A young boy of thirteen or fourteen ran down the streets of his always warm village. His blonde hair, tinted slightly red, was cut into spiky tufts that blew just the slightest in the small breeze. He stopped and looked up at the clear sky, his baggy orange t-shirt, a black spiral on the front, blew with the wind. His blue eyes sparkled with the brightness of an innocent youth who had never seen violence or death before.

He reached into the front pocket of his orange shorts and made sure that he had enough money for lunch before running to the ramen shop.

The owner of the ramen shop looked back at the boy as he walked in. "Hey there, Naruto. The usual?"

Naruto smiled and sat down. "You know it!"

The owner of the shop nodded and started making Naruto a pork ramen.

"Hey there, Naruto." Another boy said, sitting down next to him He had dark brown hair that was bound in a loose ponytail and strange white eyes. He wore a white tank top with a black short-sleeved jacket over it and dark brown shorts.

"Hey Neji." Naruto said hesitantly. Neji had always creeped him out a little bit.

"I just got a new choker." He said, pulling it out of a small bag from a nearby jewelry shop. It was a black silk choker that matched the black silk girls headband he wore around his forehead.

Naruto smiled. "Cool. Maybe now you can explain why you were a girls hair headband."

Neji sighed and put the choker on around his neck. "I told you, there's a scar on my forehead, it's embarrassing to walk around with." He pulled something else out of the same bag. "Here, it was a buy one, get one free."

Naruto took the bright orange choker from Neji and put it around his neck. "Thanks, I guess."

Neji slapped Naruto playfully on the arm. "You guess? Shows how much I'm appreciated!"

Naruto laughed. "I'm kidding!"

The ramen shop owner put the bowl of ramen in front of Naruto. "Here you go. One hundred yen."

Naruto handed the shop owner the money and grabbed some chopsticks. "Itadakimatsu!" He started shoveling down the ramen as if it were his last meal.

"By the way, Lee's creeping me out again!" Neji said, trying to get Naruto to help him.

Naruto stopped eating and looked over at Neji. "Listen, we can't all have crazy stalkers, get used to it."

"I'm being serious!"

Naruto sighed. "Lee's always creepy. You dated him for a year and a half, you should know this!"

Neji looked at the counter. "I know, but he's being more weird than usual. He probably needs to tell me something really important, but I just don't know."

Just then, Lee walked up, wearing a tight dark green t-shirt and green shorts. His hair was still in a bowl cut type thing, like it had been since he was five. "Neji, I need to speak with you!"

Neji sighed and faced Lee. "What is it now?"

"I just needed to tell you that you do not have to worry about me following you around anymore." Lee said happily. "I am moving to another village."

"Really?" Neji seemed a little sad.

Lee nodded. "Another man from that village came here a while back and I fell in love with him…I am going to miss you all. Goodbye." He turned around and ran off, where a man with dark red hair waited.

Neji turned back around and put his head down on the bar.

Naruto swallowed the last of his ramen and asked, "What's wrong Neji?"

Neji sat up and shook his head. "I don't know. I guess that having Lee here made me feel like maybe I made a mistake and I'd realize it…and I guess that realizing that he's never gonna be back makes me sad."

Naruto gave Neji a hug. "It's okay, Neji. We all go through these things."

Neji looked at Naruto and smiled, standing up. "I have to go, my dad will kill me if I'm not home on time for my training."

Naruto nodded and stood up. "Yeah, I better go too. Iruka will be pissed if I'm late again."

"See ya then."

Naruto waved as Neji walked away. "See ya!" He ran towards the home him and his adopted father had shared for the past ten years.

"Iruka, I'm home." Naruto said, walking in the door.

Iruka looked over at Naruto and sighed. "You're late again!" He stood up, his dark brown hair was bound in a low ponytail that touched the nape of his neck. He was wearing a green vest over a black t-shirt and black sweat pants. Iruka had a scar across his nose from when he got into a fight as a child.

Naruto laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head. "Sorry, I wanted some lunch."

Iruka shook his head. "Why does that not surprise me?"

Naruto continued laughing as his adopted father just shook his head and sighed. "By the way, Iruka, when are you going to start teaching me your sword style techniques?"

Iruka looked at Naruto and smiled. "All in due time, Naruto. All in due time."

…

Meanwhile, a young boy on another world was just waking up. He looked at his digital clock next to his bed, it read 12:00 P.M.. He sighed and leaned back in his bed, staring at the wooden ceiling of his house.

After about ten minutes, the boy finally sat up and got out of bed, jumping into the warm shower. When he got out, looked in the mirror, and brushed and styled his dark blue hair until he found it suitable. He then grabbed a long-sleeved dark blue shirt and put it on with some tight blue jeans. He looked in the mirror again and noted that his black eyes looked more tired than usual.

He walked out into the living room. "I'm awake! Not that anyone's here to care." He sighed and sat down on the couch, turning on the radio and looking at the ceiling again.

After a moment he stood back up and walked over to a picture of him and his family from nearly ten years ago. He smiled as he saw his father, mother, brother, and him. He missed his family so much, but he knew they wouldn't come back. The dead can't walk, can't love, and can't be part of the world of the living.

He sighed again and walked to the front door, putting on a long black coat with black fur around the edge of the neck before walking out into the snow. He stopped and shut the door behind him as he left his house, making sure to lock the door.

He turned and walked into the village he lived in. He disliked this village, the people were always so happy that it reminded him too much of his own family. Of all the things he disliked, remembering what had happened to his family was the top thing.

"Sasuke!" A girl shouted, running towards him. She had short black hair with long bangs that whipped around her face as she ran. Her eyes were unusually white.

Sasuke stopped and turned to the voice. "Hey Hinata."

Hinata stopped in front of Sasuke. Her white jacket was unzipped a little so that her black t-shirt could be seen. Her blue jeans were more than a little ripped, but it made sense. Hinata Hyuuga loved picking fights.

"Hey Sasuke! How's your training been going?" She asked with a smile. Her skin was paler than Sasuke's – and he noted this – which was unhealthy.

"It's been going fine. Are you sick?" Sasuke asked.

"Why?"

"Your skin's paler than usual."

Hinata looked at her hand, but saw no difference. "Um…"

"I meant your face is more pale."

"Oh!" Hinata shook her head. "No, I'm not sick. I lost a lot of blood the other day in a fight with some new kid to the area. I still kicked his ass though!"

Sasuke sighed and shook his head. "I can't believe Kiba lets you fight. Both of you are mad!"

"Why thank you! By the way, I was shopping earlier and thought you might like this." She said, pulling a dark blue silk choker out of her pocket.

Sasuke took the choker and put it on around his neck. "Thanks, I suppose."

Hinata smiled. "You seem to like jewelry a lot lately, so I thought that you might like it."

Sasuke sighed and turned around. "I have to go, Hinata. My training started about a half hour ago and Kakashi's not gonna be happy that I'm late again."

"Okay, see ya later!" She turned around and ran off, presumably looking for another fight.

Sasuke walked until he came upon a small training field near the other side of the village about five minutes later. He sighed when he saw Kakashi leaning against a tree, reading Icha Icha Violence while waiting for him.

Kakashi looked up when he heard snow being crushed under someone's feet. "About time you showed up."

"Shut up! Most of the time, you're late!" Sasuke said as-a-matter-of-factly.

Kakashi sighed and put his book into a pocket. He wore a green vest over a long-sleeved black shirt and tight black pants. He wore a black mask over the bottom of his face and bandages covered his left eye. Two katana leaned against the same tree Kakashi had been leaning against.

Kakashi picked up one katana and threw the other at Sasuke. (In it's sheathe, of course.) "That's beside the point. You knew that I was teaching you to use a sword today."

Sasuke shrugged and unsheathed his katana, throwing the sheathe to the side. "Yeah, yeah. Shut up."

Kakashi unsheathed his sword and pointed the tip of the blade at Sasuke, now in his battle position. "Rule one, defend from above."

Sasuke bent his right elbow and raised his right arm to where his wrist was level with his chin, his left hand sat there, gripping the hilt, as it kept the katana in his right hand.

Kakashi sighed. That position won't work, might as well show him. Kakashi brought the katana above his head and tried bringing it down on Sasuke's head.

Sasuke moved his arms ever so slightly and blocked Kakashi's attack with his katana. Then he attacked Kakashi by flipping the sword over in his hand to make the blade face away from Kakashi as he turned around and came only inches away from Kakashi's waist.

Kakashi froze, he hadn't even seen Sasuke move that much. He sighed. "When'd you learn to use a katana?"

Sasuke walked forward a little bit and turned to face Kakashi. "I watched my father train with my older brother a lot when I was little. That was the style that Itachi used…he always won the sparring matches for as long as I could remember."

Kakashi put his sword down in the snow and sat down. "I didn't think you'd remember something from all those years ago."

Sasuke sat down across from Kakashi and shrugged. "All of those memories of them…it's all I have left of them. Even though, yes, it was a long time ago, I won't forget."

Kakashi smiled and nodded his head. "That's good to know."

Sasuke looked up at the sky.

"They'd be proud of you, Sasuke." Kakashi said, smiling behind his mask.

Sasuke looked at Kakashi confusingly. "What?"

"Every time you look at the sky, I can tell you're thinking of your family." Kakashi looked at the sky. "Like I've told you, many times, I know what it's like to lose someone you love. It doesn't matter how you love them, it's just that you did. You lost the only people you've ever loved…seeing how you've progressed, they'd be proud of you."

Sasuke looked back up at the sky. "I don't know…" He sighed and laid down in the snow. "Something's wrong with the clouds…something'll happen soon."

Next Time;

A War:

The two worlds find each other and start a war that might have no end. During the war, Naruto and Sasuke meet away from the war zone and become friends…but neither knows where the other's from.