1.

A cool breeze blew across the clearing making the short blades of grass dance at Naruto's bare feet. He couldn't help but smile at how the blades tickled his naked toes. Tilting his head he looked up and watched two leaves race to the ground. "Peace…full.." he sighed to himself. Closing his eyes he rested back against the trunk of a large tree sighing again as he listened to his teammates sparring on the opposite side of the open field.

--

"Come on, Sakura! Concentrate!" Sasuke didn't hide the irritation in his voice. Simple fact be known he was on the verge of plain anger. Sakura and he had been working on her hand- to- hand combat for an hour now and still she wasn't getting better. At only a quarter of his regular speed he was able to catch her off guard with a half hearted sweep knocking her to the ground, again. The dark haired boy looked for Kakashi who was deep into his book standing a few yards away. Passing Sakura and not making any attempt to help her up ,much to her disappointment, he went to complain. He'd had more than enough.

"Oi! Sensei!" he yelled as he got closer. Looking up from his reading Kakashi took in the sight in front of him. Sakura was dusting off walking in his direction and Sasuke was currently in front of him his eye twitching.

Kakashi shook his head empathetically, " Sasuke, go eat. Sakura stay here."

"Sasuke," Sakura started but quickly bit her tongue. Glaring at her Sasuke walked past making his way to the edge of the forest where they had set their lunches earlier. As he approached the wooded edge of the field; he saw Naruto sleeping serenely. " Hn, Over napping while I have to train with Sakura…" he muttered as he reached for his lunch. Positioning himself on the side of the same tree as Naruto he decided that it wasn't fair Naruto got to sleep while everybody else worked.

"Dobe!"…….nothing.

"Oi! Dobe!" he yelled louder.

Sitting up startled, the blonde looked around frantically until he saw Sasuke's outline on the side of the tree. "Baka!" he said as he leaned back and shut his eyes again, "I was sleeping ya know!"

"Yeah, I know!" The dark haired boy replied cynically complete with his trademark smirk, unseen by Naruto.

"Whatever, Baka!" Naruto shot back with extreme emphasis on the 'baka', "Done playing with Sakura?" he giggled knowing how much Sasuke hated training with her.

Narrowing his eyes, Sasuke turned to look at his blonde teammates back. He began to speak his mind but thought better of it when he saw Kakashi and Sakura come in to view. "Hn" was all he was able to utter but, Naruto could fell the cold eyes burn a hole in the back of his head. Snickering to himself he enthusiastically greeted the rest of his team, "Ohayo!"

Waving, Kakashi got his lunch and retreated as usual to higher branches. Sakura spotted Sasuke and sat a few feet from him directly behind Naruto, whom she had completely ignored. After a few awkward moments of silence ,she spoke, " Thanks for training with me…" She glanced quickly at the ground blushing.

Sasuke sighed and closed his eyes trying to pick his words carefully. "Sakura, you have to learn to concentrate on something besides…..well, me! Maybe Naruto should practice with you more then you'd pay attention to what you're doing.." He let his words trail off.

"I..uh, yeah." was all she said as she picked at her rice. Sasuke stood and put his empty lunch container back into his pack and disappeared. Naruto sat in shock. Sasuke had never spoken to the pink haired girl like that before. He had been on edge since he had gotten out of his comma, but still! Scooting around the tree Naruto got face to face with Sakura. 'No way she can lie to me when I look her in the eye!' he thought. " You ok?"

"Yeah, he's right." She said mechanically. He could tell her feeling were hurt. He looked into the woods, then at Sakura, then back into the woods again.

--

Leaping tree to tree Naruto looked for Sasuke. Kakashi had given them the rest of the day off out of sheer frustration. Sasuke never had come back and Sakura just sat there looking into the woods lethargically. Finally he had given in and told them to go home. "Sasuke!" Naruto now growled under his breathe. 'Where is he anyway? I mean honestly, to run off like this isn't his style' A few branches later he caught sight of his missing teammate and froze. Three unknown ninja had Sasuke surrounded and three others lie motionless on the ground near by. Thinking quickly, unsure of the enemies numbers; he preformed the seals, " KAGE BUSHIN NO JUTSU!"

--

Scowling Sasuke weighed his options. They had attacked from seemingly thin air spouting off threats from Orochimaru. Seems he was waiting impatiently for his prize to seek him out. He had been able to get behind and take out the first onslaught but, those in front of him now were much more skilled.

He had already been battling them for several minutes, receiving some shallow wounds, when he felt familiar chakra. Trying to not give Naruto's position away; he continued in his defense smirking at his enemy. Simultaneously six Naruto clones appeared ; two for each enemy, Naruto himself appearing at Sasuke's side.

Naruto noticed blood running down his rivals face and an apprehensive look snuck into his features. Quickly, hoping Sasuke didn't notice, he put his back to Sasuke's preparing to fight as his clones slowly vanished. "Your hurt, baka!"

"Hn worried, dobe?" Was the dark haired boys retort. He was glad Naruto couldn't see his face light up briefly at the show of concern.

"NO!" Naruto yelled.

""Here they come Uzumaki!"

Naruto looked up to see the last of his clones vanish into a puff of white smoke. All three foreign nin came at them at once and Sasuke was suddenly very happy Naruto had stumbled upon them. "Sharingan!" In an instant his eyes flashed red and he was rushing two of the three enemies. Sliding suddenly to the ground he landed a hard kick to the closest ones groin and keeping momentum made it through his legs before he buckled in pain. Quickly he leaped up onto the injured nins back. With a precise round house to the head the other enemy coming at Sasuke was rendered unconscious, then letting himself fall he planted his elbow into his makeshift stools neck. Satisfied with his work, he set off to find Naruto who had pursued the third nin after apparently injuring him.

Traces of the blondes chakra led Sasuke to the River that snaked through the woods. Carefully he approached Naruto who was standing on the bank looking intently into the water. As Sasuke approached a startled Naruto turned, kunai raised.

Lifting an eyebrow at his friend he asked, "Hey dobe, where is he?"

"Dunno. He's hiding his presence." came a curt reply.

Sasuke backed away slowly, pretending to look around, until he was a safe distance from 'Naruto'. 'He didn't insult me back..' was all he needed to realize. " Naruto! Where is he? Fake!"

The intruder smiled a big Uzumaki grin before narrowing his eyes and changing back into his original form. As he did ten Naruto clones burst from the water like torpedoes and began to wrestle the nin to the ground but not before a well aimed kunai hit a very surprised Sasuke.