Hey guys this is the first story I have ever wrote so I hope it won't dissapoint you. It begins at the team selection.
"Normal speech"
"Thoughts"
"Inner Sakura"
"Kyuubi"
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or its characters.
Naruto was walking down the hallway of the academy heading towards his classroom deep in thought about what he just learned was sealed within him. When he acknowledged his surroundings, he came to the realization that he was already outside the door. He slowly opened the door and as soon as he got inside, everyone stopped what they were doing and glared at him.
"Hey what are you doing here loser?" asked one of the guys in the room "Only the ones who graduated are allowed here"
Naruto, who was still in his train of thought, just took a glance at the one who asked and answered in a whisper "That's why I'm here. Now mind your own business and leave me alone."
Sakura, who was sitting near Naruto, heard what he answered. "What's with him, he's not usually like that. Well not that I care…"
Naruto was walking up the stairs towards a desk when someone suddenly stuck their feet to make him fall, but what happened, no one expected. Naruto punched the guy in the face and his whole expression darkened. "What the hell is your problem? What have I ever done to any of you guys to be treated like I'm not even human? The ones who treat me worse than anyone else here are the teme's fangirls. You think that doing all those things you will gain the bastard's attention? And if you are here just to impress duck-ass over there, then I suggest you leave because you're here for the wrong reasons"
Everyone was shocked by the blonde's words, even Sasuke, but eventually most of the fangirls shrugged it off as something the dobe said and that because he said it, it was stupid but if people could read some of the ones that actually thought about it, they would be really surprised.
"I think I underestimated Naruto, maybe he's not as stupid as I thought. And if what he said enters the thick skulls of those damned fangirls of mine, I will finally be free" thought Sasuke.
"What if what Naruto said was true? Am I here for the right reasons? Besides I think it's time I moved on. I mean Sasuke-kun is handsome and everything but, has he really paid attention to me?" Thought Sakura "Now that I think of it, none of my attempts to ask him out have worked and besides even if he said yes, hes too cold for me. I doubt he's everything I dreamed of"
"I'ts about damn time you noticed" said Inner Sakura
"You mean you knew and never told me? Why?"
"I wanted you to come to accept the fact that the Sasuke you said you love is not the one out there. Besides, there is someone who is everything you ever dreamed of and more but I'll let you find out who he is"
"Come on! Please!"
"I will only tell you that you will be very surprised as to who it is but when you give him a chance, you will not regret it" and with that, Inner Sakura left.
Five minutes passed since Naruto gave his little speech and Iruka walked through the door with some papers in his hands. As soon as he saw Naruto he smiled, but when he noticed the look on his face, his face fell a little. "He must be thinking about yesterday" thought Iruka.
"Good morning everyone. I want you to know that I'm very proud of each and every one of you. I knew that you had the potential to become shinobi and kunoichi of Konoha." Said Iruka "Now I'm sure you're excited to know who is on your teams".
When he said that, he knew that he got everyone's attention.
"Please tell me that I'm with Sasuke-kun!"
"I'm sorry Ino, but wait until I start and before I read, please don't get your hopes up as you may be with people you may not like but know that you have to put your differences aside to work well with each other" said Iruka.
"Okay so Team 7 has Hatake Kakashi as their sensei and the members are: Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke."
When he said that, he expected to hear Sakura and Naruto cheer, but it didn't happen. What did happen though was that all the fangirls glared at both of Sasuke's teammates and Ino gave a loud groan after losing to her long time rival.
"Team 8: sensei Yuuhi Kurenai, members: Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuuga Hinata and Aburame Shino" As soon as he finished talking, a tall raven haired woman with red eyes and covered in bandages came in.
"Team 8 come with me" she said before leaving with her students in tow.
"Because Team 9 is still active, we'll move on to Team 10 which consists of Sarutobi Asuma as their sensei and Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji". As soon as he said that he swore he heard someone mutter troublesome and someone's head hitting a desk.
"Team 10, we're leaving" said a man with a beard. He was wearing the standard jounin uniform along with a sash and bracelets on both his hands.
After Team 10 left, Iruka finished calling all the teams but Team 7 had yet to leave. He wanted to have a little talk with Naruto about his out of character behavior before he left, so he called him over.
" Hey Naruto, do you have a second?" he asked.
"Sure Iruka-sensei" Naruto replied.
"Are you ok? I noticed you have been like that since I came here earlier today. And you didn't even cheer when you heard you where on the same team as Sakura and I know you really like her."
"Don't get me wrong, I'm really happy about that but understand that now that I know why I've been hated for so long, I've thought about who I should tell. I mean both Sasuke and Sakura deserve to know even if we don't really get along but I think it's important for our teamwork. I also wanted to tell Kiba, Shika and Chouji as they're my only real friends. Also there's one more thing. You, Hokage-jiji , the guys and the Ichirakus are the only ones who know that the personality I show is just a mask and that I'm actually smart. I've been thinking that since I'm a shinobi now, it would be best for me to act like such and drop the act but not to the point where I don't talk with anyone."
Iruka sighed before answering "Do as you think is better. I think that your friends would accept you even after you tell them about Kyuubi. And about the mask, you're right but it could come in handy during battles to make you opponent underestimate you"
"Thank you Iruka-sensei. I'm glad I talked to you. I feel more at peace with myself." Said Naruto
"Glad to know I was of help" said Iruka before giving Naruto a small hug "You up for ramen tonight? My treat."
"Sure! Thank you again"
"Don't mention it" and with that, he left the room leaving Team 7 alone.
While Naruto and Iruka were having their conversation, Sasuke was surprised that Sakura had not even once tried to go near him and set himself to find out the reason. "Maybe she considered what the dobe said. If that happened, then maybe this would be the perfect team for me as Naruto seems more reserved and Sakura no longer looks like she is interested in me"
"Hey Sakura" said Sasuke
"Oh, yes Sasuke?" she replied
"What? No kun after my name? This has to be the best thing Naruto has ever done" thought Sasuke "Not that I care, but weren't you like one of my biggest fangirls?" asked Sasuke.
"Oh, that. Well after Naruto gave his little speech earlier, I realized that I was nowhere near as infatuated with you as I so freely said. Truth is, I think I was never actually in love with you and now that I came to accept it I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders" Sakura answered "You're not mad that you lost a fangirl, are you?"
"Mad? No. Relieved? Yes. I'm actually happy that you no longer like me like that as we can now work without having to go through the same things and now that the dobe looks a little more mature, I'm sure we will be a good team"
Just as Sakura was about to answer, the door opened to reveal a funny looking guy. He had a weird hairstyle that seemed to defy gravity and was dressed as most jounin with the exception of a mask that covered half his face and his headband covered his left eye. "Meet me at the rooftop" and with that he disappeared in a poof of smoke.
"Kagebunshin" stated Naruto simply before walking outside with a face that none of the two had ever seen him use.
They shrugged it off and followed him outside.
When they reached the rooftop, they found ther sensei already there.
"Alright, how about you tell me your names, likes, dislikes, hobbies and dreams?" he said with a bored voice as if he wanted to be somewhere else at that moment.
"Eh, aren't you supposed to introduce yourself first sensei?" asked Sakura.
"Alright *sigh* my name is Hatake Kakashi. What I like or dislike is not important, hobbies I don't have one and dreams, ehhh" he said pointing at Naruto "you first blondie"
"All he said was his name!" was the shared thought of the three teammates.
"Uhh sensei I would rather talk after them as what I have to say is rather important" Naruto said with a downcast expression.
"So he is going to tell them about the Kyuubi. Good luck Naruto, even if they don't accept you, I will. I will not fail you sensei" "Alright, I have a clue as to what you may say so I will let it slide this time. Well moving on, how about you?" he said nodding towards Sasuke.
"I'm Uchiha Sasuke and I don't like many things and I dislike most. My hobbie is to train to accomplish not a dream, but a goal that is to kill a certain man and revive my clan." He said with his arms crossed.
"I knew he would say something like that. I will try to take him out of that path that will lead him nowhere." "Pinky" he said making Sakura a little mad.
"First, my name is not pinky, It's Haruno Sakura. I like spending time with my friends, I dislike people who used to bully on me because of my forehead, my hobbie is reading and learning and I don't have a dream yet but I hope to get one soon." She finished with a huff.
"Interesting, I thought she would be the typical fanfirl but she proved me wrong. Well Naruto, good luck." "Okay last but not least, you." Naruto swore he could se comprehension on his sensei's eyes but shrugged it off.
"Well *sigh* I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen, I dislike the three minute wait for ramen to be ready, people who think they're better then others and those who judge without knowing me. My hobbie was to prank people and my dream is to become the greatest Hokage ever and to be acknowledged by everyone." after he said that, he took a deep breath "Sasuke, Sakura-chan, there's something really important you need to know if we're going to be a team and trust me that it's not easy to tell you this and I understand if you don't want to be near me anymore"
"what could be so bad?" was what was running through their heads when Naruto said that.
"Well, I think I should start by saying that the Naruto you knew was a mask. A mask used to deceive everyone to make them underestimate me and I guess it worked." He paused and looked at the surprised face of their teammates "During our time together you will know the real me and know that I'm nowhere near stupid as I showed."
After that, he paused before adding "I'm sure you have seen the looks people give me around here." When he saw them nod, he continued "What I'm going to tell you, I ask that you don't tell anyone as it is a S-class secret that has death as punishment. I'm going to ask what you know about the Kyuubi attack 12 years ago"
Sasuke said "The Yondaime Hokage risked his life killing the beast" Sakura nodded.
They were astonished when Naruto said "Bullshit"
"What do you mean? That's what Iruka-sensei told us during class" said Sakura
"It is impossible to kill a being completely made of chakra, so the only thing the Yondaime could do, was seal it, but he couldn't seal it in an object. It had to be done in a human being, but an adult already had their chakra coils developed so the only option left was a baby. The baby the Yondaime used to seal the Kyuubi no Kitsune to save the village was me. Not only that, but I also never knew my parents and for all my life I thought they had abandoned me. That is what I wanted to tell you and thank you Kakashi-sensei for understanding" Kakashi nodded softly and sadness was very visible in his lone eye as the man who died sealing the beast was none other than his own sensei.
To say that Sakura and Sasuke were shocked would be the understatement of the year. Everything started to come into place. The glares, the mobs, the name-calling. It was clear why their teammate was treated that way now.
Sasuke was the first to recover from the major shock "He has even had a worse life than me. At least I was loved at some point but he never had a family. Besides having to carry a burden like that alone must be tough. You won't be alone. That is the least I can do. Besides I was starting to doubt if my ambition was what I really wanted or if it was what Itachi had planned all along."
Sakura's thoughts were not that different "Wow I never even knew that he had no family. I guess this is why mom wanted me to be friends with him but I was to stupid following the crowd and caring about my public image."
"So what will you do about it? It is crystal clear that he likes us, so why don't you give him a chance? He's cute and really nice to us. Not to mention what mom said when we were younger."
"I guess you're right but he has to ask me out and it will be as friends. I want to get to know him first. I don't want it to be like the Sasuke thing all over again"
"That's my girl. Now tell him something before he gets worried"
"Naruto, I want you to know that I will help you with whatever you need and that I'm actually happy that its you who holds the Kyuubi as I know you would never use its power for the wrong reasons" Sakura said smiling.
"You know what dobe, you're not as bad as you seem and now that I think about it, you have had a worse life than I had and here you are, looking towards the future rather than at the past. Thank you for helping me realize that I shouldn't dwell in the past. If you ever need anything let me know." Said Sasuke with what seemed to be a smile.
At this point, Naruto had tears in his eyes "Thank you guys, you don't know how much this means to me"
"I have known them for less than an hour and they already made me proud. They will go really far." Kakashi thought "Well now that that is settled, tomorrow meet me at training grounds #7 for your real genin test. Oh and don't eat breakfast sa you will throw up." He said with an eye smile "Ja ne" and he disappeared in a swirl of leaves.
"See you guys tomorrow" said Sasuke as he left.
"So, uh… Sakura-chan …uhmm… would you like to uh have lunch with me?" said Naruto red from the embarrassment of asking the girl of his dreams out.
"Sure" she said smiling but then added "but only as friends as I'm still sorting out my feelings and I would like to get to know you better before anything happens between us"
"Hey I waited for years, I can wait a little more" he said with his foxy grin.
"Let's go then" she said and with that they left towards the Ichiraku ramen stand as it was the only one that let Naruto in.
R&R