Author's Note: Okay, chapter 1 was actually much, much shorter than this so I edited it. The first chapter that you're about to read right now is a combination of the former chapters 1, 2, and 3.

Btw, this is my first fanfiction so please enjoy! R&R :)

Introduction:

Three little children were destined to be the best of friends ever since birth. They were all different from their appearances to their personalities and interests. They didn't simply meet each other, knowing their fate. The friendship of these three children began back in kindergarten. Two boys and one girl were placed in the same class with the same teacher, Iruka-sensei.

Kindergarten:

The very first day of school always appeared as scary to most kids. The thought of even leaving their mothers for seven hours was terrifying enough. However, one little boy didn't think so. Sasuke Uchiha entered Iruka-sensei's classroom with a serious expression, wearing a gray long-sleeved shirt that bared his family's crest with a pair of solid black shorts. For a beautiful summer morning, Sasuke sure dressed up to match the opposite of it.

Following behind the boy was a small group of troublemaking boys: Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, and Kiba Inuzuka. The three boys were all previous friends and liked to wreak havoc amongst other groups of children – especially girls their age. For silly, immature pranks, they sure were successful thanks to the group's brilliant mastermind, Shikamaru.

As usual, the troublemakers chose a spot near the girls. They found desks near two cute students, one having hair the color of a Japanese cherry blossom tree. It definitely made her stand out from the rest of the kindergarteners in the room. Choji, a plump lover of anything fried or barbequed, threw a crumpled potato chip bag at the other little girl's head.

"Gross, Choji!" Ino Yamanaka cried, checking her blond hair for any grease or oil. She didn't want to argue with anyone on her first day of school so Ino turned away with disgust and continued to talk about the dreamy, mysterious Sasuke with the pink-haired friend. As they discussed his "cool and laidback" appearance, the boys close by rolled their eyes, envying Sasuke for stealing the girls' attention away from their childish pranks.

All of the conversations were interrupted when the school bell rang. Iruka Umino, the class's teacher, arrived late, holding the wrist of a blond boy wearing goggles on top of his head. As the student walked in, he held a mischievous grin and chuckled underneath his breath. The boy took his seat at Sasuke's table and Iruka-sensei began his introduction.

"Welcome, kids, to the Academy! I'm Iruka Umino, your teacher, but please call me Iruka-sensei. I'm sure that all of you will enjoy my class and your first year as kindergarteners. Let's all introduce ourselves by saying our name and something interesting about us. Pink-haired girl, you start," the man said, pointing over to the student.

"Um," she hesitated. "My name is Sakura Haruno and I, um, have pink hair." The entire class laughed at her shyness. One kid even told her to say something less obvious, thus making Sakura's cheeks blush as red as the bow on her head. Iruka-sensei didn't laugh. Instead, he just nodded and instructed the next student to continue.

"Hi! I'm Ino Yamanaka and I want to be a florist like my mom," Sakura's friend said cheerfully, flashing her toothy smile at everyone. The class seemed to like her more than Sakura by the looks of a few boys who were gazing at Ino's cuteness and self-confidence. Sakura huffed under her breath.

Following Ino was Choji, and then the introductions continued onto Shino Aburame, who owned a bug collection, to Hinata Hyuuga, who didn't get a chance to say anything because she stuttered too much. When it was Sasuke's turn, he cocked his head up arrogantly and said that his father owned a successful company. However, he didn't speak as if he was proud of his father, but spoke as if it annoyed him.

"Wow," cooed the female students in admiration to Sasuke's cool demeanor. This caused all of the boys to again roll their eyes at Sasuke's popularity. To end the introductions, the blond boy stood up. Rather than telling his classmates what his name was, he decided to dash out of the classroom, snickering the entire time. From the end of the hallway, he called the teacher a sucker and let out a wild chuckle. Iruka-sensei blinked in confusion before following after the boy, leaving the class dumbfounded.

Ten minutes later, Iruka-sensei strolled back inside, whistling, while holding the careless student by the collar. He took him over to his original seat and plopped him down. The rest of the class laughed and giggled at him, calling him a sucker like he did to the teacher. Growing furious, the boy stood up and yelled, "I'm not a sucker! I'm Naruto!" Iruka-sensei obviously looked tired of his interruptions and grabbed the class's attention by whistling.

Continuing his lessons, Iruka-sensei assigned a "get to know you" project for the kids. He picked three students per group, starting off by putting Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto together. At the thought of working with Naruto, Sakura groaned and held a frown. Sasuke didn't look any different from when the bell rang. He shrugged indifferently and followed orders.

After all of the groups were determined, the teacher handed each group a worksheet that displayed a plethora of pictures. He explained that if any member of a group took an interest in that picture, he or she was to circle it and label it with his or her first name. "Since this is really easy, you all should be able to finish within twenty minutes. If any group doesn't complete the worksheet by then, they'll have to stay behind during recess and clean the room," he warned.

When Sakura joined Sasuke and Naruto's table, no one spoke. Actually, Sakura couldn't talk because all she was doing was staring at Sasuke while he turned away in annoyance. He could care less about the project. Meanwhile, Naruto was picking his nose while sleeping.

Fifteen minutes later, Iruka-sensei passed by Naruto's group. He stopped in his tracks to alert the three kids how little time left they have. If they want to play and take a break, they had to finish the worksheet in five minutes. Sakura blinked out of her trance and recognized a puddle of drool formed from staring at Sasuke. Blushing, she quickly wiped her desk and grabbed the worksheet, rolling it up. "Naruto!" she shouted, hitting his head with it. Then she slapped his hand away from his face. "Uh, Sasuke-kun, I think we should work on this," suggested Sakura.

"Work on what, Billboard Brow?" asked Naruto, referring to Sakura's abnormally wide forehead. Sakura, humiliated, punched the boy right in his booger-filled nose. Her hit left a red mark on his face that stung. "Ouch! That hurts," he said as he rubbed his nose.

"You obviously didn't hear Iruka-sensei, Naruto," started Sakura. "We only have less than five minutes to finish our project. If we don't, we'll have to skip recess and clean the room. I don't know about you, but I want to have fun."

Sasuke took the worksheet right out of the girl's hands and filled it out on his own. Finally, he spoke. "Why don't you both shut up? It'll get the job done much faster."

"Unfortunately, it won't get it done fast enough," the teacher interrupted. "Time's up, kids! And it seems to me that we only have one group that didn't finish. Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke get to stay inside and clean while the rest of us enjoy our time outside." Everyone snickered as they got up and headed for the door right when the break time bell rang.

"Now as for you three, you are to dust off those bookshelves, collect all of the papers, clap my chalkboard erasers, and put those ten stacks of books back on the shelves. Have fun!" ordered Iruka-sensei, waving goodbye to join his class.

"This is your entire fault, Naruto! Or should I call you Kyuubi?" Sakura referred to a Japanese legend about a nine-tailed demon fox that caused destruction wherever it went. Her blame angered Naruto and irritated Sasuke. Sakura saw Sasuke's expression and quickly said, "Uh, I mean, go collect the worksheets. We have a lot to do." The blond boy mimicked her voice, raising it an octave higher to tease Sakura. Fortunately for Naruto, she didn't hear anything or else she would've decked him again.

Naruto collected the papers from each group's table and placed them on the teacher's desk. He saw other papers scattered across it and decided to plop down in Iruka-sensei's chair and read through his belongings. Using a red pen, Naruto doodled in the margins of the papers. Surrounding each page were drawings of the teacher in a modicum of predicaments like getting fed to sharks or being trapped in a room with wild bears gone berserk. The boy's giggle caught Sakura's attention. She paused her dusting to check out Naruto's progress. Even she stifled a giggle after seeing the pictures.

Now it was Sasuke's turn to be curious. During the break, he sat back lazily in his chair, not contributing to the cleanup. He then walked over to the others and a quiet 'heh' came from his mouth which, for him, was the closest thing to a real laugh. "The pictures aren't amusing enough," Sasuke criticized. He suggested that Iruka-sensei's facial expressions should be changed to match the situation he was drawn in.

"Um, are you kidding me, Mr. Popular? These drawings are golden!" Naruto praised himself. Sasuke shook his head, taking a pencil and one of the sheets from Naruto's grasp. He erased the doodled teacher's mouth and replaced it with a zigzag line, showing what he'd look like if really electrocuted by a thunder storm. Naruto accepted the suggestion and returned the papers back to his teacher's desk. The group went back to tidying up the room as if nothing happened except this time, Sasuke helped Naruto clap erasers.

"Your doodles were actually really good, but it's missing something. I think I can help out a bit," said Sasuke to Naruto. Naruto blinked multiple times, wondering if Sasuke was really saying what he was saying. Sakura also heard Sasuke's remark. She noticed him from the minute she stepped inside the classroom. He looked like the type of person that would constantly mourn over someone's death. He was so dark, wearing unhappy shades and having bluish black spiked hair. The only thing bright about him was the family crest located on the back of his shirt that resembled his father's successful corporation. It was surprising to hear Sasuke talk in a more lively tone.

'Does he really want to help me? In drawing? Of all things?' Naruto pondered to himself. He faced Sasuke and agreed to his offer, changing the stiff atmosphere among them. Sakura wanted to partake in this lovely friendship that was forming between the two boys, mainly to attract Sasuke and get closer to him. She made a deal with herself that she would attempt to participate in the boys' drawing interest.

By the time recess was over, the group had managed to dust off the bookshelves, collect the "get to know you" worksheets, clap all of the erasers, and reshelf half of the stack of books. Iruka-sensei walked inside the class in awe, wowed at the amount of work the kindergarteners were able to accomplish judging from their age and size. "You three make an excellent team," the teacher complemented. He continued to smile until he found a few of his papers with red doodles in the margins. He looked up and scanned through the kids to find Naruto.

"I knew you of all people would do something like this, Naruto," Iruka-sensei raised his voice, slamming his papers on his desk. "Haven't you caused enough disruptions to the class already? You tried ditching school this morning, attempted to run away later on, and now important papers of mine have been vandalized!"

"Excuse me," Sasuke piped in. "I drew some of those along with him, Sensei." The class grew quiet and stared at Sasuke – not in the good, adoring way either. Ino looked at him as if he was a maniac for defending Naruto. Shikamaru looked at him as if he was demented for simply admitting to something like that when he knew he'd face a consequence. Naruto just looked at Sasuke in confusion, wondering both of those things. However, the confession didn't make the teacher any happier. Instead, it just irritated him some more.

"Oh, I see, Mr. Uchiha. In that case, you and Naruto can stay inside this whole week during our lesson breaks. I'll have a load of tasks ready for you rascals tomorrow," he feigned a grin. Sakura felt that if she didn't say anything, she wouldn't get a chance to hang out with her new crush every day so she also raised her hand and admitted that she was involved too. She received double the amount of looks the students gave Sasuke. Sakura just shrugged her shoulders in reply.

Iruka-sensei could no longer handle the troublemakers in his class and just picked up from where he left off. While his back was turned, Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura huddled together at their table. "That was hilarious! Did you see Sensei's face? I know what to draw tomorrow," Sasuke said to the others with anticipation. It appeared that this whole incident would be the genesis of their friendship.