Befriending Naruto was probably the best choice Sakura ever made in her 5 years of life. She quickly learns that he loves pranks and is extremely creative when it comes to creating them. Planning them however is not his best trait.

It was odd to Sakura that Naruto wanted to be at risk of getting caught.

"There are consequences to naughty children, Naruto!" She had hissed to him as quietly as she can when he had suggested painting replica pictures of their own self on the Hokage mountain. She could not fathom just what her punishment would be if they were caught. Would it be imprisonment? Would they be labelled as traitors? Would the scary Uchiha police come after her?

"But, Sa'kra-chan, I never get any con-see-quen-ces. Jiji is never mad at me," Naruto sulked and Sakura is confused. 

Sakura knows Naruto is a prankster at heart so this isn't his first time. But surely, there must have been some consequences to him right? Sakura remembers the time she refuses to eat her broccoli and was then put in time out where she could not play until she finishes her vegetables. It was awful! Surely his jiji would have tell him off? Wait....

Jiji? 

"Naruto, who is your jiji?" 

"It's the old man with the big white hat. Ya'know the one I'm going to replace someday?" Naruto raises his eyebrow as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. In hindsight, when Naruto mention his jiji, Sakura had thought it was a frail old man living on his own and every so often his grandson, Naruto would visit him.

Sakura paled. His jiji...is Lord Third? 

"Naruto, all this time, the jiji you were talking about was Hokage-sama?"

"Well, yeah. He's not my real jiji, just someone I visit every week or so," Naruto shrugs and Sakura's brain temporarily shuts down.

"What."

"Who else would it be?"

Sakura wants to rip her hair out. 'Who else would it be?' he had asked.

'Who else—'

"Naruto, I was expecting some old man, not Sarutobi Hiruzen who's like the God of Shinobi!" She exclaims in awe

"I don't get it, jiji is an old man, Sak'ra-chan," Naruto scratches his head and sulks. It's not like it was a secret, he thought she knew!

Sakura sighs, but it was then her brain finally caught up to her. Sarutobi Hiruzen was the Third Hokage of Konoha and he was nicknamed God of Shinobi.

They are messing with The God of Shinobi.

Sakura becomes even more pallor.

They are so dead if they are caught.

She is so dead if she gets caught.

She will have to say goodbye to Tobi, to Shisui who calls her cute, to poor Naruto since he somehow gets some sort of immunity from doing bad things and goodbye to her parents. That is if they get caught.

"Naruto, listen up, we're gonna be pranking," Naruto cheers, but Sakura quickly shushes him down in fear for other nosy ears.

After making sure no one is nearby with the help of one very reluctant Tobi, Sakura pulls the boy over, cups her hands and brought her face close to him.

"But, we're doing it my way." She whispers. There was a glint of excitement in her eyes. 

::

Tobirama sighs in defeat. He doesn't know how, but he was roped into helping two mischievous kids with a prank. He hopes teaching Sakura one of his special seals will not be a mistake.

"Paint?" Sakura eyes the long list of elements in their prank. If they follow through with the plan, she is confident that they can remain "innocent" while still pulling off the prank. They will have the perfect alibi, a pretty mess that they don't need to clean and a proud Tobi - because he's secretly mischievous but he wouldn't admit to it.

"Check!"

"Tripwires?"

"Check!"

"Smoke bombs?"

"Expensive but check!"

"Ooh, this is a must-have. Glitters?"

"Check!"

"Seals?"

"Ready for usage! Hm, this seal seems really expensive and special, Sakura-chan." The blonde boy scrutinized the weird writings on the piece of paper. It didn't look like the ones they taught in the Academy.

"Because it is one of a kind seal, Naruto! A friend of mine made it for us just for this purpose! There's nothing he couldn't do! Anyway, what about our target?" At this, the corner of Tobirama's lip twitch upwards wnd he felt his chest puffed up with pride. Of course, there are things he couldn't do, but Sakura didn't need to know that. 

"Target has been successfully distracted. He won't see this coming, dattebayo!"

"Alright, let's roll!"

"Yosh, Sak'ra-chan I'm so glad I have you by my side!"

"Okay, we have about 5 minutes before he returns! Naruto, hurry!"

::

"Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, I know you two are the ones responsible for this!" Mizuki-sensei marches up to them covered in pink paint with glitter everywhere. His eyes were wide with hatred and anger. Silently, Tobirama took a step closer to Sakura. Surely a little mischief like that wouldn't have warranted the children that much of hatred.

Sakura gasped dramatically. "Us? Sensei, we've been studying in class from 7 am. You can ask Fuki-san for confirmation, sensei." 

Alibi? Check!

Beside her, Naruto nods eagerly agreeing with his friend.

Mizuki growls and turns to the other occupant in the class. His eyes caught the boy's and his smile widens. "Sasuke-kun, is this true?"

Sakura and Naruto share a glance and panics. Uchiha Sasuke was known as the class's most popular boy who hails from a great clan. Everyone wanted to be his friend but unlike them, he does not share the same sentiments. He only speaks with kids from his own clan and barely puts up with the other clan kids.

How could they have forgotten about the lone boy? Everything would be ruin if he tells Mizuki-sensei about them!

"They were already here when I arrive, Mizuki-sensei," Sasuke shrugs his shoulder and Naruto and Sakura sighs in relief. She makes a mental note to thank the boy later on. Maybe, The Uchihas were just misunderstood.

However, what Sasuke said was untrue, but not totally a lie either. Their belongings were technically here prepared for their return. Their body however was sneaking in the Teacher's lounge preparing a prank with the seal Tobirama had designed for Sakura. The seal would have activated the moment Mizuki open his drawer spraying glitters and hot pink paint all over himself.

"I see," Mizuki-sensei replies dryly, it wasn't his interest to anger a clan after all. His fist—still a pink glittery mess—however, was clenched tightly.

He turns sharply to Naruto, "Naruto, make sure you focus in class. A few more fails and you might have to drop out of the academy." He smirks when the said boy became pallor. Satisfied at that expression, he turns again, this time to leave the classroom.

It wasn't advice, it was a warning, Tobirama notes silently with furrowed eyebrows.

"Ne, Mizuki-sensei, it's nice of you to worry about Naruto-kun," The sudden chirpy voice stops Mizuki in his steps and brings his attention to one innocent-looking Haruno Sakura. Ah, his new friend, "but you dont need to worry any more sensei, I will make sure he passes."

That fiery determination in her green eyes almost had Mizuki gulping and he would have if he wasn't so angry about the mess he knows they caused.

"We'll see about that, Sakura-chan," Mizuki-sensei amusedly replies before leaving their classroom.

All three students finally relax in their sit, the tension significantly lowering.

"Yeesh, that guy just give me the creeps, Sakura-chan!" Naruto complains and Sakura would have to agree.

He seems like the type of stranger that her mama would always preach to be careful about. The type of stranger that likes to take advantage of little children. He wasn't usually like this though. Their first day in the Academy was filled with many crying children who did not want to part with their parents. It was surprisingly Mizuki-sensei who had manage to pester and stop the crying works. He was warm and kind. Sakura would even say she actually like him at first.

But then all of that went down the drain when he saw Naruto, and that was when all his warmness and kindness disappears. Instead, deep-rooted anger fueled with hatred replaces it. He was strict and borderline cruel with Naruto. Always ignoring Naruto's questions, giving him more homework that was above their level and teaching Naruto the wrong things.

If it wasn't for Tobi who had pointed out to her that Naruto was insisting on holding the Kunai wrongly, she wouldn't have noticed it too!

"What did you do anyway to make him dislike you?" Sakura turns to the boy curiously and raises an eyebrow.

Naruto scratches the back of his head, "I don't know, Sakura-chan. All the adults don't really like me anyway," Beside Sakura, Tobirama frowns again. 

"You're an idiot, of course, no one would like you." A random voice interrupts and Sakura had to crane her neck to see the other lone student, Uchiha Sasuke. It was with these words, Sakura's previous thoughts of thanking him were cancelled.

Naruto growls and would have pounce at the boy—clan kid or not, he doesn't care—if it wasn't for Sakura's gentle hand that stop him.

"I like him and I don't think he's an idiot." She says and beside her, Naruto brightens up.

"You? Who would care about what you think? You're just a civilian." Sasuke scoffs and Sakura scowls. 

It seems the rumours of the Uchiha clan being snobbish and prideful is after all true. Her thoughts on Uchiha Shisui being the abnormal Uchiha was true too. Perhaps he was dropped as a baby?

"And? What's wrong with being a civilian?"She crosses her arm and dares him to reply.

The boy did exactly that. Tobirama sighs. Even as a ghost, he could feel a headache coming on.

"You guys are weak, always relying on clans and shinobis. I saw you during practice the other day, you couldn't even throw a proper punch! You don't deserve to be here." Uchiha Sasuke points out, smirking and Sakura's temper hit the climax. Tobirama quickly turns to the girl.

"You know that's not true. We went through this before. Civilians are just as important as shinobis. You're also 5 years old, you can improve with time, you know this." Tobirama addresses the girl, but the pinkette only glance at him once before administering a full-on glare towards the Uchiha boy. Tobirama sighs again, this time in defeat. He knows where this was going.

 In hindsight, if someone had told Tobirama that he is slowly influencing Sakura with his scowls and temper, this could all be prevented. Because Sakura is slowly becoming like him (All the scowls, an increase of temper tantrums with her mother because she keeps debating with her)- except this time, she's much more feisty than Tobirama.

"You want to see a proper punch? I'll show you one."

And that was how Little Haruno Sakura, 5 years old, broke the nose of one Uchiha Sasuke, also 5 years old, the second son to the Uchiha clan head, Uchiha Fugaku.

-To be continued-

Be honest, we all know arrogant 5-year-old Sasuke had that coming the moment he criticised Naruto. But who would have thought that punch came from Sakura instead of Naruto am I right?

I blame Tobirama >:)

Anyway, yes there's a time skip between the last chapter to this chapter if you haven't noticed it. In between that, Sakura manages to enter the Academy with her new friend Naruto by her side! Next chapter, we're gonna go through Tobirama's thoughts.

--- UNRELATED BUT I JUST FINISHED WATCHING SEASON 4 OF HAIKYUU AND IM HOOKED. IM SIMPING FOR ALL THE CHARACTERS LMAO SO THAT EXPLAINS MY A03 BOOKMARKS SLOWLY INCREASING WITH HAIKYUU CHARACTERS X READER OOPS.