[A/N: To all the people who have been asking about whether Alt-Sasuke and Real-Sasuke will be running into each other: I do have a plan for that, but it will happen after the main conflict has been resolved.]

10.

Naruto was glad to have Sakura's help; since she had actually been not only present but paying attention during the lessons on seals in the Academy, she was able to make more sense of their notes than Naruto and Sasuke had even when they had been taking them.

Ten minutes later, Naruto's bundle of papers had been sorted into useful theories, unrelated information, and bunny doodles that Sasuke had drawn when he wasn't paying attention to what he was supposed to be doing. Due to Sasuke's high capacity for distraction, this pile was almost twice as high as the other two.

"Okay, so to summarize: you two were looking for a way to stabilize the alternate world so it wouldn't dissolve, right?" Sakura asked as she flipped through the pile of notes she had deemed helpful.

"That's basically it," Sasuke confirmed around a mouthful of chocolate ice cream. Several minutes ago, Sakura had tired of him continually talking about random topics and given him the ice cream to keep his mouth otherwise occupied for a while.

"So how does it look?" Naruto asked, leaning over Sakura's shoulder as she flipped through the papers.

"I don't know…" Sakura murmurred. "I mean, there's some good stuff here and I hate to say it, but you really shouldn't get your hopes up too much for a permanent solution. Things are rarely that simple. Still, there's no point in not trying."

"Thank you," Sasuke said quietly, setting down the now-empty bowl. "For helping me, I mean. And not staying mad at me—I know I usually deserve it."

"Yes, well," Sakura mumbled from behind the papers, "thank you, too. So," she continued in a brisker tone that made it clear she wanted to change the subject, "I think I saw a few books in Tsunade-shishou's library that might be helpful. Come on, let's go check it out."

"Really! That's great!" Naruto exclaimed, then remembered something important as Sasuke stood up and ran a hand through his hair. "Wait, what if somebody recognizes Sasuke?"

"Yeah, he is kind of distinctive," Sakura agreed. "What did you do before Kakashi ran into you?"

"He had a hat, but it kind of got left in the library." I'll have to go find it later, Naruto told himself. It would be awful if I lost a present from Iruka-sensei...even if it isn't orange.

"Hang on a second, I think my cousin left some clothes here once. Be right back," Sakura said, although she had already exited the bedroom by the time she was halfway through the first sentence.

This left Naruto and Sasuke alone in the room again, and Naruto finally got to ask the question that had been bothering him for some time. "So...how did things go with you and Sakura?"

"You tell me, you were the one listening behind the door," Sasuke retorted. "And you know her better, anyway."

"I only heard the last couple seconds!" Naruto protested. "Come on, can't a guy ask how his friends are getting along?"

"Fine, fine," Sasuke acquiesced. "She fixed me up, I said something stupid, she yelled at me and then decided it wasn't worth getting mad over or something and said we were friends now. Satisfied?"

"You know, I kind of have this feeling you aren't telling me something, considering that that was the least you've said on any subject since you got here."

At this point, Sasuke grabbed one of Sakura's pillows off the bed and smacked Naruto on the back of the head with it. Naruto retaliated with the ruffled throw pillow lying near his feet, and soon the two boys were tussling back and forth on Sakura's bed, stuffed animals being tossed every which way as the neatly made bed paid the price in disarray.

Despite the excitement, Naruto tried to hold himself back; this Sasuke wasn't a ninja, and his encounter with Kakashi had proved that he could be hurt much more easily, even by someone who hadn't really intended to cause much damage. Kakashi had thought he was attacking a trained shinobi, and therefore used what he had considered an appropriate amount of force—while this world's Sasuke probably would have been fine (if Kakashi had even been able to ambush him at all), the academy washout from the alternate world had fared much worse.

Due to this, Sasuke easily kept the upper hand and soon Naruto found himself underneath the other boy, trying to prevent the pillow from hitting his face too much.

"Okay, who started this?"

At Sakura's shout, both Sasuke and Naruto froze.

"Naruto did," Sasuke said immediately.

While, according to Naruto's way of thinking, this was not quite true, he could see where Sasuke was coming from and in the interest of keeping Sakura from getting mad at him again decided not to protest. "Guilty as charged," he confessed, standing up a little stiffly once Sasuke got off of him (ninja or not, having someone practically bouncing on his diaphragm hadn't been comfortable).

Sakura sighed and shook her head as she dumped the pile of clothes in her arms onto the currently unoccupied chair. "You're seriously lucky I don't have time to get upset with you right now. Just clean that mess up while I find something for Sasuke to wear, okay?"

[A/N: I hope you don't mind that the chapters are pretty short in this story; it just makes me feel good when I can update regularly. Anyway, I think the plot should get moving a bit quicker soon.]