Chapter 37

Konoha was in the early dawn, there was a clear blue sky and a couple of clouds, in his apartment when Itachi was cleaning and making his bed as a habit, he also thought about yesterday, even before he started training he had been following Team-7 to find out their version, in the second timeline, and his theory turned out to be true everything was not the same as in that timeline, their conversation turned out to be a bit alternative....

Flashback

Before he went to the training field and started training, Itachi decided to go for a walk and even bought some ice cream, it was a hot day, walking down the main street he turned towards the park, strangely enough he found Team-7 there, Itachi guessed that they had just met, in the first timeline, Kakashi was late and Naruto decided to play a prank on him by putting a little surprise above the door, and Kakashi naturally let himself be pranked to quickly find a common theme with them and even to be funny, Itachi knew these events quite well because he had studied their daily life and especially the beginning, now he noticed how they were getting acquainted in the same place where in the first timeline, Itachi went up behind a tree and watched them from a distance, he tried not to show off and even hid behind a tree so that even Kakashi did not notice, then folded his arms on his chest and smiled with curiosity, he began to listen:

-I want you to start by telling me about yourself, and what your dreams are, and what your name is," Kakashi said, adding a smile as if he were talking to children.

-Sensei, tell me about yourself first," Naruto said with a finger pointing at him and a sly smile.

-Yes sensei, we are very interested in your story- Sakura backed him up, looking at Kakashi curiously.

-Well... - A friend of mine once said that if you don't hide anything from your team in the beginning and are always honest, you can build a good bond, so I'll tell you about me - after he said that, Naruto and Sakura listened to him attentively, and Sasuke looked away indifferently and listened, and Kakashi started - my name is Hatake Kakashi, I became a Chunin when I was about 6 years old, because my close relative was the white fang of Konoha, he made me one, I joined the ANBU right after the third world war, the day I lost my whole team.

He said sadly, looking up into the sky, thinking that Rin and Obito, along with Minato sensei were looking at him, Naruto and Sakura also fell into sadness a little, at the thought of what he was going through.... and Sasuke continued to look at him, folding the fingers of both hands, and listened to him go on:

-Well then I became Jonin by leaving the ANBU, and here I am-" Kakashi finished with a smile, this made both Sakura and Naruto smile, and Kakashi also added-"and now it's your turn, let's start you in the middle.

-My name is Sasuke Uchiha, and I don't have a dream, but rather a goal, and that goal is to rebuild my clan, and to kill one man," he said vindictively, and everyone turned to look at him, and Naruto made a very grim face, thinking "I hope he's not talking about me?".

Itachi noticed that face on Naruto's face and guessed that he thought Sasuke was talking about him, but he knew it wasn't Naruto, Itachi wondered "even after learning the truth about the clan, are you still going to kill me? I guess some things don't change", on the other hand he thought that Sasuke might be talking about someone else, but he had no idea who he was talking about, although he was pretty sure that Sasuke was talking about him....

-My name is Naruto Uzumaki, and I will be the seventh Hokage of the Dattabayo! - Naruto decided to distract everyone from Sasuke's gray fog with his positivity and everyone smiled, naturally except Sasuke, but Naruto continued anyway - I like ramen, and especially when I'm served by Iruka sensei, I want to be recognized by the village one day, and no matter how difficult the job of Hokage will be, the main thing is that I will be respected and I will become the Dattabayo!", - he finished with his trademark smile.

-And my name is Sakura Haruno, my dream is to impress and prove to one person that I am not useless, that I am worthy to be called a Shinobi and also.... - With a smile she began, Kakashi started to listen to her, and Naruto also moved his gaze to quickly find out what her second dream was, then Sakura with the same smile said - and it is me who will become Hokage!, Cha! - Sakura closed her eyes and raised her right hand up victoriously, Sasuke smirked as she reminded him of Naruto.

-I'm the one who's going to be Hokage," Naruto said, frowning at his teammate.

-You want to bet me? I was the best in my class, and I will be," Sakura said confidently, folding her arms across her chest.

Itachi smiled slightly at this, for when he started training her he had awakened her deep desire, and was sure that this was the inner version of Sakura, there was no more inner version of her in her, for now she had finally found herself, and her goal was to become a strong and useful Kunoichi, later Kakashi decided to interrupt them.

-I'll see you tomorrow, and make sure you have a good dinner, because you won't eat breakfast in the morning, you might get dizzy or worse, throw up," all three nodded and left, while Kakashi stayed where he was remembering his team, Itachi activated his sharingan and read his lips in a low whisper, "Minato sensei, Obito, Rin, now I think I found my true team, they are better than all the people I kept out of my squad and brought back to the academy, I promise I will protect them... - Itachi deactivated the sharingan and smiled with his left lip, he knew that everything was going even better than planned, although the protagonist knew that the training would go a little differently....

End Flashback

Sakura Hokage?, even the thought was a little funny, Itachi smiled at that, for she had become well aware of how Naruto thought, and with that thought Itachi had fallen asleep last night smiling with his right lip in his pillow, but now he had other thoughts, as he walked out of his house he realized that a lot of things had changed literally.... The first timeline didn't have all this, but this time not only the current timeline would change but also the epilogue that would be at the end of world war four, but he knew that a lot of things in the world had changed since he had created the second timeline, it was still a wave that had gotten interference and the domino process was off by a couple of degrees, so the time couldn't be accurate but it could change even for the better, for Itachi the most important thing was to keep Team-7's timeline intact and now he was going there to see how they were doing

Itachi's POV

It's exactly noon now, I'm quite close to my goal, I only have to reach the training field, in order to learn how it goes, I'm even thinking of creating three shadow clones to keep an eye on them, and the original will watch Kakashi in the meantime, well, or even give advice, if of course he improvises, and someone has to keep the balance in the second timeline...

As I headed towards my goal I thought about Shisui, according to Tobi, Shisui doesn't want to kill me for exterminating his clan, there's something big behind him, it's not Sasuke, but if I think logically I can see how Shisui thinks, the first time I met him in the second timeline, I gave him a good idea to use koto-amatsukami on Danzo, and he took my sarcasm as an option, and still used it, it's possible that his worst reason for hating me is because of that, but I only have a theory about why he joined Akatsuki, but someday I'll find out his real reason for joining the organization...

I've already reached my destination and I see three Genin waiting for their sensei, near that spacious field, and Kakashi appears from above sitting on one of the logs in which I can tie the Genin and begins:

-Pardon me for being late, a black cat crossed the road, I had to go around it- -he said his excuse with a smile, and they looked at him glumly.

I smiled as Kakashi uses Obito Uchiha's excuse to finish his book, very ingenious, but I think I'm wasting my time, Kakashi tells the rules about the bells, and even what happens to those who can't get the two bells, I created three shadow clones to follow each of them, not only because I wanted to make sure the chronology was properly preserved, but also to see what they could do, just for fun, and especially Sakura, what a talent she has.

The end of Itachi's POV

After Kakashi gave the command, the team immediately scattered in different directions except Naruto, he stood across from Kakashi about 10 meters away and said loudly "No hiding, you and I will fight one on one!"Naruto said confidently with a smile, the whole team looked at him strangely, they knew that the most important thing for a Shinobi was stealth and surprise, but Naruto was not trained in this, Itachi smiled slightly and continued to watch the tree, while his three clones were stealthily watching the others, Kakashi smiled slightly at this sight, and started walking towards Naruto holding a book in one hand, but Naruto in turn created a mass of shadow cloning, Sakura and Sasuke were surprised that Naruto created so many clones, because before he could not create one, they attacked Kakashi, but he easily dodged each of their attacks, and by applying taijutsu and reading his book at the same time, he was able to dispel each clone with one hand, but suddenly another clone of Naruto appeared out of the tree, he jumped on his back and pulled out a bell and smiled, but Kakashi suddenly disappeared because it was a shadow clone, the original Kakashi ran out of the bushes and moved towards Naruto, and Naruto ran into the bushes where Sasuke was now and Sakura was in the next one, He knew that they were there because they had discussed the bushes when there was no sensei, he ran to them because he realized that he could not defeat Kakashi, not even the bell, he realized a lot of things after Itachi's advice, it was a very useful advice that affected his life for the better.

Sasuke nodded and came out of the bush and threw shurikens at Kakashi, Sakura also came out of her bush and threw a kunai, it flew fast but still Kakashi fought back and dodged all their attacks, he also added a smile, Kakashi created three clones to catch up with them and the original went to the logs to finish reading his book on flirting tactics.

***

One of Itachi's clones went to follow Sakura, he was hiding behind a tree, and saw Sakura pulling out two sharp and thin kunai from her pouch to prepare her plan, Itachi smiled at this and wanted to turn back, Sakura was startled and thought it was one of Kakashi's clones and to avoid scaring her Itachi came out of the bushes and walked towards her, Sakura saw him in a black t-shirt adjusting his sleeve.

-Hi Sakura, and don't worry it's just me- Itachi came out of the shadows with a smile, and Sakura calmed down when she saw his face.

-Itachi-san hi, I thought it was one of Kakashi sensei's clones-" she replied with a smile, and added, "By the way, what are you doing here?

-Kakashi specializes in taijutsu and genjutsu, and he won't use ninjutsu on you, but if you notice something strange, just fold the seal and break it, because it will turn out to be genjutsu," Itachi advised, looking at Sakura, who looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

-How do you know so much about him?" she inquired.

-Let's just say I was in the ANBU with him, for a whole 3 years, and I got to know him well," he said with a slight smile.

-Wow, if he was in the ANBU too, he's a pretty strong Jonin, thanks for the advice Itachi-san-" Sakura mumbled, fixing a strand of pink hair.

-Huh, it's nothing - Itachi replied with a slight smile, also adding -though I'm sure you'll do fine anyway good luck -saying this phrase Itachi disappeared, Sakura realized it was a shadow clone.

Then she heard a strange sound behind a bush, looking over she noticed how Kakashi easily defeated Sasuke, while placing his body underground, leaving only his head hanging, and then Kakashi went to find the others, when he left Sakura walked over to Sasuke, stood in front of his head and folded her arms across her chest also with a sly smile began:

-How did you beat Sensei?" she said looking at him like he was beaten.

-It's not funny, he was too strong once he threw the book aside, I couldn't even get close to him," said Sasuke trying to get out, and Sakura helping him.

-I have an idea on how to catch the bells by the way, but we need to work together-" Sakura suggested.

-No I must get them alone, then I will be stronger-" He finished the last sentence, looked up at the sky, and lowered his gaze to the ground adding, "I am the only one capable of stopping him and killing him.

-You mean Kakashi sensei?", Sakura raised one eyebrow questioningly at that question.

-I'm a vigilante- Sakura noticed only indifference and selfishness in that look, trailing off as Sasuke left to find Kakashi alone.

***

Naruto in the meantime decided to go back to the camp since he hadn't had breakfast and he was hungry, he first wanted to eat all the food that was there and then he didn't care if he was punished or not, but until he got to the camp he thought about how good the food was....

The original Kakashi was standing in front of the memorial, and the original Itachi came up to him, because he felt that everything was not going according to the chronology and decided to find out why he was not hunting them.

-Hello Kakashi- began the protagonist-hero with a slight smile.

-Itachi, I didn't expect to see you here-" Hatake replied, shifting his view to Itachi's left.

-Shouldn't you be hunting your shinobi? If you relax, they'll take your bells away from you," Itachi added.

-I'll get back to them, but I figured I'd kill a few minutes here," I also replied, continuing to stare at the memorial to the dead.

-You know... five years ago, back during the capture of the renegade fog man, I once told you that you'd make a great jonin one day, and looking at you now, I'm pretty sure that this team is the one I had in mind-" When Itachi said the speech confidently, Kakashi believed him immediately, and it was obvious from the look on his face that he was sure of it.

-I think you're right, and yet enough resting it's time for action- -Kakashi finished his speech, and Itachi nodded with a smile.

Then we see from far away Naruto, who is walking towards the food, Kakashi at this moment smiled, because he was waiting for a trap there, suddenly Naruto noticed a bell that was lying by the tree, and when he decided to reach for it, the trap worked and Naruto was caught, but it turned out to be a shadow clone, then the real Naruto came out and still took the bell in his hands and smiled with all his teeth, and then the second trap went off but he had the bell in his hands, Kakashi decided to approach him and Itachi rather stepped back because he didn't want to be drawn and kept watching the trees, he dispelled all the clones and realized that Sasuke was close and Naruto had already won, when Kakashi approached him he cut the net with one blow of his kunai and started:

-Kakashi looked at Naruto with a surprised look on his face as he looked at Naruto.

-I wanted to take the bells, but a friend once gave me the advice to think before I do, and I still managed to outsmart you haha, and Kakashi sensei!, and this counts as me passing the test? - sensei nodded with a smile, and Naruto in turn added - hooray databayo!, I knew I could I passed and will soon become Hokage databayo.

-Ei calm down, wait for the others first at least- Naruto nodded with a smile getting to his feet and walking off in the direction of his pisha.

When Kakashi turned around to see Sakura running towards him, and he in turn quickly folds the seals for the fear genjutsu, and she suddenly froze, and when Kakashi calmed down, he noticed Sakura stirring and throwing a kunai towards Kakashi, Sakura just smiled and threw a second kunai, but Kakashi noticed that it didn't hit him, he even wondered for a few minutes why she didn't throw the kunai at him., he even thought that she missed, but it turned out that it was nothing like that, she had calculated everything, and that kunai hit the handle of the first thrown kunai, and after changing its trajectory, it flew towards Kakashi, and still managed to touch his waist, tearing Jonin's vest a little, then the kunai flew further and hit a tree, and Kakashi stepped back a little and added:

-Not bad, did Itachi teach you that?" and Sakura nodded with a smile, Kakashi also said, -You have very good potential in you Sakura, this is the first time in a long time I've been hit with a weapon, much less a Genin.

-Well at the expense of that I'm lucky Kakashi sensei, but I think I'm done- -with a smile Sakura walks towards the tree and picks up her kunai and there was another bell attached.

Kakashi looked to the side of his belt to see that there was no bell there, did back during that attack she managed to get it, Kakashi smiling adds:

-Good girl you passed, now you can go to Naruto's and enjoy the food you deserve it- -Kakashi replied positively.

-Hooray, I'm so hungry I didn't even eat dinner last night, thank you sensei- -she glowed at the victory and the upcoming reward, and ran up to Naruto.

Itachi watching all this was very happy for Sakura, for a moment he saw himself in her, as if he had passed something on to her, then he realized it was love.... He knew she didn't learn as fast as he did, but she still had a high potential, he also knew what she would become, during those 5 years, they crossed paths periodically, but it was an interesting time, as time went on she wanted to appear even better in front of Itachi, and he realized that he had created a good bond.

When Sasuke ran back to the camp, he noticed Naruto and Sakura holding bells and eating lunch, smiling, and Naruto showed him his tongue, teasing him, and Sasuke got angry and pouted his lips like a child, and then Kakashi came from behind and said.

-Hello Sasuke, we've been waiting for you-" Kakashi begins, folding his arms across his chest.

-Haha, well who's the loser now," Naruto adds.

-Kakashi picked him up before Sasuke could resist and tied his hands, taking him to a log and tying him to a tree, saying, "Teamwork is the most important thing, Naruto relied on his comrades when he knew he couldn't beat me, and Sakura was in on it too, she even wanted to team up with you, but you were the only one who refused, you look at them as an obstacle, but know that they are your comrades - Kakashi finished his instruction looking at him sternly.

-Yeah I get it, now untie me," Sasuke said a little sadly.

Kakashi nods his refusal and smiles, and Naruto and Sakura walk over to Sasuke and give him their food saying.

-Take- Naruto begins, looking at him like a comrade, and Sasuke sees him looking grown up for the first time, if only for a moment.

-You must be hungry, let's eat a little, otherwise your revenge will eat you from the inside out- Sakura replied sarcastically, Naruto was surprised at her wise answer, and Sasuke smiled that she was using his words as a joke and began to eat the food with the hashi he was being fed.

Itachi smiled that everything went fine, and everything goes on the right time line, although there are some flaws and mistakes, but the main fact is that everything goes on the same time wave, although exactly out of sync, having finished thinking philosophically Itachi went back towards his house to sleep after such a hard day, and Kakashi after 15 minutes untied Sasuke, and told all the squad that their first mission will start tomorrow, they all smilingly started walking, at sunset....