It had been two weeks since the boys had started to learn the Fireball jutsu,it had become a race to the end,the first victory had come to Naruto who had been able to release a fireball of the size of a football on their third day of practice. The boy had been very happy on that day,as the smile gracing his features had remained throughout the day. Both Hiruzen and Asuma were happy to see the always serious boy smiling. But alas, his mood had soured when after 10 days of practicing,it had been Sasuke who had proceeded to blow a fireball which could be at least considered as the real jutsu and the boy had rubbed the fact in Naruto's face. The older boy had not been sitting idle either and two days later he had performed an even bigger fireball than Sasuke's. This had started a rivalry between the two boys and they had started to spar on a daily basis,though sasuke had still not been able to win one.
-Scene break..Uchiha clan training grounds..

A kunai came out of some bushes,the rustling of the bushes and the telltale sign of a kunai whizzing through the air alerted it's target. Sasuke immediately took out one of his own kunai and precisely knocked the projectile off it's aim,and started running through hand signs to perform his newly mastered jutsu. Bringing his hand in front of his mouth he proeeded to call out the jutsu, Katon:Goukyaku no jutsu and blew out a huge fireball towards the bush.

Naruto was startled,he had not expected Sasuke to throw another fireball at him, the other boy had already thrown two of those which he had countered with one's of his own. Having no more time to counter the jutsu he escaped using the kawarimi no jutsu. Appearing on the other side of the clearing he proceeded to charge at Sasuke and the two boys engaged in a taijutsu bout. Though it was clear who was winning,even with his greater speed sasuke could not counter naruto's taijutsu style. The Uchiha's interceptor fist was designed to counter the opponent's blow by percepting it with the small twitches and movements of the opponent's body,but the problem was that it was pretty much mediocre without a Sharingan,which Sasuke unfortunately did not have.

Seeing that he was getting in more hits than he could land he jumped backwards making distance between him and Naruto.

"It is the last chance I have",sasuke muttered.

He started making handsigns for the fireball again. Now Naruto was getting irritated with the constant fireballs thrown at him,but he wasn't one to back down and get defeated. he started making handsigns of his own and finished it even before Sasuke,pumping Chakra worth two fireballs in his jutsu he called,Katon:Goukyaku no jutsu.

Sasuke had seen Naruto relese the fireball before him and he could see it's size could easily match the one that Itachi could release. So he mustered up all the chakra he could and then released his own fireball, leaving him completely drained of chakra.

The two balls of fire met between the two opponent's and the imbalance in the chakra between them lead to a explosion of the balls of fire which expanded in a circle,the fire moving towards the two opponents. Both the boys looked up to see the fire storm reaching them but they could not do anything about it because they were now exhausted with their last jutsu and they could see their impending deaths.

The older of the two teens still had some chakra,and he could not let his brother die in front of his eyes even if he was only his cousin. Doing the handsigns necessary for the kawarimi no jutsu he substituted with a log which was outside the blast radius and then holding on to his slipping chakra he substituted again,replacing himself with Sasuke. He was now standing in front of the fire storm threatning to eat him alive.

AN: Please review. The chapter was short because i wanted to see the story in 5000 words category. I know it is a bit selfish but wait and see what happens next,and let me know what you think of my work so far. Thank you.