The next day was a day off from the Academy. Naruto was determined to get as much training done as possible today. After a quick breakfast of cereal and the only fresh apple he had in the house, (he made a mental note to buy more) he got dressed and left his house, making sure to lock up when he did- he didn't want the villagers breaking in and trashing his house again. Humming, the blond walked through the village, expertly ignoring the glares that most of the villagers were sending him. He was going to the training grounds and no one was going to stop him.
When he arrived, the Uzumaki began with a set of stretches and a few laps of the field. With his warm up done, Naruto began to think on which element he should start with. When he had visited the library before, he had also picked up the beginners exercises for each element as well. Naruto closed his eyes and tilted his head to the side in contemplation. Fire should be good. Going over to a tree, the boy picked up a few leaves. The first exercise for learning to utilize fire Chakra was to burn a leaf.
Crouching down, Naruto focused. Nothing happened. He frowned and focused harder. Not even a whiff of smoke. Scowling, the Uzumaki continued trying to burn the leaf.
ŃĚĤ
A few months later, Naruto had finally gotten to the point where he could start learning jutsu. From reading the scrolls, the blond knew that the Fire Ball Jutsu was the easiest fire jutsu there was, and was determined to master it quickly. He knew from the scroll what the hand signs were, and had gotten relatively fast with them. Now he was ready to try the actual jutsu. Standing on the shore of a lake, the blond boy began weaving the hand signs. Then he followed what the scroll had said- mold the Chakra in his stomach, take a deep breath, bring the Chakra into his chest then up the throat and out the mouth as flames.
Taking a deep breath, Naruto blew out strongly. The flames came out of his mouth, then they twisted and exploded in his face. Naruto cried out as he was blown back and hit the ground with a loud thud. Standing up, the Uzumaki scowled, "what the hell! I followed the instructions perfectly!" he exclaimed in frustration. "Naruto?" a familiar voice called from behind him. Yelping in surprise, Naruto whirled around to find Sasuke standing behind him with a confused expression on his face. The Uchiha looked over the blonds scorched appearance, "training again?" he asked curiously.
Naruto thought for a moment, before nodding, "yes, hey, the Fireball jutsu is an Uchiha jutsu, isn't it? You know it right?" he asked. Sasuke nodded, "yes, it's a rite of passage for all Uchiha to show that they are an adult- I learned it when I was seven," he looked his friend over closer, "you've been trying to learn it". It wasn't a question. Sasuke's eyebrow rose, "do you even have a Fire Nature?" he asked curiously. "Yes I have a Fire Nature, I wouldn't be trying to learn a fire style jutsu if I didn't you know" he replied. Sasuke smiled apologetically, "sorry, I didn't mean it like that Naruto- I was just curious, that's all" he apologized. Naruto shook his head, "no, it's alright, so, can you help me?" he asked. The black-haired boy nodded, "first, show me your Fireball Jutsu" he requested. The blond complied and formed the hand signs. Then he repeated his earlier actions and blew out a large fireball- which promptly exploded again. Naruto growled. He was so glad that his new clothes were as durable as they were.
Sasuke helped his friend up, "well, from what I could tell, things went well right up until you tried to expel the jutsu from your mouth- when that happened, the Chakra that created it up went out of control and made the fireball destabilize and explode" he stated factually. Naruto sweat-dropped slightly, "then, that means that my control is still too bad?" he asked. When Sasuke nodded, Naruto sighed with a twitching eyebrow, "okay, fine, I guess that I could go mutilate some more leaves" he said dejectedly. Sasuke raised an eyebrow, "what about tree walking, wouldn't that improve your control faster?" he asked. Naruto froze. A drop of sweat slid down the back of his head before he slapped his forehead with his hand, "why didn't I think of that?" he asked himself.
Sasuke smirked slightly, "well, I learned about tree walking from some of my older cousins" he explained. Naruto nodded, "that makes sense. Well, why don't we do tree walking together?" he asked cheerfully. Sasuke stared at him for a moment, then nodded, "alright" he replied. Each of them took a kunai out of their pouches and stood in front of a tree. They focused their Chakra to their feet then the two Academy students ran at their chosen trees. Naruto got a few feet up, before he slipped. He hastily scratched the bark with his kunai, then leapt off the trunk, and landed on the ground. A few centimeters above where Naruto had marked his spot, the bark under Sasuke's feet suddenly splintered and he fell down to the ground.
Seeing this, Naruto once again focused his Chakra and ran up the tree. When Sasuke hit the ground and looked up, he saw that his friend had already started running up the tree again. He grit his teeth and got to his feet again, running up the tree trunk again. 'I won't lose to you!' he thought. They continued this for three days, only returning back to the village for food. Good thing it was a holiday from the Academy right now. Right now they were again running up the trees. Both climbed higher and higher. A few hours later they reached the top. The two boys lay down on their respective branches, panting, but satisfied. Naruto looked over at Sasuke, "it's late, we should get going" he said. The other boy nodded, "yeah, except-" he paused and looked away ashamedly. The Uzumaki blinked, "what's wrong?" he asked.
"Well- I think I used too much Chakra, I can't move" he replied. Naruto smiled sadly, "Sasuke- you know just how dangerous Chakra Exhaustion is, you should have stopped when you started getting tired". Sasuke blushed slightly. Naruto stood up and jumped over to the Uchiha's branch. He held out his hand, "here, I'll help you up- you get on my back, okay?" he asked with a smile. Sasuke took the other boys hand and Naruto pulled him to his feet. The black-haired boy collapsed onto the Uzumaki's back almost right after, "sorry" he apologized. Naruto shook his head, "nothing to apologize for, it's fine" he replied, turning to face the front, "hold on" he said and jumped down the tree. When he'd landed on the ground, he began walking back to the village, "let's go home, have a bath each, and a nice meal- then we can go right to bed, okay?" he asked.
Sasuke blinked, "what do you mean, we live in different houses?" he asked. Naruto looked over his shoulder at his friend, "you're too exhausted to take care of yourself tonight, so you can stay at my place, then we can go to the Academy together tomorrow, alright?" he asked. The black-haired boy blushed, "N-Naruto, I can go home, you don't have to-" he started, but was cut off when the Uzumaki turned and glared lightly at him, "you couldn't even stand up Sasuke, there is no way that you could make it all the way back to your compound and take care of yourself tonight without something happening to you, so you can stay with me until you regain your Chakra, okay?" he asked. Sasuke looked down. They were both silent for a moment, before Sasuke spoke up again, "thank you for staying by my side Naruto, I don't know what I would have done without you- you really have helped me a lot, and I promise, I will always stay by yours" he said, before laying his head on Naruto's shoulder, too tired to even get embarrassed by his own actions.
Naruto looked back at his best friend from out of the corner of his eye, 'I promise, I will always be there for you Sasuke, I will never betray your trust' he thought to himself. He smiled as he continued to walk towards his parent's house.
To Be Continued