In the designated fight zone were two figures. Upon closer inspection, they could be identified as a pair of teens, each bent forwards, supported by their knees, aching arms limp from the full hour of non-stop fist-fighting. Forearms and shins bruised heavily with trails of blood dripping off their knuckles. Each had varying ways to show their happiness, a mouthful of white teeth shown in the form of a proud grin while the other had a cocky smirk stuck to his face. They stared each other in the eye, waiting for any sudden movements. When it seemed like they were both done, they took a deep breath and stood back up to full height.
"Not... not bad at all, Sasuke-teme." The grinning one spat out a wad of blood, mixed with her saliva. It hit the forgotten and broken sandal that lay at her feet.
"I... I can't say the same for you, Naruko-dobe." The smirking one panted out as he gently rubbed the bruise on his face, one that looked suspiciously like the heel of the broken sandal.
"Man, Tsu-baachan is gonna kill me." She gestured to her injuries. The idea of Tsunade, her Godmother going ballistic on her was not as scary as her mommy in her "Kyuubi Form", where her bright red hair would float around in bundles, as though they were the tails of the Kyuubi itself. She had yet to learn that from her mommy. During a meeting amongst the clans, Kushina had told Naruko that in the past, when they were still a huge clan, every Uzumaki woman had the ability to do so in order to keep their husbands in check. She had then briefly heard the lazy muttering of "Women. Troublesome" before a resounding clang of metal (sounding suspiciously like a frying pan) came from the same direction as the voice did, apparently hitting the person who had spoken without an ounce of empathy judging by how loud it was.
Naruko grimaced as she took in the state of her body. Her disgustingly bright orange cardigan was partially torn, showing off her white tee that an Uzumaki spiral in the middle. Her toned stomach and belly button was visible as the shirt only covered her upper body, allowing her to cool down easily. Her black leggings were also spoilt, having holes that varied in sizes at her knees and shins.
"Hn," Sasuke made that agitating noise of his, wiping his bloodied knuckles against the ruined blue material he once called his shirt. "Mom isn't going to be happy." He stated, indicating the state of his ruined shirt.
"She certainly isn't going to be."
"Whoa—!" Both teens yelped in tandem at the voice that had come from beside them, leaping away from the elder brother of Sasuke that had suddenly appeared.
"God." Sasuke huffed out, closing his eyes as he attempted to lower his heart rate which had spiked up when Itachi had managed to sneak up on both of them. "Don't do that. Ever."
"Yeah, Itachi-nii, you scared the crap out of me!" Naruko had her hand above her breast, clutching her heart through her flesh as though preventing it from leaping out of her body.
Itachi smiled faintly, noticing the dishevelled state of the teens. So they were keeping to their promise of getting stronger. Hell, Jiraiya had stopped over, and after much coaxing from her father, she had been taken under his wing as the second student of the Perverse Toad Sage.
Of course, Kushina had gotten back at him for peeking at her at the bath house. With the demon fox mode on full blast, all nine of her hair bundles began violently and mercilessly whipping him into the ground, with chunks of concrete being taken out at every swipe. Naruko had briefly heard his broken form say something like "Completely worth it" and had told her mommy, leading to another round of pain for the sage.
Many things had happened while Haruto was gone. Their academy teacher, Mizuki, attempted to go rogue, failing miserably when he had attempted to snatch and run with the Scroll of Sealing. He had not known that the room had been beefed up after Haruto managed to steal the Jiongu, getting caught by the one ANBU stationed in the room at all times. She and Sasuke had gotten their new sensei, Kakashi, who was behind Itachi in terms of friendship to Haruto before he committed treason against Konoha and got himself blacklisted in multiple hidden villages. They had almost failed the test because Sakura kept fawning and checking over Sasuke every step of the way, infuriating both of her teammates with her incessant and unstoppable nagging.
"Oooh! Sasuke-kun!"
How did she even find us? Both injured teens released a tired sigh at the sound of their third member's voice. Itachi gave a small chuckle at their faces. He assumed it was the pink haired girl that Sasuke was always complaining about.
"Aniki, hide me!" Sasuke gave a harsh whisper to his elder sibling, turning his back to the general direction of the voice. Itachi merely stepped forwards and got in front of his younger brother, over shadowing him and blocking him from sight with his height.
Skipping towards them merrily, eyes shut from the large cheerful smile that overtook the bottom of her face. Sakura reached the three—or two in her case—of them before pausing. "Sasuke-kun?" She looked around, swearing that he was standing there not one minute ago. Naruko grinded her teeth together, trying her best not to walk over and choke the living life out of her teammate. The pink haired bimbo had done her best to make cow eyes and flirt at her Haru-nii when he was still in the academy with them…
"Kyaaa! Haruto-kun" Haruto's palm met Sakura's flying body, her face to be more exact, stopping her from hugging him. Without expressing any form of emotion, his eye watched as her face squished into his calloused palm, her cheeks bulging from in between his fingers while spittle came out from the lips that had been pushed away.
"I don't think so." Haruto mumbled, tired from his training from yesterday.
And with that, he pushed her squashed face straight into the face of one Inuzuka Kiba. Both kissed through means of being forced by Haruto's hand. Realising this, both separated after a full three seconds of lip on lip action.
"AARGHHHH—" Kiba screamed, clawing at his face, kneeling down as though he had been hit fatally with a kunai. The boys near him scattered, fearing for their lives as one of their kin received the deadliest, 100% fatal, malady known to boys throughout the known universe…
"—COOTIES!" And like a downed soldier, he dropped onto his face into the dirt, unmoving. A nearby boy put his thumb to his mouth and mimicked a trumpet. Playing a slow funeral march (Military Taps is the name of the march), the boys saluted their departed brother in arms. One sniffed and dabbed away the tears forming at his eyes, closing them briefly before putting his hands together in a prayer.
On the other hand, Sakura was itching and scratching violently, marking her body with red scratch marks from the uncomfortable biting sensation she felt throughout her body.
"FLEAAAASSS!"
Haruto watched as she spat onto the ground, wiping her tongue furiously in some childish belief she would get rid of the kiss. He found the Inuzuka boy mildly amusing, making himself seem like an idiot… the boy had hit on his sister and when she had ignored his attempts, he had made fun of her beautiful red hair.
Wait, Haruto paused in thought, He is an idiot. Shrugging, he left the pair behind as he went to his secluded spot in the academy to eat lunch. The crowd of children separated to give way to the son of the Yondaime, who also managed to earn the nickname the "Walking Glacier of Konoha" due to how he responded to an alarming amount of confessions.
With a cold and expressionless—
"No."
That pretty much ended Sakura's crush on Haruto, but still!
"Our apologies, Haruno-san, but Sasuke has just been called home by our mother." Itachi apologised with a small genial smile on his face, and for a second there, both Sasuke and Naruko genuinely believed the stoic faced Uchiha's lie. Sakura on the other hand, completely bought the fib and her expression fell, apparently disappointed yet not even once questioning where the younger Uchiha had gone. Everyone without pink hair in the immediate vicinity felt that she was definitely not suited to become a kunoichi of any kind and would be better of being a civilian—
Or even better! A siren for emergencies! There, Naruko found the perfect job for her and her obnoxiously loud voice that she inherited from neither of her parents. Sasuke and Naruko had discussed the topic about her being adopted during one of their lazy days.
"Darn it!" She punched her open palm as hard as she could, which amounted to a baby punching another baby. She would probably bruise her own palm and her knuckles. Naruko chuckled at the thought. Noticing the laughter, Sakura turned to Naruko and looked surprised, "Naruko? When did you get here?" She also realised that she was bleeding and badly contused. She clicked her tongue disapprovingly, "Did you fall down? You ought to take care of yourself more," she gestured to her uninjured skin disdainfully, "Like me! In your current state, no boy will ever like you."
The redhead controlled herself, preventing an unladylike riposte that certainly would have gotten her an earful from her mommy and daddy and a discreet thumbs up from Haru-nii.
"Yeah, that's great Sakura." Naruko nodded uncaringly, suddenly smirking at an old memory. "Say, how did Kiba's kiss taste like? Like his balls or dog food?" Sakura blanched at the memory, freezing in place as the image of Kiba's face smacking into hers appeared.
"I didn't kiss Kiba!" She screamed, allowing everyone in a mile radius to know of her location.
"I and many others think otherwise." A cocky smirk emerged on Naruko's tired face, enraging Sakura.
"That!—It was all because of your stupid traitor brother—!" In an instant, a pair of injured hands made their way to her collar, filthy fingers hooking from beneath Sakura's Qibao neckband upwards all the while pushing her backwards into the cement wall. Gone was the cocky smirk and the fatigue, replaced by fury not known to both the Uchiha's and Sakura. Naruko's eyes were wide open, her face an inch away from a frightened pink haired Haruno while she whimpered under the piercing gaze of her teammate.
"You listen, and listen well, Haruno."The grip on her collar tightened, making it uncomfortable for Sakura as it seemed like her top was about to be torn off. Green and quivering globes darted to Itachi, who merely watched on with wide eyes, an expression hardly ever found on the unreadable Uchiha. "If you ever, and I mean ever, talk about my Nii-chan like that again…" A sadistic gleam shone in her crimson eyes.
"You just might find it very difficult to speak without a jaw."
Ticked off at not responding to her question, Naruko stepped back as she pulled the girl forwards into her shoulder before slamming her back into the wall. Sakura yelped in pain, but the hands that had ruined her shirt stretched it out! found themselves around her skinny chicken neck, tightening just below the point of bruising. It would not bode well for her if she had physical evidence of assaulting her stupid teammate, not even the shirt could be used against her but she already knew the frightened girl wouldn't rat on her. Sakura nodded as much as she could with hands holding her neck in place. And in an instant, almost as if it were never there, Naruko blinked and the red was gone, having bled out and replaced with the lavender her mother passed down to her.
"Good. Now don't make the same mistake again. Is that clear?" Sakura nodded once more before the hands that held her captive released her, dropping her onto her bottom. Not saying another word, the girl stumbled to her feet and scrambled away, not caring about her appearance this time.
Sasuke stepped out from behind Itachi, glaring in the direction where Sakura went before turning to Naruko. The now quiet girl had her head down, her righteous anger ebbing away as her fatigue began returning two-fold, causing her shoulders to sink low. Sasuke couldn't tell her expression from his point of view, but could easily guess that she was in an emotional slump. He began to walk forwards but Itachi's firm grip made itself known on his shoulder. Turning to his older brother with a questioning look, Itachi merely gave him a narrowed look before nodding, a sign for him to watch what he said to Naruko.
"Naruko?"
Slowly approaching the unresponsive girl, he walked around her to her front and took in her watering eyes. Softening his often cocky features, he hugged his sister-figure and patted the back of her scalp gently, soothingly like his mother did when he had nightmares about his lost clansmen.
"Don't worry Naruko…" She sobbed into his shoulder, missing her big brother dearly. "There, there. We'll get him back." He whispered soft words into her ear, doing his best to calm the girl down.
"I know we will… I just miss him so much."
Haruto, Itachi looked at the evening sun set, I hope you know what you're doing. For the sake of your family.