Naruto: A Different Path
I do not own anything related to Naruto

Summary: Kushina survived her childbirth on that faithful night and had an adopted daughter before she married to Minato. How will Naruto's life changed with a family that loved him and his status as Jinchuuriki never revealed? NaruSaku AU

Chapter 1

It was a disastrous time to the village of Konoha. Without any warning, the great Bijuu Kyuubi no Youkou attacked the village and killing many shinobi of the village. Everybody was mourning that day, including Namikaze Kushina—formerly Uzumaki Kushina. Her husband, Namikaze Minato—the Yondaime Hokage of Konoha—was died in order to stop the beast from destroying the village by sealing it to their son, Namikaze Naruto. When she heard the news of his husband's death, her world shattered to bits. When she heard that her son had become the living prison of Kyuubi, she became very protective of him. Only a few people could see her without pissing themselves or fainted with the killer intent she radiated, namely the new reinstated Sandaime Hokage—Sarutobi Hiruzen, her husband's teacher and her son's godfather—Jiraiya, and A fellow Sannin of Jiraiya who also Naruto's godmother—Tsunade. Currently, they were on Kushina's room in the hospital. Kushina her self was holding her sleeping baby on her arm, not wanting to let him go no matter what happened. Her eyes was still red and puffy because she had cried so much.

"Kushina, Minato had a last will before he died. Would you like to hear it?" asked Hiruzen.

Kushina herself didn't answer, she only looked at her son and cradled him. The age leader sighed. He himself didn't want to risk to get to the bad side of a protective mother like Kushina, but this was her husband last will. What harm could happen?

"He..." the aged leader paused as he took a deep breath. "...wanted to tell the public about Naruto's status as the host of Kyuubi so that he would be viewed as a hero that saved the village."

Silence enveloped the room for a good whole minute before the temperature dropped several degrees. Kushina's body was trembling hard and her hold on baby Naruto was tightened.

"No..." muttered Kushina. "Don't tell them....Don't tell them my son holds the Kyuubi!" she yelled as she released her KI. Hiruzen gulped as Kushina's green eyes glared at him hard.

"Kushina listen, this isn't my will but Minato's. I'm here just to tell you that," reasoned Hiruzen. "Me myself also didn't like that idea. While I loved the people of Konoha, I highly doubt that they would see him like Minato wished. We all know how Jinchuuriki treated, without regarding on how they had Bijuu inside them and I'll be damned if Naruto treated like that."

The killer intent receded as Kushina calmed down, but her hold on Naruto was never loosen up.

"I'm sorry...It's just..." Kushina closed her eyes and tears running on her cheek once again. "...I'm afraid what will happen to him...what will happen to Naruto if his status as Jinchuuriki revealed. I already lost Minato and if anything happened to Naruto....I...."

The red haired woman left her line unfinished as she cried for the second time that night. Tsunade walked up to her and tried to comfort her as best as she could.

"What will you do now, sensei?" asked Jiraiya.

Hiruzen took a long drag from his pipe and sighed. "I'm going to tell the council and the public that Minato used a forbidden jutsu to defeat the Kyuubi, not sealed into Naruto. Hopefully that is enough to answer their question."

The white haired Sannin nodded as he shifted his attention to Kushina. She was still crying even though that Tsunade had tried to comfort her, not knowing baby Naruto had awakened. As if he felt her mother's turmoil, he reached for Kushina and giggled. The mother noticed this and quickly smiled before snuggling him.

"It looks like Naruto can cheer you up, Kushina," said Tsunade.

"Yeah..." replied Kushina as she wiped her tears. "He's just like his father..."

6 years later...

Naruto was on his way to Konoha's park as he didn't have any training scheduled. Since one year ago, Naruto had trained by himself to be a ninja just like his late father, mother, and adopted sister. Under the guidance of his mother and sister, he was taught several things like how to throw kunai and shuriken, practicing his family taijutsu and kenjutsu style—though kata only, and tapping on his chakra—the last training had caused several ANBU in patrol to come just because Naruto had emitted a high Jounin level chakra. His training however, had made him didn't have any friends around his age. That's why his mother had told him to take a break from his training for a week or so and made some friends. As he walk, people of Konoha would greet him and smiled at him. It is a well known fact that he was the son of the legendary Yondaime Hokage and his looks didn't help to hid his identity. He had spiky blond hair and sapphire blue eyes just like his father; save for three whisker like markings on his cheek. While it felt good to be respected like this, Naruto wasn't the type of person who bothered with things like titles, names, or someone who related him—which was also the wisdom implanted by his mother. While he hold the respect and love to his father, Naruto wasn't the same he is. He sighed as he kept on walking and eventually reached the park. The blond eyed the park and spotted a mob of kids gathered together.

"Ha! Look at her! She's a weird girl!" said one of them. It looks like they were bullies

"Yeah, you tell her! She had pink hair! What kind of hair color is that?" said another.

"Even her forehead is so huge! It's even larger than the Hokage mountain!" added another.

The bullies then started to call the girl they picked on with names such as "Ugly", "Weirdo", "Freak", and such until the girl started to cry.

"Now she cried! Boo hoo! Such a cry baby!"

"Yeah! Cry baby! Cry baby!"

Naruto growled as he watched the bullies picking on the girl. He decided to teach some the lesson to those bullies. He picked up a stone on the ground and threw it at the ring leader. The stone hit the intended target, causing him to turn around and searching for the responsible person as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Hey! Who did that? Who threw that stone at me?!"

"I did," answered Naruto, causing all of them turned to him, including the crying girl.

"What do you want, twerp?!" asked the bully leader with a glare.

"What else? I'm stopping you from picking that girl," said Naruto, glaring back at him.

Meanwhile, the bullied girl looked at Naruto with tears still on her eyes. Did that blond kid over there stood up for her? There was no one ever did that to her.

"She's just a freak! Why would you protect her?!" shouted one of the bully's lackeys.

"She's just another girl to me," replied Naruto nonchalantly. "I don't see anything why I should call her a weird girl. In fact you are the weird ones. Why would you gang up on a girl?"

The girl gasped when he said that. He didn't think she as a weird girl! She could felt some kind of warmth on her chest as his words echoed inside her head.

"Why you-! Come on guys, let's give this kid some lesson he wouldn't forget!" ordered the bully to his friends as he cracked his knuckles.

They all walked to Naruto, encircling him so that he wouldn't escape. While the girl watched worriedly as she hoping that her savior wouldn't get hurt so much just because he protected her. She then noticed the look on his face. There was no expression of fear or worry, it was...eagerness and anticipation?

The bully leader leashed a punch to Naruto, only to have the blond side stepped from his attack. The bully leader tried to hit the blond again and Naruto avoided the fist, before countered with an elbow to his back sending him face first to the dirt. The bully stood up and ordered his lackeys to attack the blond kid. This time, Naruto took the initiative to attack by sending an uppercut right to the goon number 1 and delivered a roundhouse kick to goon number 2. Both of them groaned in pain as the bully leader stood on his place, shocked with the fact that his friends down so quickly. He then leashed another punch in the act of desperation, but Naruto got him first in the center of his face before giving another roundhouse kick. The bully leader was sent to la-la land as he once again fell to the ground. Two other bullies were trembling on his place as they saw their leader was out cold.

Naruto turned to them with his eyes glaring at them hard. "Take him away and make sure that I don't see him."

They didn't complain much as they picked up the leader and left the park as fast as possible. The girl watched in awe and admiration as the her blond haired savior walked to her. First the boy had not called her weird and then beat those meanies without much sweating. Those facts enough to made her chest felt warm once again and so did her face.

"Hey, are you okay?" asked Naruto as he kneeled on her level, making his gaze met hers.

Now the young Namikaze could see the girl he saved up close. She had short pink hair and green eyes The girl was wearing blue shirt with white pants . Upon looking at her, there was only one thing in his mind.

'She is...pretty.'

The pink haired girl is more or less on the same boat with Naruto. She now could see the one who had saved her up close. He had messy spiky blond hair and blue eyes. He wore white shirt with red spiral flame on the stomach and black shirt. He also had those three whisker like markings on his cheeks that made her thought only one thing on her mind.

'He is...cute.'

"Um...I-I'm alright," she answered meekly.

"Good to hear then," replied Naruto with a sigh of relief.

The two kids then did nothing but stared at each other for a while. They then quickly averted their gaze as their faces was reddening. A bit coughing from Naruto finally dissolved the awkward tension on the air around the two kids.

"S-So...do you mean it?" asked the girl, making Naruto blinked twice in confusion.

"Huh?"

"Y-You know, the part that you told them that I'm not a weird girl," she said with a hint of hope.

"Oh, that...that's true," admitted the blond with a slight blush on his face. "I mean...you're a one-of-the-kind type of girl."

"R-Really?" asked the girl again, now also sporting blushing cheek.

"Yeah, it's not like everyday you see with a girl with pink hair. Besides, your forehead...is so charming and makes me want to kiss it," answered Naruto, blushing deeper as he said the last part.

The girl found herself speechless. She wanted to say something, but no words were able to came out from her lips. The earlier warmth returned to her chest and a thought was formed on her mind.

'Is this...what they call first crush?'

"Shannaro! Damn straight, girl!!"

"My name's Namikaze Naruto. What's your name?"

"Haruno...Sakura."

"Okay then Sakura-chan, want to play together with me?" Naruto offered his hand and gave his trademark grin.

Sakura happily accepted the offer by taking his hand and smiled at him.

"Alright, Naruto-kun."

The two kids then played together happily until the day was over. When they both arrived at their home, they were happy and content for finding their first friend. They can't wait to see each other again tomorrow and in the the future.

2 years later...

"Hurry up, Naruto! You will be late for your first day at the academy!"

"I know, I know! Don't make me rush!"

Today was the day when Naruto is going to enter the Shinobi Academy. Although he already had several skills needed to be a Genin, but his mother insisted to enroll him to the academy. He didn't argue with that though. After all, his first and best friend Sakura was going enroll to the academy too. Within this two years, the two of them had became very close to each other. Naruto would protect Sakura from the bullies who always picked at her, either they were boys or girls. If it was a boy, he would beat them up and if it was a girl, he would gave them a silent glare as he was saying 'don't mess with my friend here or else'. The pink haired girl in the other hand was very surprised when she learned that her friend was the son of Yondaime. She didn't mind about that though. Yondaime's son or not, Naruto was her very first and best friend—here she was nearly fainted when Naruto hugged her. Kushina and Sakura's mother, Yukari, said that they were an item, much to the blond and the rosette's flustered reaction—after some explanation and endless teasing by Naruto's adopted elder sister, Setsuna.

After some skirmish in his house, Naruto finally ready to go along with his mother and sister. He now was wearing something different for the academy. He was wearing cream short sleeved shirt with orange highlights on around the neck, at the end of the sleeves, and the spiral flame on the left chest. He also wore orange pants with standard issue sandals on his feet. He also wearing bands on his wrists and ankles which were his weights.

"You ready?" asked Kushina.

"Of course I am," answered Naruto. "Let's go! I can't wait to go to the academy!"

"Translation: You can't wait to see Sakura," said Setsuna with a knowing smirk.

"W-What are you talking about, Setsu-nee?! J-Just get going already!" Naruto sputtered as he stomped his way to the academy.

Kushina and Setsuna just looked at the blond with a bemused look before followed him.

In the front gate of the academy, the newly enrolled students and their parents or guardian were gathered there, waiting for the escort that will take the new students to their class. Among them was Uchiha Mikoto along with her twin children, Sasuke and Satsuki; Inuzuka Tsume and her ninken Kuromaru with her son, Kiba and his partner Akamaru; Nara Yoshino who was scolding her son Nara Shikamaru for being lazy; Yamanaka Inoichi with her little princess, Ino; Akimichi Chouza and his son Chouji; Aburame Shibi with his equally stoic son, Aburame Shino; Hyuuga Hinata clinging closely to her guardian, Yuuhi Kurenai; and lastly Haruno Yukari with her only daughter, Sakura.

Sakura was looking among the crowd, hoping that she would find her best friend. She didn't see Naruto among them and she was worried with him.

'Naruto-kun...where are you?'

"I'm going to so kick his ass if he late! Shannaro!!"

As if Kami-sama had listened to her question, she saw Naruto on the horizon, running as fast as he could. Behind him, Kushina and Setsuna walked leisurely.

"Morning, Sakura-chan," greeted Naruto. He then also greeted Yukari, who returned the gesture.

"Good morning, Naruto-kun," replied Sakura. "Why are you late?" she asked.

"Sorry, I'm forget to set the alarm clock," admitted Naruto as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I'm excited you know! Today is the day for my first step to be a Hokage!"

Sakura giggled at her best friend's enthusiasm. She knew of his dream to be a Hokage and she admired him for it. His determination and spirit to never give up were the things she liked about him. On these two years, she also had trained together with him though she had lighter regiment. It was during the training that Kushina found out that Sakura's chakra control was near perfect and decided taught her a tiny bit of being a medic ninja.

"See, mother? I told you that what make Naruto very excited about the academy is Sakura," Setsuna commented as she entered the scene, not missing any chance to tease her brother.

"S-Setsu-nee! It wasn't like that!" retorted Naruto with a blushing face. Of course, his pink haired friend had the tendency to blush too.

"Alright, alright, enough with the teasing," said Kushina, playing as the peacemaker between her children. She then turned her attention to Naruto "Make me and your father proud, okay?"

"You bet!" replied Naruto with a thumb up and a grin.

It was then the Chuunin escort came and guided the newly enrolled students. After some encouragement and parting words, the students followed the Chuunin escort. As soon as they arrived on the class, the kids then sat at the available seats. Naruto and Sakura sat next to each other in the middle row. Some moments later, another Chuunin came in. He had brown hair that tied in spiky ponytail—similar to Setsuna, Naruto noted with a scar running horizontally on his nose.

"Alright kids, good morning," he said, responded by a chorus of 'good morning' by the students. "My name is Umino Iruka and I will be your teacher for your academic years. I hope you all study hard so that you will be a good ninja in the future. Understood?" his question was answered by a chorus of 'yes'. "Good. When I call for your name, you will stand up and introduce yourself by saying your name, your likes, dislikes, and your dream for the future.."

Iruka then started to call several names of the student and they followed his request. It was then Iruka called for Sakura's name. She was nervous, but after Naruto gave her an assuring look her confidence returned. She stood up and introduced herself.

"My name is Haruno Sakura. My likes are my mother, flowers, and my best friend Naruto-kun," she paused here as she glanced at Naruto and blushed. "I don't like other kids who bullied me just because of my hair and forehead. My dream is to be a great medic ninja and..." she paused again and glanced at Naruto before her whole face reddened and sat on her seat.

Iruka chuckled and continued to call the others. It was then the Chuunin noticed the next person he about to call. He took in a breath before saying, "Namikaze Naruto."

The class then shifted their attention to Naruto who was now standing up. They were surprised to see the son of the legendary Yondaime was with them.

"My name is Namikaze Naruto. My likes are my mother, my sister, training, and my best friend Sakura-chan. I hate my sister's teasing and people who are teasing Sakura-chan. My dream is..." he paused as he gazed out to the Hokage Monument."...to be the Hokage so that I can protect this village, just like my father did."

Any other kids looked at him in awe while Sakura smiled at him. As he sat down on his seat, he and Sakura could hear whispers flying around the class, mainly the girls were talking about the blond Namikaze.

"Wow, that's the Yondaime's son?"

"He's cute. I wonder if he had any girlfriend yet."

"He said his best friend is that girl with pink hair, right?"

"Bah, she's just a weird girl. He would be interested on more prettier girl."

"And that girl would be me!"

Sakura frowned as she heard the whispers while her inner persona cracked her knuckles and had fire on her eyes.

"Those witches think that they can steal Naruto-kun away from me, huh? I'd like to see them to try!!"

After the last student introduced herself, Iruka started the first lesson. Naruto had to suppress a groan and the urge to bash his head on the table as the Chuunin teacher taught him and the rest of the class about the history of Konoha.

Lunch hour...

Naruto finally released the urge from earlier as he groaned and banged his head on his desk for several times. During those hours of mental and patient torture—that's what he called for the history lesson, Naruto almost fallen sleep several times only for every time he was going to Sakura would reprimand him. It was no secret between the two friends that Naruto had little to none patience and couldn't sat down in a place for a long time, save for meditation exercise.

"Naruto-kun, are you alright?" asked a worried Sakura.

"I'm fine, Sakura-chan," answered Naruto "I never thought that Academy will be boring like this."

"I thought you were excited about this," replied Sakura as she and Naruto stood from their seat and made their way to outside where they will having their lunch.

"And my hope was being crushed," the blond sighed. "I was hoping to see something more at the academy."

"More than Kushina-san's training?" asked Sakura again and Naruto nodded. "Naruto-kun, this is the academy and they thought the basic stuffs here, not the things that your mother mostly taught you."

Naruto groaned again as he held the sides of his head and pulled his hair. "Damn it...! Mom and Sis told me that I will learn more here!"

"Well, that's partly true," reasoned Sakura.

The Namikaze heir then sighed. "Whatever it is, I think I'm lucky."

"Why is that, Naruto-kun?" the pink haired girl asked.

"Because I have you on my side, Sakura-chan," he answered with a smile.

Sakura herself quickly turned her face away to hid the blush on her face.

They then reached outside where other students sat on the tables with their own groups. Naruto and Sakura sat at one empty table. They then took out their lunch and ate it. As they enjoyed their lunch, someone coming to their table. It was a girl with black hair that tied in ponytail in the nape of the neck and had coal black eyes. She was wearing blue shirt with fan-like insignia on the back and black pants.

"Hey, can I eat with you two?" she asked politely.

"Sure," answered Naruto. "Uchiha Satsuki, right?" he asked as he recognized her as one of his classmates.

"I am, Namikaze Naruto, Haruno Sakura," she answered as she addressed her table mates.

"Wow, and I thought most of the Uchiha were emotionless, brooding, anti-socials," joked Naruto and Sakura elbowed him for that.

"Well, that is the stereotype for our clan. I'm an exceptional, along with my mother," answered Satsuki with a small laugh.

"Oh, you must be mean Mikoto-san," said Naruto as Satsuki nodded. Naruto knew about the Uchiha Matriarch because she was best friends with his mother.

"Though I can't say the same for my twin brother," she said as she casted a glance to her twin brother, Sasuke, who was sitting under a tree and eating his lunch silently, surrounded by a group of girls and sighed. "He's just too much like father, a typical Uchiha."

The three kids then continued to eat their lunch as they chatted a bit about random things of themselves.

"You actually wearing weights right now, Naruto?" asked Satsuki, surprised to hear that the blond was already having a difficult training regiment like that.

"Yup!" answered Naruto as he showed the band on his wrists. "I also have another pair of this on my ankle."

"Don't push yourself too hard, Naruto-kun," said a concrened Sakura.

"You know me, Sakura-chan. This is nothing to be worried about!" Naruto waved off the matter with his usual grin.

Satsuki watched the exchange between the two with a puzzled look and decided to ask.

"Can I ask you guys a question?"

"Sure, Satsuki-san. Go a head," answered Sakura.

"Are both of you...a couple or something?"

The reaction from those two were completely priceless in Satsuki's opinion. Naruto was choked on his food and Sakura was frozen on her place with reddening cheeks. Naruto then quickly reached out for water and drank it.

"What gives you the idea like that?! There's nothing between me and Sakura-chan! We're just frends! Right, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura could only nodded dumbly agreeing with her best friend while Inner Sakura had another idea than her main personality.

"That's right! Naruto-kun is mine! So don't try to do anything funny with him, you witches!"

"Sorry, it's just both of you were so close to each other," apologized Satsuki with a giggle. "You were giving people ideas, you know."

Naruto groaned as he slumped on the lunch table. "I've already teased enough at home by Setsu-nee and now I'm teased at school too! What did I do to you so that you hate me so much, Kami-sama?!"

Satsuki gave a stifled laugh at Naruto's dramatic moment who in return gave her a confused look along with Sakura.

"I'm sorry. It's just you were different than I expected. I always thought that the Hokage's son will be...eh you know, having more dignity."

"If you mean having more dignity is having a three hundred feet long pole stuck on your ass, than I absolutely have none," Naruto snorted as he took a bite from his lunch.

Sakura and Satsuki laughed hard at his remark so that they were holding their stomach and had tears on their eyes. Other students who had heard what Naruto said also joined in. Their thoughts and opinions about the son of the Yondaime was also quickly changed. Like Satsuki had said, they were expecting him to be more 'dignified'. But apparently he had a warm and cheerful personality along with the tendency for being dramatic and cracking jokes, something that someone who related to a famous person rarely had.

About half an hour and several kids trying to befriend Naruto (mostly girls—much to Sakura's ire) later, they all returned to the class. Here Naruto muttered about 'another hours of mental and patient torture', which made most of them laughed again.

A/N: Re-edited here and there...Hope you enjoyed it as always.

Sky Zephyrus