Let us enjoy the joys of childhood for a few chapters until they grow up and the complications arise.

It's currently unedited. I'm not completely sure how big of a role Hashirama's going to get, but we'll figure it out. Is the bullying trope getting old? But there was something I wanted from it, so it had to be done.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters.

Important Note: I changed a few things in the first chapter. If you don't feel like reading, I'll include a short explanation at the bottom.

The playground was the only place Sakura could get to on her own, without needing any assistance from her parents. It was five minute walk from her district and she usually met Ino at the entrance.

One glance at the sky told her she had about an hour to play before it got too dark, and she hurried to the park as quickly as she could. Ino had agreed to go over flowers and their meanings while they picked them today, as their lessons had become hard to schedule since her friend had been preparing to join the Academy this year. Sakura was self-aware enough to notice the stab of envy she felt at that, not that the school for civilians was boring at all. Her subjects were interesting and she liked all her teachers, but the chakra she could sometimes feel in her belly told her it was a waste. Every time she saw a ninja jump over rooftops, she couldn't quite suppress her sigh of longing, which did not go unnoticed by her mother.

Which was why she had the best news to share with her best friend today. Ino would flip but in the best way possible, had been Sakura's first thought after the discussion she had had with her parents. She passed by a familiar person on her way. It was the boy she had heard her parents mention frequently, but never around her. Naruto. He was a nice boy, in her opinion. Befriend-able. She aimed a hasty but polite smile at him, not liking his downcast appearance. It was a happy day! She contemplated approaching him, but a glimpse of her friend's impatient blue eyes had her forgetting the idea as she continued to run towards the park, tackling the other girl as soon as she put her book down. She was babbling nearly incoherent sentences as they lay side by side on the ground. Ino sat up and pinched her cheeks, her grip not gentle at all.

"Stop." Ino pulled her up, dusted them both off as Sakura gulped down her giggles at how Ino was such a mom. Or so she'd heard Ino's friends complain. She didn't really grasp the lazily muttered words completely, but she did agree that Ino's action often resembled some of her mother's.

"Okay now, what happened?" The sudden sparkling eyes had her dazed before she shook it off. "Tell me tell me tell me." They ran to an empty bench, and Sakura absently noted it was a lot more crowded than usual. That included Ami and her followers, but Sakura didn't let that dampen her spirits. She had a lot more important things to attend to and she sat her friend down quickly.

"Ready?" Seeing Ino's face about to shift to a glare, she rushed on. "My parents agreed to let me join the ninja academy." Her smile nearly hurt as Ino's expression went from disbelief to joy with the realization that her best friend was going to be a ninja too and they were going to do it together. A second later Ino had her arms around Sakura and they were both jumping up and down excitedly.

"This is perfect-"

"I need to start preparing-"

They paused at that. Sakura couldn't really train with Ino, not full time as she was studying her clan techniques and she had a lot of catching up to do. She would need books and her physical activity was mostly limited to running to and around the playground, or to school.

'Don't look so worried," Ino poked her cheek. "I'll ask my dad to make a schedule we can follow together. We just have to follow the basics for now."

"Would that really be okay?" Sakura asked hopefully. Ino winked at her, giving her a thumbs up.

"Of course. Now, let's start our lesson. Look, I brought dad's book along." And they were soon immersed in it, both of them taking it a lot more seriously than they used to. This was knowledge that would definitely be of use somewhere down the line, and they were determined to be prepared for it. It was June already, and they had a month before classes for the first batch started. They spent the next thirty minutes reading it, with Sakura regretting not bringing a notebook and pencil along to take notes. The blue of the sky was fading fast when they called it a day, with Ino offering to walk her home.

"No, I'll leave in a few minutes and stop by the library on my way home," Sakura declined. The blonde nodded, familiar with her friend's ritual and hugged her goodbye, promising to speak with her father about their training. Watching her leave for a moment before turning and sprinting towards the treeline, Sakura approached one of the biggest trees there. The entrance for the training grounds lay beyond them, she knew and her excited smile bloomed again at the thought of one day entering them herself.

She closed her and inhaled deeply. "Ha-chan? You there?" The wood pressed against her back was warm as she felt a familiar shift around her.

"Sakura-chan!" Opening her eyes, she smiled even though her view wasn't any different than before. She could feel another presence there, and didn't need her eyes to confirm it.

"You must've heard it already but I wanted to tell you myself. You know, properly," she took a deep breath to ground herself. She wanted to say it with complete confidence. "I'm joining the academy. I'm going to be a ninja." And she beamed, hearing her friend's booming laugh though it sounded kind of distant. She shifted closer to the bark, feeling like she was a radio looking for good signal.

"Congratulations! I'm so proud of you, Sakura-chan. I was very impressed with your argument, your father's reaction was so funny." Ha-chan was the one person who would be just as happy for her as Ino had been. They were her true, best friends.

"I didn't think he would buy it! But really, if they didn't let me, you know what I'd be?" She waited for the words he had taught her.

"Wasted potential," Ha-chan said firmly and they burst into giggles. She heard him stop abruptly, breathing a low uh-oh, watch out Sakura-chan before she heard the evil cackles of the witches of the civvie district. Ino's title had her lips quirking before she faced them, Ami's mean looking smile had her mood dropping, but she refused to cower.

"You know, I get that you get lonely when Yamanaka's not around, but talking to trees? That's just stupid, even for you Forehead.." Ami'l lame words had her friends laughing, but Sakura couldn't find the amusement in them.

"What do you want Ami?" Her indifference did not sit well with the girl who wanted the opposite, so she decided to dig deeper.

"I heard you screaming about joining the academy. I'm so surprised you're entering too," Ami feigned her shock well. Sakura was far from the teary eyed girl she used to be, but even so she couldn't help but feel defensive at having her supposed inadequacies pointed out to her.

"And why is that? You're joining, aren't you?" It was unfortunate, but Ha-chan had told her not to let a bunch of little girls stop her from chasing her dreams.

"Yeah, because there are some civilians who are born with enough chakra to make it. But you? You're not one of them."

"You're not in charge of deciding that. You're just a kid," Sakura said hotly, Ha-chan's soothing words not doing much to calm her. Ami's words were scratching at her innermost fear of the other girl being right, and Sakura not being enough to make it while everyone else did.

"Oh?" Ami's smirk was downright nasty as she stepped forward. "What kind of a ninja has pink hair? And that forehead? It practically says, I'm here, come hit me!" Ami's inaccurate imitation of her voice had her friends laughing again. Sakura was used to the insults by now, but her embarrassed blush showed wasn't unaffected.

"Oi," a yell startled them and they collectively glanced at the figure running up to them, glaring angrily. Naruto looked nearly as offended as she felt, though she wondered what he was doing here.

Her sidekicks looked uncertain, but Ami didn't back down. "None of your business, demon boy." A shuffle had her realizing that Sakura was up and ready to leave, and Ami was determined to have the last word. The only word, actually but she didn't let the opportunity pass her by. "Running away already? What, your blonde guard dog or imaginary friend aren't coming to save you? Ha-chan or whatever." Sakura's horrified expression at realizing Ami had overheard her conversation had the girls smirking again.

Naruto looked confused, and Sakura wasn't sure if she was embarrassed at it being said in front of someone she had been thinking of trying to befriend. But her anger outweighed her embarrassment, as she thought about these mean, mean girls insulting her dear friends. Calling Ino a dog behind her back, insulting Ha-chan in front of him, without him being able to do anything about it. How dare they insult her friends?

Sakura was furious in way she had never been before, and ready to hurt Ami as she took several steps forward. A loud snap had her jumping back as the tree she had been resting against creaked, like old bones moving after a long rest. She watched with wide eyes as a long branch snapped down at the ground, missing the group by inches. They shrieked, terrified as they ran to escape. Sakura watched with growing horror as Ami stumbled at the root of another tree, just as the seemingly possessed branch swept up, ready to bring it's wrath down upon the ground.

No, the girl. It was after Ami. Naruto was yelling at her, telling her to move and ran to make her do it, bringing him into the target area.

"Well, this is quite a surprise." Sakura looked around wildly, seeing no one but sure she had heard her friend clearly as if he was right next to her. "Sakura-chan, you need to calm down."

"Ha-chan, help, we need to help," Sakura wailed as the branch shifted in the air above the frozen children. "What do we-I-I don't want to hurt them!" Her shriek seemed loud enough to wake something up, and as the branch came down on the Ami and Naruto only to be met by an obstacle, Sakura realized that was what it was. The branch of another tree at swept around and over the children, tangling itself around the evil branch and twisting them both into a large knot of wood. The air seemed to still around them as they looked at each other in disbelief.

"How did you do that?" With a start, Sakura realized the other girls hadn't left the area. They were looking at her fearfully, like she was something...wrong. "What are you?"

Sakura was still speechless, because she didn't know either and she noticed Ha-chan's presence around her was stronger than ever. She took comfort in his silent, steady presence as she tried to answer them, but was stopped as the only boy with them ran to Sakura.

"Was it you?" one of the girls directed the question at Naruto, her expression twisted. "Some of your demon tricks?" That was just mean, and Sakura glared at her, faltering when the branches shivered. She felt drained all of a sudden.

"That's right," Naruto puffed his chest up, refusing to back down. "It was me. So, leave us alone or I'll sic 'em on you again." The girls shrieked again, running to Ami and pulling her away with them, though the purple haired girl continued to glance back at them with an unreadable glint in her eyes.

The remaining stood in slightly awkward silence as Naruto looked up warily. "Um, they're not angry anymore, are they?"

"Huh? Oh, uh, no. I don't think so," she mumbled, equally wary. But she wouldn't forget Naruto's quick save so easily. "Why'd you do that?"

"Do what?" He was so bright, she thought as she looked closely at him. His golden hair would make a neat night light. Ha-chan's murmur of 'that's not how it works' and 'no boys in your room until you're thirty' went ignored.

"Why did you tell them it was you who did...that?" She was grateful, but really confused at his casual shrug.

"Well, I knew I wouldn't get into too much trouble for it. People think I'm always creating trouble anyway, so as long as they don't talk too much it'll be fine. I could tell you didn't mean to do, um, that," he rambled nervously. "Plus, they started it." He looked offended again and she couldn't help but smile.

"Thank you," she said as sincerely as she possibly could. She paused again. "Are you sure it'll be okay?" Naruto waved a hand carelessly, not bothered in the least.

"Yeah, yeah." He was grinning now, and she relaxed, believing him.

"I'm Haruno Sakura," she introduced herself, sticking a hand out. He looked at it strangely before clasping her hand with his almost gently.

"Uzumaki Naruto," he replied, eyes shining.

"I know," she laughed. "Oh no, it's dark already, we should get out of here." He agreed and they walked back, Naruto keeping pace with Sakura as he noted her pale face. She looked exhausted.

"So um," he began as they stood at the entrance to the playground. Neither of them knew how to part ways, and Sakura wasn't sure if he would appreciate being hugged goodbye.

"Do you wanna meet back here tomorrow?" she asked. "It's friday, so I'll be here around five." She was nervous, she knew that much. Ino had been the one to do all the friend-ing. This was Sakura's first time making plans with someone she didn't know too well, but she hoped that would change.

"Yes!" Naruto cheered, beaming at her. "Sure, I'll see you tomorrow. Bye, Sakura-chan!" He had started running when she replied, waving cheerfully.

"Bye, Naruto," she called. It was too late to go to the library, so she slowly trudged back home. She would need to do a lot more research now.

"Sakura-chan, you just made your third friend!" came an excited voice, without any clear source as always.

"Ha-chan? Wow, I can hear you so clearly," she whispered excitedly, mindful of the people still walking down the streets.

"I know, I feel as if I just woke up from a long nap. Even though I wasn't asleep, haha."

"But how? Wait, Ha-chan did you see what happened earlier? With the branches?" She continued when he simply hummed in response. "Do you know what it was?" Her remained quiet as she reached her gate, standing in front of it to make it clear she was waiting for a response.

"For that...you'll need to borrow an extra book or two from the library tomorrow, Sakura-chan. This is going to take a lot of explaining."

She pouted at the response, pushing her gate open as she decided to go with it. Ha-chan probably had a good reason for it. "Okay. Which books?"

"Whatever you can find on the Senju Clan."

Let me know what you think!

What changed in the first chapter: Hashirama is making his way back with the baby and two women, he senses incoming enemy chakra signatures, tells the women to flee in another direction while he deals with them, is held back and when he reaches the, the women are dead and Atsuko the baby is missing.