"Tou-san! Tou-san! Wanna play ninja with me?" A small boy with a mop of bright blonde hair asked, craning his neck to look up at his father.
After a moment of silence, the boy's father absentmindedly reached down and ruffled his hair without looking up from his paperwork.
"I'm sorry Naruto, but I have a lot of paperwork that I have to do. I promise that when I'm finished I'll play with you." Hearing this, Naruto sighed and smiled sadly.
"Oh, okay." The blonde child then turned around and slowly exited his dad's office. Once he was out of the building, he started walking briskly. Making sure not to make eye contact with any of the people he passed.
"Look, it's the demon brat," Keep walking.
"Can you believe he's the Fourth's son?" Deep breaths.
"I hear he killed Kushina-san after she gave birth to him!" Keep your mouth shut.
"So that's why we never see him with Minato-san, I mean, who'd want to be seen with a monster like him." You can't let them see you cry.
Feeling several pairs of eyes burning holes in his back, Naruto clenched his hands and started running. Taking extra care not to make any kind of physical contact with the villagers as he weaved through them.
"Watch where you're going, demon," The blonde was roughly shoved to the ground, but before anyone could reach out to him he bolted, running as fast as his six-year-old legs could carry him.
When he finally arrived at his safe haven, Naruto stood up on a red stool and leaned over the counter in front of him with a bright grin. "Teuchi-san! Ayame-neesan! Today's the day 'ttebayo!" As soon as those words left his lips, a man and a girl emerged from the back of the shop.
"You're already leaving us already huh, Naruto." The man, Teuchi said with a small smile. The blonde boy nodded his head vigorously.
"You both have done so much for me. Getting out of your hair is the least I can do." Ayame smiled warmly and ruffled Naruto's blonde locks.
"You were never a bother to begin with. But if you really want this then I'll get the money." The small child grinned cheekily and hummed in confirmation, and the brunette went to retrieve a large sack that jingled every time she took a step. Ayame dropped the sack onto the counter where Naruto could reach it.
"Here you go! This should be enough to buy an apartment somewhere."
"Thank you for everything Ayame-neesan! Teuchi-ojisan!" Teuchi smiled and patted Naruto on the head just before the blonde hopped off the stool with the sack of money.
"You're a good kid, Naruto. We helped you because we wanted to. That goofy smile is all the thanks we need."
The blonde turned around and grinned at his two parental figures, before turning around and disappearing into the bustling streets of Konoha. As he weaved his way through the crowd, he swore he heard someone yell, "Make sure to stop by sometime!" Naruto stopped walking and turned to look behind him. Although he couldn't see the Ramen stand through the mass of people, he smiled and silently promised that he would.
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"Is that really the White Fang's son?"
"He doesn't look like much."
"And yet he managed to get both of his teammates killed."
"I heard that Sakumo killed himself because he was so ashamed of him!"
"What a disgrace, tarnishing the Hatake name like that!"
Sticks and stones can break bones. But 10-year-old Hatake Kakashi knew that words could break your soul just as easily. Both him and Sakumo had experienced the unyielding pain that words could inflict. He couldn't pinpoint exactly when the rumors started. Sometime after Obito and Rin's deaths.
The masked jounin sighed. The mere thought of his teammates brought tears to his eyes. It made Kakashi sick to know that it took their deaths for him to realize how much they both meant to him. And him being responsible for both of their deaths didn't help at all.
So he let everyone talk and did nothing to stop the rumors
It was a constant uphill battle, one that he had lost his father to. But he mentally promised himself that he would not meet the same fate. No matter how difficult it was, he would hold on. Because this torture wouldn't last forever....right?
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"Sakura sweetie, stay in this village, we will come back, we just need to go on a very important mission okay? We'll be back soon."
"Hai, Kaa-san." A small pink haired girl said with a soft smile. Then her father crouched down to her level.
"Here's the key to your house. It's in a bad area but it was the only one we could find, don't open the door for anyone and keep this kunai with you at all times ok?" Sakura nodded as she took the two items from her father, holding one in each hand."
"And we informed Yondaime-sama about you. So if you need any money, just go to him and show this card, he will let you access our savings account."
That was the last thing Sakura's parents said to her before they ditched her to go the Land of Hot Springs. Sakura wasn't stupid, she saw that they had packed for a vacation and not a mission. However, she had faith in them and waited for them to return.
They never did.
And although they left her better off than most people, she still wasn't in good shape. The house they had gotten her was in the Red Light District, the most dangerous part of Konoha. And that one measly kunai her father gave her did nothing to stop a guy from mugging her and taking her bank card before running off. Well, at least it was only her bank card, not her house key.
Still traumatized by the experience, Sakura bolted in the direction her parents showed her. And when she got to the shabby apartment building, she entered her apartment and barricaded the door behind her.
Sakura plopped onto the twin sized bed and stared at the ceiling, still trying to catch her breath and wrap her head around everything that had just happened. She had no money, and that meant she had to get a job.
For the next few months, the pinkette went around the village performing odd jobs and receiving payment. Sometimes in the form of money and other times in the form of Nin or Taijutsu training. Not that she was complaining. She knew that she needed all the advantages she could get in this world. Especially with the bad location her house was in, and her striking resemblance she had to her parents.
Kizashi and Mebuki Haruno were both renowned ninja, known throughout all of the shinobi nations as the "Wind Demons". Sakura knew that if she took the name Haruno, she would be acknowledged for her biological parent's accomplishments, and that was something she did not need. It would make her years of living under the radar a waste of time.
After the first time, Sakura made sure that the people in the slums knew she was not an easy target anymore. And this is where the Taijutsu training comes in. The next time someone tried to steal from her, she dragged him out into the middle of the street. If she could take down a grown man, people would definitely leave her alone.
That day, armed with only her small fists and kunai, Sakura killed someone. She immediately regretted it after. But by the time she noticed the kunai lodged in the man's chest, it was too late.
Sakura didn't come out of her apartment for weeks, though nobody noticed. There was nobody to notice. Nobody there to hug her and tell her that everything will be alright. And when that reality set in, the pinkette got her shit together and went about her daily routine as if nothing had happened. And every night, she would stare up at the ceiling and tell herself that she was fine and that everything would be alright because there was nobody to do it for her.
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Uchiha Sasuke was constantly reminded that he would never be as good as his older brother. Uchiha Itachi was a prodigy in every sense of the word. And to Sasuke, the expectations put on him were unrealistic. He knew wasn't a child prodigy like his brother. The elders didn't have to constantly remind him.
But this didn't make him hate his brother, in fact, being compared to Itachi only made Sasuke idolize him even more. And like his younger brother, Itachi harbored no ill feelings for Sasuke. And even though his parents blatantly favored Itachi, Sasuke wasn't deterred in the least, because one day he would make his clan proud.
However, this dream was broken very quickly. The other Uchiha saw him as a failure, as someone who was freeloading off of their clan name with no talent to back him up.
And so, Sasuke was disowned at the age of 6.
Sure, he couldn't make a huge fireball like Itachi, but he was very proud of the Sharingan genjutsu he could cast on his eyes. It made it so that he looked like he had a stage one Sharingan. And although he couldn't copy jutsu, he studied enough hand signs to know what a jutsu was before someone cast it.
This flaw in his fake Sharingan ultimately caused a huge uproar when the Elders found out about it during a spar with Itachi. It was the tiniest flicker in his genjutsu when his older brother caught him off guard.
And instead of praising him for inventing a Sharingan-proof genjutsu at such a young age, they kicked him out of the clan. When the Elders broke the news to him, he thought it was a joke. You can't remove someone from your family...right?
Sasuke looked to Itachi for help, but his beloved older brother remained stoic, nodding every time the elders insulted his little brother. Trying to get his older brother to help him, Sasuke turned to the Elders and said.
"Stop it! I'll go, but only if Itachi wants me to," The small Uchiha said, looking up at Itachi with complete faith in his older brother. There was a long pause, and Sasuke's confident expression wavered slightly.
"I think it's best for you to leave, Sasuke. Nobody wants a failure like you here." Sasuke stared at Itachi in shock. The ravenette couldn't believe his older brother would turn his back on him just like that. Then, Sasuke regained his indifferent expression and wordlessly exited his home, although he couldn't really call it that anymore, could he?
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Sasuke was dragging his feet with his head down. He had just been disowned by his "family". Before he knew it, his feet had taken him to the most dangerous part of Konoha, there were several gang members glaring at him, probably because he was an Uchiha. He started walking faster, trying to get out of the slums before something happened to him. But not before his shoulder was roughly grabbed and he was spun around.
Sasuke closed his eyes in anticipation, thinking that he was going to be attacked by one of the gang members from before. Instead, a small voice said, "Hey! Aren't you an Uchiha? What're you doing in a place like this?" Sasuke opened his eyes and came face to face with a girl. She looked to be a bit younger than him, but she had a certain air around her that screamed "Don't mess with me" and the ravenette noticed how everyone who was glaring at him had suddenly lost interest.
"Hn, I was disowned" He replied, mumbling the last part while glaring at the ground.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Do you need a place to stay? You can live with me!" The pink haired girl offered.
"Uh, sure...thanks," Sasuke replied, not really understanding why this strange girl was offering her house to a stranger.
The little girl wasted no time in grabbing his hand and rushing to the dilapidated building. "I'm Sasuke, by the way." The girl stopped and looked at him, breaking out into a grin she said,
"Nice to meet you Sasuke-kun, I'm Sakura!"
And with that, the duo made their way into the crumbling building.
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I fixed it!! The comments might be all over the place though...
Anyway tell me what you think! Did I make it more reasonable? XD