Yo hears chapter two! Thanks to all of you who have reviewed, its much appreciated. With regards to the pairings - i dont want to make any decisions yet but i will say it wont be a conventional pairing (hinata, sakura eg.) cause they get boring after a while no?
Anyway, hope you enjoy the chapter!
The bell rang and students began filing out the academy and into the playground where parents and relatives were stood waiting. Naruto strolled out slightly behind the crowd hands in pockets. He was used to the rush by now. It used to be hard, seeing all his classmates being greeted with open arms when he had no one to greet him.
"What are you mopping around for dobe, let's go." A voice called out from in front of him.
Sasuke stood his arms crossed in front of his chest, wearing his perpetual 'mysterious cool kid' look as Naruto had so eloquently dubbed it.
"Hai hai, give me a chance," he replied easily as he walked towards the black haired boy.
Their interactions caused some attention from the crowd as students and relatives alike stared at the deadlast pariah Uzumaki Naruto casually talk with the villages last Uchiha, a theoretical prince of the shinobi world.
As Naruto filled in next to Sasuke and they began their stroll out of the academy, a rushing of footsteps could be heard before Naruto was toppled over by two small, female forms.
"Sasuke-kun!" One shouted, her voice high and hard on the ear, "My mum wants to know if you want to come over for dinner tonight?" Her blond hair swished to side in its ponytail as she brought her hands behind her back.
Sasuke opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted, "Or I was thinking you could come over to mine Sasuke-kun, my parents are getting take out!" The other girl added, slightly quieter, a faint blush grazing her cheeks.
"Jeez teme, if this is what you have to deal with all the time I feel sorry for ya!" Naruto giggled foxily to himself from the ground. He brushed himself off while sat on the floor.
The Uchiha looked around the two girls at the prone boy, "Dobe, how do you expect to get better if you're being knocked over by these two?"
The blond scoffed playfully in response, "Ha, teme, I felt them coming from a mile away," He hopped to his feet and grinned, "But what was I gonna do, kick em over? I can't do that!"
"Don't call Sasuke-kun a teme Naruto-baka!"
"Yeah!"
"You could have dodged?" The blond paused before scratching the back of his head sheepishly.
"Oh yeah," He laughed, "Anyway, let's go! We've got training to do! Dreams to reach!" Naruto fist pumped the air and strode forward away from the trio.
Sasuke shook his head in disbelief. He couldn't believe he was stuck training with the deadlast. However, it could be worse. He could be training with one of his fangirls.
He looked to the side to see the two girls caught between glaring at the blond's back and giving him heart shaped eyes.
A shiver ran up his spine.
Besides, he was fairly interested in how the blond was able to sense the ANBU that follows him around everywhere. He was aware of who they were since his… brother, had been in the organisation, and knew how highly trained they were.
Sasuke walked towards to the blond's retreating form, ignoring the pestering calls from the girls behind him and the pity-filled, uncertain stares from the rest of the playground.
At least he'd get away from the looks for a while
"None?"
"Yep."
"You don't any jutsu other than the academy ones?"
"Yeap."
"Not even some shuriken jutsu or taijutsu technique?"
"Nope."
Naruto grinned happily as Sasuke frowned in anger, "Well what do you expect? Where would I get or learn from them from, I can't just make everything up from scratch."
"I suppose you're right…" the black haired boy managed, as if admitting the words was the hardest thing he'd ever done.
"And I bet you get to use all your clan jutsu, that's why you know more," Naruto shook his head comically as he crossed his arms in front of him, "Not everyone's got a whole load of scrolls they can just learn from whenever they want you know."
Sasuke's frown deepened. The blond was right again. This was becoming a disturbing trend.
"So what kind of jutsu do you know?" He asked in genuine curiosity causing the boy's frown to lessen, "do you know any big fire techniques?" He quickly added.
"Actually, I do." The Uchiha smirked.
"Really! Show me!" Naruto practically bounced on his feet in excitement, he'd never seen an actual fire jutsu before, but they'd always been on the forefront of his mind.
"Fine. Calm down would you dobe? You're going to give me a headache." Sasuke muttered, and began walking through the forested train area.
"Huh? Where are we going?" the blond asked.
"I can't show you it here, can I dobe? I'll burn the whole forest down." Naruto formed an 'o' with his mouth as his eyes widened slightly.
"Yeah that makes sense."
The pair made their way out of the training area until they reached a river. They followed the paved path that ran alongside it and Sasuke noticed his new blond companion seemed a lot calmer by the water. No longer looking like he was on a permanent sugar rush, he had a serene smile on his face as he watched the water flow down the canal.
After a few minutes, they reached a small wooden deck that stretched out onto the water. Reaching the end Sasuke looked back at the blond.
"You ready, dobe?" He asked, a sly grin on his face.
"Uh huh!" the blond nodded quickly.
Sasuke turned back to face the water. Then, running through a serious of hand seals and finishing in the tiger seal, he took a deep breath and exhaled a medium sized fireball that burned over the water, giving it an orange glow before dispersing in a flicker of flames.
He looked back at the blond with a smug look on his face, "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu."
"Sugoi! That was amazing Sasuke!" Naruto shouted, "Can you teach me that? Can ya? Please?" He clasped his hands in front of him and squinted his eyes.
Sasuke beamed at the praise, not used to being complimented. He quickly caught himself however and coughed dismissively before turning his shoulder on the blond.
"Pfft, sorry dobe but that's an Uchiha clan technique." He watched Naruto's face drop and felt something twinge inside, "But you can't learn it anyway cause you probably don't have a fire affinity anyway." He quickly added.
"Affinity? What's that?" The Uzumaki questioned, his head tilting slightly.
The black haired boy rolled his eyes, "Jeez, dobe do you know anything," Naruto frowned, his brow furrowed as he gazed directly into the boys eyes, "Anyway, an affinity is what elemental chakra someone can learn the easiest." He explained slowly, having never described the definition before.
"Okay…" the blond nodded, "So what's your affinity?"
"Fire."
"How do you know its fire?"
"Because I'm an Uchiha."
"Oh," Naruto paused thoughtfully, "So how do I figure out my chakra affinity?" he asked.
"I think… I think you can use a piece of paper that tells you." Sasuke said carefully.
"Right." The Uzumaki paused for a second, "Have you ever used this chakra paper thingy?"
Sasuke frowned, "No,"
"Then how do you know your affinity is fire?"
"Because I'm an Uchiha."
"Okayyyy." Naruto drawled out, "Well after training I'm gonna ask jiji for some of that chakra paper, I bet he'll have some!"
"Jiji?" Sasuke asked, his brow still furrowed.
"Yeah, the old man!"
"What old man?"
"The man with the hat!" Naruto exclaimed with a wide grin as he pointed his thumb behind him at the carved faces of the Hokage Mountain.
"You mean the Sandaime Hokage?"
Now the blond rolled his eyes, "Well duh, who else wears the big hat."
"Dobe, you can't refer to the Hokage as jiji." Sasuke scolded.
"Why not?" the boy seemed genuinely confused.
"Because he's the Hokage, it's disrespectful." Naruto watched the black haired Uchiha with squinted eyes before shrugging to himself.
"Whatever, let's go see him after we get some ramen anyway."
"Hn." Sasuke replied before watching the boy happily walk off, "Wait what?"
"Yo Teuchi oji-san! I'll have a miso ramen." The blond grinned as he ducked under the sheeted doorway into the stand.
"Naruto my boy! One miso ramen coming up!" He shouted welcomingly and began preparing ingredients. Looking up he noticed another rather uncertainty boy enter shortly afterwards, "And who's your friend here?" He asked, inwardly pleased that the blond had company.
"Huh? Oh that's just Sasuke, he's acts like a teme but he's okay really," He sat down on the stool, "We're gonna be training together!"
Sasuke gave a non-committal 'hn' and climbed onto the stool next the blond.
"That so?" The chef's eyes drifted to the black haired boy, he had heard of him of course. Everyone had knew the last Uchiha, "So what'll it be?" He asked.
"I'll have the same as the dobe." Sasuke grunted, not taking a look at the menu.
Teuchi rose an eyebrow at the demeaning nickname but caught Naruto's eye and the boy gave a short shake of the head, "Alright then, two miso ramen coming up."
Naruto sat happily humming to himself, swinging his legs beneath him.
Sasuke on the other hand was conflicted. When he agreed to train with the boy he thought he'd just leave it at that. Train, then they'd go their separate ways and he'd be allowed to be alone again. However something about the hyperactive deadlast made him stay. He piqued the boy's curiosity. Hidden behind the happy go-lucky façade and the playful idiot was a boy like him. Alone with no one to go home to.
"Sasukeeeee, Sasuke? Sasugayyyyy." The Uchiha was broken out of musings by a hand flailing in front of his face and Naruto's taunts. He looked up and saw a girl in her teens giggling as she cooked behind the counter. Her brown hair tied into a ponytail, a white chef's bandana covering her fringe, "Sasuke you in there? I want you to meet Ayame nee-chan."
The boy's eyes met the girls and she smiled warmly, "Nice to meet you Sasuke-kun, Naruto-kun talks about you from time to time."
"Wha- I do not!" Naruto protested, his hands on the counter.
"Sure sure, Naruto-kun," She leaned close to the Uchiha over the counter with her hand shielding her mouth from the blond, "He does, but don't tell him i told you, it'll be our secret," she winked playfully before leaning back and resuming her cooking with a content smile on her face.
Sasuke felt his cheeks warm slightly as his chest fluttered slightly. Looking down he concentrated on his feet.
Naruto looked at the boy oddly, "You alright teme," the Uchiha looked up at the blond sharply for huffing and averting his eyes.
"Fine."
The Uzumaki looked curiously at the boy, his eyes flicking between his red tinted cheeks and the young ramen chef. Then, with a knowing grin, Naruto nudged Sasuke with his elbow, raising his eyebrows up and down suggestively.
"What're you doing dobe?" The boy questioned, his voice not quite as harsh as he would have liked.
"Nothing~" Naruto sang in response as he went back to humming and swinging his legs.
Saske clicked his teeth, "Damn dobe." the blond grinned, before looking oevr at the young ramen chef.
"Hey Ayame nee-chan, I think Sasuke likeessss youuuu." He drawled out playfully a cheeky grin gracing his lips.
"Dobe!" He punched the blond on the arm as the the red hue covering his pale skin intesified.
"Naruto-kun, stop teasing the poor boy!" Ayame scolded and turned to look at the Uchiha who couldn't make eye contact with the teen, "Just ignore him Sasuke-kun, if it's any consolation i like you a lot too." She smiled and ruffled the boys hair affectionately.
Naruto watched unsure whether Ayame realised the effect she was having on the raven haired boy as he squirmed under the contact breaking the ever 'cool' broody Uchiha look.
"Food's here!" Teuchi exclaimed, tactfully breaking the tension as he slammed down two steaming bowls.
Sasuke sighed in relief at the distraction. Girls were scary.
The two dug into their ramen and before Sasuke had a chance to finish his first, Naruto was onto his second.
"So Sasuke, what did you think of the ramen?" Naruto asked with a mouth full of noodles.
"Hn," He replied but looked up and saw Ayame watching him curiously, "I mean, it's good." He corrected before continuing to eat with renewed vigour.
After the two had finished their meals, they each payed at hopped off their stools.
"So, let's head to Jiji's office and get those paper thingies!" Naruto shouted mostly to himself.
The black haired boy sighed, "I'm not going with you to the Hokage's office just so you can embarrass yourself and get kicked out dobe."
"What? Why not? The old man won't mind." The blond asked confused.
"Cause I don't have time for your made up friends!" Sasuke growled out.
Naruto frowned and found the boy's words hurting more than he had thought they would. He was used to being insulted, however the words coming from Sasuke meant more.
"Fine then teme, don't believe me!" He quickly turned around and began walking away, "I guess I'll just go spend time with all my fake friends."
Sasuke didn't move as he watched the blond turn a corner down a side street and couldn't help the grating feeling that he was ruining his chance of developing a genuine friendship.
"Jiji! It's me, Naruto!" Hiruzen smiled and shook his head as he heard the childish calls from behind the door. Listening, the sound of his receptionist arguing with someone drifted into the office followed by a few quick bangs on the door.
"It's okay Sumiko, you can let the boy in," He called over the noise.
The door opened and a bespectacled face leant its way around the door, "I'm sorry Hokage-sama, he was very insistent on seeing you and wouldn't take no for an answer." She said, her brown hair falling either side of her face.
Suddunly a mop of blond hair appeared under the woman as Nartuto squeezed his way through the small gap in the door.
"Yatta! I'm in." He exclaimed as he crashed onto the floor.
"You-! You can't barge in here like that."
"Sumiko-chan, it's okay, that'll be all." Hiruzen assured.
The receptionist gave one last hesitant look at the boy who was grinning happily on the floor before retreating from the office.
"Who's the lady Jiji?" The boy asked as he got to his feet.
"That's my new receptionist."
"What happened to the old one?" He asked.
"I had to relieve her from her duties due to," He looked down at the boy, "Well, you know why."
"Yeah she was mean." Naruto affirmed with a nod of the head.
"Anyway, Naruto-kun, what can I do for you?" Hiruzen asked smiling kindly.
"I want some special paper!"
"Special paper?"
"Yeah, like ninja paper!"
"You mean chakra paper?" The Hokage asked, a playful grin forming.
"Yea!" Naruto nodded his head enthusiastically.
"Why do you want chakra paper, Naruto?"
"Cause I wanna learn if I can breathe fire or create mountains or fly!" Hiruzen laughed and the boy frowned at his reaction.
"I suppose I could give you some," He replied, "However, only if you share them Sasuke-kun."
Naruto's mouth dropped slightly, "How'd you-" he looked at the crystal ball that was sat on the desk and gasped, "Jiji have you been using your ero no jutsu again?"
The older man blushed slightly, and sighed, "It's not an ero no jutsu Naruto-kun," He paused, "But yes."
Naruto looked at the man before shrugging. It didn't really matter to him, "That's fine Jiji I was gonna give him one anyway."
"Oh? But I thought you had an argument?" He asked.
"We did, but the teme is a teme so it's hard for him not to be a teme you know?" The blond explained sagely.
"Yes I think I understand." Hiruzen laughed before reaching into his top draw and taking out two pieces of small rectangular paper, "These are chakra papers, do you know how they work?" The blond shook his head, "Well, all you have to do is channel your chakra into them and your elemental affinity will be revealed."
"How do I know what's what?"
The man smiled and continued, "Well, if you have a fire affinity the paper will burn and turn to ash, if lightning it'll crumple into a ball, if earth it with crumble and fall apart, if water it'll get wet and if it is wind, it'll be cut down the middle. Did you get that, Naruto-kun?"
"Yeah I think so…" The boy trailed off, his head tilted as though still processing the words.
"Also Naruto-kun, I heard you were able to detect an ANBU member the other day." Hiruzen added carefully.
The blond shrugged nonchalantly, "Yeah, I sense em round all the time."
"Really now?"
"Yeah, they're always about hopping all the place or just sitting still for a real long time," The boy pulled a face and hunched his shoulders as if portraying a long time, "normally I don't say anything though, no one in the academy would believe me anyway if I said there were masked men watching in the trees," He grinned sheepishly, "I don't need any more reasons to be teased you know."
Hiruzen nodded sadly in acceptance, "How does it feel when you sense these people Naruto-kun."
"Whaddya mean?"
The man took a moment to consider his words, "When you feel, say a 'masked man' in a tree, what do they feel like?"
"I dunno I just know they're there if I think about it," Naruto paused his mouth moving slowly, "I guess, when I think about it, I can sense other stuff like trees and buildings and ramen, but when something new comes along, I can feel it entering into my space."
"Your space?"
"Yeah my space. That's what I call it."
Hiruzen frowned not quiet understanding, "What is this 'space' Naruto?"
"It's just the space around me where I can feel what's going on, and if someone comes into it, I can feel em." He grinned happily, "it's gotten bigger too, ever since a started at the academy."
The Hokage leant back in his chair, "That's a very interesting talent you have their Naruto-kun," He reached forward to a lower draw in his desk, pausing midway, "Have you told anyone about this technique?"
Naruto shook his head and Hiruzen nodded before pulling open the draw and taking out medium sized scroll. Biting his thumb, he let a drop of blood fall onto the parchment and a web of intricate black symbols appeared before fading into the paper. He then pushed the scroll across the table.
"For me?" Naruto asked, pointing to himself with his index finger.
The old man nodded, "Yes Naruto-kun, for you."
"What is it?"
"It is a scroll containing some techniques I have gathered that I believe you may find useful." He explained calmly.
The boy's eyes lit up in a childish glee, "Like super cool jutsu?"
The man laughed, "Yes, in way," Naruto looked down on at the scroll in awe, "Within the scroll contains a description of how to improve your sensor ability, a taijutsu style, and finally a couple of elemental jutsu as a treat."
The blond's eyes grew watery, "Old man!" He jumped onto the desk and hugged the old man, "You won't regret this, I'm gonna be the Hokage one day so you can retire and relax your old man bones and perv using your ero no jutsu!" He declared through a watery smile.
The Hokage smiled unsurely and let out a withered laugh, "...I don't doubt you will Naruto-kun" he picked the boy up of his lap and placed him on the ground, "Now why don't you run along and get some sleep, this old man's still got work to do."
"Sure thing, Jiji," He shouted as he ran to the door, "You better keep that seat warm for me!"
"I will Naruto-kun, I will."
The next day, Sasuke didn't speak a word to Naruto. Not that the blond approached him either. Naruto was unusually quiet and Sasuke was especially broody. So much so that his usual gaggle of fan girls avoided him, and many in the class rose an eyebrow at the blond. The lessons themselves were relatively uneventful: history, shinobi tactics, information gathering and more history. During the lunch breaks both boys sat by themselves, Sasuke out of choice and Naruto due to his lack of companions.
After lessons had finished for the day, the blond found a lone Sasuke stood outside the academy. Approaching him, Naruto stopped and simply lingered next to him. Then digging into his pocket, he took out the small piece of chakra paper.
"Here." He said.
"What's that?" The black haired boy asked frowning harshly.
"It's chakra paper you teme," Naruto answer with a roll of the eyes, "You gonna take it or not?"
"… How'd you get it?"
"I asked the Hokage for it."
Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the boy, "So you actually know the Hokage personally?"
"Yeah! I said I did didn't I."
The Uchiha shrugged, "You lie all the time, how am I supposed to know?"
Naruto frowned in anger, "When do I ever lie teme! I never lie!"
Sasuke opened his mouth to respond before closing it. He realised that despite the blond's loud and in-your-face personality, he never did lie. He did shout about how he was going to be the Hokage all the time, but that was more of a promise than a lie.
Noticing Naruto was still holding out the paper, he hastily snatched it out of his hand.
"Alright!" the blond nodded, "Now if you're done being a teme can we go train?" He asked without wanting to hear a response and simply walking his way to the training ground where they'd first met.
When they arrived, Naruto plunked himself into the floor and waited for a brooding Sasuke to join him, "So… How does this work?"
The Uzumaki grinned at his question, knowing it must have ate the Uchiha up in side to admit he didn't something, "Well just channel your chakra into the paper and I'll tell ya what you got!" He grinned.
Frowning, Sasuke channelled a small stream a chakra into the paper and widened is eyes as it immediately crumpled into a small ball before a flame burst out and turned it ash. He looked up at the blond expectantly.
"Hah! I knew it!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Knew what?
"That your main affinity wasn't fire!" He hummed to himself, pleased with his theory.
"What do you mean it's not fire? It burned didn't it?" Sasuke frowned as he looked down at the small pile of black ash on the grassy floor.
"Well if what Jiji said was true, then cause your paper crumpled up first then you have a lightning affinity, with a second smaller affinity for fire." Naruto explained, enjoying playing the sensei.
The black haired boy grit his teeth, "But I'm an Uchiha…"
"Yeah so? Doesn't matter teme! You should be glad you got two affinities I think those are rare you know!"
Sasuke smirked, "Jealous are you dobe?"
"Pfft not at all! I bet I've got 6 affinities!"
"There are only five natures, dobe."
"And all five are really strong too!" the blond correct as the black haired boy sighed before focusing on the paper in Nartuo's hand, "Alright here goes."
As with Sasuke, Naruto guided a small flow of chakra into the paper. As he did, the paper simultaneously split in half, each half growing wet and soggy before they turned to a white papery mush.
"Wind and water?" The Uchiha guess, as the blond's eyes remained wide and disbelieving.
"I got two." He muttered mostly to himself.
"Yeah you did dobe, congratulations." Sasuke repled sarcastically.
"I got two chakra affinities!" he then raised his voice holding up the soggy mush in both his hands with praise, "I can't believe it!" He shouted as comical tears began running down his cheeks.
"Wha-dobe? Calm down it's not that big a deal." the black haired boy leaned back, obviously flustered by the display of emotion.
"I'm just so happy." Naruto cried.
"Would you cut it out dobe, it's really not a big deal." He tried again to avail.
The blond shook his head, "You don't understand teme, you're from some famous old fancy clan so getting two affinities isn't that surprising, but nobody clanless orphans never get two affinities!"
Sasuke frowned. He supposed that was true. Coming from the Uchiha clan he was expected to at least have a fire affinity and ninja from clans were a lot more likely to possess more than one. Slowly his frown turned into a small smile as he lost himself in thought.
"Oi what you smiling at teme, you look stupid." Naruto suddenly called getting the black-haired boys attention.
A vein throbbed on his forehead before he managed to control himself, resigning to his smile again, "I was just thinking, do you remember what they taught us in the academy about chakra natures?" Naruto gave Sasuke a blank look and the boy scoffed, "Course not, well you know how certain elements are good against others?" The blond nodded hesitantly, "Well my fire is weak against your water, and my lightning against your wind, and your wind is weak against my fire and your water against my lightning."
"But… that doesn't make sense?" The boy tilted his head.
"It does dobe, you just don't understand."
"No, I thought water was weak against earth, and earth weak against lightning?" Sasuke opened his mouth to refute but the words died in his mouth. 'The dobe is right' he thought to himself not wanting to admit it aloud.
"Well if you were to protect yourself with a water wall or something and I hit it with some electricity then it could still get you." Naruto paused to consider this frowning in thought.
"No, cause won't the water just hold the lightning cause it is a conductorer or something?"
'Damn he's right again!' Sasuke frantically thought to himself, 'is the dobe even a dobe?'
"Well anyway," the boy began attempting to ignore the fact that he was wrong, "my point is that we're like opposites."
"Huh…" The blond seemed to consider this before grinning widely, stretching the whisker marks on his cheeks, "I suppose we are kinda like opposites," He then raised a single finger in the air, "But we're also the best of partners!" He declared dramatically causing Sasuke's brow to furrow in confusion, "Like, if you were to shoot off a big fireball then I could puff some wind on it and would blow up real big! Or Or! If I were to spit out a whole lotta water, you could zap it with some lightning and the enemy would get all wet and then get fried!" He laughed to himself before pointing at the raven haired boy, "You're kinda like the moon and I'm like the sun, best of friends, working together."
"The moon and the sun?" Sasuke echoed, confusion filling his voice.
"Yep."
"The best of friends?" He repeated.
"Yep it's decided!" the boy looked up at Naruto who was now standing, holding an outstretched fist in front of him, "You're now my best friend and together we're gonna become the strongest ninja in Konoha, even stronger than the old man."
Sasuke looked up at the boy uncertainly before sighing and knocking his fist against the blond's a small genuine smile tugging at his lips.
Maybe training with the dobe wouldn't be so bad after all?
Yo hope you enjoyed the chapter - this one was really about setting the groundwork for the two's friendship - hope thats what it did
As usual, review, fave, follow if you feel like it and all criticism, tips, pointers or reccomendations are welcome.
Ciao.
