A/N: Okay, before we start, here's a little list of warnings.

- This is a NaruSasu/SasuNaru fic. Don't like, don't read.

- Since this is a massive canon divergence, Sasuke's and Naruto's characters are necessarily OOC, although I will try to keep them as close to canon as possible.

- Sakura is necessarily OOC because 1) I don't get her in the canon, so I am going to write her in a way I can understand 2) I always feel that she has so much wasted potential. I plan to make her a more important character later (how that is going to pan out is another story).

- Disturbing, violent, and sexual situations ahead. I will give specific warnings in each chapter, but, yeah, if you might be triggered by any of this, please proceed with care.

- The plotline of this fic follows the manga (because I couldn't find the time to catch up with the anime) up to the Valley of the End (around chapter 18 if you want to skip a chunk). After that the plot diverges from the source material quite a lot, but I'm trying my best to incorporate the source whenever I can.

Announcement: I do realize that I have just decided to write an epic fanfiction and I have to say I'm freaking out (Ahhhh!). I have the first draft written up to chapter 33 but I don't know if I can make it to the end! So if anyone wants to join in, I'm more than happy to collaborate with you guys.

Also English is not my first language so I have problems with word choices, tenses, and punctuations. If anyone is interested in being a beta reader/editor for this story, please pm me. :)

Without further ado, here we go.

Update 31/05/2015: This chapter had been edited by Ashimodo, who patiently go through it with me. This chapter is now way better than what I can put out on my own. Thanks, man!

Chapter 1: A Simple Twist of Fate

It was the dead of night when Sarutobi Hiruzen stepped into the forest. The forest was quiet. Too quiet in fact, like the quietness that only came after a great storm...or before it.

He didn't know which one it was. It could be both.

The shinobi around him worked quietly, marking each speck of blood, each shuriken dropped. All of them avoided him and the small figure standing absolutely still in their midst.

"Naruto," he called out quietly, afraid to disturb the silence, "It is time to go."

Uzumaki Naruto, standing in front of the battered body of his deceased academy teacher, did not reply.

/***/

The news of Umino Iruka's death spread through the academy like wildfire, although in a hushed, terrified tone. Nobody knew exactly what happened. They only knew that Iruka fought bravely to save a forbidden scroll from being taken by an enemy ninja. They knew the culprit was apprehended. They didn't know that it was Mizuki who killed Iruka. They didn't know that it was Naruto who beat Mizuki half dead.

They also didn't know that Mizuki would have been dead if the jounin didn't stop Naruto. By the time they arrived, the shadow clones were all gone, leaving only Naruto who continued to punch Mizuki even though his right hand was already broken. He had to be pulled off with much kicking, screaming, and crying that seemed to go unheard, so after a while he stopped. Naruto hadn't talk much afterwards except in the Hokage's office when the old man questioned him about the incident. After everything, he was asked to keep what happened that night between them.

Not that it stopped Naruto's guilt or anger. Guilt because he was the one that fell for Mizuki's ruse and so dragged Iruka into the whole mess and got him killed. Anger because Mizuki was still alive. Justice hadn't yet been served.

He was allowed to graduate in light of his ninjutsu ability during the incident. Naruto suspected that it was partly a ploy to calm him down, but he accepted it nonetheless. He was exempted from going to briefing if he did not wish to. He knew it was because everyone, unbeknownst of Naruto's involvement, would be talking about Iruka. He told the Hokage that he was a ninja, so he'd do his duty and went anyway.

Probably for the first time in forever, Naruto was grateful for being ignored. Nobody asked him about his right hand, assuming it was an accident from one of his many pranks. They didn't realize that Naruto never pulled a prank that might cause him serious harm because it would be too much trouble. He lived alone with no one to take care of him. A broken right hand from a prank was out of the question. The convenience of the broken hand was that if anyone asked him why he was quiet, he could always say he was drowsy from the medication. No one did, though.

He sat in the back and watched as Sakura walked past him, bounces in her steps, to the still, dull figure of Sasuke Uchiha. She was trying to chat with him, but the Uchiha kept ignoring her. Naruto didn't understand why the guy had to always be such an asshole to their classmates. The Uchiha was a quiet guy, that he understood, but would it killed him to just acknowledged Sakura's existence when she was so nice to him? She was never like that around Naruto, not that he blamed her in light of Mizuki's revelation.

Actually, it all made sense now. After a decade of not knowing why, Naruto finally had an explanation that made his life thus far understandable even if it was still painful. If Iruka could find the heart to see him as Naruto and not the Nine-tails, why didn't everybody else?

His train of thought was interrupted when the teacher walked into the room to announce their teams. The name Uzumaki Naruto barely registered to most of his classmate. Sakura noticed, though. She stood up with a loud "What?" and proceeded to look for him. She had a hard time doing so since Naruto wasn't wearing his trademark orange jacket that day. It was doused in too much blood to be cleaned, so the Hokage offered him another jacket instead. It was white with small black stripes on the rims and along the sleeves. Although, Naruto wasn't partial to it, he didn't have enough clothes or money to say no.

Catching sight of him, Sakura frowned. He just gave her his usual face-splitting grin.

He could avoid his teammates at lunch, but he couldn't do so when they came back for the afternoon briefing and were asked to sit in teams. He slid into his seat beside the Uchiha, who took a look at him from the corner of his eyes and raised his eyebrows at the cast and sling. Naruto made a face that meant "Fuck off" and proceeded to sit in silence. As soon as their Jounin instructor came, it would be over. They were just supposed to get to know each other then Naruto could go home and rest. This briefing was more exhausting than he first thought.

But their jounin instructor didn't show up, not for a long time, long enough for Naruto to doze off in his seat. Sakura starting pacing after a while and the Uchiha, well, he just sat there like he did for the past several hours. Sakura still tried to chat with Sasuke. Sasuke was still ignoring her. And Naruto was just listening to Sakura's voice with his eyes closed.

The nap gave him enough energy to follow their jounin instructor, who appeared phenomenally late, to a walkway where they sat down and began to chat. He asked them to introduce themselves and Naruto, knowing he'd be zapped of energy soon, volunteered to go first.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto. What I like is instant ramen. What I hate is the three-minute wait," he said. The sentences felt like a lie to him, but he went with them anyway. He wasn't allowed to talk about that night, so he couldn't say he hated Mizuki, hated him enough to want to see him hanged with his body swinging in the wind. He didn't know what he liked, not right now. And his dream. "I want to be the strongest ninja," he blurted out. That was how he felt watching Iruka's body lying in the pool of blood. Iruka died because he wasn't strong enough. If he was the strongest ninja, nobody could ever harm the people important to him again. He knew he was probably the weakest in class, but he'd get there somehow.

Sakura looked at him in surprised but didn't say anything. He realized his mistake then. For years he was bragging about a different goal entirely, as late as last week even. Suddenly switching to another would signal to anybody that something was off, so he added, "So I can become Hokage and people will recognize me," and grinned.

The jounin Hatake Kakashi nodded and motioned Sakura to follow. Of course, she liked Sasuke and hated Naruto. It was not a surprise, but he faked a broken-heart expression for her anyway. In truth, he wasn't feeling anything of the sort. He barely felt anything at all, actually. Sakura seemed like a faded presence, as did the Uchiha acting all broody and intense. His dream was to kill somebody. Naruto had a vague idea who it might be. After seeing Iruka fell before his eyes, all he wanted was to kill Mizuki. It was such an all-consuming rage that Naruto knew he could not get out of, not until Mizuki died.

He noticed that Kakashi was looking at him instead of the Uchiha even when his goal wasn't something a thirteen-year-old genin should aspire to. A moment later he noticed Sakura gaping at Sasuke, lost and a little horrified. No, another mistake again. He should have gawked at the bastard or something. He had been too stoic. Stupid medication.

But Kakashi didn't say anything, he simply diverted his attention back to the group. "Right, our first mission is supposedly tomorrow." He paused. "But Naruto here suffered a serious injury to his right hand and can't form any seals right now, so it would be unfair to do it right away. I got special permission to conduct the exam next week instead; that is if he could move his right hand at all by that time."

"Exam?" Sakura blurted out. "But I thought -"

"Your Academy exams are jokes compared to what a real genin has to face," Kakashi continued. "To make sure you have any chance of surviving a genin mission at all, we do survival training. You three will go up against me. If you fail, you will go back to the Academy."

Sakura just gawked at Kakashi, not knowing what to say. Naruto knew she wanted to protest. Sakura had been one of the very smart, very hard-working students coming from a civilian family. Graduating and becoming a ninja had been her goal before Sasuke. But if That Night taught Naruto anything, it was that whatever was taught in the Academy really was a joke. Nothing they had seen had prepared them for an enemy that was out for their blood in the deep darkness of the night.

Naruto shuddered slightly. He fought the urge to hug himself. He wouldn't be weak anymore; he swore to that. He would be strong, stronger than anyone.

Again he noticed Kakashi looking at him from the corner of his eyes. It was brief, but there was a flash of something there that irked Naruto. He bet Kakashi knew what happened. He bet he was ready to fail him just so the Nine-tails boy would never become a ninja.

No, he wouldn't allow that.

"A week then," Naruto said and nodded. His voice was hoarse even to his own ears. Kakashi openly stared at him and then nodded in return. He pulled out a few sheets of paper and handed them around. They were instructions: time, place, and necessary preparations. Naruto barely read it all before they were dismissed.

A week wasn't a long time to heal from a broken hand. It wasn't that bad, but the doctor said he would give it a month with some therapy to ensure that it would be fully functional again. A week was just Kakashi's courtesy so it looked like he gave Naruto a chance. There wasn't a chance for him to use much ninjutsu for this training. Naruto had to come up with something else.

That was why he was on the training field the entire week, testing the ability of his left hand and arm and looking for strategies he could use. Naruto might be dumb, but he wasn't that dumb. He knew he had to get prepared if he wanted to pass.

In that following week, he heard news of people failing. Sixty-six percent failure rate, they said. The number only made Naruto worked harder. Some of the days, he noticed the Uchiha on the training ground as well. Sometimes he would stop by to watch Naruto and stay long enough so he could snort at Naruto's mistake. Naruto just huffed and went back to work.

They pretty much ignored each other until the day of the test. The three of them were there exactly on time without breakfast. He was quite awake, but still pretty groggy from the pain medication. He took a seat on the grass and tried to talk to Sakura as they waited. Sakura, in turn, tried to talk to Sasuke. Sasuke, still as rude as ever, didn't say anything, but he occasionally stared at Naruto's right hand still in the cast and all. Naruto was pretty sure the Uchiha thought he wouldn't make it.

Two hours later, Kakashi finally showed up, giving them a lame excuse about getting lost on the path of life or something. They all set to work soon after Kakashi confiscated their lunch boxes and showed them the two bells.

Just two.

Naruto swore one was going to be his no matter what.

"Come at me with the intent to kill," Kakashi told them, "or you will fail. You can use shuriken if you want."

The intent to kill? Naruto had plenty.

Sakura was clearly very concerned. She tried to warn Kakashi that he would come to harm. Naruto wanted to say that the guy was asking for it. Besides, he was a jounin. For new graduates like them, getting close to him alone would be a problem. Getting the bell would be another thing altogether. Kakashi told them this, in that condescending way of his that made Naruto a little angry.

Just to demonstrate that, Naruto pulled out a kunai with his left hand and aimed it at Kakashi's head. Before anyone could register what was going on, Naruto's hand along with the kunai was bent to the back of his head. The kunai never got the chance to leave his hand. Sakura gasped. He saw comprehension in her eyes. Yes, they were so going to have problems pinning this guy down.

"I haven't said start, yet," Kakashi said, "And aiming a kunai at a random person is dangerous."

"You're not a random person," Naruto said with a smirk.

Kakashi seemed to ponder what he said a little before letting his hand go. Naruto put the kunai back in place. "All right," he said, "Let's start."

At the word "start," Sasuke and Sakura quickly disappeared. Naruto on the other hand simply twisted around. Kakashi quickly jumped out of his reach.

"You weren't going to hide like the others?" he asked. Naruto smirked.

"No, I'd rather take you down NOW!"

With that shout, he pulled out a handful of shuriken and threw them at Kakashi, who didn't even need to dodge them. He simply caught every single one of them. "You really want to kill me," Kakashi said.

"You said I should," Naruto replied.

Kakashi sighed. "There is a difference between the intent to kill and the killing," he said. "You know that."

Naruto's hand clenched. "SHUT UP!" he shouted as he launched himself at Kakashi again. This time it was a kunai. He threw one and quickly followed with another in his hand ready to stab Kakashi. He didn't expect Kakashi to move behind him.

"A ninja isn't supposed to be caught from behind," Kakashi said. From that angle Naruto couldn't see his attack, but he felt it in his bottom when Kakashi shouted "A Thousand Years of Death!"

The power of that hit was enough to send Naruto into a nearby pond. Bad landing place... or maybe not.

He didn't really want to use the shadow clone. It reminded him too much of what happened That Night, but he had no choice. He was going to defeat Kakashi. He was going to get the bell. He was going to be the strongest. He couldn't be the strongest if he faltered on a little thing like this.

He moved two fingers of his right hand into position to form the seal and followed it with his left hand. He managed to create eight clones. One of them used henge to turn into a big windmill shuriken, the others slightly larger than normal shuriken, which was a damn impressive feat if he might say so. He quickly grabbed them and kicked the bedrock, launching himself up with the oversized shuriken in hand, then kicked a boulder closer to the surface to send himself flying. There wasn't much time. He didn't have enough power to suspend himself in midair for long, but the few seconds the jump gave him were enough to aim the windmill shuriken at Kakashi before he fell to the ground.

As he expected, Kakashi dodged it easily. He looked at Naruto who was crouching near the pond still trying to catch his breath. "You're full of anger," he said. "Anger will not make you win."

"I know that," Naruto shouted and got to his feet. He was soaked, hungry, and tired, but he wasn't going to stop yet. He jumped and threw two more shuriken. He didn't wait to see how they were deflected before jumping to Kakashi's left side and throwing more. None of them hit his target, but none of that mattered. What mattered was seeing Kakashi's expression when the windmill shuriken turned into Naruto and grabbed hold of the jounin's back. At the same time, the littered shuriken transformed back into clones that swarmed the masked man under. The plan? Dog-pile Hatake Kakashi into submission.

"Did you get the bells?" Naruto shouted down at the clone who was supposed to hold Kakashi under the pile.

The clone shook his head. "I can't feel it," he said.

Yeah, that's the problem with the plan. He couldn't see Kakashi at all. How could he find the bells?

"He's not here!" One of the clones shouted. Well aware that it might be a ruse, Naruto released his clones anyway. No one was there aside from him.

"DAMMIT!" he shouted into the sky. Kakashi used substitution. He should have known that.

Then he saw something shiny under a tree - a bell. On instinct he moved towards it, but then stopped.

Would Kakashi be careless enough to drop it while he got away? Was he that desperate? No, Kakashi had to be better than that. Naruto smirked. He made another clone who walked forward and grabbed the bell. Sure enough, the trap was activated but not before the clone threw the bell at Naruto and Kakashi took it from mid-air.

"Impressive use of clones," said Kakashi, pocketing the bell as Naruto stood stunned. His clone had already disappeared into a puff of smoke. It didn't even register to him that Kakashi just complimented him. He was just angry, so angry that Kakashi just took what was rightfully his.

"I GOT THAT, BASTARD!" Naruto shouted as he charged in again. Kakashi dodged him easily, like he was dancing while Naruto aimed his fists and feet everywhere in his proximity in hope of hitting Kakashi even once. Before he realized it, Kakashi danced him into a tree. Another trap activated, tying Naruto to the trunk as he kicked and screamed.

"You're too angry, Naruto," Kakashi said patiently. "Your anger is going to become a great liability in the field."

"So? You're going to send me back for that?" he raised his chin in defiance. "I did what you told me to do, sensei. You can't just send me back because I'm pissed off!"

Kakashi sighed again. "You really don't understand, do you?" he said. "Your anger has made you blind, given you tunnel vision. You're not able to think clearly at all or you would've come up with a better plan." Then he turned and walked away. "I'll go take care of your teammates while you calm down."

Naruto groaned as Kakashi disappeared into the bushes. He was so close that he had basically touched the bell, but he still couldn't get it. In essence, he wasn't good enough to be a ninja. He let his head hang as emotions overcome him, and he stopped thinking just for a while.

/***/

Kakashi had the reputation of failing every team he was assigned to, so naturally, when the Hokage asked for an audience with him over lunch, he assumed that it would go something along the line of 'please don't fail them so hard anymore,' despite the fact that the Hokage never implied as such each time he handed in the failed grades.

As it turned out, that was not the case. It even started with an apology from the Hokage. "I know I am asking too much from you this time, Kakashi," the old man said with a sigh. "When the team was originally put together, the circumstances were rather different."

On the table in front of Kakashi were the three files of his students: Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, and Uzumaki Naruto.

Sakura's read like a typical school girl: civilian upbringing, above average intelligence, hard worker, but also easily distracted by fashion and boys.

Sasuke's, on the other hand, read like a tragedy: orphaned at the age of eight, traumatized by his psychopathic brother at the scene of the carnage, hyper-intelligent, secluded, single-minded, cold.

Naruto's file was the one that troubled Kakashi the most: orphaned from birth, bullied, a trouble maker, energetic, fierce protector of other children, almost committed a murder.

Sasuke's behaviour was consistent with his history if not a bit over the top. Naruto's was just chaotic.

"He was the one who stole the forbidden scroll," Kakashi stated flatly.

"Due to Mizuki's influence, yes," the Hokage replied and sighed. "He's a lonely boy. There isn't much I can do to make the villagers accept him. Children are very perceptive of their parents' attitude and give him a wide breadth since he got into the Academy. Only Iruka and Mizuki seemed invested in him."

"Essentially, he has no family, no friends, no one to give him guidance except you," said Kakashi. It was no secret that the fox boy met up with the Hokage often, mostly for the troubles he caused. "With Iruka's death, you're afraid he will become secluded and unstable."

The Hokage sipped his tea and, for a time, seemed lost in his own thoughts. "I don't think he was ever grounded," he said finally. "He also doesn't take orders very well. He has a problem with every authority figure, really."

Kakashi could feel the onset of a migraine creeping up his left temple. "Then why me?" he asked. He didn't have an excellent reputation regarding authority, either.

The Hokage eyed him. There was softness around his eyes that looked as if he was about to laugh. "Because you are not a slicker for rules either, Kakashi. You know how to see underneath the underneath and adapt accordingly. Naruto needs to be able see the underpinnings so he can understand why the rules are there. He and Sasuke also need to learn how to move on."

Kakashi understood then why he was chosen for this team. "Very well," he said. "I will gladly be their teacher if they pass the test."

"If," the Hokage nodded in acknowledgement. He still didn't tell Kakashi to ease up, so he didn't.

/***/

The alarm rang at noon and Kakashi sighed. Finally, the morning was over. He just needed to retrieve his students from their respective places, then he could get something to eat.

Sakura had been exactly as he predicted. She was the weakest of the three in terms of practical techniques, still feeble in mind and body, and the least imaginative. Sasuke was truly a surprise. He had been trained well in ninjutsu and was the smartest in its application. His strength was also his greatest weakness. He was too proud for his own good and did not spend adequate time studying his enemy.

As for Naruto, well, Naruto was definitely problematic. He was chaotic and imaginative, leading him to be unpredictable in the use of his techniques. But he wasn't a clear thinker, unlike Sasuke, and he was governed too much by his rage, a rage directed at his teacher for reasons Kakashi couldn't fathom. It might be the thing about authority figures the Hokage had mentioned, but that in itself was worrisome. If Naruto's aggression was a sign of emotional instability, he might need more help in handling the boy than the Hokage thought.

The thing that alarmed him the most was Naruto's behavior when he came to retrieve him with Sasuke and Sakura. He had expected him to calm down somewhat, but not cheerily greet them while whining about his arms falling asleep. He mostly tried to get Sakura's attention. He definitely got Kakashi's, who did not believe that anyone raging just an hour earlier would be in such high spirits shortly after.

But Kakashi didn't say anything about it. He told them what they needed to be told: they failed. They were pathetic and a disgrace. Honestly, Kakashi often wondered what they taught in the Academy that made all the students he had ever encountered such blatant failures. They all took it hard, of course, as he analyzed every single mistake they had made. They needed to realize that being a ninja was vastly different from what they imagined it to be.

Sakura looked on the verge of tears at the end of it, although she was good at asking questions for clarification. Sasuke lost it and tried to attack him, but failed. As for Naruto, he shouted and screamed. If he wasn't tied up to a tree, he would probably have attacked Kakashi, too. He was seething but also processing what the jounin had said. Out of the three, Naruto seemed to be the closest to understanding what it really took to be a ninja. He even knew about the Memorial Stone, undoubtedly from visiting it himself. The name Umino Iruka was carved there, after all. Yet, he could not surmise the purpose of the training.

"I will give you one more chance after lunch," Kakashi said; "Naruto, you don't get to eat anything."

The three of them were stunned. Even Sasuke looked like he needed an answer.

"Of the three, you failed the hardest," he said, "Your tactic is that of a common punk. You are driven almost solely by your emotion. I have told you this before when I left you to reflect on it. I want you to reflect some more in light of what I just said." Sasuke looked like he was about to protest, but Kakashi turned to him. "You'll be tied to a tree as well if you say another word, Uchiha. You and Sakura can have lunch, but don't give anything to Naruto or you will fail. He needs to think."

In truth, Sakura was actually the one who failed the hardest. Her emotions were all over the place and she couldn't even counter him. But he needed to observe Naruto's mood. If the profile was correct, Naruto would be beyond angry with Kakashi. He needed to know what the boy might do.

He didn't wait for Sakura to recovered from the shock or for Sasuke to come up with a protest. He was the rule. He told them that and disappeared, leaving the kids among themselves.

Sakura, as shaken as she was, was the first to reach for the lunch box. Sasuke seemed deep in thought for a while before he reached for his as well. Naruto held his chin high and ignored the growling of his stomach. There was a seething silence again, but he didn't share his thoughts with his teammates.

Kakashi noticed Sasuke watching Naruto as his stomach growled on. Then, surprising all of them, he held his lunch box towards the blond boy. "You'll slow us down if you don't eat," he said. Naruto just blinked at him without comprehension.

"But- Sasuke-kun, if Kakashi-sensei -" Sakura began her protest.

"I don't sense him anywhere close by. We'll be alright," Sasuke reassured her as he began to pick a roll up with his chopsticks and held it to Naruto's mouth. "Besides, people can't think with an empty stomach. His order is just bullshit."

Sakura coughed at the comment. Naruto, finally comprehending what was going on, opened his mouth and ate the roll.

Satisfied that Naruto was eating, Sasuke picked another roll and ate it with the same chopsticks. Sakura made another distressed sound before she slapped her face twice, picked up her box and chopsticks, and came to stand in front of Naruto. "You can have mine, too," she said as she picked up a bite-size piece of sausage. "You won't get enough from just sharing Sasuke-kun's lunch."

Naruto ate the sausage quickly with a smile. "Sakura-chan's lunch is the best," he said with a wide smile at her. Sasuke rolled his eyes, muttered something about ungrateful dopes, and fed him a piece of sweetened egg. "Yours isn't bad either, Sasuke," Naruto said and beamed at both of them. "Thanks."

So much for observing Naruto handling his anger, but, in all honestly, this was much better than anything Kakashi could have hoped for.

/***/

End Chapter 1