Author's Notes: This is my second NaruSasu fic. Again, I apologise for the horrible summary. I hope you enjoy.

Solace

Chapter One

Despite his usual indifference to anything other than training and becoming stronger, the raven haired boy couldn't help but admire the beautiful day it had turned out to be. The sky was bright blue, the sun shone clearly and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The weather the past couple of weeks had been somewhat dreary so to Sasuke it was welcome change even though training in such warm weather proved to be disadvantageous at times. Nonetheless, he was very much looking forward to today's training. Kakashi had been absent the past two weeks, on an important A-rank mission, and while he had continued to train strenuously in his sensei's absence, he found he benefited a lot more from Kakashi's teaching than from training alone.

He took his time as he headed over to the bridge, team seven's usual meeting place. He knew he should have headed out earlier, but he wanted to get in some shuriken practice before he left. That and it didn't particularly matter if he was a little late; the thought of Kakashi arriving on time was laughable.

When the bridge came in of seeing distance, he was surprised to see his spiky blond haired team-mate already there. It was quite rare for Naruto to ever arrive before him.

"Oi! Sasuke, you're late!" his team-mate declared loudly as he strolled past him. "I was here ten minutes ago, you know!"

As he leaned against the bridge, he thought about pointing out that there was no real need to be here early when Kakashi was concerned but instead settled for his usual "Hmpf."

"You're just pissed because I got here before you!" the shorter boy laughed, triumphantly. Sasuke chose to ignore him.

Five minutes pasted and Naruto began to pace about irritably. "Gah! Where the hell is Kakashi-sensei?! Every minute he's not here is a minute of training wasted! I need him to train me for the next Chuunin exam! Ero-sennin's wandered off somewhere again and-"

"Shut up." groaned Sasuke, slowly growing annoyed at his team-mate's whining.

"Ne! Ne! Do you think we'll get a mission soon? We haven't had one in ages! I swear if we don't, I'm gonna demand that Tsunade-obasan gives us one!" Sasuke's eyebrow started to twitch. It really was too early for this. "Then again, she'll probably give us some really crappy D-rank mission just to spite me!" He snorted and folded his arms. "Old hag."

"Who's an old hag?" piped a familiar voice.

Naruto's face lit up when he saw his pink-haired team-mate approach them. He hadn't seen her in almost a week! "Ah! Sakura-chan!" he cried excitedly. "Good Morning!"

The girl chose to ignore him however, instead approaching the stoic boy next to Naruto. "Sasuke-kun, how are you today?" she cried in the same manner as Naruto had addressed her. "It really is a beautiful day, isn't it?"

He merely grunted in response while Naruto stood there fuming. "Sa-Sasuke-teme!"

"Kakashi-sensei isn't here yet is he?" asked the pink haired girl, quickly glancing around. "That's a relief. I was sure I'd be late! Then again, it is Kakashi-sensei, so I really don't have to worry about-"

"Wrong!" Sakura screamed and almost fell back in fright as Kakashi suddenly appeared in a poof of smoke out of nowhere.

"I've been here all along actually." He said sitting comfortably on the edge of the bridge. "Although I must admit, I was quite disappointed in how long it took you three to get here and-"

"Liar!" Naruto and Sakura yelled in union.

Sasuke closed his eyes, knowing that his two team-mates would spend the next few minutes chewing their sensei out for being late once again and lying.

"Sorry, sorry."

Naruto no longer seemed to care about his sensei's tardiness however, just excited that he could finally get some good training done. "Ne, ne! Kakashi-sensei, what training have you got lined up for us today? Oh, have you a mission for us?! Is it B-rank, or even an A-rank?!"

"Actually, I'm afraid I'll only be training with one of you today."

"Eh!? It better not be that idiot Sasuke!" yelled Naruto, angrily. "You already spent all your time training with him for the Chuunin exams!"

"Hmpf."

"I won't be training with Sasuke today."

"Then you're training with me, right? Right?" cried Naruto, his tone changing from annoyance to eagerness within the space of a few seconds.

"Sorry, Naruto-kun, but the one I'll be training today is Sakura." replied Kakashi, scratching the back of his neck.

"Me?" the pink haired girl asked, surprised.

"You're a good shinobi Sakura, but both Naruto and Sasuke have been developing at a much faster pace. I thought I owed it to you to help you catch up a bit. Therefore for the next few days I'll focus solely on you."

The girl nodded, quickly stealing a glance at Sasuke, disappointed that she wouldn't get to spend anytime with him today.

"Ne, Kakashi-sensei, what are we supposed to do then?" Naruto questioned, disappointedly. Sasuke who was also interested, finally appeared to take notice of them.

"Hmm. Well, you're both at similar levels of power. Why don't you train with each other?"

Sasuke grunted. He resented that statement. Naruto was nowhere near as strong as him.

"What?! You want me to train with him?!" shouted the blond boy pointing straight at Sasuke. "I'd be better training on my own!"

"I agree. He would just slow me down."

"What did you say?!"

"Now, now, you two. You'll get nowhere if you don't have someone to challenge you and push you to try harder. As your sensei, I recommend you two to train together."

"But-"

"NO BUTS!"

Naruto flinched back slightly, Kakashi's voice and face turning frightening all of a sudden. "O-Okay."

"Good. Now we'll be off." he said signalling to Sakura.

"See you guys later!" she cried as she waved goodbye, finding it difficult to stop disappoint from showing up on her face as she left Sasuke.

Naruto sighed and folded his arms. "Kakashi-sensei sure can be scary at times. Anyway, where do you wanna train?" he asked, glancing over at the other boy.

"Hmm. A minute ago you were ranting and raving against the prospect of training with me. Why the sudden change?" Sasuke found himself asking curiously against his better judgement.

"Well…I wasn't really that bothered. I just wanted to train with Kakashi-sensei. Plus it's been so long since all four of us have trained together…" Sasuke noted the disappointment in his voice. "Anyway, let's go train! I need practice!"

"What makes you think I'd waste my time training with you?"

"Sasuke! Don't act all stuck-up!" yelled Naruto, becoming riled up again.

The raven haired boy sighed. "Fine. I could use a good workout."

Naruto broke into a smile. "Sasuke."

"Of course that depends on whether you can keep up with me or not." he added with a smirk.

"Not only will I be able to keep up with you, I'll beat your ass!"

"Is that so?"

"Yeah!"

They began their training session with some weapon practice. While Sasuke wasn't the best, he was fairly adept at using shuriken, kunai and such. Naruto on the other hand had never been that good with shinobi weapons.

The blond glowered at the other boy as they stopped to observe who had hit the most targets.

"Weapons mean nothing! It's about your own strength and power that really counts!"

"Are you sure you're not just saying that because I beat you?" questioned Sasuke condescendingly, fuelling Naruto's anger.

"Gah! Anything else I can beat you at!"

"Hmm. I'd like to see you try."

The rest of the training session turned into more of a competition between the two boys than actual training; from seeing who could run up trees the fastest, who could do the most push-ups, who was the quickest at forming hand seals and so on. Both were aware of the childishness of their actions but neither backed down, refusing to admit defeat.

Sasuke found himself becoming irritated after they tested who could produce the greatest chakra flow. For some reason it just seemed to flow out of Naruto seamlessly. Although it did make him feel better that Naruto couldn't control it as well as he could. Nonetheless, the thought of Naruto beating him at anything sparked a sort of jealousy inside him, though he would never admit it.

He glanced up at the sky and from the position of the sun saw that it was already mid-afternoon. Wiping a bead of sweat from his bow, he cursed the sun for being so bright. He also found himself pretty hungry, not having eaten much at breakfast that morning, choosing shuriken practice in its place. He wanted to take a break but if Naruto was still going strong he refused to gave in before the other boy.

He gazed at Naruto, the boy too busy training to notice Sasuke staring at him. He frowned noting that despite training all morning Naruto looked like he could go on for awhile longer with no problems whatsoever. He frowned.

"Naruto."

The blue eyed boy stopped trying to mould his chakra and glanced over at Sasuke, recognising that his friend's voice sounded more serious than usual. "What?"

"That move that Jiraiya taught you, Rasengan, which one do you think is more powerful?"

"Eh?"

"My Chidori or your Rasengan?"

Naruto paused for a moment, a silly looking expression appearing on his face as if debating it over in his head. "I don't know… They're both pretty powerful."

"Do you care to find out?"

"Huh? What are you-" Without warning, the other boy dashed away into the trees.

"Ah! Sasuke!"

Cursing under his breath Naruto started to chase after him.

A few minutes later, after Naruto had finally caught up to him, Sasuke stopped. "What the hell are you doing?"

The raven haired boy pointed in front of him and Naruto was unsure what he was actually signalling him to look at given that the only things that before them were two massive boulders. Naruto gave him a confused look. It was really warm. Maybe the sun had gone to Sasuke's head…

"These two rocks, they are roughly the same size and mass."

"Uh…So?"

"Let's see once and for all who has the strongest jutsu." Finally it clicked with him what Sasuke meant. "My Chidori or your Rasengan? Of course if you're frightened that like usual I'll beat you, we don't have to." he said, a smirk forming on his face.

The blond boy snorted and a smirk that matched Sasuke's appeared on his face. "I'm a lot stronger than I was more. I won't loose to you anymore, Sasuke. I'll make you acknowledge how powerful I really am."

His face faltered slightly, but he knew that this was his chance once and for all to prove to Naruto his true superiority. The idiot had been getting cockier lately but now he could put him back in his place.

"Is that so?" And again without warning, Sasuke started to charge his Chidori.

Naruto quickly followed suit forming a shadow clone to help power his Rasengan. He refused to loose to Sasuke. He'd finally make him realise that as team-mates, they were equals.

Having finished powering up, Sasuke extended his right hand and darted towards the boulders, his fist ready to collide. A moment later, Naruto too began his attack and a few seconds later there was a small explosion of chakra as both boys hit their targets.

Sasuke leapt back, his arms stretched over his face as shielded himself from the flying rubble. A few moments later, the smoke began to fade, allowing him to see the extent of the damage he had done. He smiled, please with himself; half of the boulder reduced to rubble. He let out a satisfied "Hmpf." However, all satisfaction vanished instantly as he glanced over at the other boulder.

Unlike like him, Naruto hadn't jumped back and was now covered with small scratches and cuts from the debris. Yet this was not what had caught the boy's attention. He glanced down, starting to shake. How could this be?

The shorter boy turned and gazed straight at him. "Ne, I told you, I wouldn't be beaten by you." The boulder Naruto had hit had been completely reduced to rubble.

Sasuke found himself unable to move, his mind still trying to process what had happened. That idiot had… Naruto had... He looked down at his hand, the memory of the Chuunin exams returning. Naruto, he had…

"I promise I'll protect Sakura!"

Against Gaara…he hadn't been able to do anything… It was Naruto who had managed to stop Gaara; to save Sakura; to protect him…

He felt his knees go weak. Why? Why was this happening? When had Naruto gotten so strong? Or was it he who had grown weak? What had happened to that useless scaredy cat he became team-mates with a year ago?

"Sasuke. Aren't you even gonna say anything?" The raven haired boy was suddenly awoken from his thoughts by his team-mates voice. He clenched his fists. No. This wasn't fair. It wasn't supposed to be like this. Naruto beating him. Naruto looking down upon him… He wanted to vomit.

"Oi, Sasuke, say something all ready." But he didn't; just continued to stare. It was then that Naruto became worried. Slowly he started to walk over, his hand outstretched. "Hey, are you o-"

"Don't touch me!" Naruto flinched back suddenly, caught off guard by the anger and desperation in his team-mates voice. "Don't you dare touch me…"

"Sasuke…" He was horribly aware that the taller boy was shaking. He wanted to say something; to do something. He had never seen Sasuke like this before.

"I'm going home…"

"Eh? But-" A few seconds later Sasuke was gone leaving Naruto standing there amidst the rubble.

Author's Notes: Thank you for reading. I hope that was alright. Constructive criticism and any advice how I could improve are greatly appreciated.