately knew that the same question was going through their minds.

'Why would one need to go through the profile of ALL students for preparing them for D ranked missions. These are academy students, not even genins yet!' Was the prodigy thinking of sending the Academy kids on a mission?

Iruka mentally prayed for his little ones to be safe and sound by the end of the week as he pulled out the large folder of fourth year students. He gazed a little bit longer than necessary at Itachi while giving him the folder. Itachi looked coolly back.

"Good Luck with the Academy students, Itachi-san. I'm sure the students will benefit from your lectures."

The deliberate injection of 'academy students' and 'lectures' in the polite sentence didn't go unnoticed by anyone.

"Thank you Iruka-san. I will carry out my responsibilities in the best way possible."

With that polite response, Itachi turned and walked back to the class. Iruka stood there, silently wondering what a stupid fool he was, trying to instruct Itachi. The kid always does the job well, doesn't he?

Sakura sat quietly in her chair, gnawing the top of her pencil. However, the activity didn't give her a brainwave. With almost forty five minutes gone, she was still stuck on second answer. She knew that the answers to the questions were not present in the textbook. They had to think it out themselves and come up with something satisfactory enough to pass the test. Itachi-san wanted them to visualize the scenarios while sticking to the mission protocol and information gathering strategies described in their course book "Mission Protocol-A basic Guide" .It was tricky indeed. He was a tough teacher.

She snorted as she recalled the moment he stood in class. She was so ecstatic about seeing Sasuke-kun's older sister and was mentally preparing herself to greet her as nee-chan. It was only when she looked at him closely did she realize that she was actually a 'he'. And then Sasuke-kun told the class itself that he has a brother! Since that declaration, Sakura kept her eyes glued to the floor. She was too embarrassed to even look up for the fear of catching Itachi-san eyes unintentionally. She had been going over and over the moment when she had seen Itachi-san's back that day in the park. She hoped with all her heart that he wouldn't have noticed. But a furious part treacherously whispered in her mind that yes, he must've noticed. Her face fell in mortification every time this thought crossed her mind, which was, well a lot!

Also she couldn't resist comparing the two brothers. They looked so similar! The only major difference she could find was that Itachi-san has considerably longer hair and deep set eyes, which in turn protruded his cheekbones. Good looks indeed ran in the family. She had kept quiet the entire time Ino was ranting about how good looking Itachi san was, but mentally she agreed with every single word before hushing her up and forcing her to turn to her test paper.

Itachi-san was definitely an extremely odd teacher. He didn't even stay in the class as he assigned them the test! Furthermore, he assigned them questions which weren't even present in the book and that too without teaching a single word. The entire class seemed to be muttering about the unfairness of the entire thing. Even Iruka sensei hadn't come in to save them. They were truly at his mercy. Their schedule stated that the entire week there will be no classes except Itachi-sensei's. If the first morning class was like this, what would the afternoon class be like?

Finally, the three hours were up. The recess bell was the sweetest sound ever to the brain-drained kids. The entire class came alive. All of a sudden there was a great deal of shuffling, screaming, and running as everyone bounded towards the door. Ino and Sakura held their respective bento boxes to their chest as they ran towards the swings determined to get the best swings before anyone else did.

Itachi made his way to the classroom to collect the papers when the tiny scowling figure in the doorway made him pause in his tracks. Sasuke stood blocking the entrance, a deep set scowl on his face. At the sight of his aniki , he bellowed in a high pitched voice.

" Neeeeeee-saaaan"

No more words were needed as his face contorted into a flurry of expressions from accusation, fury, anger, hurt, betrayal and finally between a pout and a grimace.

Itachi chuckled and did his favourite thing. He poked his little brother's forehead. Another bellow of "niiii saaan" followed and Sasuke jumped up to swat his brother's hands away. He looked ready to burst. Itachi promptly brought out a big ripe tomato. Sasuke huffed. The single tomato was joined by two smaller but equally ripe ones and a bar of ice cream.

"Neeeee-saan, why did you not tell me?"

His brother was really angry. Itachi began using his most patient voice.

"Sasuke , I'll explain everything at home, okay?"

"Neee-saaan"

Nope. He won't let go.

"Sasuke...At home,okay?"

"Will you train me after dinner today?"

The accusing glare gave way to softer tones of expectancy. Itachi felt a certain tenderness at his brother's little source of worry. He smiled, and poked his brother's forehead again.

"Yes."

" Promise"?

"I promise...now go play with your classmates Sasuke ."

Unknown to Sasuke, a pair of vivid blue eyes was hungrily devouring the exchange between the two brothers.

"You can come out Naruto-san."

Naruto shocked to his core, fell out of the tree. Never has anyone caught him whenever he was up in this particular tree. The red and yellow blooms camouflaged him perfectly .Any sound made by him were drowned by the chirping of the birds. He had learnt to stop reaching for the birds nest after the getting repeatedly hit in the head by them and instead preferred to watch people from his concealed place. No one, not even Iruka sensei ever was able to spot him in this tree. Well, that was before...Itachi-sensei.

"Ha-Ha,Sasuke,I was practicing. I'm going to beat you in this tree climbing match we had for today! Dattebayo"

"What? There was no match today.."

"Hahhaha, so are you telling me that you are scared , Sasuke-kuuuuunn? Of course you will be scared, after all you are up against the strongest tree climber of the entire ninja academy."

"Hn...dobe, you need balance to climb a tree, not strength. Obviously, you don't have it seeing that you just fell out."

"So are you chickening out, Sasuke kuuuun?"

"What? No. I'll show you how an expert climbs the tree."

Soon, their shouts became distant as the two boys ran off to scale up the nearby trees. Itachi gazed at the duo. However, it didn't escape his notice that neither the two boys joined a group nor were they invited by others. Well, it was the same with him too. He straightened up and went inside to collect the papers.

Sakura and Ino were spread out on the grass with half eaten bento boxes between them. The duo was engaged in an argument about the sightseeing places in the land of Fire. Most of them were outside Konoha and neither of the girls had ever been there. Ino learnt about it by listening to her father and Sakura learnt by poring over her Social Sciences textbooks prescribed in Public School she attended during evenings.

They have got into an argument regarding the district location of the Fire High Temple. Neither of them was backing down. Fortunately, Sakura remembered that she had her Social Sciences textbook in her satchel as she had classes today. With a triumphant grin she skipped her way back to the class. She would pull out the topic on the Fire High Temple and prove Ino to be wrong. However she paused once she reached the classroom door. Someone was here.

"I-Itachi-sensei.."

Uh-ho, that wasn't supposed to be said aloud,! Sakura panicked. Why, why, why? Why was Itachi-sensei here, at this exact moment? She mentally smacked herself as she saw the papers in his hand. Of course!

"Yes?"

"Um...I needed a book from my satchel. Can I please take it?"

"Sure."

Sakura hurried over to her bag, fished out the book and promptly scurried out of the classroom after giving a small bow to her teacher. But that was enough for Itachi to recognise that the book in her hand was not one of the ninja academy publications as the leaf insignia was not present. Neither did it belong to any library as there was no code written. The binding was unfamiliar. As she turned to go Itachi caught a glimpse of the title. "Everything about the Fire Country series-Grade 5" . His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. There were classes conducted on the history of Konoha in the country with the necessary focus on the Fire Country as well. But the book as Itachi remembered from his days in the Academy, was a thin one and definitely not part of any series.

He gazed at the bob of pink hair scampering in the field outside with the Yamanaka girl chasing after her. What was this girl upto? He picked up the folder given to him by Iruka and flipped till he found a photograph of a ridiculously bright pink hair. Test papers can wait.

Author's note:

So there, the next chapters will see a lot more interaction between the Prodigy and the Pinkie.

Your reviews motivate me to write better. It's a great feeling to read a review!