Number 6: What if things really were switched between Naruto and Sasuke?

Sasuke Uchiha, sole survivor of the Uchiha Clan… wielder of the powerful Sharingan, and most promising candidate for Rookie-of-the-year. Years earlier he had been subject to witness the fall of his clan, by the hands of his own brother no less. No one knew of what was said between them, but whatever it was had produced miracles for the boy's growth, pushing him to limits beyond what any academy student should have been capable of. As he ran his hand in his dark hair, he sighed, sending a wary glance to his two future teammates.

His eyes first landed on the pink-haired kunoichi sitting patiently beside him. Sakura Haruno, a member of a civilian family, relatively average kunoichi skills, and esteemed "rival of love". The girl was supposedly skilled in Genjutsu, but having little interaction with her outside of class, Sasuke wasn't sure whether these claims held any merit.

Then of course, there was the last member of the team. Him… the blonde shinobi glaring at the others from the back of the room, his headband dangling nonchalantly from the top of his head, as if he didn't even care about what it stood for. His name was Naruto Uzumaki, also known as monster, also known as demon brat… also known as… Sasuke stopped, having long lost track of all the words the villagers used to describe the blonde. He had never known what the boy had done to receive such treatment from the village, but he never bothered to get close enough to ask. Still, there was something about him that just screamed danger, and even the great prodigy was wary around the boy, believing that if it came down to an all-out scuffle, he would lose.

Turning his eyes forward once more, he awaited the arrival of their sensei-to-be, one Kakashi Hatake. He didn't know what to expect from the Jounin, but if the fact he was running well over an hour late for their first meeting said anything about him, Sasuke wasn't going to hold high expectations.

The door slid open, and a silver-haired man wearing a dark mask covering most of his face poked his head inside. The man sighed, as if expecting something to happen, but nonetheless continued onward.

"I suppose you three are the Genin of Team 7?" he asked slowly, earning a curt nod from Sakura and Sasuke. Naruto, as usual, merely eyed the man, as if taking in everything about him.

"How do I put this…" the man trailed off, looking up towards the ceiling, "I really… dislike you guys."

A twitch of the eye… a clenched hand… and utter silence…. Each member of the team had reacted in different ways. The man smiled at the three of them, pulling a small orange book from his pocket and flipping the page. "Meet me on the roof; we'll continue our discussion there."

It hadn't taken long to arrive. As the three approached the man, who was now seated comfortably reading his book, Sakura spoke.

"So, are you supposed to be our sensei?"

"We'll see, won't we." The man smiled once more, gesturing for the three to sit, "Why don't we all introduce ourselves… after all, nothing like a brief moment of bonding between teammates eh? Likes, dislikes and dreams for the future."

Sasuke and Sakura shot each other short looks before turning back to the man.

"Umm… sensei? Why don't you show us how it's done first?" the rosette asked, prodding the ground beside her in embarrassment.

"Alright," the man sighed, putting his book away, "My name is Kakashi Hatake, I have some likes and a few dislikes… dreams for the future…." He trailed off, looking to the sky once more, "Alright then, your turn, pinky."

But he only told us his name! the three thought, even Naruto glared at the man.

"My name is Sakura Haruno," the girl started, deciding to just get it over with, "I like…" she shot a quick glance at Sasuke, who turned to smile at her. Blushing, she quickly turned her face forward to face Kakashi once more, "I dislike Ino-pig!" she said hotly, "and my dream for the future is…" she blushed, looking at Sasuke once more.

As expected then… Kakashi sighed, "Alright then, you there, the blonde."

Naruto glared at the man, his hands folded in front of his face angrily as he spoke, "Naruto Uzumaki." He said darkly, getting straight to the point, "My likes are none of your business… I dislike this village. My dream for the future… is irrelevant at this time."

Man… what a pessimist… Kakashi thought, I might have to do something about that mean streak… he pointed to Sasuke, "And last but not least…"

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha." The boy said with a smile, "I like tomatoes and taking walks. My dislikes… I dislike traitors…" he said with a frown, "and… my dream for the future…" he grinned, "I want to protect this village, and prevent anything like the Uchiha Massacre from happening again!"

And there it is… I tried to style Naruto after a less homicidal Gaara, hope it turned out alright. As for Sasuke, I feel that perhaps if Itachi hadn't been so focused on the "use your hatred" and didn't Tsukiyomi Sasuke every time they met he might've ended up more like this. After all, he did seem to be getting better during the Chunin Exam Arc, even going so far as to say he didn't want to see anyone/comrades die in front of him again. Sakura's the same for the most part, though she might have an easier time getting Sasuke to go on a date. Kakashi will probably take his job a little more seriously, though probably not too much. Anyway, thanks for reading, and if you want to, review!

Hey, it's me Snakeking, I was impressed by hiyuusha, and he said I could work on this story, along with chapters 1&4 of his What If? story. I hope I can live up to his standards.

I know that I still have my current Teen Titans story to work on but I've been hitting a lot of walls.

Pros of continuing a story from where canon leaves off: It's basically an open canvas that's yours to do with as you please.

Cons of continuing a story from where canon leaves off: You're bound to run out of ideas sooner or later.

Pros of creating an AU story: It's all been laid out and you just have to re-work it.

Cons of creating an AU story: You have to re-work it enough so it's not just re-telling the canon story.

I've been reading different AU (Alternate Universe for novices) Naruto stories and I thought I would try a few out for myself. I'm also into stories where Naruto is: dark, evil, just vicious, or all three.

If I make naruto viciously insult and/or think poorly of someone, it has nothing to do with any personal character preferences, I'm trying to make him act like he would if he was, as hiyuusha put it, "a less homicidal Gaara," though he will still have some of his own cocky personality.

I'm not bashing, and I would appreciate it if nobody bashed me.