Timeskip

Satsuki laid on the ground breathless and defeated. She had lost to Naruto. She had lost because of her low chakra reserves for using the Body Flicker Jutsu and the Sharingan constantly.

She also had some complications when she unlocked the Sharingan.

Her enhanced perception threw off her timing, causing her to overstress her body from trying to keep up with the increased reaction time, forcing her to adjust in real time to properly move with it. A higher control of her chakra is also required to maintain its power for long.

Surprisingly, Satsuki didn't feel any anger from losing to the dead last of her class. It was probably overshadowed by how happy she was on the inside for finally unlocking the Sharingan after years of constantly trying to.

Satsuki looked at Naruto who stretched out his hand at her. "No hard feelings?" Naruto asked hopefully with a nervous smile on his face. Satsuki sighed and grabbed his hand, letting her be pulled up by him. Naruto grinned at her.

"Hey, I have a great idea. Stupid, but it would be great if it worked out. From now on, let's train together everyday. What do you say?" Naruto suggested. Satsuki was taken aback by his suggestion. They beat the shit out of each other a few minutes ago and now he's trying to be friends with each other? Satsuki thought she probably hit him too hard.

"What do I gain from this?" Satsuki asked while crossing her arms. Satsuki was a recluse, she kept contact with people to an absolute minimum and maintained her strong sense of pride in the process.

"Are you seriously asking that, dumbass? We're gonna get stronger together obviously! And maybe I could get that stick out of your ass! " Naruto replied confidently. Satsuki rolled her eyes, she did not have 'a stick in her ass' no matter how much Naruto told her she had it.

And this sounded like a very bad idea to her. They absolutely hated each other. Maybe they had something that they liked about each other but that was a long shot of the century.

But despite all of the cons Satsuki pointed out in her mind. The pros outweighed it dramatically. Not only would she get stronger, she would be measuring her strength with Naruto who is the only person in the academy minus the instructors to be able to fight her evenly.

Satsuki decided to go for it.

"Alright fine. But know that I'm only accepting this so that I can get stronger. And you would probably be annoying and keep nagging me about it." Satsuki replied to him. Naruto grinned broadly ateher answered.

" Hooray!!!" He cheered loudly and jumped around excitedly. Satsuki groaned and palmed her face.

" What have I gotten myself into? "

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A month later.....

"Hello Naruto!" Tenten greeted the blonde happily.

"Hey Tenten!" Naruto greeted her back as he approached her.

"Can I get 50 sets of shuriken and kunai?"

"Sure! Anything else you wanna buy?"

"There is. Here's a list. " Naruto handed tenten a list of what he wanted to buy from her shop. Tenten hummed as she read it.

" Empty scrolls, Ink bottles and brushes, explosive Tags, smoke bombs." Tenten whispered.

" I also wanna get a new outfit." Naruto quickly added. Tenten nodded and smiled at him.

"You got it Naruto!! You'll walk away being even more handsome than before. Not that you're not right now by the way. Cute is the perfect way to describe you." Tenten teased, making Naruto blush at her compliment.

" Um Tenten... Can I get the things I want now please? "

" Hahahahahaha!!!"

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" She's right, I really do look handsome. "Naruto commented. He was staring at his reflection the mirror while in the dressing room of Tenten's weapons store. The new outfit he was wearing made Naruto look more serious and more Shinobi like.[Pic]

"You done Naruto?" Tenten asked him. Naruto exited the dressing room.

"I'll take it! How much will it be?" Naruto asked.

"15000 ryo." Tenten replied instantly. Naruto was surprised.

"Wow, that's cheaper than I expected." Naruto commented, confusing Tenten.

"Why is that? The price is considered average." Tenten replied. Naruto sighed and shrugged.

" I don't know, the other weapons store would charge triple or even quadruple that amount for no reason. " Naruto revealed, shocking her.

" Why would they do that?!" Tenten asked, feeling angered about this revelation. Naruto shook his head.

" I don't know Tenten, these villagers have a grudge on me. I don't even know why they do. " Naruto replied. Tenten shook her head.

" Ignore them, Naruto. They don't know the true you." Naruto smiled, hearing Tenten's kind words.

" Thank you Tenten. I should get going now though. We should seriously train together sometime. " Tenten smirked at him.

" I still think that 'training' is you trying to ask me out though." Tenten accused, making Naruto blush and cross his arms.

" Well what if I did ask you out?! " Naruto shouted. Tenten leaned into his ear.

" Well then you better give me a good time, Naruto." She whispered, sending chills down Naruto's spine when he felt her warm breath on his right ear.

"O-okay then. I gotta go now, see you soon Tenten!!" Naruto waved at her before dashing out of the store. Tenten giggled to herself.

"So cute. Those whisker marks on his cheeks make him look like a fox, which makes him even cuter!"

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A few months later....

Naruto, Satsuki and Sakura were under a huge tree. Naruto was sitting in the middle while Satsuki and Sakura were sitting beside him.

Sakura had joined Naruto and Satsuki in their training sessions. Satsuki didn't like it at first, as she thought that Sakura was only trying to get closer to her so that she could he friends with her.

But that thought was immediately thrown out of the window when the last Uchiha saw how serious the pink haired girl was in becoming a kunoichi.

The trio had grown a lot in strength and mentality. They had become the best of friends, thought Satsuki would quickly deny that statement.

After training intensely, the trio would usually hang out in Ichiraku Ramen, eating the heavenly ramen that Teuchi cooked for them.

Satsuki had grown a lot mentally. She became attached to Naruto and Sakura and slowly started forgetting the vengeance she craved, achieving after so many years a measure of happiness.

She was attached to Naruto more than Sakura. They could relate their circumstances with each other. Both of them had lost their families. When left alone, she and Naruto would discuss about it.

Satsuki now secretly craved friendship. She had realized how lonely she was because she was denying it the whole time, and also because seeing friendship and teamwork as trivial matters.

If she was to be put in a Genin team with two other people, Satsuki hoped that those two would be Naruto and Sakura.

Sakura and Satsuki's relationship started out as rocky at first, but Sakura remained patient because she understood the Uchiha's situation just like how she now understood Naruto's.

Sakura tried to be the supportive friend for Satsuki and Satsuki was grateful for it. Before that, the Uchiha would scoff at the idea of being grateful for friendship, especially with Sakura, but now it was different.

The two would find the time to discuss their hopes and fears. Satsuki didn't reveal much, but for Sakura it was enough because Satsuki was opening up.

In the strength department, the three had grown tremendously over the past months. In her free time, Sakura volunteered to work at Konoha Hospital which serves the medical needs of ninja and other villagers in Konohagakure.

Her medical skill has improved tremendously and so did her chakra control. It was also her that introduced Naruto and Satsuki to the Tree Climbing Practice.

Tree Climbing Practice is a training method used to gain more skills with chakra control. This training involves focusing a fixed amount of chakra to the bottom of one's feet, and using that to climb a tree without using one's hands.

If the stream of chakra is too weak, the user will lose their footing on the tree and fall off. If it is too strong, the user will be pushed away from the tree, causing the tree to fracture around the point of contact and the user will fall. The concept of this exercise is similar to magnetics.

With that exercise, the trio's chakra control skyrocketed, with Naruto finally being able to perform the Clone Jutsu.

It was this wretched Jutsu that made Naruto fail the graduation exams three times in a row. This is a basic technique that every shinobi can use. In fact, Konohagakure's Ninja Academy prevents students from graduating unless they're able to perform this technique.

Satsuki's proficiency with her Sharingan had improved too. She was now able to use it for longer periods of time with her chakra reserves increasing a lot too.

Naruto had improved a lot. He was getting stronger and faster. He had sped through volume 2 and 3 of the Book about Fūinjutsu Hiruzen gave him. The second was an introduction in sync'd and localized reactions, i.e. explosive tags, as well as building multifaceted arrays.

Volume 3 of his Fuinjutsu books was about manipulating chakra networks. This volume demonstrated how chakra suppressor, paralysis seals, shock tags and even resistance seals worked, how they connected to the chakra system and the effects on the body. The volume included a detailed diagram of the chakra system along with the placement of every tenketsu.

Naruto was a genius at Fūinjutsu courtesy of his Uzumaki genes. He also found out about his elemental affinity with Chakra Induction Paper, pieces of paper made from a special type of tree that is grown and fed with chakra that allow his elemental affinity to be identified.

Naruto found out that he had Wind, Water, Lightning and Fire release. He had bought the paper for Sakura and Satsuki too. Satsuki had Lightning and Fire Release while Sakura had Earth and Water Release as her elemental affinity.

Naruto looked up at the sky and saw a hawk flying over him. He smiled a little.

"This time, I will pass and take that first step into becoming Hokage!! Believe it!!!"

To be continued.....