It seemed like an ordinary day for him. Unknowingly, that this marked the beginning of a series of events to unfold.

It was a bright sunny day in the Leaf Village. By the Academy were Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno. They was talking and reminiscing about the past when they were younger on their way to Lady Tsunade's office in the Hokage Mansion.

"Yeah, and remember that time when you fell down the waterfall chasing after the cat?" said Sakura.

"Yeah well, I wouldn't had fell if Sasuke kept a tight grip on the cat!" exclaimed Naruto. "He kept whining saying 'c'mon guys… stop goofing around and let's get out of here, it's boring'" imitating Sasuke with a dull expression. When Sasuke's name had reached to her ears, Sakura looked at Naruto with wide eyes. Naruto looked back, seeing the surprised expression, and knew right away that he said something wrong.

"Hey Sakura…are you okay?" Naruto asked while going over to comfort her.

"Oh… it's okay, Naruto, really." Sakura said with a relaxing tone. Both Naruto and Sakura looked up at the sky with an awkward silence. Both were in thought of their best friend who had joined up with Orochimaru.

"Seems like it was only yesterday, that he was by our side, as our friend." Sakura said while turning to Naruto.

"He still /is/ our friend." Naruto shouted. "And I promise. I'll bring him back to us. I swear" he affirmed.

"Thanks Naruto. He means a lot to you, doesn't he?" questioned Sakura.

"Of course he does. He's our friend and he's like my brot-." Naruto suddenly stopped to the sound of a Village alert signal.

"EMERGENCY! The Village is under attack! I repeat! The Village is under attack!" said a Jonin said at the top of the building. All the Villagers had gone into a frenzy. Naruto and Sakura looked at all the chaos that had enveloped upon their peaceful village. They both looked at each other, nodded, and were about to investigate, then suddenly, Kakashi appeared using his Shushin No Jutsu.

"Kakashi Sensei!" Naruto cheered. "What's going on? Why are we under attack?" demanded Sakura.

"Lady Tsunade had instructed me to escort you two to the Hokage Mansion to be assigned your mission. So for now, both of you follow me." he explained.

Naruto and Sakura agreed and followed behind their silver haired sensei. On their way, Naruto was wondering who could be attacking the Village. "Could it be the Akatsuki? Enemy Villages? What if it's Orochimaru and if Sasuke's along?" As soon as they could see the village, Naruto had looked up and saw a figure in the sky heading towards him. Trying to make out what was approaching them; the figure came down and impacted on him. He opened his eyes to see "his" eyes. Both of them smashed to the ground creating a crater. Naruto sat up noticing that the figure was standing on the other side of the crater, facing Naruto.

"It's been a while… hasn't it…Naruto?" said in a familiar tone while Naruto was struggling to get his balance. Naruto heard the voice and looked up to see that it /was/ him. Sasuke Uchiha had appeared, glaring at Naruto with his crimson eyes, the Sharingan. Sakura and Kakashi had stopped at the building to get a glimpse of what was going on. They too had saw Sasuke.

"S-S-Sas-" Naruto was so shook that he couldn't even form words. He finally stood up and screamed "Sasuke! Sasuke why are you here!?"

"I don't need to explain anything." Sasuke declared. "Especially to someone like you...Naruto." Taken back by what was said, It was clear to Naruto, that his best friend had appeared before him, but as his opponent once more. Sasuke had clamped his hands together to form seals. He put his right hand, in a circular shape, towards his mouth in and shouted "KATON: GOUKAKYUU NO JUTSU!" From his mouth came a stream of flames that had engulfed the entire crater. Sakura had cried out for Naruto's name while Kakashi was holding her back.

-End of Chapter-