(Sakura)

Sakura sighed as she sat in a warm bath after a long day. Her mind was on Sasuke and Naruto, who were training with intensity over the time that it would take for the next phase of the chunin exams to start. She had not known why Kakashi chose to train Naruto, but all he said to Sasuke (and Sakura tuned in) was that Naruto was exactly like him. She had no idea what that had meant, because Naruto was a loser who could only whine and complain until he got his way . . .

XXX

(Naruto)

"Kakashi . . . my chakra control sucks . . . I can't do more than two bursts!"

"Naruto, don't worry. Eventually your eyes will grow. I'm surprised your could even unlock a power such as this, let alone control it in such a short amount of time"

"I know! But can't I go home?"

"Naruto, keep trying. We'll continue after a break"

XXX

(Sasuke)

Sasuke sat in his hotel room thinking about Naruto. He saw them—pictured them in his mind. His eyes . . . they held the Sharingan. If Naruto becomes stronger, stronger than him . . . then what will the Curse Seal do to him? He's already gone ballistic and they say his Curse Seal reacted perfectly to increase his eyes' and his body's strength. Jiraiya said that Naruto had the power to destroy an army now that he had the Sharingan and Senjutsu under his belt. When both Sasuke and Jiraiya would come back with Tsunade, they knew it had to be stopped. Jiraiya however, feared that his Curse Seal would be imbued with his Senjutsu capabilities as Senju descent (from Hashirama) and an Uchiha Descent from his grandmother. Naruto had finally awakened in Sasuke's mind, however. But Sasuke didn't even believe that anymore now that he's showed a far darker side. Why? Part of that anger Sasuke wanted to understand, to flourish his own power in. But part of him said no, I want to save him.

"Sasuke, get some sleep. I gotta write my book, so I hope you don't mind the light being on . . . sorry" he said. Then he looked to his face, "What'cha thinkin'?"

"You're both of our godfathers, right? How can that be? The only brother I have is Itachi" said Sasuke.

"It's a complex story—you would hate your mother and father for knowing it" said Jiraiya.

Sasuke sat up and shook his head. "No, please . . . do tell"

"Sasuke, if I tell you think it's going to change how you'll think? You're just like your father—set in your ways"

"Alright, just give me the story . . . "

XXX

(Naruto)

The hour struck 12:00 as he could tell by Kakashi the checking of his watch in the moonlight. Just by checking it, he knew that it was midnight because they stopped at midnight every night.

"Alright go home. Can you control the Curse Seal enough to jump off the cliff without being sore?"

"For as long as I've been doing it, yes. My Sharingan will help my eyes from focusing in on the bottom too much, and I won't get that sinking feeling"

Naruto jumped off the cliff he climbed one-handed earlier and activated the initial Gate of Opening, his Curse Mark, and his Sharingan eyes all after he jumped off the cliff. That's when he slammed down onto the ground after using a weight altering sage tech, and basically made a small crater only after about 4 second after jumping from the insanely high peak.

Thank god I softened the landing with my lightning chakra.

He looked to the other craters he had made and was proud. He scratched the back of his head, but this time didn't fake laugh like he always did before.

I've always been like this, but people just didn't know.