—x—

The Path Untaken

Rated: T/M (swearing; canon-typical violence)
Genre: General (Friendship/Drama/Angst/Adventure/Humour)
Main Characters: Uzumaki Naruto | Uchiha Sasuke | Haruno Sakura | Hatake Kakashi | Hyūga Hinata
Story Summary: In another world, Uzumaki Naruto would've chased a childhood dream of becoming Hokage, in a wild bid to gain the respect and affection of his village. In another world, he would've made a rival out of a boy who only had enough room for vengeance in his heart. This is not that world. Or: Kakashi, newly appointed sensei and unfortunate brat-sitter, gets stuck with not one, not two, but three secretive little shits. He did not sign up for this. [OOC AU] [heavily Team 7 centric] [BAMF Konoha 12 & Sand Sibs] [Tsundere Sealmaster Naruto] [Anxious Underachiever Sasuke] [Charismatic Trickster Sakura] [Rebellious Prodigy Hinata]

—x—X—x—

Part I: Prologue
A Spot of Tea

—x—X—x—

—x—

x

Children, barely old enough to be seen as adults in the eyes of Konohan law, clamour in the hallway of the third floor of the academy, chattering away as they look for their names on the board. They are this year's graduating batch of students-turn-Genin, eager to grow up and to celebrate this major milestone in their lives, to boast to their friends and families of their momentous achievement.

He doesn't know why they even bother.

Naruto lingers back, not particularly interested in squeezing into the gaggle of kids, moving as one like a grotesque entity of skinny limbs and bobbing heads. There hasn't been a single person in the entire history of Konoha to have failed the graduation exams — most who don't have an aptitude for the ninja business drop out before the second to last term — and it's unlikely anyone has this year, so he doesn't get why they're even checking.

This knowledge made Naruto especially uninterested with the results. No one seems to share his lack of enthusiasm, however. His classmates have been pushing and shoving and nattering away in front of the board for the past ten minutes from the moment the bell had rung, cluttering the hallway and comparing ranks and scores like it mattered at all how well you did in paper tests when you're out on the battlefield fighting for your lives. Even Hinata had found the energy to drag Uchiha Sasuke to the front, drawing a dainty finger down the announcement board in search of their names.

"Rank 122 of 243," Naruto hears her drawl and sees her cast Sasuke an unimpressed look from beneath her choppy fringe. "How ridiculously average."

"Shut up," he tells her, without heat. If anything, he sounds petulant and somewhat snide as he continues pointedly, "I didn't study. Didn't have the time to, because someone decided to barge into my house and drag me all over Konoha the day before—"

Naruto wonders if he realises Hinata has stopped listening after the second word, casually smoothing down her loose, dishevelled, low-sitting braids over her shoulders.

Perhaps more shocking is that Nara Shikamaru had bothered to step out of the classroom to check the board as well. Haruno Sakura is with him, which would make sense, except he appears to have left his seat of his own volition and not at her insistence.

"Yes!" She crows, laughing so abruptly and loudly that everyone around her flinches from her volume. She bounces on her heels, her short, twin pigtails swaying madly and slapping at least one disgruntled student in the face as she whips her head to the boy beside her. "Shika-kun! Look, look! I'm last!"

Shikamaru leans forward to squint at the end of the list. Then he groans.

"Ugh, I can't believe it. A perfect 50%. I got a 51.5%…"

Sakura cackles, rubbing her palms in a decidedly nefarious manner.

"YES! I WON."

Naruto is sure that he doesn't want to find out what that's about.

Beside the mismatched pair, Akimichi Chōji and Yamanaka Ino are surveying the board carefully, gazing at the other end of the list; Naruto easily picks her out of the crowd, her long, thick platinum blond hair tied high on her head, skewed slightly to the right and adding an illusion of height. It makes her companion look short by comparison. Though all he can see is her back, Naruto can tell she is boring a hole at her name, staring with an intensity that she would never spare another human being.

Unless it's him, that is. It's one of the great mysteries of academy and Naruto, all too used to unprovoked glares, finds he can't care to find out the reason behind one girl's ire. But it is intriguing and, despite her hostility and his own initial disdain for her constant stares, like she's trying to pick him apart, Naruto has almost made it a game of how infuriated he can make her.

"Second place…" She whispers, aggravation low in her voice. Naruto considers leaving, but thinks better of it. He's curious if she'll turn one of her glares on him.

"You did well!" Chōji cheers, not seeming to notice her displeasure. "You scored 95%!"

Ino turns on her heel and meets his eyes, her gaze bright and sharp like glass behind the strands of her fringe obscuring her face, contrasting her pallid complexion and dark eye bags.

Ah, there it is. Naruto raises a brow imperiously, pretending he has no idea why she's so aggrieved.

Sitting above her name — No. 2 Yamanaka Ino — is his own.

No. 1 Uzumaki Naruto … … … … … 96%

Their stare-down is broken when the door to their classroom snaps open, their harried teacher pacing away and trying to escape from Inuzuka Kiba, only to be sabotaged by Akamaru nipping at the poor Chūnin's ankles.

"Hey. Hey! No biting! Bad boy! Bad!"

"Sensei!" Kiba whines, trembling with fury, "Don't dodge the question! You didn't answer me!"

The gaggle of children stops at once and all heads turn to watch them. Iruka groans, gazing up at the ceiling and praying to the Sage for patience.

"Why am I ranked so low?! 54%?! I'm sure I executed the techniques for the ninjutsu section perfectly! And don't get me started on the written tests! I calculated! From what I studied, I should have at least a 70% overall score when you factor in the weightage of each section. Except for the questions that are basically useless knowledge that we would never need, I answered and did everything perfectly! Why is it 54%?!"

Iruka deadpans. "Should I be impressed by this…? Why can't you show more enthusiasm in the content itself rather than calculating the marks like that?"

"Ugh," Kiba rolls his eyes, expression darkening, "Trust me, I wouldn't have bothered at all if my mother hadn't breathed down my neck about it. She's going to kill me for this."

"I can respect that," Shikamaru drawls to no one, nodding solemnly. Chōji snorts.

Kiba whips around and yells, "Says the guy who got second last place in the whole grade!"

Shikamaru shrugs, clearly unable to care very much. As much as Naruto disregards the reliability of paper results, he thinks the Nara heir must be a weirdo, to prioritise whatever bizarre competition he's having with Haruno Sakura over his own grades. Aren't clan heirs supposed to care a bit more about their performance? Glory to the clan and all that.

As if to refute that line of thought, the one person whom he knows cannot give less of a shit about clan glory speaks up just then.

"Hm," Hinata hums in consideration, before voicing out, "I'm also curious. I didn't study at all for the written tests but achieved 92%," she jabs a finger at the board, her name written right below Ino's. It's proof to Naruto that the academy grading system is kind of garbage (like everything else about the academy), because he's pretty sure Hinata could kick both his and Ino's ass at the same time — and probably still have energy to spare to deal with the fourth best of their cohort, Aburame Shino — whom, now that Naruto is paying attention, has apparently vanished without a trace since the bell had rung. "Was there another section besides ninjutsu application and written tests?"

"Of course there was," Iruka sighs tiredly and Kiba nearly launches himself on his back in frothing rage.

"What?! Another section?! Sensei, did you sabotage us?"

"Whoa, plot twist," Sakura stage-whispers with exaggerated shock, sounding distinctly like someone who is in on the secret. Shikamaru sends her a look.

"I didn't sabotage you," Iruka huffs irritably, offended by the accusation. "Yes, I wasn't supposed to tell you. But you lot were supposed to figure it out. Some of you must have," he notes, gaze flitting between the unsurprised faces of a few. "Remember the last sparring session held before exam week? That was the taijutsu section. You were graded on how quickly and effectively you took down your opponent, your ability to adapt and overcome, your form and technique, and so on. It has the heaviest weightage. Hinata scored the highest in that section, with extra credit, so that significantly boosted her overall score."

Naruto notices Sasuke favouring her with a dirty look. If memory serves, he had been her opponent that day. Hinata is notorious in class 6-C for being an absolutely vicious fighter, all quick movement and smooth strikes and zero mercy. There are very few within their class who could match her in terms of speed and even fewer who would be motivated enough to fight back with the promise of pain bearing down their heads.

Sasuke is neither motivated or vicious. In fact, Naruto can't recall a single instance where the other boy sparred without a hint of hesitation. He's a reluctant fighter and Naruto has no idea why he's even here training to be a shinobi when he so obviously does not have the temperament or stomach for it.

He has Hinata making enough snide comments during their experimentation sessions together to know she doesn't understand, either.

"Wait…" Kiba mutters, a manic grin forming on his face, "Oh. Oh, I see."

"Uh," Iruka cringes, not liking the glint in the boy's eyes.

"So you didn't give us a head's up," Kiba says, baring his teeth in an unsmile, "And graded us just like that when we weren't prepared… If that's the case, then it's fair if we demand to be re-graded, right?"

Stone-faced, Naruto shoulders his bag and tries to leave in the chaos, as he had intended before stopping in the hallway on a whim.

"Actually… I don't get to decide that…"

Not hearing him, Kiba turns and yells at Naruto's back. "UZUMAKI NARUTO!"

Naruto groans. "Shit…"

"I WANT A REMATCH!"

Not even considering their audience, Naruto glances over his shoulder to give Kiba, and his offending finger, the stink-eye.

He sighs and closes his eyes.

"No choice," he says aloud — which makes the entire cohort prematurely buzz with excitement at the prospect of a fight — until he snaps forward and breaks into a mad dash.

"Ah," Hinata deadpans in the background, as everyone falls silent in their shock, "He's escaping."

Kiba gapes, mouth falling open. "Wha— HEY! DON'T RUN, YOU COWARD, FACE ME!"

"Hell no!" Not rising to the bait, Naruto runs faster, the other boy hot on his heels as they trailblaze down the hall. "I'm done with academy! No rematch! You're going to make me miss the sale at the marketplace!"

"What sale?!" Kiba blasts, enraged, "Never mind that. I'll trounce you faster than you can blink!"

"As if! Buzz off, Inuzuka!"

Naruto races to the end of the hall and doesn't bother taking the stairs one step at a time, leaping over the railings to reach to the bottom. He doesn't expect Kiba to deadass crash in his direction with a Gatsuga, obliterating at least two floors worth of steps. Naruto swaps himself with the battered remains of an old training dummy someone left lying around, in time to skid down to the first floor, debris raining down on his blond head.

"What the fuck, what the fuck!"

Is he insane?

"Narutooo!" Kiba roars, emerging from the dust cloud with Akamaru— fuck, no wait, he used the combination technique. There's two Kibas after him, now.

"You're crazy!" Naruto yells over his shoulder, "Why the fuck are you using your clan's hidenjutsu?! The match was taijutsu-only!"

"This isn't the match!" Kiba shouts back, which is the only reason Naruto knows which is the real him, "This is me hunting your ass down!!"

"Sage's left ass cheek," Naruto swears, taking a sharp turn as the other, younger students flatten themselves against the walls to avoid the two juggernauts. He barely notices Konohamaru as he dashes past, skidding under a whiteboard two startled fourth-years are moving before leaping to his feet.

"Woo! Naruto-niichan, get him!"

"Ugh!" Naruto doesn't deign to reply.

Deciding the main gates are much too far from where he is, Naruto finds the closest window and throws himself out, landing on his feet and immediately breaking into a run. The sharp turn isn't going to confuse Akamaru's nose or throw the mad duo off his track, but an open space should at least guarantee a higher chance of escape.

Something crashes behind him. Naruto curses, refusing to look back.

"FIGHT ME, NARUTO!" Kiba yells, loud enough to be heard all over Konoha. Naruto has never felt so much secondhand embarrassment in his life.

"SHUT UP!" He screams back, too incensed in his incredulity to see it coming when something bursts from the ground beneath his feet, knocking him off balance and right back into Kiba, who seizes him from behind and catches his flailing arms in a deadlock.

Naruto finds himself gaping. Did Akamaru just…use Gatsuga to drill his way underground?

He doesn't know why this shocks him so much. He's always known Kiba's clan techniques are absurd as all hell — and the other boy's just ridiculous enough to use it in such a way.

"Gotcha!" Kiba crows triumphantly into his ear, as Akamaru stops spinning and approaches with Kiba's grin, cocking a fist. "Get him, boy!"

Akamaru draws his fist back — and punches Kiba point-blank.

…

…

…

"Wow… Knocked out by his own dog."

"…Embarrassing."

"Uzumaki-kun escaped. I win the bet!"

"Ugh."

"Pay up, pay up!"

"He's drooling."

"Disgusting."

"Is he even alive?"

It takes Kiba several minutes and a lot of prodding from the rest of their classmates — Hinata was kicking him, what the hell — before he can sit up with a clear head again. He stares blearily at them, then grasps at empty air uncomprehendingly.

"That guy…"

He feels his disbelief mounting into a fury.

"…he actually sent a clone to class on graduation day?!"

—x—

—x—X—x—

—x—

"I'm missing the sale," Naruto grouses as he enters the Hokage's office, closing the door behind him with a nonchalant foot. The Sandaime watches with him an amused air, exhaling smoke from his pipe.

"No, you're not. You sent a clone."

Naruto doesn't bother to deny, throwing his shoulder bag haphazardly on the ground and then himself into the plush seat opposite the wizened Professor.

He can't even begin to count the number of times he's found himself here, sinking into the chair at the Hokage's office after an insufferably long day at class. The Sandaime nudges a cup towards him.

"Here. Have a cup of tea."

Naruto takes it without complaint.

"Now, what is this I hear about property damage inflicted onto the academy building?"

He sneers, a total change from his previously annoyed but benignant demeanour. The Hokage tolerates this patiently.

"It wasn't me this time!" Naruto snaps angrily, temper rising, before knocking back the tea in one gulp and letting it scald his throat. Indignant, he takes the whole pot and pours himself some more, ranting. "Inuzuka got pissed off about the supposed taijutsu portion of our final grading and demanded a rematch from me and a regrade from the teacher and I got pulled in even though all I wanted was to get some chicken at the marketplace sale for dinner and he. fucking. accosted me. I didn't even provoke him! I was making a retreat! What the hell is with that guy?!"

He takes a deep breath, then glares over the rim of his cup.

"I'm still graduating, right?"

"Of course you are," The Hokage chortles in amusement, "I just wanted to know the full story."

Naruto scowls. "You can have the full story from the entire academy. Everyone saw him chasing me, from the first years to the graduands. I was not the aggressor — and I was definitely not the one who destroyed part of the school building."

"Yes, yes," the elderly man appeases him, "I never thought you were. Speaking of which, my boy, I hear you have done exceptionally well. Rookie of the Year, eh? Good job, Naruto."

Calming from the change of topic, Naruto simply shrugs, not really caring. The title of "Rookie of the Year" doesn't actually have that much weight to it when he thought of all those times Hinata had effortlessly trounced him in combat. It was just luck that he hadn't been paired off against her for his spar. And unlike Ino, Naruto doesn't care for rankings. It isn't going to get him more missions or a fatter paycheck, so what use is it?

"It's nothing," Naruto says, meaning it, but nonetheless feels his neck warm at the proud, grandfatherly smile the man is giving him. He hurries to change the subject once more, embarrassed. "But forget that. You still remember what you promised me three years ago, right?"

"Yet, I hear you left a shadow clone in class today. That goes against our agreement."

Naruto rolls his eyes. He remembers the terms well, too well to goof up on the very last day of academy. It was an unofficial, impromptu arrangement, after one of his clones erupted into smoke during one of his classes when he was nine and it reached the Hokage's ears that he'd been skipping. "Why bother?" Naruto remembers asking, his bland tone belying his rage, "No one actually teaches me anything."

He hasn't forgotten the look on the man's face — carefully blank as though to veil some unnamed emotion — nor has he forgotten how the Hokage had offered him no answers and instead blatantly swerved the topic to an offer he could not refuse, in exchange for his own promise to continue to attend the classes himself. A reward hefty and significant enough that Naruto was not only willing to wait three years to see it to fulfilment, but also sit in on those dreadful lectures in person during that span of time.

So, no, he definitely wouldn't have screwed up in such a way, to obediently follow the terms only to throw it all away on the last day of his long wait. It would've been so silly a mistake that Naruto would probably laugh and cry and murder someone — possibly himself.

"It wasn't a clone," he huffs, affronted by the accusation, "And can you really trust Inuzuka Kiba to tell the difference between a bunshin and a kawarimi?"

A grey brow raises. "A kawarimi requires you to swap your body with another object. Are you suggesting you swapped in air in your place?"

"I swapped with Inuzuka," Naruto deadpans, then taps his skull, "His bruise is at the back of his head, right? I used kawarimi to shift our position around. That's it. It isn't hard to do it. If it had just been a kage bunshin, Akamaru would've went straight through the clone and punched him in the face. After he got disoriented, I left."

The Sandaime considers his words, before finally smiling.

"Very well," he says and the blond can't tell if he believes him or is letting it slide, because Naruto thinks he might scream and snap if the Hokage chose to call their deal quits and even the strongest shinobi in the village would not want to put up with one of his Tantrums. "Now, I believe I owe you something — your graduation gift."

Naruto feels his pulse accelerate with excitement as the Hokage reaches into a drawer — and is immediately baffled when he withdraws a solid wooden chest no larger than a jewellery box, ornate in design but possessing no visible lock or latch. It is only when Sarutobi pushes it towards him that Naruto sees the looping lines imprinted on the dark wood, holding the cover close like intertwining ribbons.

Seals.

"You didn't say it was sealed," Naruto huffs, but hefts the chest greedily into his lap, eyes shining. It weighs lighter than he expects. He lets himself entertain the idea that maybe the Hokage tricked him and it's really empty inside, but decides to withhold judgement when he upturns it and lets his eyes follow the lines of the seal on the bottom of the box. A mass seal. That would ensure no one would be able to figure out what's inside without actually opening it — no amount of jostling would give away the size or weight of whatever could be inside and, in his hands, it certainly did not feel like anything could be inside at all.

That part is nothing special. Naruto would go as far as to call it beginner level, being that it's one of the first seals he had ever learnt. A similar array is imprinted to the inside of his school-bag, carefully drawn with fabric ink and infused with his chakra.

But the rest of it… There are bits and pieces he recognises, but nothing concrete to tell him what each part is supposed to do. Like fractures of a sentence without the grammar to properly string it together.

The Hokage is watching him, something wry in his tone as he says, "I know how stubborn you are. Even if I told you, you would've gladly taken the challenge, wouldn't you?"

Naruto doesn't reply, scrutinising the sealwork.

"I've never seen something like this before… There are so many seals overlapping over one another that I can't tell where one ends and another begins… Is this really fūinjutsu?" He puzzles over it, prodding what he perceives to be the keyhole of the seal with a smidge of his chakra.

It zaps him — then shifts entirely into a different seal.

"Holy shit," he breathes, enraptured.

"Careful," the Sandaime cautions, lips quirked in amusement. "The seal tightens the more you try to force it apart. It was designed to resist unravelling."

Naruto furrows his brows, sticking the tip of his finger in his mouth to sooth the sting. "So no one has ever opened it? And you're sure what I want is inside? Not some of her old personal belongings or whatever?"

"Well, theoretically speaking, anything could be in it," The man waves a hand dismissively, to the blond's annoyance. He laughs at the face Naruto makes. "But if her words are to be believed, Lady Mito stored her notes on her work inside. She claimed she won't ever consider taking in an apprentice who can't even figure out an "amateur, basic seal like this" and no one ever did manage to break it. Not during her time and not after her passing. Given that none of her work was left behind, I can only trust that she was speaking the truth when she said she stored all of it away in there."

Naruto grumbles, considering the box carefully with new eyes. It's strange to think that no one has succeeded in prying it open, but that's supposed to be normal for seals, he reminds himself. Seals are supposed to never be opened by those who shouldn't know how. If they got pieced apart until they break, then that's not a proper seal. And right here in front of him is one. It doesn't stretch or crumble or collapse itself when prodded, but shifts entirely into something new instead.

A true seal. Naruto struggles to breathe. The work of the Lady of Seals…

This is my birthright.

"You won't be the first to try and decode it," the Hokage says, snapping him out of his trance, "There have been others who tried and failed, others who were Sealmasters in their own right. Even I couldn't break it."

Naruto looks up, then, gaze searing.

"Were any of them like me?"

Sarutobi knows what he is asking. He hesitates.

"Two were. One of them is Lady Mito's own granddaughter. The other was a refugee who fled here after Uzushiogakure fell."

Mito's granddaughter failed to open it? Naruto frowns, suddenly less sure of himself.

"Hm. So only one of them is alive," Naruto considers, not noticing the change in the Hokage's expression as he watches the seal recede into its original formation. "I still wonder why Konoha never tried to look for stragglers, if they really were so tight with Uzushio."

"Naruto…"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. The wars." Naruto sighs, moving to shove the box into his school-bag, before reconsidering and upending the contents of his bag on the floor. He sorts the books and arranges it neatly on the corner of the Hokage's desk, to the man's bemusement.

"What are you doing?"

"I don't need these anymore," Naruto declares, "But I've written notes in them. Now that I'm genin, I won't have the time to help Konohamaru with his school work, so just give him this when he barges in later to harass you. It'll help him, I think."

The Hokage smiles warmly at this.

"I'll tell him. Thank you for looking out for him, Naruto. That boy can be a real handful."

Startled, Naruto ducks his head in embarrassment, rolling his eyes and pretending to be exasperated. "Tell me about it, he's such a brat."

"I heard my name!" Konohamaru barrels into the room just as Naruto tucked the sealed box into his bag and shouldered it. The blond turns in time to catch the younger boy in the stomach as he crashes into him, vibrating with excitement.

"Ow," Naruto emits flatly, only to go completely unheard.

"You did it, you did it, nii-chan! You're Rookie of the Year, right?! I heard! Where's your hitae-ate, lemme see it, lemme see!"

"Okay, okay, let go first," Naruto squirms out of Konohamaru's grasp, exhaling a put-upon sigh as he drops his newly-issued forehead protector in the starry-eyed boy's grubby little hands. Naruto doesn't think it particularly impressive, just some piece of steel, but Konohamaru is gaping at it like it is the most sacred thing he's ever laid eyes on.

"So cool," he whispers, then louder, "So cool!"

"It's…okay," Naruto responds haltingly, not seeing whatever Konohamaru is. The little boy is immediately affronted by this lack of enthusiasm.

"Eh! Be a little more excited! You only become genin once!"

"I'll get excited when I'm jōnin," Naruto snarks, rolling his eyes and plucking his hitae-ate from the boy's hands, "How about you take your studies a bit more seriously? Then when you graduate top of the class, you can get excited."

"I'll get excited either way! I don't care if I'm at the top or bottom. You said before it won't matter anyway."

"Oh, you listened. What's this. I'm shocked."

Konohamaru whines, but Naruto just rolls his eyes again and ruffles the boy's unruly hair. He walks to the window and perches himself on the sill like a monkey, waving over his shoulder at the Hokage.

"Thanks, jijii. I'll get it open in a month. Look forward to it!"

Sarutobi lets his eyebrows rise to his hairline, but Naruto has already left, throwing himself out of the window and eliciting many startled squeals from the civilians loitering in the streets below.

"What confidence," the old man laughs, shaking his head. Konohamaru frowns.

"Open what? Did you give him something, jii-chan?"

Sarutobi just gives an enigmatic smile and taps at the stack of books Naruto left behind with the end of his smoking pipe.

"He left you something."

Konohamaru sweeps off the ash and opens the topmost book. He groans.

"It's three years too early to study this!"

The Hokage laughs again.

—x—

—x—X—x—

—x—

Elsewhere, Inuzuka Kiba grumpily walks through the streets of Konoha, having just left the Hokage Tower. He had exchanged sneers with Naruto as the brunet left the office and the blond entered, both having been called to the Professor's office in light of the fiasco that happened during after-school hours. Knowing the lecture (from his sister) and the walloping (from his mother) that await him at home, Kiba finds himself loitering outside now, determined to soak up his last bit of freedom before he gets put under house arrest, to be allowed to leave only for training and missions.

"Can't believe him," he grumbles, but Akamaru just yips cheerfully on his head and Kiba groans, "Whose side are you on?! That guy's a dick."

Akamaru whines, curling up to take a nap and quite blatantly ignoring his human partner's grievances. Kiba scowls, too absorbed in his petulance, and almost walks by his classmates' table at a barbeque outlet.

"Inuzuka-kun?" A friendly voice chirps and he turns to glower, only to flush when the curious gaze of one Haruno Sakura meets his eyes. She beams, the girlish pigtails at each side of her head bouncing in delight, bright-eyed. "Oh, it is you! Are you sulking outside because your mum kicked you out?"

"What? No!" Kiba splutters, deeply insulted. "I'm just — taking a walk! I'm walking Akamaru!"

Hinata sticks her head out of the other window, appraising him coolly. "Your dog is sitting on your head."

"So he kicked himself out?" A voice asks from inside, which he recognises as the lax drawl of Nara Shikamaru. Kiba feels his face redden in embarrassment.

"Hey, shut up! I'm just enjoying the night air!"

"He probably just left the Hokage's building," A softer voice says and Kiba catches a flash of blond as the Yamanaka heiress peers around Sakura's cheerful face and stares vaguely at his chin. "Are you still graduating?"

He's about to hurl an insult about second placers being first losers, because what kind of question is that? Of course he's graduating! But he says none of that, because Sakura's eyes light up as she smiles prettily at him and he's woefully distracted by this.

"Ooh, ooh! You saw the Professor? I never met him up close before. What was he like? Was he scary? He looks pretty scary. Hey, do you wanna come in and eat with us? This is Chō-kun's favourite restaurant. It's really good! Always trust an Akimichi's tastes! Come on, come on, eat with us!"

"So pushy," Hinata mutters across from here, which he thinks is an irony all by itself, coming from her. Baffled, Kiba lets himself be cajoled into joining them, partly because he really is hungry but also partly because Haruno Sakura is cute and nice and — Akamaru likes her. Yeah.

He is disappointed to find the only free seat is beside Uchiha Sasuke, who gives him a tight smile and a polite but terribly distant nod, and Sakura is seated the furthest she can possibly be from him, diagonally across in the opposite booth sandwiched between the window and Ino.

He's not sure whether to be personally insulted or not when Sasuke stands up and wiggles out of the booth before Kiba can even sit down, making sheepish apologies about needing to leave for some business.

"There's something really important that I have to do today," is all he offers as he collects his bag from beneath their seats, pays for his share and flees the establishment, leaving Kiba little choice but to sit beside Hyūga Hinata. She only shrugs indifferently when those at the table send her questioning looks as Sasuke leaves, and goes back to her food without even glancing at Kiba.

"We were just talking about team placements!" Sakura explains as Chōji returns from the buffet stand with a stack of trays of raw meat, plopping down beside Kiba. The movement is jarring enough that it stirs Akamaru from his nap, yawning highly. Sakura stops to coo and starts making grabby hands at him.

"You mean placing bets," Shikamaru sighs on Ino's other side, as Kiba hands Akamaru to Sakura with the puppy's permission.

"Oh, we're not placing bets about you guys," Sakura huffs, cradling the puppy to her chest, "Another generation of Shika-Ino-Chō is practically guaranteed."

"Ino-Shika-Chō," Chōji politely corrects, flipping the meat on the grill and diligently allocating each cooked piece onto his classmates' plates. Kiba fumbles with his bowl, feeling awkward and thanking the other boy gruffly. It makes him feel guilty for trying to pick on him, once upon a time, despite having long apologised for it.

"Naruto-san, Kiba-san and Hinata-san would make a high power combat team," Chōji continues after a beat, as he digs into his own share. Kiba nearly chokes on his beef.

"What? Me and those two monsters?"

Hinata raises a brow, but says nothing to this. "That would be extremely imbalanced. Frontline teams aren't in high demand in peacetime, either."

"Hinata, Sasuke and Naruto," Kiba offers his two cents, "Can't imagine Hinata and Sasuke being apart. Plus, two dōjutsu in a single team would be pretty sick. You're also the only one who actually speaks to Naruto."

"You also speak to him," she points out.

"I do not," Kiba sneers, hellbent on denying any kind of amicable relationship between him and the other boy. Shikamaru snorts at them.

"Is that what they call it these days? You both just always fight with him, completely unprovoked."

"He provokes me all the time!" Kiba fumes, but Shikamaru isn't having it, dismissing his protests with a nonchalant wave of a hand. Hinata doesn't even bother to deny, taking delicate sips of her tea.

"Well, Sasuke could probably keep them in line. He's calm enough to balance out that overzealousness."

"Wouldn't he just get stressed out?" Chōji wonders, looking concerned.

"They wouldn't put two dōjutsu in one team," Ino says, daintily scooping rice into her mouth with her chopsticks, "That would be a grave mistake to make. A beacon for bloodline stealers."

"Seconded," Sakura raises a hand, like they're still in class, with Akamaru tucked in her other arm, "They're gonna separate Natahime and Uchiha-kun."

"Will he be okay if that happens?" Chōji pipes up with a furrow of his brows, but Hinata just scoffs into her drink.

"Why wouldn't he be? He isn't a kid and I'm not his babysitter."

"Tracker team!" Sakura exclaims before an awkward silence between them can settle in, holding up Akamaru's front paws, "There's gonna be a tracker team, mark my words! Me, Inuzuka-kun and Natahime!"

Kiba is too busy gaping at the idea of being on the same team as the rosette to question her on how exactly she fits in that, with no tracking abilities or dōjutsu to speak of. Hinata only eyes her over the rim of her teacup and says nothing.

"No," Ino says instead, "Two males, one female. That's the tradition."

"Tradition," Hinata scoffs derisively, at the same time as Kiba decides to dig his grave, "Hinata is practically a guy anyway."

She elbows him hard in the ribs and he never sees it coming, knee banging against the underside of the table in his shock as he chokes on his rice.

"Hey! No fighting!" Chōji yells, uncharacteristically upset. Hinata goes back to sipping her tea, her deceptively cherubic face the very picture of innocence.

"Hmmmm," Sakura deflates at Ino's words, not seeming to hear or see the commotion in front of her even as Ino frowns disapprovingly and Shikamaru's lip curls in distaste at this disturbance in their peace. "If not Uchiha-kun or Uzumaki-kun… Inuzuka-kun, Natahime and Aburame-kun?"

"You know that might put you on the same team as Uchiha and Uzumaki, right?" Shikamaru drawls, "And it'd make sense, too, if you consider your rankings. Top rookie, dead last and the ridiculously average guy. It'd be balanced."

"Oh, right!" She says with excessive cheer, casting a sly gaze at the Nara heir, "I'm dead last."

"Ugh," he groans, "I get it, I get it. Next week, okay?"

"Did you guys bet on something?" Kiba asks, rubbing his sore ribs as he shoots the girl beside him a dirty look. All he receives is a disgruntled scowl from Shikamaru and a diabolical little giggle from the rosette. He turns to Chōji for answers.

"They made a bet on who can get a perfect 50%," Chōji shrugs, "Sounds harder than getting a 100%, if you ask me. I didn't expect Sakura-chan to actually make it."

Kiba is baffled. "But why the hell for?"

Sakura just laughs, singing, "Secret~!"

"Well, good luck if you do get that team," Hinata tells her abruptly, expression utterly serious, "I'm baton passing those two idiots to you. Have fun with them."

"Hm?" Sakura's smile is less assured now, the outer corners of her brows dropping in uncertainty. Kiba privately thinks the expression is cute and struggles not to show it. "Uzumaki-kun and Uchiha-kun? Can't be that bad, right?"

Hinata levels her with a look.

"Pray they decide you're too useless and put another girl from our class with them instead," is all Hinata says, picking up the teapot and refilling her cup.

—x—

—x—X—x—

—x—

"Absolutely not!" Utatane Koharu declares, derisively tossing the manila folder of Academy Instructor Umino Iruka's team placement recommendations on the oak table and letting it skid across the polished wood. "Preposterous! We cannot put the last Uchiha with the Hyūga heiress and the Kyūbi host! That's a disaster waiting to happen. A disaster in every sense of the word!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen does not deign to give a reply straightaway, leisurely setting his teapot down on the portable stove and picking up his cup. He has read the recommendations beforehand, of course. Umino Iruka had passed in his report just a few minutes after the man's most accomplished student had leapt from the Hokage Tower's window and Hiruzen was allowed just enough time to peruse it before the scheduled inner council meeting with his old teammates.

Well, officially, it's with only them and no one else, but he isn't Hokage for nothing. Hiruzen knows just as well that Danzō is listening just beyond the wall in the weakest point of the secrecy seal and the words he says next to rebuke Koharu is meant more for Danzō than it is for her.

"And why not, old friend? Are you worried about another noble clan trying to seize power?"

Koharu fumes, red-faced. Anger, perhaps, for the accusation in his deceptively relaxed tone. Or maybe shame, shared between all three for the tragedy of the loss of the Uchiha. (He isn't sure Danzō is capable of feeling shame at this point. Perhaps it is the price of living in the darkness for too long.)

"Peace, Hiruzen," Homura interjects, perfectly calm, and sends a look of warning to Koharu, who huffs and sips her own tea. "You know that's not what Koharu means. Even you must admit that putting these three on the same team cannot bode well."

Hiruzen thinks over it. He cannot argue with that. The council has been eyeballing the close relationship between the Hyūga heiress and the last Uchiha even more intensely after the Uchiha massacre, in part due to the boy's crippling emotional dependency on the girl. They had allowed it, initially, as she seemed to provide him some motivation through the severe depression he'd suffered after the massacre, but now that he is more stabilised, they have been seeking ways to separate them. Some of the bolder council members have even suggested that perhaps the Hyūga are trying to seize the last possible carrier of the Sharingan for his Bloodline Limit, an accusation Hiashi had taken issue with. It has made things tense with the Hyūga clan in the past few years, in an uncomfortable and demented parody of the previous tension with the Uchiha.

Add to that, Hyūga Hinata is also one of the few people who actually has anything resembling a friendship with Uzumaki Naruto. Her relations with both boys as well as her status as Hyūga heiress has put a lot spotlight on her in recent years, though Hiruzen is almost entirely certain that these suspicions are unfounded, due to the girl's reputation for rebelliousness and disregard for her clan's and father's authority. To get her to do their bidding, even if they did intend to hold influence over the last Uchiha and Konoha's Jinchūriki, would be like pulling teeth. Her lack of deference to her own elders and superiors is the Hyūga clan's worst kept secret.

Still, paranoia and inter-clan suspicions aside, it cannot be denied that it is a better idea to keep her away from them rather than with them. It would not do for Sasuke to become overly dependent on her and never be allowed to grow, and it would be downright disastrous if Naruto finds his seal and decides to enlist her help in finding out what it contains…

Well. With their little seal projects and experimentations, along with the occasional spar and the girl's possession of the Byakugan, Hiruzen is sure that the Hyūga heiress has already noticed the seal. Why she hasn't yet drawn any notice to it, he's not sure, but he's not going to wait for her to.

Unlike his ex-teammates, however, Hiruzen cannot see the harm in placing the boys together on the same team. It certainly would make things convenient if Kakashi were to be assigned said team. As the only other carrier of the Sharingan, Kakashi is the only one in the position to teach Sasuke, and the Sharingan itself can be used to curb the Kyūbi if it ever goes out of control. Naruto always had a bit of a temper issue…

That begs the question, though — who is to be their third teammate, if not Hyūga Hinata?

Sipping his tea, Hiruzen shifts the papers on the desk, as his old friends watch him expectantly and warily. He picks out one sheet, emblazoned with the cheery countenance of a civilian-born girl. He remembers her. Social and bright, with a good head on her shoulders. It could be what the surly Uzumaki and self-isolated Uchiha need.

He pushes it forward, interrupting the hushed conversation. "What about her?"

Koharu and Homura lean forward with sceptical expressions, gazing at the toothy smile of one Haruno Sakura.

—x—

—x—X—x—

—x—

It's quiet when he arrives, unbearably so, but he's getting better at it. It's even becoming a habit, oddly enough, when he had to try so hard to push himself into coming the first time around.

Sasuke brushes off the shrivelled leaves on the gravestones and sinks to his knees, pouring tea out of a flask for the departed. He places the cups upon each grave and sits, feeling exhausted to the bone.

"Hello, otō-san, okaa-san," he sighs, the proffered tea warming his face. Black tea for his father and peppermint for his mother.

It's these little things that helps him remember them. It has always been hard to remember, when he'd spent so much energy trying to push it all down. He remembers his mother's smile and the low rumble of his father's voice, but there's a taint to it that prevents any of his memories from being wholly pleasant. There's always that taint, that shadow, that encompasses everything and hangs like a fog.

There's only so much suppression can do, after all. The heart always remembers. He cracks a humourless smile.

"I'm sorry that I haven't been visiting so often… Last year of academy and all. Ah, guess what? I graduated just today. So you can rest easy. Hinata told me that we would probably be placed on three-man teams, though, so there's that. We need to go back to the academy for the last time tomorrow to get assigned to our teams. Maybe Hinata and I will be on the same team. I hope not. Then I really wouldn't be able to escape her. She's already everywhere."

He pauses for breath, his gaze tracing the lines of his mother's name. He hates the silence and wants to fill it up with meaningless chatter, as he usually does in his demented façade of normalcy, but he can't bring himself to. What's there to say, honestly? He never wanted to be a ninja, not really. He had once. A long time ago, for a reason that no longer matters.

"What am I doing?" He wonders aloud, bitterness welling up in him as he grimaces down at the wildflowers growing around the graves, "Is there…even any point to this?"

Genin at twelve. Impressive.

His brother was ANBU captain at thirteen.

And he's genin.

And what even for? What's really the point of being a ninja at all? In a village where an entire clan can disappear overnight with none the wiser, until it was all too late to make a difference? What's the point?

(They're all puppets upon a stage, caught in a macabre dance where the only escape is death. Struggling and striving to survive, but what for? What for?)

Sasuke inhales the night air and breathes out. No point in becoming upset over nothing. Why even agonise about any deeper meaning, when nothing at all had a meaning to begin with? It's a closed chapter. A done deal. There's nothing else to expect, nothing else to hope for.

Being a shinobi is just natural progression for him.

What else is there for the last child of a dead ninja clan?

He sits up, rubbing a palm over dry eyes. They itch, so bad, that he's nearly overwhelmed by a mad urge to carve them out of his sockets. Can't do that, though, not when Hinata isn't even here to stop him this time. His eyes aren't solely his, after all. It's the only pair like it that Konoha has left, even if they don't know it yet.

Sasuke stands and steps back, looking upon the graves of Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Mikoto.

"I'll come back another day," he says, flashing a vapid smile and imagining faces of the dead in place of cold, unforgiving stone, "Wish me luck."

He has a feeling he will need a lot of it.

—x—x—X—x—x—

—x—X—x—

—x—

x

Iruka: "Improvise! Adapt! Overcome!"
Kiba: "Screw that! My ma's gonna murder me!"

Warning: long-ass author note ahead. I'm not joking, it's 1k words-long.

Not my first fic, but I haven't posted anything in so long that I…deadass forgot my original ffn account. Like, I forgot the username and which email I used and everything. (Tbf I wasn't trying very hard to look for it, because my old stories make me cringe.) So I made a new account lol. I write Naruto, Pokémon (gameverse) and Fire Emblem stuff and the most recent thing I posted were some FE3H fics on AO3. Will probably upload them here soon.

Anyway! This is an AU of canonverse, where the Konoha 12/Sand Sibs have very different personalities, skillsets and goals.

There's a lot of talk in-series about how had things been "different," Naruto and Sasuke could've been in each other's places. This idea grew from that (though I don't intend to do the cliché of making Sasuke be the idealistic shounen hero and Naruto the hateful traitor), then I started thinking about how terrible Kishimoto is at writing female characters. (He even admitted it himself smh but what kind of excuse is that? Like…just write them as regular human beings with their own ambitions?) And THEN I thought, why not give everyone a complete personality flip? I was excited when the concept of Road to Ninja was advertised, but the movie itself blows lmao. It felt like pure slapstick comedy; this fic is going to be a lot more serious than that.

That being said, the personality flip doesn't occur with everyone, just the Konoha 12 and Sand Siblings. Well, uh, most of the Konoha 12. Other than very minor and subtle personality changes, Kiba, Shikamaru and Chōji are much the same, but have very different dynamics with their teams. The rest of the Konoha 12 are radically different, in comparison, having reacted and grown from their circumstances in wildly different ways (e.g. Naruto is a very self-reliant orphan, Sasuke has massive anxiety and PTSD, Hinata openly rebels against her clan, etc), while others I had taken the liberty to give actual backstories (e.g. mostly the other girls lmao especially Sakura and Tenten). Unfortunately, I would likely not be able to give them equal spotlight and Team 7 will be the central focus of this series.

Cameos of the tiny genin! To start things of — I present to you Uzumaki Naruto, rookie of the year and a budding Sealmaster. When you have nothing and no one in the world, it's only natural to try and trace back your roots. Pathverse Naruto did that and tries to live up to the Uzumaki name.

But why does he already know how to make Shadow Clones if he never stole the Forbidden Scroll? Where is the flashback no jutsu? Hmmmm. All will be revealed… (Foreal tho, Kishimoto always tells and never shows. "Uzumaki is a clan of fūinjutsu users and are feared for it." Yet none of the Uzumaki introduced in the show - Kushina, Nagato, Karin, Naruto - show any particular aptitude in it. The actual fuinjutsu masters are Tobirama, Minato, Jiraiya, etc… What. Most we got is Tsunade with her power-up seal and she's like…quarter-Uzumaki.)

Kiba is an average dude and not much different from Canon!Kiba. He does have a weird relationship with Naruto, though. The Obito to his Kakashi? Also hates everyone but his dog. (Probably most relatable character tbh. I know I've spent more time calculating how much I need to get to get a certain grade rather than, you know, actually studying.)

Hinata and Sasuke are childhood best friends (I thought it'd be funny because in canon, they've never exchanged a single word lol). Sasuke is only ever mean to her; but she's kinda mean to everyone lmao. Snark masters. They're polar opposites; Hinata is your textbook prodigy (top third despite not even trying; she's only beaten cos Naruto and Ino are nerds) and Sasuke is that ridiculously average dude who easily slips past your attention. Easy on the eyes, but not very impressive (hence, no large horde of fangirls, though he does have secret admirers). He's a sad bean of a boy. Hinata is the friend he needs but doesn't want lmao.

Hinata also plays around with seals, like Naruto, hence his brief mention of "sessions" with her. They're teaching each other - she's got the resources he needs while he has more raw talent in it than her.

Ino is also a prodigy. Super overachiever. Salty that Naruto scored higher than her. Killer eye bags. Girl, get some sleep. Quiet and frequently mistaken to be shy, but oddly hostile to Naruto…?

Chōji is her soft smol childhood friend. Shikamaru is, too, but much less smol and not at all soft. Ino-Shika-Chō are the introvert trio; noise at their meat haven ruffles their feathers. Deer boy is competitive in an unorthodox way and competes with Sakura to see who can get a perfect 50%. Strange boy and stranger girl.

Sakura makes bets a lot. She always wins. She also wins hearts and is the dude-breaker to canon!Sasuke's lady-killer. Kiba is besotted, but never tell him that. The Sandaime seems to know her, but, from what she tells Kiba, she doesn't seem to ever remember meeting him? Mysteries, mysteries. Maybe he's a secret admirer?! Is this the price of exotic pink hair?! *shot* jk no pedo pls that shit awful

Shino is nowhere to be found! Does he exist? Legend says he does. Will we ever catch view of this elusive creature? Next time on Ninja Geographic…!

(Will Shino actually be in next chapter? Um. We'll see. Lmao probably not because angsty Kakashi POV)

Word of warning: this fic is largely gen. The relationships are focused more on the platonic side of things. Any crushes are puppy (kek see what I did?) crushes that will ultimately result in nothing (rip Kiba) and none of the canon ships will actually happen here (rip SasuSaku, NaruHina). Romance isn't a core aspect of this fic so if that's what you're looking for, uh, you're in the wrong place. I just want these kids to be badass and happy.

Second word of warning: I'm planning a different lore in this fic. There's no Kaguya or that Asura/Indra reincarnation bullshit. Kishimoto 100% pulled that out of his ass smh. What I'm stuck with is re-imagining Madara and Obito's master plan and Zetsu's origins, so… That'll be fun aha. Ahaha. (I sense writer's block ahead)

Much of the story will be seen in the perspective of Naruto and Sasuke, which may make things confusing because there are a few subplots going on in the background that they have zero idea about. Sakura is also a very important character (moreso than in canon anyway lmao), but a lot of her involvement is spoilery and so most of her POVs will be in the second half of pre-timeskip. I will do my best to involve the entire Konoha 12 in the plotline because I don't want to pull a Kishimoto and neglect the supporting cast, buttttt… Well, let's take it one step at a time lol.

tl;dr: this is an Alternate Character AU. None of the Konoha 12 and Sand Siblings (I'll just call them Core 15 from here on out) will act like their canon selves. The backbone of this fic is them having extremely dynamics with each other as well as differing goals and skills (and being badasses), so yeah, no Hokage-wannabe Naruto or avenger Sasuke or fangirl anyone in here. Minimal romance, but typical pre-teen ship tease will be present.

If the prologue is over 8k words, what's an actual chapter's length? Take bets, guys.

Reviews appreciated!