"Argh!" Sasuke groaned, staring down at the sheet of paper Iruka Sensei had just passed out.
Naruto had the same reaction. "Whaaat!" he cried, jumping out of his seat before Iruka could finish passing out the papers. "Why does a genius like me have to be paired with Sasuke?"
Iruka frowned angrily. "Naruto, Sasuke is the top student in this class. And you're a dunce! We paired you so you wouldn't completely fail!"
Naruto was speechless, leaving his mouth wide open. He clenched his fists and glared at young Sasuke across the room. "Ugh!"
Sasuke glared back, silent and polite for the moment.
Iruka stepped up to the podium-thing at the front of the room. "Alright, those are your partners for this project. It will be a week-long, out-of-school assignment—"
Moans irrupted across the classroom.
"Quiet!" a vein popped up on Iruka's forehead. "Anyway," he said through clenched teeth, "It will be a report on any ninja in the village, from the past or present. If they're in the present, I'd advise you to get an interview. If not, check out the local library. There are listings of ninja and short biographies in the school library as well, so please don't stop yourself from using either source."
Naruto raised his hand in a rare showing of self-control.
"No, Naruto, there is no changing of partners."
The hand clenched and fell back down to the desk.
Iruka sighed. "If there aren't any questions…?"
A boy named Kiba raised his hand. "Does this have do be on a human ninja?"
Iruka just stared at him in response.
Kiba nodded.
"Alright, then, you have the next forty minutes to work, and then you're on your own!"
Sasuke stood and strutted over to Naruto. Naruto clenched his teeth and deliberately looked away.
"Well, who do you want to do, loser?"
Naruto looked up at him in contempt as students around him searched for posters and paper, already knowing who they were going to do, while others filed up to Iruka Sensei for library passes.
Naruto squinted in concentration. "Uh, the fourth Hokage? Er, the Third?"
"You dobe," Sasuke muttered, "You don't know about anyone else, do you?"
"I know Iruka Sensei!" Naruto exploded.
Iruka looked over at Naruto in annoyance. "No doing me."
Naruto sighed. "Ok, who are we doing?"
***
They arrived at the library with about ten other students, and they all raced for the ninja books at the back of the library as the librarians tried to calm them. They wrestled each other for any of the six huge volumes of ninja.
Sasuke picked the sixth. The ninja were ordered from rank, the books updated with new ninja every few years.
Sasuke's book held a list of higher-ranked Jonin. Naruto and Sasuke grudgingly flipped through the pages, passing snake-like missing nins and deceased silver-haired geniuses.
"Should we do Hokage?" Naruto asked.
"Nah, everyone'll do that, idiot."
Naruto trembled in rage and looked away. "You have a better idea?"
They flipped a page and ended up on a page that held a raven-haired boy with frown lines beneath his eyes.
Naruto stared at it. "Wow, Sasuke, that kinda looks like—"
Sasuke slammed the book shut and threw it against the wall with a loud crack. There were some gasps from the children, and then utter silence.
Sasuke shuddered and panted, glaring at his fellow students. "What?"
They bowed their heads to their books and said nothing.
Naruto grinned. "Hmm, we should do a report on that guy!"
Sasuke landed a full-on punch to Naruto's cheek, sending him crashing to the ground. The children stared. No teachers saw what happened, so none came running.
Naruto clenched his fists in rage. "B-----d!" Naruto screamed, jumping up and swinging blindly at Sasuke. Sasuke easily dodged and landed a few on Naruto, ending with a fist making a sickening thud on his stomach.
Naruto gripped his stomach and collapsed, breathing hard. Sasuke stopped his brutal attack, calmly picked up the book, and set it on a shelf. As he left the library calmly, teachers flooded the back of the library as Naruto's vision slowly blurred and faded out.