Chapter 2... thanks to all that have favorited, followed and reviewed! It means so much to me! Thanks!

Here's your next chapter...

Enjoy!

Note: There was a crucial thing I forgot during the arc. Kakashi had used a lot of chakra fighting Zabuza, so he would have been tired and had his crutch at the beginning of the arc. And so, in this case, Kakashi beat Zabuza early and did not use a load of chakra due to the fact that he only had Sasuke and Sakura to protect Tazuna, not a third Genin which will someday be explained too~

I do not own Naruto/Naruto Shippuden, please support the official releases of this title.


"Day two with the shinobi..." Naruto muttered under his breath, "Great..." The first day hadn't been that hard at all. Other than the fact that his body would act strange when looking at the boy his age, Sasuke, everything had gone smoothly. He greeted them off once the job for the day was done, returned home, changed and went to sleep without even looking at that evil book his co-workers had found.

Now, he repeated the morning process and was out the door within a few minutes. No other worker would be out this early than him, and with him working hard on the bridge in the mornings everything should speed up and those shinobi would leave faster.

Don't get him wrong, Naruto was thankful that the shinobi are here to protect him and his workers. The only thing he despised about the shinobi was that they were trained to kill, to harm and destroy. He hated chaos with a sort of passion, but with the introduction of the book it all made sense on why he was so insistent of ignoring the shinobi, of berating them and hating them whenever they stumbled upon his path. That's why those workers of his told him not to rant about them in front of their faces. Naruto only agreed to it to protect them, he still would loathe the shinobi with a passion.

Naruto continued on his walk, pausing when he heard the sudden slam of something hitting the ground. He turned, staring into the trees and he couldn't help himself from sneaking through the forest. He continued his walk, pausing to stare at the sight of... him.

He felt the same itch of warm from many times before staring at the shinobi Sasuke. The warmth would always become unbearable if he stared for too long. So, Naruto kept his gazes short.

Instead, Naruto focused and saw Sasuke's little team was currently messing around with some of the trees around Tazuna's place. The oldest one reading his book like before, the kunoichi Sakura standing on the side of her tree, what the hell?!

"It looks like we have a guest," Naruto tensed up, seeing the one-eyed man gaze at him. He scurried out quickly, trying to give off a nonchalant air with him.

"I... heard some strange sounds here." He confessed, "I wanted to see what was going on."

The man gave some sort of eye-smile, "Well Naruto-kun, that would be Sasuke. The tree walking exercise is a bit too much for him. He can't reach Sakura's height."

Sasuke's gaze landed on Naruto's again and quickly looked away as he muttered, "The only problem there is would be that I don't have a good enough chakra control for this."

"Keep on trying," Kakashi drawled, "You'll get it sometime soon. Practice makes perfect."

Naruto plopped himself down, leaning back against another tree, "Come on, I heard big talk about shinobi." He couldn't help himself but to tease. Hey, at least he wasn't completely ranting to them about how they were stupid, their morals were shit and all that, "Can't Sasuke-chan do something like Sakura can?"

Sasuke stared at him, scowling, "Why don't you try it, dock boy?!"

The blonde raised his hands innocently, "I would if I knew how to manipulate chakra. I'm just a perfectly innocent civilian over here."

"Innocent my ass," Sasuke muttered, turning away and gripping the kunai in his hand tightly. For the first time, Naruto noticed bandages wrapped around the palm of Sasuke's left hand. What is that all about?

"You can do it, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura cheered, dropping down from her tree and raising her fist in the air. Naruto quickly wondered if she was a fan of his, or was at least dating Sasuke. He quickly dismissed the thought once the onyx eyed shinobi didn't bother to glance at her, instead focusing back on the tree.

Naruto watched silently, tilting his head as Sasuke charged up the tree with a snarl. In a quick second, the wood splintered underneath the teen's sandals and Sasuke slammed back into the ground with a thud. "I think the problem is that your getting pissed off." Naruto chimed.

"I think the problem is that your here. Why don't you get back to work on your bridge?" Sasuke shot back, turning to face the blonde with a look in his eye. Naruto wanted to turn away, feeling the heat filter through his body once again. He didn't want to though, he didn't want to give Sasuke satisfaction of being weak. Just because he's a civilian doesn't mean he isn't strong.

The warmth grew as they stared, quickly becoming borderline unbearable until Sakura piped in, "Sasuke-kun... Naruto-san... your both shaking. Are you okay?"

"Hn," Sasuke looked away, and the warmth quickly dissipated, "Don't act like you know anything when you don't, bridge builder." He twirled his kunai and charged at another tree.

Naruto puffed his cheeks, "Tazuna wanted me to take a break anyway." He decided to answer, "I was going to go to work early... but watching you fall on your ass makes my day better." He burst with laughter once he caught the sight of Sasuke flipping him off once he fell again. "Don't be so angry that you can't do what your trying to do, Sasuke. You can do it... like Kakashi-san said before, practice makes perfect."

"Geez, Naruto..." Sasuke snapped, "That's really helpful."

"Well good then," Kakashi commented and both blonde and raven stilled, "Naruto-kun, I wouldn't mind at all if you watched Sasuke's training while Sakura and I watch over the other bridge workers. Don't worry about your Boss, I'll tell him your finally taking a break for the day."

Sasuke hurriedly growled, "Sensei-!?"

Naruto followed suit, "Kakashi-san-!"

"No buts," The scarecrow looking man tsked, "Sasuke needs someone to watch over him and Tazuna expressed for Naruto to get a break once in awhile. This is good for both parties. Sasuke, continue trying to reach the top of the tree. Naruto, make sure Sasuke stays focused." With that, the silver haired man walked off, "Come along, Sakura."

The pinkette looked concerned, glancing at the duo before following her sensei. Within minutes, the two took off and were gone through the thick of the trees.

"Great..." Naruto groaned, running his hands through his hair, "Just great... I'm forced to take a break all because of a joke."

Sasuke grunted, the grip on his kunai tightening once again before he took off.

"Hey! Aren't you listening!"

"Shut up, usuratonkachi."

Naruto's head whipped up, "You calling me useless, teme?!"

The onyx eyed teen grunted once again, "Shut up and let me concentrate!" He charged up the tree, dragging his kunai along the wood once he thought he made it a bit farther. Once he fell down again, he grunted at the sight that he loss progress. The marking of the kunai was below the one he made earlier...

"Good job," Naruto clapped slowly, "You made less progress!"

Sasuke stormed over, glaring with all the fury he could muster, "Shut your mouth, blondie."

Naruto stuck out his tongue, "Yeah right! If I'm stuck making sure you train, then I'm going to be complaining about it! Now Sasuke," He snapped his fingers, "Back to training, chop chop!" He yelped, jerking his hand back as the onyx eyed teen grabbed his left wrist with his right hand. At that moment, it felt like lightning ripped at his wrist, trying to burn his skin off... and yet, he felt something calm ripple through the rest of his body, like a promise.

Sasuke immediately let go, looking at his hand, "Why do you keep doing that, seriously?! Every time I look at you it feels like I've been given frostbite and just when I touch you..." He furiously glared at the blonde, "It felt like my chakra was ripped away."

"Oh don't go blaming this on me," Naruto snapped, "When I look at you I feel like I'm being lit on fire. When you touched me right now, I felt like I was shocked by something." He stood up, glaring at the Uchiha and dismissing the heating sensation through his body, "Do whatever, asshole. I'm going home."


He was cutting through the trees, weaving around the branches. He paused, hearing the steps behind him, "I told you I was going home."

"Your the only other part of the bridge building crew that isn't working. The mercenaries after your co-workers can go after you too. I'm not going to get yelled at by Kakashi if I stop working at tree-climbing for a little while..." Sasuke grunted, "But I'll work on the exercise outside your house."

"Fine, don't pry into my things. I'm going to make food for us." At the questioning gaze from the onyx eyed shinobi, the blonde shrugged, "I'm nice to guests... and I guess your a guest when you come in. I'm polite... most of the time."

Sasuke's grunt was a better reply then another argument, Naruto decided. He hated how he easily got riled up by the shinobi easy when he appreciated the fact that he didn't fight. But when Sasuke made contact with him... he felt right. Like everything in the world was complete. He was pretty sure that making contact with someone else wouldn't do that. Sasuke... he had to guess that he was the odd one out.

The quiet was welcomed as the duo continued their walk, Naruto occasionally glancing towards the area where the bridge would be. The Land of Waves was quiet in the morning, sans where construction would take place. He'd usually dislike the quiet for a reason, but now that Sasuke was here he didn't think about it. Instead, he asked something that was on his mind, "Did you... hurt yourself some time before coming here? I mean, I saw the bandages on your hand and I can only assume-"

"Think what you want, usuratonkachi."

Naruto bit his lip, rolling his eyes. He didn't want to start another fight... he had to control his temper while facing someone who was an asshole.

Within minutes, they had arrived to the blonde's small wooden home. "I like to keep it secluded like Tazuna-san." He told the shinobi, opening the door without caution, "Most people don't know where I live. I only told my workers and my Boss. Nothing more, nothing less. Go out and do what you want, I'll be making lunch. Hope you like fish."

Naruto shuffled away from Sasuke, entering the kitchen and pulling the fish he caught this morning out from the net. Luckily they weren't smelling up a storm like they would if he came home later. He went and grabbed a knife, one of the now dead fish and started to cut it up. The house was quiet, even though someone else was around... and Naruto let himself work silently on making lunch, wondering about how the bridge building was going.


Lunch was quickly done, the fish cooked and small cups filled with water. "Hey, teme!" He called, setting the plates down on the small table in the middle of the room, "Lunch is done!" He peeked his head out the little window in the kitchen. "Sasuke?"

"What's your interest with this?" Naruto froze, letting his gaze land on the shinobi at the entrance. His gaze landed on the small book in his hands... the stupid book that made him wonder about the whole bond thing. The wonder of why he had a mark on the palm of his right hand ever since birth and who was his partner for the generation.

"I enjoy reading about myths," He decided his answer carefully, "I wonder who out there could hold the power of connection."

Sasuke let out another one of his grunts, sitting himself down and placing the book next to him. Naruto followed along, and both boys whispered thanks before digging in. Both refused to gaze at one another... silence came along once again. "What other myths have you read about before?" Sasuke began, breaking the silence.

Crap, what's he thinking? "I've read about the Sora no Kuni... I read about the Box of Ultimate Bliss... there's other things like the Stone of Gelel... so yeah, I enjoy myths. I like to humor that their real."

"...why do you cover your own hands? Finger-less gloves, really?"

Naruto clicked his tongue, "I work with wood and I like to avoid getting splinters."

"Then why don't you wear full on gloves?"

"Why don't you match up your bandages on both hands, huh?" Naruto protested. "I like to feel the wood, but it's painful to get splinters in your palms!"

Sasuke stared at him, his eyes gazing at the book. He grunted, "I'll be outside tree-walking. Do whatever you want." Naruto huffed, crossing his arms. The raven-haired shinobi gave one last look at him and walked away.

The nerve of that guy... Why is he so insistent about my hands? Naruto snatched up the plates and cups, dropping them into the sink with a grumble. I only talked about his injury once. He just had to go and look in my room, didn't he? Nosy shinobi...

Naruto sighed, putting his hands into his face, "Just a few more days and then their gone." He chanted softly to himself, "Keep on going Naruto, your doing great. You only insulted Sasuke over there. No one else is insulted, they have no reason to turn away... and they won't." He threw his fist into the air, "Just keep your promise and everything will turn out alright!" He laughed, enjoying the little pep talk he gave himself.

Thud!

Naruto's laughter increased as he poked his head out the window, "Fall again right as you start, hmm?"

Sasuke flipping him off was worth it, for Naruto broke into another fit of laughter once the shinobi fell off the tree again.

Just a few more days until everything changes for the better...