Naruto Shippuden: The Legendary Team

"Thanks for walking me home, Ino-chan."

Ino gave her a wry smile. "No problem, Sakura. Just remember: we're rivals starting tomorrow for Sasuke-kun's love!"

Sakura watched Ino's retreating back, suddenly feeling very uncertain.

'Is it really necessary...? Can't we just become friends...?'

'But maybe Ino-chan just doesn't want to be friends with me...'

With that thought in mind, Sakura hung her head low and went inside her house.

After greeting her parents, ("Oh, Sakura! Why did you come home by yourself? I was just about to go pick you up! I know you're starting the Academy now, but you're still five, you know.") she went to her room and laid on her head, staring at the ceiling.

She remembered the way she acted towards Naruto earlier and almost burst out crying again. Naruto didn't deserve her ignorance; he didn't do anything wrong, after all. But she had been scared; so scared that Ami and the others would pick on her even more if she talked to him. She couldn't even glance over towards Sasuke in class because she felt like Ami had eyes everywhere. Deep paranoia was rooted in her system and she couldn't let it go.

Of course, deep inside her, she didn't like being afraid all the time. She wanted to be able to stand up for herself, but she didn't know how. What was she supposed to do, anyway? Her parents brought her up to be polite, mild-mannered, delicate... They did not bring her up as a brute or some sort of war-freak individual. Kizashi always told her that the best way to handle conflicts was to ignore them while Mebuki opposed slightly, saying that the most preferable solution was to go to the one which provided the most peaceful result.

Sakura had to choose to stay quiet so as to not cause any more trouble.

But if it had already gone this far, was it still really worth it?

• • •

"You mean you don't know what's going on, either?"

Sasuke's statement was left hanging in the air for the briefest of moments before Kyūbi-Naruto shook his head.

"Like you, my memory is blank of what exactly happened in that climactic fight against Kaguya, especially since we Bijū were all inside her at that time." The Kyūbi's voice, a little gruff and lower than its vessel's, now sounded considerably subdued. "I suspect that time went back to the attack on Konoha just before Uchiha Obito could extract me from Uzumaki Kushina. There was a momentary blackout experience before my memories eventually came flowing in. I also suspect that the reason why I can remember is because we Bijū are not bound by the laws of time; we are a large part of chakra itself, thus the intended effect of time travel cannot do anything to us, like alter or erase the memories in our minds."

Sasuke still looked as puzzled as he could be. "...Then why do I remember? And why now?"

Kurama shook his head once more. "I do not know. I have no awareness of what's going on. What I can hypothesize, however, is that if I remember, then the other Bijū surely remember everything as well. Also, it is a big possibility that the four of you — or maybe even just one of you — turned back time, even though that's a huge stretch in itself. The performed time travel technique has already made its first ripples in the pond, not to mention that I willingly saved Naruto's parents from their destined deaths, so the future is not simply something we can predict now." Kurama's expression turned into that of deep contemplation. "I do wonder about one thing, though..."

Sasuke gave him a sidelong glance. "What is it?"

"...When I came to, I was already out of Kushina's body," Kurama recounted the events. "It was as if I was already extracted from her, yet she did not die. From what I heard, she did not even feel as if the extraction actually happened. I am thinking that it is because I am not actually a part of this timeline itself. And by that, it is understandable that I do not belong inside Kushina, therefore it would seem then that she was never a jinchūriki in the first place, which may be one of the contradictions in the time alteration. It will also explain the fact that I wasn't automatically inside Naruto as well because he has not travelled back in time. Though I would like to think that he has not yet travelled back."

Sasuke gave an almost imperceptible nod, absorbing the information inside his mind. "That is what I am hoping for as well."

Kurama glanced at him. "I suspected that you and Naruto have different beliefs to enact upon the world and that Naruto would not be particularly happy with it. I will ask you this now: will you still go on through with it?"

When Sasuke did not reply, Kurama went on, "I would rather prefer that you not. In this timeline, you have your family back now, do you not?"

"...Shut up." Sasuke turned his head away. "That's none of your business."

Kurama frowned. "It is not in my nature to make pointless small talk, anyway. I will give Naruto access back to his own body. Perhaps our next talk will happen soon."

The vibrant-red colour in Naruto's eyes began to fade.

"Oh, and Uchiha..." Kurama's tone was deceptively casual. "Naruto, before eventually giving me his body, told me something interesting..."

Sasuke didn't turn his head, but Kurama knew that he was listening judging by the immediate, miniscule tensing of his shoulders.

"That boy... He told me..." A soft smile played upon Kurama's (rather, Naruto's) face. "That the two of you have gone through so much together. And that you are his closest friend."

That got a reaction out of Sasuke. Quickly, he turned around, his eyes wide in shock and disbelief.

Kyūbi-Naruto's face stared back at him, though the red in his eyes was almost gone now.

"Funny why someone who just met you a few times, someone who seemingly doesn't remember anything yet, would say something like that, don't you think?"

• • •

Sakura woke up early the next day, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She almost had a full-blown nightmare last night if she didn't wake up just before she fell into lava.

Then, as a part of her early morning routine, she placed herself into a meditative stance, allowing her chakra to flow into her body in a smooth, seamless manner. She always did this in order to calm herself more; she suspected that this may or may not be the root cause of her split personality in the first place, though. However, meditating like this somehow granted her a more considerable chakra reserve, especially when she did it every day without fail or change in the routine. It also helped hone her chakra control even more, something that helped her in her shuriken and taijutsu practice at the Academy.

After meditating, Sakura took a deep breath and looked at herself in the mirror. She flinched as she spotted her forehead which looked large as usual in her eyes. Ino told her to show it off, but she couldn't quite find the courage to yet. Maybe someday, she would.

After eating breakfast and getting ready, she waved her parents goodbye and set off for the Academy.

She was walking leisurely on the familiar path when Ino suddenly came beside her, an almost predatory smirk on the pretty girl's face.

Sakura didn't like that look.

"Hey, Forehead Girl," Ino drawled. "Let's have a race! The one who gets to the Academy last gives up on Sasuke-kun!"

Sakura was taken aback. "Wh—Wha—"

Ino was already speeding ahead of her.

Sakura blinked, then, a fire of determination suddenly burning inside her, she followed suit, pumping chakra into her feet as she did so. Where this sudden competitiveness came from, she did not know, but she was determined to beat Ino at her own game.

Sasuke-kun would never be hers!

• • •

Sasuke arrived at the Academy thirty minutes early. Itachi had been about to go to the location of his mission when Sasuke instantly came to his side, asking that he drop him off on the way since Itachi was a little early.

Sasuke resisted the redness that threatened to creep up on his cheeks. Could anyone blame him, though? Everything — everything he had ever wanted was now here, right in front of his eyes. His family, the clan, his brother... They were alive here. And he was going to keep them alive no matter what. He just needed to have a plan about the probably impending coup that his father was about to lead back in his past.

Also...

He just wanted a little more time with his older brother.

And he'd be damned if he just let this golden opportunity pass him by.

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"No matter what you do from here on out, know this..."

Sasuke's eyes were still wide as Itachi touched his forehead with his own, a gentle smile on his face which he had always reserved for his little brother only.

"...I will love you always."

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Sasuke would never, ever let Itachi suffer again.

"Agh! Stupid Forehead!" a high-pitched voice resounded in the hallways just outside the classroom door. "You cheated!"

"But you... Well, you never said we couldn't use chakra!"

"That's it! I declare this match a draw!"

The door slammed open at that moment to reveal two panting girls, one his former teammate and one the Yamanaka Clan Head's daughter.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. 'What are they doing…?'

The moment the girls took notice of him, their cheeks turned pink.

"Sasuke-kun!" Ino greeted with a wide smile. "Good morning!"

Sakura, eyes wide and cheeks an adorable shade of pink, mumbled a 'good morning' as well.

Sasuke nodded imperceptibly in response, then turned his attention towards the window by his left.

Sakura. It was a little complicated to describe what he actually felt about her. It was more of the friendship kind, but there was also something else mixed in that he couldn't quite put his finger on. However, the fact was that he regarded her as a teammate back then, one of his precious people. After all, she was one of the people who never gave up on him despite his shortcomings. Even though he almost killed her that one time, blinded by pure hatred and darkness, blinded by everything...

A pang of guilt entered his c.h.e.s.t at the unpleasant memory. Now that he was back in the past, he had time to reflect upon himself. In his timeline, he had been planning to sever his bonds with Team 7, to be completely alone for the rest of his life, to prevent more wars from happening by becoming Hokage, which in his belief would be turning into the common enemy all of the villages would hate and would be the reason why they would stay unified.

Peace was hard to attain; it was easy to say, easy to explain, easy to teach, easy to imagine... But it was definitely not easy to get. Not all people thought the same way, after all. There was a reason why a difference of opinions existed. There would always be no guarantee that all five villages would remain unified. Perhaps there would be another Madara, another Obito, even another Kaguya... You just couldn't ever tell. And that uncertainty should be properly erased.

But now Sasuke was starting to doubt his belief. Funny, he had been so focused on it, even planning to kill Naruto after sealing Kaguya just so he could proceed with this plan. But now that he had his family back, it was enough to bring reasonable doubts into his mind.

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"Nobody wants to be alone." Itachi's voice was soft and matter-of-fact. "No man is ever an island, Sasuke. Remember that."

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It was true now. Sasuke didn't want to be alone. He didn't ever want to be alone again. He didn't know if he could bear to lose his family and Itachi again for the second time... It would just break him.

For the first time, Sasuke felt that he was only human.

And humans always needed someone by their side.

And Team 7... Team 7 was like his second family.

Sasuke sent Sakura a sidelong glance. She was awfully quiet as she took a seat in the row in front of him, just by the window as well. He had forgotten how meek she was back then. No matter. She would grow to become a respectable kunoichi in the future, after all.

Sasuke hadn't wanted to help her from the bullies because he wanted her to stand up for herself. The Sakura he knew who had grown up considerably would never take that kind of damned treatment from anyone. But now, this Sakura was like a shadow of her future self. She was nothing like the Haruno Sakura who could create a gigantic crater in the middle of a battlefield, greatly reducing the number of enemies in the field.

But he was glad that Ino came to save her. He had actually been close to going towards her and talking to the bullies, but then Ino intervened. In truth, he felt that he didn't deserve to help her. Naruto was right, in all honesty. He was afraid. After all that he did to her... Did he still have the right?

• • •

"Oi, Naruto," Shikamaru called out as lunch period commenced, "what are you doing?"

Naruto chuckled conspiratorially as he searched the janitor's closet. "I've just thought of a great prank! C'mon, Shikamaru, help me out here!"

"What?" Shikamaru twitched. "No way. Ugh, what a drag…"

Chōji made an amused sound as he continued eating his ch.i.p.s. "Naruto's gonna get himself in trouble again…" he remarked lightly.

"That's not even surprising anymore," Shikamaru g.r.o.a.n.e.d, leading Chōji away.

When the free period ended, all the students shuffled back into the classroom, lively chatter filling the vicinity. Iruka was late, probably because he had something to do first before entering. Meanwhile, Naruto took advantage of the opportunity to organize some ropes by the door.

"What the heck are you doing?" Ino said, irritated as she placed a hand on her hip. "Are you going to play one of your stupid pranks again?"

"You know, at the rate you've been going recently," Kiba remarked with a taunting grin, "Iruka-sensei's becoming immune to your traps."

"Well, he won't be able to dodge this one!" Naruto said, laughing boisterously as he finished setting up. "This may be my greatest prank yet!"

"Hey, you're going to get us all in trouble," Ino accused.

"Hey, leave him be," Kiba said, mirth filling his tone. "This might be entertaining to watch."

Sasuke heaved a sigh. 'Same old class clown…'

Sakura, who was seated not too far away from him, sweatdropped. "Naruto…"

"Naruto-kun, you mustn't—" Lee began, about to admonish his classmate gently when the door suddenly opened.

Iruka's apologetic face showed up. "My, sorry about that, class. My colleague had a little trouble with—"

He never got to finish his sentence, for a large bucket filled with bright orange paint fell on his form, covering him with the obnoxious pastel colour.

But that wasn't all, unfortunately. Another bucket was triggered, decorating Iruka with large, sticky confetti that seemed like it was mixed with heavy, slippery oil.

"HAHAHAHA!" Naruto had tears in his eyes as he rolled around the floor in laughter. "I—I—I'm gonna remember that look on your face forever, Iruka-sensei! HAHAHA!"

"NARUTOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Iruka hollered, enraged.

Kiba tried his best to suppress his chuckles. "Th—This is gold."

"Naruto-kun…" Hinata muttered, eyes wide and fearful.

Iruka chased after Naruto, the latter still laughing as he prepared to jump out of the window. However, the floor was apparently covered with a mixture of oil, confetti, and paint, so Iruka shrieked as he rolled over the floor and hit the wall.

"YEAH!" Naruto cheered. Then, he glanced at his classmates mischievously.

Shikamaru knew that look. "Oh, no…" Dread pooled up in his stomach.

"Shikamaru?" Chōji inquired, confused.

But it was too late. Naruto pulled on a thin string, which looked barely perceptible among the dull brown wallpaper, and grinned.

Consequently, a series of traps were triggered. Apparently, there were well-concealed buckets above, made to imitate as mediocre parts of the ceiling. The string caused all of them to tip forward, spilling their contents onto the people below.

Everyone shrieked as they were covered in either paint, oil, confetti, or a mixture of all three. Ino screamed in rage as she strode over to where Naruto was, coated in heavy oil. Sakura, in spite of her fondness towards the blond-haired boy, momentarily and purposefully forgot their friendship, cracking her knuckles as she prepared a well-deserved payback for her paint-covered body.

Sasuke grunted in deep irritation as he felt the uncomfortable oil and confetti take refuge on his skin and clothes. 'I will kill that moron before this day is up…' he promised to himself.

"…I thought so," muttered Shikamaru as he tried to camouflage himself into his seat, his hair and skin matted with bright orange and yellow colours.

"That idiot!" Kiba howled, trying to clean the oil off of Akamaru. "Hinata, you okay?"

Hinata nodded meekly, wincing at the creative curses Kiba muttered under his breath.

"Ugh… I hope this isn't permanent paint…" Tenten g.r.o.a.n.e.d.

"…Namikaze… Naruto…!" Neji growled dangerously as he peeled off the sticky confetti from his face, swiftly activating his Byakugan.

The number of students who were pissed off increased dramatically by the minute, their auras radiating promise of a painful death.

"…This will not end peacefully," Chōji said, still protecting his bag of ch.i.p.s from the horrors of oil and paint.

Naruto, completely carefree and simply uncaring about his possible murderers, jumped out of the window, his laughter still echoing inside the classroom.

Then chaos ensued.

Almost every single person went outside, chasing after him fervidly. Poor Iruka was stomped on and forgotten on the floor.

"…We should take him to the infirmary." Shikamaru's voice resounded in the relatively empty classroom.

"…Yeah," Chōji echoed, feeling sorry for his teacher.

"Naruto..." Iruka muttered weakly and vehemently, his eyes still slowly rolling to the back of his head. "You... little..."

• • •

After class, Sakura sighed and packed her things into her bag, having finished cleaning herself up. They had not found Naruto, much to their dismay, since the little knucklehead was good at hiding himself, so they swore to get back at him first thing tomorrow.

Today, she planned on going to the library to research on chakra. Iruka told them earlier in the morning before that horrible afternoon incident that the assignment was due in two days, so now was the best time to start working on it.

She arrived at the public library without delay, immediately going over to the 'CHAKRA' section. However, she seemed to have misdirected herself for she accidentally stumbled upon the 'SEALS' section.

She was about to go back and retrace her steps when she suddenly spotted an interesting scroll.

"Byakugō no In..." she read off the label. "...Senju Tsunade... Huh?"

• • •

"Naruto, this is the second time this week!"

"But, kaa-chan!"

"No buts, young man! You may think you're a big badass now, but you're still five and starting your fourth month at the Academy!"

Minato opened the door at that moment and saw an argument between his wife and his son. Blinking in confusion, he asked, "What's going on?"

Kushina looked at her husband and sighed, a distinct tic mark on her forehead which indicated her irritation. "Minato, your son here insists that he go home by himself after classes!"

Naruto sent his father a pleading look. "Dad, I can get home by myself! Kaa-chan doesn't need to pick me up!"

Kushina turned to him, furious. "And why not, young man?! You are still a child, ya know! And our child, at that! What if some bad men kidnap you again?!"

Naruto hung his head low. "But..."

He never told his parents about the verbal bullying of some of the villagers. He didn't want them to worry. And he knew that they would never let him go if they knew about it.

Minato went over to his son, placing a hand on the young boy's blond locks. "Naruto... your mother has a point. If something ever happens to you... or if someone does anything bad to you... Well..."

"That person will die for even trying," Kushina muttered from the sidelines.

Minato sent her a look. "Anyway, Naruto," he began soothingly. "Your mother and I love you very much. You know that, don't you?"

Naruto still had his gaze to the floor. "Yeah..." His cheeks and ears were already blaring red from embarrassment.

Minato leaned in to whisper into his ear. "Just give in to your mother or she'll clobber us both. I really don't want to go to the office tomorrow with a black eye..."

Despite his embarrassed state, Naruto emitted a snicker. "Tou-chan, you're so whipped."

Kushina kneeled down to her son's height and started stretching his cheeks rather painfully. "I know you feel embarrassed, but I'm still picking you up whether you like it or not! Got that, mister?"

Naruto yelped. "Okay, okay!"

'But...' Naruto thought as his gaze rested upon his mother's angry face. 'It's not that I'm embarrassed...'

'It's more like... I'm not used to it... I'm... too used to being... alone...'

'...Huh?'

'Alone...?'

'How... When...?'

• • •

"All right. Today will be practice matches," Iruka announced, his eyes scanning the list of names which he prepared for the day. "Everyone get to the field now."

'Practice matches?' Sakura thought, feeling a small sense of dread seeping into her veins. 'I'm not very good at taijutsu...'

Naruto, who was walking behind her, grinned excitedly. 'Hah! This'll be a piece of cake!'

His promised death by his classmates was thankfully averted due to Iruka's firm announcement that they leave the matter alone. However, he emphasized long, grueling hours of community service for Naruto, causing the latter to groan yet become giddy at his luck.

When they arrived at said location, Iruka began to announce the first match.

"The first ones to go will be Lee and Neji."

Sasuke watched as the two boys went to the center and prepared their battle stances. Frankly, he had been very surprised at first that all three members of Team Gai were in the same class as him since they had graduated ahead of them in the past, therefore they were not a part of the Rookie 9. He had also been surprised that those same rookies were all still in the same class. His family had enrolled him in the Academy at this early an age since they noticed his prodigious talent ever since he was four...

But never had he expected that he would be in the same class as the Konoha 12.

What did this mean? Was this part of the ripples that were caused by the remembrance of Kurama (and possibly the other Bijū) and the presences of the Fourth Hokage and his wife? But how could that be?

Perhaps this was even one of those time contradictions that Kurama mused about…

Sasuke had then decided that he would try to figure it out. Until then, he had to play along.

This was no illusion, anyway, just in case. The details were too intricate and too embodied to be fake. There was no way a person could conduct a technique of this great a level. Not to mention that his Rinnegan would automatically deflect and absolve any genjutsu coming his way, no doubt about it.

When his eyes surveyed the field, he saw that Lee was at a disadvantage. After all, Hyūga Neji was a prodigy. A genius. Naturally, he would smooth over the basics effortlessly. It would not even surprise Sasuke if he already knew genin to chūnin level taijutsu, even if still young. Lee, of course, could beat Neji, but his current level was not at that point just yet.

The sparring soon came to an end, with Neji as the winner.

"Next, Sakura and Ino."

Sakura jolted at the sound of her name being called, involuntarily glancing over towards her opponent. Ino sent her a self-satisfied smirk.

"Don't waste my time, Sakura~" she sing-songed.

Sakura's heart raced in anxiety and insecurity. Could she really do this? But wait — was she really serious in wanting to beat Ino? Yamanaka Ino was, after all, the top kunoichi in their class. She was fairly smart when it came to written tests, and she certainly had little to no problem when it came to shuriken and taijutsu practice. Not to mention that she also excelled at being a proper lady — she was at the top in their flower arranging class. She knew a lot about hanakotoba.

How could Sakura ever compare herself to someone so talented and beautiful?

"Heads up!" was the only warning she got from Ino before the latter charged at her, her fists already ready to launch offensive strikes.

Sakura saw her coming but was a little too late to swing out of the way of her range, so she settled on blocking Ino's fists with her arms. However, the force of the other girl's proved to be too much; Sakura went stumbling backwards at every impact.

"C'mon, Forehead." Ino, who was standing before her with an unreadable expression on her face, rested her arms at her sides. "You can do better than that."

"I—I can't," Sakura whispered, trembling slightly. "I'm not very good at this."

Ino narrowed her eyes, then came at her again without a word.

This time, Sakura could clearly see Ino's fist sailing right at her face, and she knew that she had to act fast. She had to dodge it.

Her head told her to move away quickly.

However, her whole body reacted differently.

Without warning, as if reflexively, Sakura's hand enclosed around Ino's fist before it could even touch her face, instantly and effectively stopping the assault.

Ino's eyes widened at the sheer, unexpected grip Sakura was using.

Sakura, on the other hand, froze.

What... was she doing?

Sasuke's eyes snapped wide open. 'Could it be..?'

But then the moment was gone, and Ino used her other fist to punch Sakura's cheek, sending the latter flying.

"Winner, Ino."

While Sakura and Ino made the unison sign, the former rubbing her cheek and the latter staring at her, Sasuke's heart was racing slightly.

'I thought I saw that familiar look in her eyes...' he mused to himself. 'I thought she came back, too... But it was just my imagination...'

'Just a spur of the moment thing...'

"Next, Sasuke and Naruto." Iruka glowered at Naruto when he said the latter's name, apparently still sore about his infamous and latest prank. Naruto stuck his tongue out at him before facing Sasuke confidently.

It was almost as if fate was still bringing them together. Sasuke stood before Naruto, the latter already warming himself up to prepare for the incoming 'brawl'. Sasuke made it a point to observe Naruto as they now sparred, noting the latter's obvious impulsiveness as he tried to attempt multiple barrages of fists. However, Sasuke smoothly dodged every one of them, causing Naruto to huff in irritation.

'He's not the future him yet,' Sasuke reminded himself once more. 'He needs a little more time.'

'Maybe.'

Sasuke, for the life of him, couldn't figure out why he was hoping for his teammates to remember as well. For all he was, he could just lie back at the sidelines and observe more of his surroundings as he meticulously worked on an effective plan with various backups in the case that something went wrong.

But he still hoped.

And he didn't bother to know the reason why.

'I'm getting attached again...' Sasuke thought to himself, giving the smallest of his fond smiles. 'Honestly...'

He did not hesitate and sent Naruto flying on his back, signalling the end of the fight.

And this time, unlike in his past, he himself went over to Naruto and silently extended a hand towards him, no malice or condescension expressed from his form.

Naruto gave him a bright grin and accepted his help.

The unison sign they made seemed to be too blind-white beneath the sunlight.

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tbc