Here is a long chapter!

I was hoping to get a bit further in the story in this one, but I guess things didn't turn out the way I planned.

Next Chapter is the bell test! Some similarities, but some changes as well.

Let me know what you think, and I hope everyone had a fantastic summer!

"Sasuke" Iruka called next.

His heart sped up, and though he knew he could easily perform the required jutsu to graduate, there was always the possibility that he would mess up and fail. Failure meant waiting another year before graduating, which meant delaying getting stronger by a year, which meant he would have to wait longer before avenging his clan; before killing his brother.

He almost didn't see Naruto stick his leg out to trip him; almost. He glared at the blonde-haired kid who always wore an orange tracksuit and calmly avoided the obstacle. Naruto stuck out his tongue and Sasuke ignored it, instead walking past all the kids in the hall who were waiting to be called in, and entered the classroom.

He greeted his two teachers - Iruka-sensei and Mizuki-sensei - before standing in front of them. Five seconds felt like five hours and Sasuke's nervousness only increased - why weren't they telling him which jutsu they wanted him to do first?

Sasuke spent an eternity focusing on Iruka's horizontal scar that ran across the bridge of his nose and Mizuki's white hair that had a blueish hue to it. The oddly coloured hair made him think of Sakura's bright pink hair and he wondered just how many strange hair colours there were in the village. He mentally started to go through all the kids in his class until Iruka spoke up.

"Sasuke can you start with the Bunshin?" The teacher he least despised asked nicely.

Sasuke formed the seals as Iruka had taught them and channeled chakra to create an identical copy of himself. He had spent hours in front of the mirror, scrutinizing his clone in order to make sure every single detail was replicated perfectly. The clone was simply an illusion and couldn't deal any damage in combat; it served as an illusionary distraction or to confuse their opponent.

He remembered his family talking about elemental and shadow clones which were actually tangible and he knew that he wanted to learn to make those.

One night, shortly after he had learned the bunshin jutsu - clone jutsu - in class, he had made one at home and used the henge jutsu - transformation jutsu - to transform his clone's appearance to look like his mother and kept himself company. It was only when he realized he couldn't physically touch or be held by his mother clone that he wanted to be able to have a tangible clone one day.

"Thank you, Sasuke. Next is the henge, transform into either Iruka or myself." Mizuki said tersely.

For this jutsu, Sasuke had stared intently at Iruka for weeks on end, analysing his movements and facial expressions. Again, he formed the seals and channeled his chakra and suddenly an exact replica of Iruka-sensei stood in front of the two teachers.

Both Iruka and Mizuki walked up to Sasuke to inspect his transformation jutsu and Sasuke swore that he saw a snarl of disgust make its way onto Mizuki's face during his inspection.

There had always been something about Mizuki that rubbed him the wrong way yet he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Sometimes it would be a glance in Naruto's direction, or a stare in Ino or Kiba's direction.

At first, he chalked it up to Mizuki not liking the loud-mouthed ones but he had caught Mizuki giving him and the Hyuga girl the stink eye too, and they were both very quiet. The strangest thing of all was that during their final year, Mizuki seemed to praise Naruto, of all people. It was almost as if he was trying to become best friends with Naruto.

"Congratulations, Sasuke! You were able to expertly perform both jutsu and can now become a genin. Remember to be in class tomorrow so you can be assigned to your genin team." Iruka said earnestly.

"Here is your forehead protector with the leaf village's symbol. You are required to wear this on all your missions or any other official business, though it doesn't need to be on your forehead." Mizuki almost sneered through his teeth and shoved the forehead protector at Sasuke.

With a weight lifted off his shoulders, Sasuke walked out of the classroom just to be greeted with the shrieks and swooning of his fan club. They were so loud and annoying and he just wanted peace and quiet, so he hurried outside.

Though it was raining hard, he didn't mind it, it helped him be at peace. He did feel the urge to celebrate his graduation, but he didn't know how. Had his family been alive, he would have rushed home and his mother would have made sure he had plenty of tomatoes available, his father may or may not have been proud of him, and Itachi… just the thought of him dampened his mood so he opted to focus on the present.

He sat under a tree where it was fairly dry and waited. He told himself that he wasn't waiting for her to graduate and come outside, yet his heart felt lighter at the thought.

He watched as a few kids came outside looking sullen - presumably they had failed the test and were to return to the Academy for the next school year - then saw the fat kid and the lazy kid walk outside with forehead protectors.

Turns out the lazy one had brought an umbrella so the pair walked away without getting wet. He did find it odd that they didn't wait for Sakura, but he just shrugged it off and kept waiting. He tried to hide whenever he noticed an annoying girl leaving the building, and after almost an hour, Sakura finally came outside.

She was wearing her forehead protector proudly and he wished he could smile like she did and not have a long list of dead relatives that he mourned. He sometimes wished that he and Sakura could have switched places and that he still had a loving family. The only problem would be that he was certain Sakura would be very different if she had lost part or all of her family.

She was from a civilian family; they weren't part of the violent world of shinobi and Sasuke didn't know why Sakura even wanted to be a shinobi. He supposed he should have asked her before they graduated; as they may not see each other much anymore.

He sat there, still debating if he should go see her when his crow friend cawed on the tree branch above him. He stared up at it for a moment and smiled; the crow was always there for him.

She was over the moon that she had passed! She was now a genin, and all she wanted to do was run to the cemetery and tell her aunt, uncle and Shisui that she was finally a shinobi. Then it hit her; there was no longer a Shisui to run through the trees with her.

Her excitement wore off quickly and she was glad that it was raining. She was startled when Sasuke stood beside her, looking a little out of place; he rarely ever approached her, she usually went to him when he looked lonely.

Sakura waited almost a minute before speaking

"Hi Sasuke-kun, I knew you would pass. Are you excited for being put on a team tomorrow?" She asked.

"Hn, not excited. I'll probably be on a team with annoying people." He pouted and Sakura resisted the urge to chuckle. Instead she smiled at him and slowly put a hand on his shoulder.

"Isn't everyone annoying? You may learn to like them, who knows, you could be on Ino's team with Kiba or something." She teased.

Sasuke's eyes widened comically and he took a step back, but not too far that her arm couldn't touch his shoulder anymore.

"That's not something you should joke about; I would ask for a transfer."

At that, Sakura couldn't hold back her smile and laughter; teasing Sasuke was just as easy as teasing Takeshi, and she wanted to take full advantage of that.

Her heart warmed when Sasuke let out a few laughs. Once their laughter died down, Sasuke began to fidget, but stayed silent. She waited a few minutes until he finally spoke up.

"Did you want to do something to celebrate?" He half-mumbled barely loud enough for Sakura to hear.

It was the first time Sasuke had ever asked to hang out and Sakura was not going to ignore it. Her mother and cousin had planned an afternoon and evening of fun for the three of them, and Sakura knew they would be alright with Sasuke joining them. She invited him over and after a bit of reluctance from Sasuke, the two walked to Sakura's house.

She completely forgot about waiting to see if all her friends passed the test, but she was confident that they all would. Had it been a written test, she doubted Naruto would have passed.

Why was he so worthless? How come he wasn't able to perform even one of the two jutsu that he had to, in order to graduate? Naruto was glad that he was the last one in his class to take the graduation test, that way no one would know that he had failed and needed to go back to the Academy the following school year.

He spent the rest of the afternoon hiding in his apartment for fear that he would see someone from his class. He ignored his stomach as it growled something fierce. He only had to wait another hour before going outside; it would be dark enough that no one would stop him in the streets.

His goal of becoming Hokage so people would finally recognize him was drifting further away, but he still held on to it. It just may take a bit longer for him to achieve his goal than he originally planned, that's all.

He finally stepped foot outside his apartment when the sun was no longer visible and he headed straight for the forest and training grounds. The cool night air always helped clear his mind.

Perhaps there was a way he could still graduate, maybe he could learn the two jutsu overnight and show Iruka-sensei and Mizuki-sensei tomorrow and everything would be fine. He could always make an excuse that he wasn't feeling great during the graduation exam, maybe both his teachers would buy it.

He remembered his teachers' expressions when he had failed both the transformation and clone jutsu; Iruka had seemed sad and disappointed and Mizuki seemed like he still believed in him.

He made up his mind. He wouldn't disappoint his teachers again, since they had both become supportive of him over the last few years despite his pranks on them.

An unusually strong gust of wind hit him from the side and he was pushed a few steps back. He turned towards the direction the wind came from only to see a big scroll on the ground. Curiosity took over and he surveyed the partly unrolled scroll.

He unfurled it further and sat down to read. It looked like the scroll detailed some jutsu, and he nearly had a heart attack when he saw the words kage bunshin. A shadow clone jutsu. How many different clone jutsu were there exactly and how could they be different?

With a loud groan, Naruto began to read the hand signs that were needed and was confused when there was only one. The scroll looked very important and he assumed that there would be amazing and complicated jutsu in there. Sometimes he liked being proved wrong when it made life simpler.

The scroll detailed how to channel chakra to perform the shadow clone jutsu but it was difficult for him to understand. If he could learn this new clone jutsu and show Iruka and Mizuki, maybe he could graduate with his friends!

He spent a good handful of minutes practicing the shadow clone jutsu until he heard someone land on a branch above him.

"Naruto, how nice of you to find my scroll."

He looked up to see a battered Mizuki standing high above him.

"Mizuki-sensei, what happened?!" Naruto exclaimed in worry.

"I got attacked by some idiots, I'm lucky I made it out alive."

Naruto couldn't understand why anyone would want to attack Mizuki, he was such a nice and supportive teacher. Maybe people hated Mizuki for the same reason they hated him; Naruto still hadn't been able to find out why everyone in the village despised him despite asking others. Mizuki had suggested that they could be jealous of him but Naruto couldn't understand why anyone would be jealous of him; he had nothing.

"I'll be needing my scroll, now. Actually, I think you should come with me Naruto, this village doesn't like you." Mizuki said casually.

"What do you mean come with you?"

"I'm leaving the village and going somewhere where they will actually respect me. If you come with me, you could have a much better life where people don't hate you with a passion."

"How can I be Hokage if I don't live here? I'll make sure people respect me and see that I'm not as bad as they think." Naruto resolved.

"They'll always hate you, it won't change, trust me." Mizuki pleaded.

His teacher approached him and gently took the scroll from him and extended his hand. Naruto looked at it for a few seconds, unsure of what he should do.

It had taken him years to find a few friends, and he didn't know how long it would take him to find new ones if he left. He didn't want to leave them behind, but he also didn't want to have to tell them that he had failed the graduation exam.

"Mizuki-sensei! If I learn the shadow clone jutsu, can I graduate?" Naruto asked enthusiastically.

"Graduating won't matter if you come with me. The place I'm going will recognize you as a shinobi even if you can't make the fucking clone jutsu." Mizuki said agitatedly.

Naruto had never heard his teacher swear before and it stunned him. Why was he acting different all of a sudden?

"I can't leave my friends."

"You'll make new and better friends if you just come with me." Mizuko sneered before grabbing Naruto and the scroll and started to run.

Naruto started to panic; this didn't seem like the Mizuki-sensei he had known for the past few years. He tried to fight back but was being held too strongly, but thankfully his hands were close together so he formed the seal to create a shadow clone and channeled as much chakra as he could.

His body felt on fire and he vaguely remembered Iruka teaching them that every jutsu needed a certain amount of chakra and that too much - or was it too little? - could cause damage. He started to panic when they approached the edge of the village and decided to channel everything he could, he had to make this jutsu work.

Just as he saw the wall that surrounded the village, he felt the jutsu work and he saw hundreds of himself around him. He figured that the jutsu needed a lot of chakra because it created so many shadow clones.

Mizuki dropped him after a clone managed to punch his teacher. He turned to face him with anger seething from his every pore. Naruto had never truly felt scared before.

"You stupid brat! Why did you…" Mizuki trailed off as he took in just how many clones surrounded him.

For a brief moment Naruto thought he saw fear flash through Mizuki's eyes before he became angry. Naruto felt frozen in fear and found it very difficult to breathe. He tried gasping for air but the air felt thin, as if he couldn't breathe in even a tenth of what he needed.

"This. This is why people hate you. No one's ever told you this, but I think you should know what makes you a feared and despised monster."

This was his last mission before getting another team of genin. Another team to fail, yet again. There was no way he wanted to be responsible for kids who couldn't understand the importance of teammates, after all, he had taken his own for granted and learned too late how important they were. He would give anything to be able to see them again, but he knew he would have to wait until he died to join them.

"Kakashi-senpai, we should really get going, we finished the mission four hours ago."

Oh Tenzo. Adorable, sweet, loyal Tenzo. He should know by now that being late was his thing. If Kakashi were to arrive somewhere on time or, God forbid, early, he was pretty sure he would be brought in for questioning. He had spent years cultivating this trait and he wasn't going to destroy his reputation now.

"Just as soon as I finish this chapter." Kakashi drawled out and kept on reading his infamous orange coloured book.

The famous Icha Icha series, written by the legendary toad sage, Jiraya. Kakashi learned that reading the adult novel in public was one way to keep people from disturbing him, so he always walked around the village with his nose in his book.

"That's what you said an hour ago, and I don't think you've turned a single page since then." Tenzo said flatly.

"You can't rush these things, Tenzo. I want to make sure I enjoy every word that was written. Just think of all the work that went into writing this masterpiece, it would be a shame to miss a single thing."

Kakashi was exaggerating quite a bit. The book wasn't a masterpiece, but it was good. When he had first started reading the trilogy after his first teammate died, he had been embarrassed by all the romance and sex scenes, that he had thrown it across the room.

Over time he eventually picked it up again, and struggled to read through the first book. By the time he reached the end, he was invested in the story line and decided to continue reading. He had read all three books so many times that he could almost recite them word for word.

"Senpai… don't make me drag you back, because you know I will."

Kakashi knew not to underestimate Tenzo. The last time he did so, he had been drugged and forcefully dragged back to the Village and forced to be in the hospital. It was definitely not something he wanted to go through ever again.

Kakashi was surprised that it took Tenzo four hours to threaten him though, he had thought it would have taken longer; Tenzo was one of the most patient and nicest man he had ever met.

He stood up with a relaxed ease and stretched out all the kinks in his back from sitting for so long. He turned towards Tenzo and put his book away and smiled at his friend. Though Kakashi always wore a mask that covered the lower half of his face and neck, his friends could tell what he was feeling solely by looking at his eyes - well, his one eye since his forehead protector covered his left eye when not in combat.

He liked missions with Tenzo, he didn't feel the need to fill the comfortable silence with unnecessary chatter. Kakashi could say that Tenzo was definitely his favourite mission partner.

They were approaching the village gates when they both simultaneously felt a spike in chakra. It was late in the evening and no training grounds were open, so the chakra spike was unexpected.

With a nod of his head, Kakashi followed Tenzo towards the spike even though the chakra had since faded; it was better to check it out in case someone was injured. Kakashi's heart stopped when he heard part of the conversation.

"The reason everyone in the village hates you is because you are the nine-tailed demon fox! It was sealed in you when you were born and you are the reason so many people died nearly thirteen years ago. The village thinks you're worthless, but if you come with me, I can make sure you'll be appreciated for what you are."

That was an S-class secret that was not supposed to be discussed ever since the attack on the village nearly thirteen years ago. As a top shinobi of Konoha, Kakashi knew he had to bring in the man for questioning and he moved to do just that, until Tenzo grabbed his arm to stop him.

"It's too late now, he already knows. Maybe it's best we watch what happens next before we bring him to the Hokage."

Begrudgingly, Kakashi waited and watched as the man tried to convince the kid to leave Konoha with him. Kakashi felt sorrow as memories of his sensei flashed through his mind. His sensei had always been there for him, and now Kakashi couldn't bring himself to even look at his sensei's son even if the shinobi was trying to steal him from the village.

Kakashi knew he wasn't the greatest person in the world and that he was selfish; he had been hurt enough for one lifetime so he avoided everything that hurt him emotionally. Physical pain was much easier to deal with.

"When we intervene, I'll bring the man to the Hokage and you take care of the kid." Kakashi stated in a low whisper.

He felt more than saw Tenzo snap his head towards him and he prepared himself to get berated.

"Senpai, he's your sensei's son, you should take care of him. Isn't he supposed to be on your genin team?"

"If he graduated, but I don't see his forehead protector anywhere."

At this, Kakashi frowned. How was it possible that Naruto didn't graduate. If he was anything like either of his parents, school would have been a breeze, especially the easy graduation exam.

He supposed that he should be the one to go see Naruto while Tenzo took care of the shinobi but this was Kakashi's last chance to avoid the kid before he was stuck on his team and he couldn't pass it up. Of course, he doubted that the three kids he was given would pass, they seemed so incohesive to him the few times he had seen them.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when Tenzo jumped off the tree branch and beelined for the shinobi. Kakashi proceeded to follow and the fight was more difficult than he anticipated. Though the shinobi was a chunin, his fighting skills seems to be far superior than the average chunin, making Kakashi believe the man could have been a jonin.

Unluckily for the chunin, he and Tenzo were both ANBU and it didn't take much time to defeat him. To make sure the chunin didn't willingly end his life, Kakashi knocked the man out cold and quickly carried him to the Hokage.

He knew he shouldn't, but he glanced at Naruto as he was leaving the clearing and the tears he saw, triggered more memories. This time of Rin crying as Obito lay under the rock that crushed him.

Even though it was late in the evening, the Hokage had no issues dealing with a traitor. Kakashi watched as the third Hokage sentenced the chunin to death, following a thorough investigation lead by the head interrogator, Morino Ibiki. Kakashi knew that a swift death would be what the traitor would prefer to being subjected to different torture techniques.

Kakashi bid the Hokage a good night and went back to his apartment. His ninken were all there, none of them were sleeping when he entered through the window. It was his final night of peace before getting his genin team the next day and he intended to enjoy it to its fullest; reading his books while surrounded by his favourite companions.

It was surreal that his plan actually worked. Naruto couldn't believe his eyes when the Hokage gave him a forehead protector. All he did was plead that he should graduate and showed him that he could create shadow clones - though after practicing with the Hokage's guidance, the fewest number of clones he could create at once was still a staggering 10.

He was too overjoyed to catch the look of relief that the Hokage shared with the wood man that had saved him from Mizuki. He had even spent some time pestering the shinobi to teach him how to create wood out of nothing, but the shinobi refused.

Naruto was still on cloud 9 when he entered his apartment, so he boiled some water and ate his special, expensive ramen that he was saving for his graduation. Morning couldn't come fast enough for him; he wanted to find out who would be on his team.

He hoped he would be on a team with Sakura, but it was very unlikely since only one girl was put in each team and there were fifteen girls in the class. He wasn't capable of calculating the odds, but it seemed impossible for them to be on a team together.

Naruto spent the night thinking of different ways he could keep seeing his friends after they had all gone their separate ways with their teams and realized he didn't know where any of them lived. He made a mental note to talk to them the next day before they were split into teams before falling asleep to dreams of saving princesses and fighting off evil villains.

She was equal parts excited and scared that morning. Excited that she managed to become a genin and was going to be put on a team where she could grow in abilities and friendship, yet scared that she wouldn't be able to do much because of her leg.

Sure, she was able to jog for about 30 minutes, but even performing the clone or transformation techniques reduced that time by a lot. Thankfully Kotetsu and Izumo had made sure to help her improve her long-ranged skills so she wouldn't have to dodge and use extra chakra to soften the impacts on her leg from being in melee. She still wanted to be able to be in melee, but that was a long term-goal she knew she couldn't rush.

Sakura didn't bother to make a lunch seeing as it wouldn't take an entire day to be assigned to their new genin team, so she was able to sleep for a bit longer. Plus, her family had planned an afternoon outing. She made sure to sleep in the same bed as Takeshi to make sure she didn't get nightmares to ruin her mood for the day. It wouldn't do her any good to be cranky and potentially throw underhanded comments to her jonin sensei on their first day.

The only time she would insult others involuntarily was after several consecutive days of nightmare plagued sleep. Though most times it was aimed towards people who bickered with her - namely Ino - or people who were loud - Kiba, Naruto and Ino - she still thought of insults for everyone and hated that she did. She never wanted to insult Choji, but she would often be screaming in her head for him to stop being so timid - though she knew she was also timid, Sakura never said she wasn't a hypocrite.

She hoped that her nightmares were training her to not freeze up on the battlefield the first time she would encounter a dangerous situation. All she knew was that she would one day be strong enough to kill the tendril monster and the blue-eyed tormentor. They had changed her life for the worse and she wasn't going to let that ruin her life.

"Hey, Forehead!"

Her peaceful walk to the Academy was interrupted by her former best friend, yet Sakura was happy to see Ino. In a way, Sakura was glad to be rivals with Ino; it had motivated both of them to improve in class. For some reason Ino still thought Sakura wanted Sasuke's attention, like most of the girls in their class. Ino refused to believe Sakura just wanted to be friends with Sasuke, so sometimes Sakura would give in and bicker with Ino.

"Pig!" Sakura greeted.

"How jealous will you be when I'm on Sasuke-kun's team?" Ino said so sweetly that Sakura thought she would get cavities.

"That'll only happen in your dreams, you'll be on a team with Shino and Hinata." Sakura retorted.

Ino had been placed in a group with the other two once for a class project and their combined quietness resulted in Ino almost losing her mind. The other two would barely speak or respond to Ino due to her brash nature and Ino didn't like it when others didn't pay attention to her.

"N-no!" Ino stuttered in terror. "At least I'll have a jonin sensei, so it won't be that bad."

"I can just see it now, they would rub off on you and you would become just as quiet as them. No one would notice you anymore." Sakura jabbed at Ino's insecurities. She had learned to dish out insults from Ino and had finally began retaliating to the blonde's verbal dominance in the last year.

"At least I'll always be a better shinobi than you. I am the top kunoichi, after all." Ino bragged.

"It's funny how they have to separate male and female shinobi, they should just treat everyone as equals." Sakura stated. It had been something that she noticed during the spars until Kiba asked to make girls and guys fight each other. Sure, the guys dominated the majority of the spars but Sakura quite enjoyed them.

"It's a known fact that males dominate the shinobi world, but with me in the mix, I can make a change. In fact, I will make a change." Ino exclaimed triumphantly.

"Thanks for your confidence. You know your plan would have a higher chance of succeeding with more girls fighting for the same change, right?"

"I was the top kunoichi, Forehead, I have the most promising career."

"Then I wish you all the luck, Ino." Sakura said with a smile.

Sakura watched as Ino stumbled a few steps and turned to look at her. The surprise in the blonde's eyes was evident at the fact that Sakura had given up so easily. As it turns out, Sakura didn't want to bicker with Ino, she just wanted her friend back.

"We'll be in different teams, maybe we can stop this rivalry and just be friends again." She suggested to her first friend.

"Do you still like Sasuke-kun?"

"Ino, for the millionth time, I've never liked him!" Sakura half-shouted, eye twitching in annoyance.

"My parents always taught me that actions speak louder than words, and I've seen you approach him, just like all the other girls. Nice try, Forehead, you can't fool the top kunoichi like that." Ino said proudly.

Sakura wished she could knock some sense into Ino, but decided it was best that they both showed up to class in one piece. She usually enjoyed anytime she could spend with Ino, but that morning was different; Sakura didn't want any animosity or annoyances to possibly ruin the first day of the next stage in her life.

"I'll race you, Pig."

With that, Sakura took off and ran towards the Academy; it was one way to make sure Ino stopped talking. She knew Ino was slightly faster than her but she was hoping that the element of surprise would be enough to ensure her victory.

When she could see the front door of the Academy, Sakura chanced a look back and saw Ino hot on her heels. In the end they tied as they both ran through the classroom door at the exact same time.

Sakura put her hands on her knees and tried to catch her breath while Ino gracefully caught her breath while walking towards Sasuke.

"Naruto! Get out of my seat. I'll be on Sasuke-kun's team so this is my spot." Ino yelled.

Naruto had started to sit beside Sasuke since he wanted to make sure that Sakura could not sit beside the Uchiha in case he snapped and attacked her again. She found it adorable how much Naruto seemed to take it so seriously that Sasuke would hurt her.

Sakura sat across the aisle from Naruto, where Kiba was sitting with Meisa and waited impatiently for Iruka and Mizuki to arrive. She ignored all chatter that was going on around her and stared intently at the clock on the wall; they were 5 minutes late.

After another entire minute passed by Iruka walked in looking like he hadn't slept in years, judging by the dark bags under his eyes. It was strange that Mizuki wasn't there since the two teachers had always both been present when there was an important event for her class. Perhaps he just wasn't feeling well. Sakura shrugged it off and looked around at every other kid in class.

Everyone shut up and sat down, eager to find out what team they were on and Sakura could see Ino leaning over the desk with barely contained excitement. Ino would occasionally glance at Sasuke and squeal in hopes that she would be on his team.

She saw Shikamaru sleeping, as usual, and she wondered what would need to happen in order for him to be alert. An alert Shikamaru would surely mean the end of the world.

She glanced at Choji and caught his stare so she smiled and waved at him. She knew he wanted to be on Shikamaru's team and she really, really hoped he would be. The teachers would have had to have been stupid to separate the two.

She looked at Naruto, who just appeared to be happy, holding onto his forehead protector like it was the most sacred thing in the world. He was oblivious to what was happening around him, even when Ino almost hit him in the face with her hand accidentally.

When she glanced at Sasuke, it was difficult to tell if he was nervous or not. He was distant yet sought her attention at times and Sakura didn't know what to do about it.

"Team 7. Uchiha Sasuke, " Iruka announced and Sakura listened immediately. There was a collective gasp and breath holding from the girls in class who all hoped to be put on a team with Sasuke.

"Uzumaki Naruto, " the collective gasp turned into a collective groan.

"Haruno Sakura." The groans turned into cries of indignation and shouts of anger.

Had she not been looking directly at Sasuke, she would have missed his smile when her name was called out. Her view was quickly obstructed by Naruto who stood up on his desk and started dancing for joy. It took Iruka several seconds to get Naruto to sit down again so he could continue with the team assignments.

"Team 8. Inuzuka Kiba,"

Sakura turned towards Kiba and put her hand on his shoulder. She hoped he would be put on a team where he could improve and be happy.

"Aburame Shino, Hyuga Hinata."

Sakura didn't know much about the two, only that they were both quiet which would be a good contrast to Kiba's loudness.

"Team 10. Nara Shikamaru,"

At Shikamaru's name, Sakura crossed her fingers for Choji to be with him. She didn't know what Choji would be like if he wasn't on his best friend's team. She watched Choji stress eat until Iruka spoke up again.

"Akimichi Choji,"

She heard Choji let out a small cheer and she couldn't help but let out a breath of relief.

"Yamanaka Ino."

Ino let out a very loud groan, expressing her disinterest at being part of the team.

Sakura didn't pay attention to the rest of the teams seeing as all her friends had been put on a team already. Their lives were diverging and she may not see all of them every day but she was fine with that; they would all become better shinobi in their own ways.

After listing off all the teams, Iruka left all the genins in class with a promise that their team sensei would be by shortly to get them. As soon as Iruka left, Sakura decided that it would be best to go see her team, which proved to be a mistake. As soon as she approached them, Ino was there, ready to tell her a piece of her mind.

"That is so unfair! The top kunoichi should have been on a team with the Rookie of the Year. My cousin could have easily been put on a team with Shikamaru and Choji. Forehead, how did you manage to be on a team with Sasuke-kun? Now he'll have both you and Naruto to drag him down. Life is so unfair!" She vented before scoffing and stomping over to her own team.

Sakura tried to not be hurt by Ino's words but it was difficult. She had always valued what Ino thought and tried her best to make her proud. With a defeated sigh, she walked over to sit beside Naruto, who had obviously taken the seat that Ino had just vacated.

"Sakura-chan, we're on the same team!" Naruto beamed at her.

She smiled at both him and Sasuke and relaxed in her seat; any minute now, they would be with their jonin sensei and on their way to becoming stronger.

Three hours after all the genins had left with their sensei, Sakura wondered if their own sensei had forgotten about them. She had purposely not brought a lunch with her, thinking that she would be back home by the early afternoon but she learned a valuable lesson that day; always bring food no matter the situation.

The worst part of waiting for three hours, was watching as Naruto and Sasuke slowly but surely became more annoyed with each other. Naruto insisted on staring at Sasuke whenever the boy made a sound and Sasuke was annoyed that he was constantly interrupted when he wanted to speak to Sakura.

She didn't really know what to do, she could just tell Naruto to stop staring, but she wasn't like Ino, people didn't listen to her. Luckily, or unluckily, their sensei arrived just after the eraser throwing started. Naruto had gotten tired of Sasuke wandering around the classroom and decided to throw an eraser at his rival. Sasuke, being Sasuke, managed to easily dodge out of the way of the eraser, just for their jonin sensei to walk in through the door. And get hit in the face with the eraser.

Sakura stood there gaping at the jonin, mind reeling from the memories when she had first seen him. The same night she was saved by Itachi. And Akio. And Shisui. She was inwardly panicking. Flashbacks of that night flashed through her mind and she couldn't say a word. She simply looked on as Naruto scratched the back of his head, Sasuke sighed in exasperation and her new jonin sensei said that he didn't like any of them.

She snapped out of it when Naruto dragged her by the hand and together, they ran to the roof of the Academy. Once there she halted as Naruto ran to sit down beside Sasuke and she slowly crept closer, always wary of the jonin.

She didn't know if he remembered her, or if he had been close to either Akio, Itachi or Shisui since they were on the same team. In all her time with the three and over the past six years, she hadn't seen this jonin even once, so she assumed that they had not been that close.

"Come sit down so we can do introductions." He said sternly and Sakura hurriedly went to sit down beside Naruto.

She didn't watch where she was sitting - she was still staring wide-eyed at the man - and sat down half on Naruto's leg and half on the stairs. She quickly apologized and corrected her position, urging her sensei to continue.

"You, on the right, tell us about yourself." He said, pointing at Sasuke.

"Why don't you start by telling us your name, sensei? That way we can address you better."

"Seems fair, my name is Hatake Kakashi." He said quickly.

"Introduce yourself, like in the academy they ask us what we like and dislike and other stuff." Naruto shouted.

"Only if you pass the test tomorrow. Now, go."

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke, I have-"

"What test tomorrow?!" Naruto interrupted.

Sakura looked at Sasuke and saw the early signs of annoyance. Just like his brother, he had developed an eye twitch, except instead of Shisui being the cause, it was Naruto. She gently placed her hand on Naruto's arm in hopes that he would calm down and it somewhat worked.

"It's a surprise." Their sensei smiled, or at least Sakura thought he was smiling; his mask covered too much of his face to accurately tell.

"Uchiha Sasuke. I use to like many things, but not anymore. I used to not dislike anything, but now I dislike most things and people. My hobbies have changed from wanting to have fun and play to wanting to train and get stronger. My dream is to avenge my clan the only way I know how and that is to kill a certain person." Sasuke explained without being specific about anything.

She had the urge to hug Sasuke since she remembered how he was before the massacre and how much he's changed. His outlook on life seemed so bleak and lonely.

"Great! Now blonde one, your turn." Kakashi faked his enthusiasm.

"Alright! My name is Uzumaki Naruto, I like ramen, making people happy and having friends. I dislike how long it takes for water to boil for my ramen and people who are mean to others. My hobbies are pranking people and getting stronger and my dream is to become Hokage so everyone will finally respect me!" Naruto exclaimed.

She missed how after almost every category, he glanced at her because she knew she was next - it didn't take a genius to figure that much out - and she didn't know what to say.

"Big dreams for someone so small. Pinky, you're last." Kakashi stated.

"My name is Haruno Sakura. I like having friends. I dislike bullies and people who are mean or condescending. My hobbies are spending time with my family and friends. My dream is to keep my friends and family safe and not have anyone else die." She started off loud then got quieter as she neared the end. Almost too quiet for others to hear, but Naruto and Sasuke were nearby and Kakashi was just that good.

"Now that that's over, meet me at Training ground 3 tomorrow morning at sunrise. I'll be giving you your test to become a genin. If you fail, you'll be sent back to the Academy. This will be an intense test so it's best you don't eat beforehand, just to make sure you don't throw up." Her sensei explained then suddenly disappeared. Just like Shisui and Itachi could do.

"What…" Sakura trailed off.

"We're already genins, aren't we?" Sasuke asked.

"We worked hard to get our forehead protector, there's no way he can fail all three of us and take them back, right?" Naruto panicked.

Sakura sat in silence, her mind going through everything that anyone could have said about failing a test given by their jonin-sensei yet couldn't remember anything.

"Sakura-chan, did you want to go get ramen with me?" Naruto asked suddenly.

"Sorry Naruto, my family wants to spend some time with me. Don't your parents want to celebrate your promotion?" She turned to face Naruto apologetically.

"Sakura, Naruto doesn't-"

Naruto shoved his hand over Sasuke's mouth to shut him up, but Sakura wasn't sure why. The two had never seemed to speak to each other before so there was no reason Sasuke would know something about Naruto that she didn't so she shrugged it off as Naruto being weird.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow for training!" Sakura said then promptly left to go home.