Silent Treatment
Chapter One: Argument
The bright yellow Sun shone through the thin clouds in the beautiful blue skies of Konoha, shining its rays onto the Hokage faces that seemed to watch over the peaceful village. Birds had started their day a few minutes ago, and were flying swiftly and elegantly through the air, trying to find food for their offspring. The marketplace was slowly filling up, as people headed in to get groceries for the day. Today was one of those days that influenced just about everyone to be in a good mood, and all seemed to be right with the world.
The three figures waited patiently on the Red Bridge, their usual spot, for their sensei to make an appearance. Ever since they were first introduced to Kakashi Hatake, their new jounin leader, he was always late for all of their missions. There wasn't a single time that any of the three genin could recall where the silver-haired man was on time, which was even more frustrating since he told them to be ready by seven every morning.
"Damn, he's always late!" The female shinobi of the three sighed in annoyance, her emerald green eyes closed. Her silky hair moved around in the cool breeze, along with the red dress she was wearing. She aggressively moved her pink bangs off of her forehead, which were similar to the color of the flowers that blossomed in the spring in Konoha. She was, in fact, named after the flowers, since her unique colored hair was the first thing her parents noticed about her when she was born. After all, pink is an odd color for hair, and she was naturally that way.
"Sakura, complaining about it isn't going to make him magically appear before us. Something it will do, though, is completely ruin everyone's mood," sneered a certain raven-haired shinobi. The breeze made this genin's bangs go in front of his face as well, but he didn't bother to move them. Instead, he let the wind take control, which gladly made his black hair swish back and forth, allowing the sunlight to give them a dark blue highlight. He was calmly leaning against the railing of the bridge, not bothering to look at the pink-haired girl, Sakura, with his sharp black eyes that seemed to be so dark, you couldn't see the pupil. His black hair and eyes contrasted heavily with his white porcelain skin. He slipped his hands into the pockets of his shorts, his dark blue shirt with the Uchiha symbol on the back moving slightly with the breeze.
"Hey! Sasuke! You're telling Sakura-chan to stop complaining, but first look at yourself! You're literally complaining, too! I think you could use a taste of your own advice!" yelled the last of the three genin. This one had wild yellow hair that even the mighty Sun would be envious of. He wore a bright orange jacket, which was a surprising thing for a ninja to be wearing, since they should usually have on a darker color to blend in with the crowd. However, this shinobi did anything but blend in- he was the loud type that always stood out. His sapphire blue eyes stared at Sasuke's dark eyes that refused to even glance back.
Before Sasuke could respond to the Uzumaki, Sakura turned around, finally opening her emerald green eyes. She glared at Naruto and snapped, "You idiot! How dare you talk to Sasuke-kun that way! He could do whatever he wants without your permission! Isn't that right, Sasuke-kun?"
Saying that Sakura had a crush on Sasuke would be an understatement. She had liked the boy ever since she was in first grade, when she found out that Sasuke was at the top of the class. She began observing him, and realized he truly was a genius. Many of her friends also were attracted to him, so she decided she loved him, too. Ever since then, she'd always been saying things to impress her precious Sasuke-kun, or at least get his attention, but, so far, he didn't seem to care at all. She assumed it was because he just needed a little time to realize how much of a wonderful person she was, and how happy she'd make him.
On the other hand, Sakura despised Naruto. He was just an obnoxious idiot, in her opinion, and was always trying to get attention. He always jumped in at the wrong times, and ruined her chances with Sasuke. She got the feeling Sasuke didn't like him much either, since they were always bickering, so she made sure to always support the Uchiha, in hopes of him finally acknowledging her.
Naruto, on the other hand, really admired Sakura. You could say he had a crush on her, which wasn't surprising. She was smart, strong, brave, and beautiful. He wanted her to love him back, which was why he always did things to get her attention. He usually got it- just not in the way he'd like. To him, Sasuke was always getting in the way of him and Sakura. Plus, the Uchiha always seemed to be perfect in everything he did, unlike Naruto. For this reason, the determined Uzumaki pushed himself to get better than Sasuke.
He still cared about Sasuke, though, and it wasn't all rivalry. He considered Sasuke a close friend, especially since they were put in the same genin squad. This, however, didn't mean they got along perfectly. Sometimes, Sasuke's uncaring and cold attitude got on Naruto's nerves, and Naruto's loud and careless attitude got on Sasuke's. They were like polar opposites, which made the situation much worse, since they often disagreed. Ever since they were put in Team 7, Naruto and Sasuke argued just about every day, Naruto yelling out insults in anger and Sasuke calmly responding in a low voice, only to anger Naruto even more.
It was never anything serious, though, because that was just the way the two interacted. Most of the time, they were just playing around. Sasuke found it amusing finding out how much Naruto's limit was, and what happened once he pushed past it. It was a way to distract himself from the exhausting job of doing small D-rank missions every day, which was a complete waste of energy.
Sakura stared expectantly at Sasuke, who still refused to even look up at her. After a few seconds of silence, Naruto spoke. "Ne, Sakura-chan! Let me just talk some sense into the teme!" Naruto protested.
At this point, Sasuke finally looked up. Before Sakura could say something back to Naruto, he said in a calm voice, "Dobe, I think you're the one that needs some sense knocked in there."
Naruto glared angrily at the Uchiha, whose lips were now forming a smirk. "You're so annoying, teme! You make me want to punch that stupid smirk off your face!" the Uzumaki yelled.
"Calm down; I'm right here. You don't have to yell so loud that the entire village wakes up," Sasuke sneered, the smirk not leaving his face.
Ignoring this, Naruto continued to yell, a little louder than required, "Oh, don't try to act so cool and calm! You're just being really cranky today. Heck, you're always that way- arrogant, cocky, and rude!"
At this, Sasuke's smirk dropped. For some unexplainable reason, Sasuke took the Uzumaki's words seriously, which was odd since he knew Naruto was just joking. Maybe it was because he had trouble sleeping last night, thanks to his nightmares about Itachi, so he was in a worse mood than usual. He felt a desire to toy around with Naruto. As quick as his smirk had dropped, it reappeared on his smooth face.
"Could you just shut up? I'm sick and tired of your idiotic voice. I'm sure everyone would agree to this: we'd all be much better off without listening to your pathetic voice in our ears all the time," Sasuke said coldly. He waited for Naruto to say something- anything- to his taunt. He was shocked when Naruto didn't respond, but he acted like he didn't care, staring off once again at the splotch of dirt on the bridge.
Naruto was surprised when he heard him. Sasuke was usually able to piss the Uzumaki off, but this was making Naruto angrier than usual. Did Sasuke really think Naruto would brush that statement off like nothing? Well, he had another thing coming! Sasuke was much too cocky, and Naruto decided that he would somehow make the Uchiha apologize for what he had said. The statement itself didn't really hurt Naruto much, but he just liked the idea of a begging Sasuke Uchiha. I've got to make that arrogant teme apologize to me, Naruto thought. But how?
Suddenly, he had an idea. I'll just give the cocky bastard exactly what he wants. I won't say a word to him until he begs for me to speak. I know that the emotionless teme won't be able to last without hearing my voice for too long! It'll be nice to see him suffer while I ignore him, until he finally breaks and asks for my forgiveness. Even then, I won't forgive him until he begs. Naruto smiled to himself at the thought. I'll call this… Operation Silent Treatment!