Dang, I haven't written anything in a while. School work and, like I said somewhere before, I aint good at chapter stories and most plot ideas I keep getting are chaptered. Anyways, I got this idea from other fanfics. I hope I didn't steal anything from their stories.

This story is slightly AU cause I don't think I got the ideas right. This is suppose to take place somewhere in between episode 19 and 20, or rather, right after the Land of Waves Arc but before the chunin exams. Don't kill me if you don't like it cause I started at 10 pm. Hehe it is Christmas break after all.

Bold text-author's note

Italics-thoughts

Underline- flashback

/-section breaker (I don't know how to use the line thing)

DISCLAIMER: knowing that I had just failed one of my exams, would I really be able to own Naruto?

"alright, that's the end of today's mission. I'm going to give the Hokage the report" Kakashi told his students before disappearing. Sakura turned to her not-so-secret crush.

"So Sasuke, why don't we go out on a date today?" Sakura asked sweetly. "no" was the Sasuke's simple reply.

"oh, then how about tomorrow?" Sakura asked again. Well, she can be quite dense at times.

"I don't think so" Sasuke deadpanned. Naruto was starting to get annoyed by how emotionless, lifeless, dead his teammate's voice was with Sakura. When Sakura gave an injured look, Naruto decided to cheer her up.

"hey Sakura, forget about him. Why don't you and me go out today? We could go to Ichirukas!" Naruto said happily. "Naruto, I'm busy" Sakura said without really looking at him.

"oh, but I thought-"

"Naruto, stop bugging me" Sakura said with a vein in her forehead. "Tch. Whatever" Sasuke said turning to go. Sakura turned in the opposite direction. Naruto gave Sasuke another look that screamed I'm-going-to-beat-you. Sasuke gave no reaction and kept walking.

/

"hm, i wonder what prank I can do today" Naruto thought out loud in the training grounds. He had practiced throwing some shuriken but decided that it was pretty boring. He decided to walk a bit through the area while thinking of the best answer to said question.

'hey, isn't that sasuke?' Naruto thought. Sasuke was standing in the middle of some trees with random targets on them. 'that's it! I can follow Sasuke home and set up a prank when he enters his house tomorrow after the mission! I'll just have to tail him a bit today' Naruto thought happily. There was a huge boulder a few feet away so he decided to hide behind that.

'this is great! I even get to learn his techniques. This'll definitely be useful to beat him' he thought. From his place, he watched Sasuke take a few breathes. Sasuke then disappeared from view and reappeared about ten feet in the air, his feet above his head. He threw some of the kunai in his hand, then making a twist in the air, threw the remaining ones before landing in a crouching position on the ground. Naruto stared in awe as each target had a kunai embedded in the middle.

'wait, he was holding eight knives…' when he saw he was standing in top of one target. He moved out of the way just in time before his head would of have had a knife sticking out of his skull. It hit the target, a little off to the left. Naruto hid behind a tree nearby as he felt Sasuke go round the rock. He could visibly see Sasuke clench his jaw at the sight of the target. "It's still not good enough" he heard him murmur. After removing all knives, Sasuke headed out of the forest. Naruto trailed a few feet behind him. 'what's not good enough?' he thought.

/

Sasuke was going through a path unfamiliar to Naruto. First they were in a slightly crowded section of the village but then the people seem to lessen as they walked on. Soon there were only the two of them walking, Sasuke only aware of himself at the moment.

As they kept going, Sasuke suddenly came to a halt. Naruto, afraid that he had sensed him, hid behind a post about five feet from himself when he saw Sasuke turning. He was surprised when Sasuke had only turned to stare at a building. Naruto got curious as to why. A sign that was half falling off said; Leaf Police Force Headquarters. 'Konoha had a police force? What happened to it now?' he thought.

He turned to Sasuke who was still staring at the place. "only the most exceptional shinobi can weed out the criminal hiding among their brethren" Sasuke said out loud. For the first time since Naruto had met him, Sasuke's voice wasn't dead or lifeless. They held some kind of power over the place, and the way Sasuke said it, as if he was reciting it. Naruto could see that his eyes looked as if he was staring at the past. Then he saw a fash of horror within them then they were cold again. Sasuke turned again then started walking, his head bowed down slightly. Naruto started walking as well, now more curious than ever.

/

From a distance, Naruto could see that up ahead was a wall with a pattern on it. Sasuke seemed to be heading for its gate. As they neared, Naruto noticed that there were yellow tapes with the words; 'no trespassing' on them wrapped around the entrance. They were old though, he thought, because they seemed wrecked and were falling apart. Sasuke jumped over it. Naruto did as well, cautious as to keep Sasuke from getting suspicious. He could see that almost everywhere you turn you could see that same fan design on the back of Sasuke's shirt. Also, to Naruto's horror, there were weapons scattered everywhere, and dozens of blood splatters. 'what is this place? Why in the world would Sasuke be here?' he thought. He followed Sasuke deeper into this place until he stopped in front of a house. He removed his sandals in a respectful manner, and entered. Naruto noticed that Sasuke was moving slower than usual in walking, as if each step was a struggle.

He heard a crash coming from one of the doors. Sasuke ran immediately towards the room. "mom?" he yelled when he opened the door. Naruto winced silently. Sasuke's voice was just so full of despair. After seeing that the noise was just a cat who knocked over some objects that were previously on a table, Sasuke's body relaxed.

He walked down the hall to a door that was beside the backyard. Naruto could see that whoever lived in this house had a pretty good life. There was an entire lake there. He hid behind a bush and watched his teammate. Sasuke was just in front of the door, but he wouldn't, couldn't, open it. Naruto could see that he could barely move.

Then something happened that Naruto would never forget. "I'm sorry!" Sasuke yelled as he ran towards the lake. Naruto could see that Sasuke's cheeks were wet. Sasuke ran until the end of the dock. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't do anything. I'm sorry I was so useless. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you. I'm sorry!" Sasuke said as he collapsed to the ground. His knees were drawn up to his chest and his arms were wiping furiously at his eyes. 'sorry? Sorry for what?' Naruto couldn't help but think. "I'm sorry I wasn't powerful enough to stop brother! I'm sorry for letting him kill you all! I'm sorry for being the only one who survived when I should be dead!" he yelled. Upon hearing those words, everything made sense to Naruto.

Naruto had just entered the classroom. He glared at the boy with black hair. Sasuke Uchiha was the top one of the classroom and Naruto's rival. He was just so cool and everything. At first he was more quiet in the sense that he didn't like to talk. But ever since he returned from the hospital about a week ago, he had started sending dark auras.

"hey!" Naruto said when another kid had bumped him. This boy didn't really notice him and just sat down. Now, just for fun, he hung around the back to hear their conversation.

"hey, did you hear? Apparently, the entire Uchiha clan was killed last week"

"yeah. My dad was talking about it last night. Apparently Sasuke was the only one who survived"

"there's another survivor"

"really?"
"yeah. Sasuke's older brother. I forgot his name but I heard he was the one who killed the clan"

'Sasuke blames himself' Naruto thought sadly. Up until that moment, Naruto had always thought that Sasuke was being a selfish jerk. He couldn't understand much about it, since Naruto has never had any family before. But he did think about how he felt around his friends; losing them would devastate him. Perhaps that's what Sasuke was feeling. Naruto had to sympathize with him. He didn't know what he would do if he were in Sasuke's place. To have someone you trust betray you is something Naruto did not know how to handle.

Sasuke had quieted down by now, only sobbing silently. Naruto suddenly had an urge to go to him and comfort him, tell him things would be alright, but how would that make things better? Naruto couldn't bring back his clan. He had barely known Sasuke when the massacre happened and until this day he doesn't know his secrets. He wished that he could have been a friend to Sasuke back then but he couldn't change the past. Feeling that he should let Sasuke remember this moment as a private one, he slowly and quietly walked out.

/

The next day, Kakashi was late as usual. Sakura had yelled at him for his tardiness, but they were surprised when Naruto had just ignored it and asked what they would do for the day.

"well, the chunin exams are coming up soon and I want you three to be prepared. Each of you will have one-on-one battles with me to see how much you've grown since our bell test. Sasuke, you go first" Kakashi stated.

Naruto and Sakura watched their teammate and sensei exchange blows, it showed that Sasuke was getting better. When Sasuke revealed his Sharingan, he came very close to fatally wounding his teacher. As Sasuke made the hand signs for his famous Fireball Jutsu, Naruto watched him with a relieved look. Even though his life is pretty messed up, he'll learn to live with it. Besides, I've got this feeling that, in the end, he'll be alright.

The End

Man, it's one in the morning and I'm beat. Anyways, I hope this story wasn't too bad. I hope you don't flame me.