Rebirth of the Uchiha Chapter 10

Naruto slumped back in his seat, pulling out a book from one of his many pockets. Flipping through the pages to find his place, he dutifully ignored the stares from the rest of the class. In their defence, though, this was Naruto. Being quiet. Reading. And not even orange anymore. The boy was wearing a black and grey version of his old jumpsuit, jacket open over a blue shirt. A white spiral was sown onto the left shoulder. The blond sighed irritably as several students attempted tp dispel the genjutsu that had to be there.

"Haven't you read that about a dozen times?" asked a smirking Sasuke as he took the seat next to his best friend, officially, too, thanks to the fight in the forest a few days previous. He too was flipping through pages, in what some would recognise as Konoha's Bingo Book. Naruto glanced up at him with a grin before speaking.

"Come on, it's a good story. The main character is a totally awesome shinobi, too!" Sasuke rolled his eyes. "You just think that because you've got the same name as him. He's kind of an idiot, really, so I can see why you identify with him."

"Ha-fucking-ha. You missed your calling as a comedian, you know that? Anyway, let's get some practice in before Iruka-sensei turns up." grunted the blond, taking the bingo book and flipping through it at random. "Say when, teme. Standard rules, random choice, only known abilities..."

"Hey, Uzubaka!" called one of the civilian-born graduates. "What the hell're you doing here? This' for graduates only, brat!" In response, Naruto jabbed the hitae-ate wrapped around his forehead. "Get your eyes checked, asshole. I did some extra credit to pass, so you can just fuck right off." As he spoke, he slammed the book open on the desk.

"Hell yes! Momochi Zabuza, Demon of Kirigakure! Beat that, Sasuke!" The dark-haired boy grunted, taking back the book and smirking. "How about Baki of Sunagakure?" Naruto groaned. "Perfect. Fuuton mastery to counter Kirigakure no Jutsu and Silent Killing, eh? Bastard..."

"What are you two doing?" moaned Shikamaru from the next row up. Naruto blinked and looked up at the Nara. "Bingo Book Death Battles." he offered, acting as thought that was a well reasoned and perfectly valid answer. Sasuke smacked him upside the head and turned to the shadow user.

"You pick a shinobi at random, and then simulate a fight between them. Why, you want in?" he smirked, offering the book. Shikamaru flipped it open, eyes closed, before looking down and giving a wry smile. "Would you look at that?" he murmured. "Guess I'm pretty lucky, eh?" he chuckled, showing the page.

"Fuck no. No way in hell did you get Hokage-jiji for this, try again." accused Naruto as he was accosted by Kiba, who stood with a tanto strapped to his back. "Come on, chibi! Let the man play! You two could stand to get knocked down a few pegs!" "Don't call me chibi, you sonofabitch!" "Don't you talk about my mother like that!"

THUD!THUD! The two boys were left rubbing their heads on the floor, courtesy of one Haruno Sakura. "Quiet down, you idiots! Can't you see you're annoying Sasuke-kun?" she shrieked, before turning her attention towards her crush. Said unwilling object of desire placed a face in his hands and sighed. As though having fangirls wasn't enough of a curse in itself. No, Naruto had to go and make some of them competent.

(Flashback)

"Sasuke-kun! Would you like to go on a-" "No." Sakura slumped as her crush walked away. She pouted as the Uzubaka walked over to Sasuke-kun and started babbling on and on. She found several other members of Sasuke-kun's fanclub who were eager to commiserate, as the class split into two groups for taijutsu practice.

"And he's so loud and annoying! I don't know how Sasuke-kun can stand him!" she vented, receiving a round of approving nods. Only Ino-buta and Hinata avoided weighing in. "It's 'cause he's an orphan, you know? He's lucky, no parents on his case all the time, he can do whatever he wants-" SLAP! Sakura felt the pain blossoming and raised a shaking hand to her cheek, as the class, not to mention Mizuki and Iruka, stared blankly at the Hyuuga heiress.

"How d-dare you, Sakura-san. The pain of l-losing a parent is much worse than anything you've ever f-felt." Hinata declared, voice steadier than any of the class had ever heard from her. Sakura stared dumbly, before catching sight of the undiluted anger on her beloved's face. (A/N: I feel really creepy talking about this 'beloved' stuff when the characters are like, ten Seriously, Kishimoto, WTF?) Seeing the whole class turning against her, Sakura bolted, ignoring the wet trails dripping down her face. Making her way into the village, she found an empty playground. Crawling into a colourful painted tunnel, Sakura hugged her knees and let the tears fall.

"Sakura-chan?" came a voice, Sakura flinching as she saw Naruto at the tunnel entrance. "What is it, Uzumaki? Come to tell me what a h-horrible person I am?" Naruto simply crawled inside, sitting a few feet away. They sat in silence for several minutes before Naruto spoke up.

"What you said back there... that was really stupid, Sakura-chan," he stated bluntly, ignoring her staring at him. "I know you didn't mean it the way it sounded, but still... You heard about what happened to the Uchiha clan a couple years ago, right? Well, Sasuke and the rest of them nearly got split up over it, 'cept Hokage-jij-sama, sorry, he got it sorted out so they could stick together. You're really lucky, you know? You've still got a family to take care of you."

Sakura grimaced, having Naruto of all people explain how she'd been insensitive. "And now the whole class hates me, even Sasuke-kun..." Naruto grunted and shifted his position slightly.

"The class don't hate you, I mean, I don't hate you, and I don't think Hinata can hate anyone. Most of the others don't really care what you said. And Sasuke... Sakura-chan, if I'm honest, I don't think Sasuke really cares too much about anything you could have said," he held up his hands to cut her protests short. "Let me finish, okay? Sasuke isn't interested in any of the girls from our year. He doesn't talk about it much, but he doesn't just want some fangirl who'll do anything to get his attention. If you really want to impress him, you gotta be more serious about being a ninja. Show him how good you can be and not just how much you wanna date him. Am I making any kinda sense?"

Sakura nodded slowly, as the blond seemed to be getting more and more flustered the longer he spoke. "So, Sasuke-kun wants to be with a serious kunoichi, a strong kunoichi. If I get stronger, he'll notice me more. Is that what you're trying to say?" The Uzumaki grinned widely, nodding rapidly. "That's it! I'm not too good at explainin' myself sometimes. Come on, let's head back so you can show everyone the new, serious you 'ttebayo!"

Taking the offered hand and wiping her eyes, Sakura followed Naruto out of the tunnel. It was only as she was brushing the dirt off her new dress that something occured to her. "Hey, Naruto," she started, as the boy stretched out his arms. "How did you know where to find me, anyway?"

Naruto gave a small smile, half-turning away from her. "I know lots of hiding places around here. There's lots of places you can be alone in a big park like this." The grin was back in full force as he looked at her again. "Anyways, let's get back before Iruka-sensei has a fit!" Sakura giggled despite herself. She never stopped to realise that Naruto hadn't even tried to ask her for a date.

(Flashback Over)

Sasuke grumbled into his hands as Yamanaka Ino, Sakura's Eternal Rival, began vying for the seat next to him as well. The two of them were now (arguably) decent shinobi, unlike the rest of his fanclub. Still annoying as all hell though. That was saying something, coming from someone who regularly dealt with a council of 'retired' shinobi and power-hungry civilians. At least now he could start moving closer to his eventual goal of resurrecting his clan.

Just as soon as Iruka-sensei showed up with the team assignments, anyway. Of all the days to be late...

SCENE BREAK

A significantly ruffled-looking Iruka burst into the academy, only to come face to face with an amused Sandaime. "Iruka-san, haven't you ever heard anything about running in the halls?" he smiled, chuckling as the younger man attempted to bow mid-step, only keeping his footing by virtue of years of training.

"Apologies, Hokage-sama. I've been, been trying to get the last of the paperwork in before this gets started." Iruka sputtered, an exhausted grin on his face as he straightened up, adjusting his new hitae-ate. The Sandaime waved him away, still smiling. "Better get in there, instead of talking to an old man. You don't want the children getting stir crazy," he laughed, walking past the scarred teacher. "Or worse, let the jounin get restless." Iruka paled at the implications, before rushing to the mercifully intact classroom.

"Alright, settle down. First, let me say I'm very proud of all of you for passing. From this moment on, you are all shinobi in service of Konoha. Do your best! Now, to team assignments. Team one..."

SCENE BREAK

Itachi squinted as the dust rose up in clouds. Cursing himself for overusing the Mangekyou, he scanned the area for any sign of chakra. There were definitely traces, criss-crossing the ground, almost like... like a log-damned net. Damn. He quickly replaced himself with a boulder as the chakra strings enveloped the area he'd been standing, before rolling to one side to avoid a barrage of shuriken.

"Zetsubo Deba," he called, announcing his position. ANBU training had left him with some old habits, it seemed. "I am here to make you an offer-" he started again, ducking under a blast of sharpened air. "-to join me in-" Kunai barrage. "-a group dedicated to-" Explosive tag. "-taking down members of Akats-" Wow. They'd probably see that one all the way back to Iwa. Itachi easily kept ahead of the attacks, eventually getting out the rest of his message"-To get your revenge against Akasuna no Sasori." Silence. Better.

A haze of chakra shimmered away to reveal a middle-aged man, face covered by a mask. Wearing a long jacket, hood up, open over the standard Sunagakure flak jacket. A scratched Suna hitae-ate hung around his neck and he held a trio of kunai in one hand. "Uchiha Itachi. What does the perpetrator of the so-called Uchiha Massacre gain from recruiting a humble ambush specialist such as myself?" Itachi deactivated his bloodline, staring at his potential ally with calculating onyx eyes.

"A secret weapon."