Disclaimer- I Don't own Naruto, It belongs to the creators. I just love it to death.
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February 20, 079 years AKE (After Konoha Establishment.
It was late at night when he woke up. His head was hurting as if he just got hammered there. Due to a merger perhaps. Speaking of, he didn't think it would work. Or perhaps it would work this way. I know all about both the lives as I consider them both my lives but I feel detached with both the Identities. As if I'm different from both of them. Which is true but it feels like I'm a new person, completely different, not a mixture of the previous two. Just with their experiences. Horrible experiences.
He looked at the bedside. There was a bag with his torn clothes in it, along with medicines prescribed to him. On the other side, a couple of flowers wilted. So that's two people who visited me. He knew from now with his 'enhanced knowledge' at least one of them was Hinata for sure. Hmm. Perhaps this might be his chance to start a friendship with the girl who perhaps might be the one of the very few people in this village he can trust without conditions.
Thinking of trust, led him to the thoughts of betrayal he faced in both his lives and he almost started succumbing to grief, before he heard the door open.
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Never she thought she would ever reminisce about her time roaming like a wild animal with her just as wild sensei. Yet the amount of work she has done in the last month alone, made her wish for those days.She had longed for years to be in the village but knowing her master felt too much pain to simply ever foot in the village again, she resigned herself to live like this. To be a roaming monk, taking care of the half-time drunk women and her finances. Making sure she doesnt come into the bingo book due to her sensei feeling irritated somewhere. No fun, No friends, No life. So when he saw that blonde brat for the first time, she knew that this time Jiraiya-sama had found the perfect tool to get her sensei. If it would have been her old self, she would probably not think so, her old self was to her shame was a bit of a fangirl, as every second girl of her generation she also had a huge crush on Kakashi. But time had told her that those kinds of boys are good only for fantasies. Life gets much harder to live with time, loneliness starts eating you, it gets hard to remain happy. People like Kakashi only make it harder. So when she saw Naruto-kun the first time she knew the young boy would be the breath of freshness that her sensei needs to get her life back in balance. And he did just that. Not just to her sensei but for her as well. She never thought she would miss having such a familial feeling of kinship with somebody, not after living like a nomadic for so long. But Naruto-kun has a way to make himself grow onto you no matter how hard you try to fend him off. She thought with a chuckle. That's why she expected both Kakashi and Sakura to be around almost everyday. But to her disappointment both of them have not come even once. Even Once! When she found out why? It made her blood boil with rage. Kakashi after recovering from chakra exhaustion went straight to the memorial statue he is famous for and spend 2 hours extra on both days. Extra ! As if spending 5 hours daily was not enough ! And that stupid girl closed herself in her room crying her eyes out for the Uchiha brat. Her Parents, the sheer gall on them, are blaming Naruto-kun for this! She never would have thought, any civilian would talk so disrespectfully of Hokage like the way that woman did, but in the past years she has been out, things have gone way worse. She did not even notify Tsunade-sama of what she found, else they probably would have the entire council on their asses about Hokage murdering a civilian.
Knowing what kind of team Naruto-kun has to suffer only makes her more angry. I am definitely going to have a talk with Lady Tsunade about this. Thought Shizune. As she continued her evening round of the patients in room number 9, thinking of how bad the situation with Naruto-kun is, knowing of his crush on that stupid pink-haired girl, She heard a call from outside.
"Come in."
Soon a little dark blue-haired girl enters, looking down shyly.
"Yes dear, How can I help ?" I asked.
"Ano, are you assigned to Naruto-kun?"
Asked the girl with some stuttering.
Looking at her mildly blushed face full with concern. She believes she might have found an answer to her new problem.
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Ino never thought she would ever feel anything bad related to her 'Sasuke-kun' , she thought dryly. But her first C- Rank mission opened her eyes, well only a little she can admit now. She still tried to get his attention. But even she knew there was no 'effort' in it like the old Ino of the academy. When she saw what people have to deal with outside of the confines of Konoha, How poor the standard of life is, even near her own village. And then her first kill. Pining over the broody cool looking boy felt stupid to her. Still, she tried to keep her image alive, more for her rivalry with Sakura than anything important really. That too started going down as chunin exams progressed. By the end of the invasion, she knew that she was extremely lucky to be still alive. She also understood that she and perhaps Sakura are definitely the weakest of their group. and to her surprise it's Naruto who is the strongest. With Sasuke actually behind him in strength. Both of them being forehead's teammates meant that she is the one or that her team is the one which is weakest out of Konoha 12. So with that in mind, she for the first time started training seriously, after the exams. The more she trained, the more she learnt how much time her and forehead had wasted in their life. The more she understood how hard it is to grow strong. But the biggest surprise to her, much to her embarrassment, was her sudden shift in thoughts. About a certain blonde ninja in their group. She never thought she would ever have anything good to think about the blonde but they say life is full of surprises, and a few days after the invasion, her thoughts are filled with said blonde. Especially how he was still the most cheerful of their group despite being the poorest, most lonely of the group. After going on a A-Rank surprise mission for the very first time outside the village. After fighting the snake sannin himself and that sand monster head-on which still gave her nightmares. She felt amazed how much he must have trained to grow that much suddenly or did he have all of that from the start ? She didn't think Naruto was smart enough to hide this strength in the academy. But it also seems impossible for somebody who can't even stick a leaf to his head properly to grow so strong in so little time ? Is it because he had better training ? She doubts that Sakura is still the same weak fangirl from before. She would have changed too if that would have been the case. Or is it because He never had any proper training ? The more she thought on this, the more she remembered how Naruto was treated in the academy by the very same teachers who gave her extra marks for copying the same thing Sakura did or Ami did just because she was a clan hier. Speaking of such behaviour, she was not unaware of the hatred villagers seem to show Naruto, she just didn't care enough to think about it. Now that she does, it does not make any sense to her. Why hate a child, an orphan at that, to such a degree? Just for Pranks ? She has also done her fair share of pranks in her opinion. And Kiba and his gang is never behind Naruto in causing mayhem either. Yet none of them has ever been treated so poorly which Naruto faced on a daily basis. Then even in the chunin finals, when Naruto won, she noticed most of those who cheered looked like outsiders. Those she can recognise from her village looked angry or disappointed that the blonde won his match. Not knowing the reason for such unwanted hatred, for she doesn't think that a child not even in the academy yet can do anything bad enough to be hated so much. It makes her overly curious mind as her father put it, itching to solve the problem. But for the first time, her father shut her down so forcefully. She thought he also hated Naruto like the villagers and that thought made her feel ill inside, but he didn't, instead she can feel that her father feels something different. Knowing that he makes same face when he has to torture some young ninja, she knew that what her father feels is guilt towards Naruto. Yet he doesn't want her to go close to him. Giving her another reason to do just that. That's why, when she went to see Choji in the hospital and heard that Naruto just got admitted as well, she thought she should visit him as well. After all, unlike most of the ignorant people in this village, she knew that if not for Naruto. They all would be crushed under the sand of that 50 foot giant demon. A simple thanks with flowers is the minimum she could do. But what she saw was something she could never prepare for. The same blonde she was thinking about for days now, lying on the table, body leaking blood all over with a hole in his chest. Hokage herself was treating him, not caring who entered the chamber. Her eyes couldn't just look away from the gruesome sight. Knowing that she might get caught she forced herself to get away but her thoughts kept stuck on the same image, and her analytical brain easily puts together what could have caused that. Leaving her astonished and scared.
To think somebody would do that to their own teammate ? Even under influence ? She knew Snake- bastard did something to Sasuke but did it change him this much? To kill your own teammate. She had practiced her jutsu on her sensei all the time. With her teammates as well. They can break out of it too easily if she tries to do anything embarrassing to them.
Is Snake sannin so powerful that he can make sasuke kill his teammate? These thoughts whirled in her mind but she knew that no matter how strong the sannin was, she knew the power of a mind. There is no way Sasuke would have done this, if he didn't want to in the first place. Orochimaru may have influenced him, increasing the animosity between the two. But he cannot generate what did not exist from the start. Showcasing a very ugly image of the very Uchiha in her mind she used to worship.
With these thoughts, She finally got over her 6 year long crush on Sasuke Uchiha.
And Now her mind only thinks of all the ways she would retaliate against the same Uchiha for hurting her friends, a group that now also includes a certain knucklehead blonde ninja.