Sakura looked around and found Ino among her clan members, accompanied by her parents. The Akimichi and Nara clans were beside them, and she could see Shikamaru and Choji together with their parents talking to each other. There were also Inuzuka nearby with their beast companion. She also easily noticed the stoic Hiyashi Hyuga and shy Hinata among the Huygas.
On the opposite side of the Hyugas were the Uchiha, with a curious-looking Sasuke glancing around. He had the pride of being a Uchiha on his face, but not the darker emo look, at least, not yet. She couldn't see Itachi, and she didn't want to either. He was a very complicated character, to say the least.
Looking at the group of laughing Uchiha kids and their proud parents, she could only sigh. She had no delusions of being a savior. The truth was, until Naruto and her generation grew up, nothing could stop what Obito wanted. And Danzo, as always, was involved in it, like every other terrible event.
"I want to request the new student to come near the stage, and the parents to stand behind these students. The welcome ceremony is about to start." A man with a Konoha headband shouted. He must be one of the teachers in the academy.
"All the best, Sakura. Be sure to have fun on your first day of ninja academy." Kizashi said with a wide smile and thumbs up. "All the best, Sakura." Her mother also smiled at her.
"Thank you, I am going now." Sakura bid her parents farewell and went towards the stage.
"Sakura, Sakura!" Ino called out, hurrying over. "Let's go together. My parents told me we're in the same class," she added with a playful wink.
The division of students was decided by the Hokage, the Academy staff, and the Academy Management Committee, which also included parents. Since the ninja clans sent their children every year, their clan heads held permanent seats on the committee. It wasn't some tightly kept secret either, so anyone could learn about the class placements before the official announcement on the first day.
"Hi, Shikamaru, Choji," Sakura greeted as the two boys approached.
"My peaceful life is going to be over from now on. This is going to be troublesome," Shikamaru muttered in his usual drawl, giving a half-hearted nod.
"Hello," Choji said softly.
She got to know them through Ino and gradually became friends with them. Shikamaru and Choji spent most of their days in quiet and dull peace, which suited her just fine. Whenever they were with Ino, she would join them. She preferred uneventful days over playing with the kids or worse, getting into fights with bullies.
They joined other students and got near the stage. The welcome ceremony began with a speech from the Hokage and his popular 'Will of Fire'. Then, the headmaster of the Ninja Academy also gave a short speech and concluded the ceremony, as they didn't want it to be long. The welcoming ceremony was for the kids, and they don't have the patience to listen for a long time. Then, their classes were divided; some cheered, and some became sad for not being in the same class as their friends.
Their homeroom teacher was chosen to be Iruka Umino, who looked nervous because this was his first class. He introduced himself and led Sakura and the others to their classroom. (In a filler episode, it was implied that someone else was the homeroom teacher before Iruka, but since it's filler, I made Iruka the homeroom teacher from the start.)
Shikamaru and Choji went straight to the back. Sakura and Ino also decided to sit at the second-to-last bench. From there, Sakura could observe most of the classroom, except for Shikamaru and Choji, who were behind her. Hinata and Shino were also at the back, though they sat as far apart as the bench allowed. Sasuke was in the front row, and Kiba was in the second row.
Sakura felt that Kiba would only be sitting in the front for today, or maybe just this period. But Naruto was nowhere to be seen. She knew Naruto would never miss something like the welcoming ceremony and the Third Hokage's speech. So, he must have been observing from afar, hiding somewhere away from the crowd. So, he should be arriving in class any moment now.
"Sorry, I'm late," Naruto said with a sheepish smile.
Iruka's expression changed for a brief moment, but he quickly composed himself. Like everyone else at the time, Iruka disliked Naruto. At first, it was just general resentment, then it turned into frustration rather than resentment or anger because Naruto was a troublesome student. But later, Iruka would become more like a brother or even a father figure to him than just a teacher. The Third Hokage had chosen him as the homeroom teacher for Naruto's class for a reason. He knew Iruka was kind-hearted and, more than anyone else, could truly relate to Naruto.
"Don't be late from now on. Come inside and sit on one of the benches." Iruka said to Naruto calmly.
"What was I going to do? Was I going to get angry at him just because he is...?" Iruka caught himself. "I'm his teacher now and should act like one. Lord Hokage trusted me to lead this class with the clan's heirs. I should be a good teacher. I shouldn't let my resentment cloud my mind." Iruka reminded himself and started the class by reintroducing himself, then asked the students to introduce themselves, starting with Sasuke.
"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I'm from the Uchiha clan. My dream is to become a strong ninja like my big brother, Itachi," Sasuke said, as many girls around the class immediately began fangirling. Of course, Ino, who was sitting beside Sakura, was among them, while Sakura's mouth twitched in annoyance.
"Wow, Sasuke is so cool! He wants to become a strong ninja like his brother.""You'll become even stronger than your brother, Sasuke-kun!""Sasuke loves his brother so much. I can't imagine how much he'll love me when I become his wife."
Similar comments flew across the classroom, one after another. Sakura, who knew all too well that the real requirement to become Sasuke's wife was surviving multiple murder attempts until he returned to the good side and felt guilty enough to marry you, honestly wished these girls could face that challenge right now. Of course, Ino was excluded from her curse.
"Thank god my past life memories affected me, and I didn't turn out like them," Sakura breathed a sigh of relief.
Sasuke was, undeniably, the most handsome boy in the class, far ahead of all the others by a wide margin. If someone with that face had existed in her past life, she would have wanted to date him as well, but knowing exactly how he'd turn out in the future, Sakura had crossed Sasuke off her list of potential interests the moment she opened her eyes in this world.
She didn't have the delusion of "Sasuke-kun, I will do everything in my power to bring you out of darkness. I will not let you be consumed by hatred."
Only those who have experienced pain truly understand it. At best, others can only imagine, until they go through it themselves. This is why Pain tried to spread pain: so the world would feel what he felt. The pain of becoming an orphan. The pain of intense hunger. The pain of surviving in a defeated, broken country. The pain of losing a dear friend. The pain of being hurt twice by the very people protected by his teacher. He believed that only by experiencing his suffering would others understand his desire for peace.
"Would you guys stop?" Iruka shouted to stop the girls. "Sasuke sit down." "Next,"
Each student shared their dreams until it was Sakura's turn.
"My name is Sakura Haruno. I want to become the strongest ninja so that I can protect myself, my family, friends, and the village." Sakura said with her fist clenched to show her determination.
The whole class fell silent for a moment, then burst out laughing. The boys began to openly ridicule her, saying, "A girl being the strongest ninja? That's hilarious!" Some girls immediately shot back, "Why can't a girl be the strongest? Isn't Tsunade-sama very strong?" The class was in chaos again.
Sakura heard what they said, but she didn't mind the ridicule because they weren't wrong. In Konoha's recorded history, only Tsunade stood out openly as a female powerhouse, a true Kage-level kunoichi. The power of Mito Uzumaki and Kushina was known only to a few top-ranking officials; to the public, they were just wives of the Hokage. Beyond Konoha, the only other notable kunoichi was Chiyo from Sunagakure. Terumi Mei hadn't become the Fourth Mizukage yet. So, overall, kunoichi weren't considered as strong as their male counterparts.
"Shut up. Can you guys keep quiet?" Iruka had to use his iconic Big Head Jutsu again. "You have a good dream, Sakura. You must work hard to make your dream come true." Seeing Sakura's expressionless face, Iruka tried to cheer her up, thinking she was shocked by her classmates' reactions.
The rest of the students continued their introductions until it was Naruto's turn, who had an equally impactful dream. He even gave a thumbs up to Sakura after sharing it. Sakura returned a polite, forced smile because she knew Naruto was going to be ridiculed even more than her. His heart was going to break.
As expected, the rest of the class ridiculed him, calling him names and laughing at him. Naruto looked stunned by their reaction. He knew they were going to make fun of him. He had said he wanted to become Hokage many times and had been ridiculed before, but never by so many people at once, and this intense.
"I will become Hokage, believe it," Naruto shouted and ran away.
"Everyone, keep quiet." Iruka tried to calm the class. "Naruto, where are you going?" He finally got angry seeing their behaviour towards Naruto. He knew villagers hated him, and he also had some degree of resentment towards Naruto, which he knew was misplaced but didn't want to admit. But he never imagined it was to this degree. It is said that a child's behaviour tells the character of their parents. So, he can only guess the suffering of Naruto.
"If you don't stop now, don't blame me if I do something." Seeing angry Iruka, they finally calmed down. Iruka then scolded everyone for a few minutes and ended the class.
After the entire fiasco, Sakura was really angry, and Sasuke was stunned and didn't know what had happened. Ino didn't know what to say; she was neither Naruto's friend nor hated him. Shikamaru and Choji looked sad as they interacted with Naruto sometimes, but weren't exactly friends. Kiba was wondering why they were overreacting, and Shino was just being Shino. The worst of all was Hinata, with tears in her eyes, she was heartbroken.
*****(In the Hokage tower)
"Oh, Itachi's brother wants to become like him. I also hope you can become like Itachi so that the distance between Uchiha and the village will shorten." A certain too old to be active Hokage but didn't have a successor guy was observing Sakura's class.
"This girl is just like young Tsunade. I will not be surprised if she becomes the big sister of the whole class like Tsunade. She has a big dream, but her determination seems as big as her dream. She is intelligent, but with her chakra and physique, she may not go far if she doesn't have talent in ninjutsu."
"It's Naruto's turn, and I know what he is going to say." The crystal ball continued to play, but the 'grandfather smile' that he had wiped away little by little with each second. The kind grandfather was gradually replaced by broken lonely man whose friends either died or were better dead, whose student betrayed him, whose wife, son and daughter-in-law died, his successor died and he wasn't able to give a proper life to the son of a Hokage who died fulfilling his duty and to a hero who saved the village by sealing a monster inside his body.
(A/N: I believe that Hiruzen, after Kurama's attack, was a broken man; he lost his wife, his successor, and the village he had developed to this point destroyed in one night. That's why all things went the wrong way during this period until he again started to become strict again after Uchiha massacre. Still, he is a greater good type who whole heartly believes in The will of Fire. That's why Tobirama chose him.)