A/N I had some real trouble with this chapter, I needed something to use to pass time from the academy to the start of the manga, but I was drawing a blank so this is mostly a filler chapter with very little dialogue, it will cover from the end of the last chapter to the end of the third year. I apologize if you find this boring.

A/N 2.0 Beta'd By TheCookieMonster77

On the Road to Konoha Present Day:

"Poor kid, the girl he likes blames him for her father's death." Shizune had been sniffling since Jiraiya had told that part of the story.

"I'm more concerned about the poison, when did it stop? You weren't clear on that." By this point, the only reason Tsunade was going back to Konoha was for the kid.

"It took them three years to realize that they made him immune to poison in the first month," Jiraiya was grinning at this. After all, being immune to poisons was a huge plus for ninja. "After a while, Naruto stopped caring. We were lucky all the real assassins had been warned off by Zabuza. Apparently the person who sent him after Naruto had broken a major rule by giving him false and misleading information."

"What about that shy girl you mentioned, the one with the obvious crush on him, did he ever notice her? Or did the pink haired girl stop hating him?" Shizune seemed particularly interested in Naruto's love life. Jiraiya was proud.

"How long was the Uchiha in the academy for? I'd think they'd let him graduate after a year, two at the most."

"Actually, that's an important part of the story…"

Konoha: Four Years, Eight Months, Nineteen Days ago:

After the incident with the 50 ryo coin, Naruto's relationship with Sasuke turned into a full blown rivalry. Each trying to prove that they were the better ninja, they sought to outdo each other in everything.

Their Taijutsu spars were the stuff of legends in the academy. Eventually it became impossible for the teachers to declare a victory, although Naruto and Sasuke seemed to have some way of keeping score themselves. The battles would start as soon as the bell rang and only end when class was over. As time went on their individual strengths and weakness became clear. Sasuke was much faster than Naruto, and every fight he seemed to get faster still. After a few months it was rare for Naruto to get the first hit, and by the end of the year, Naruto would only land three or four blows. But that was all Naruto needed to land, because what Naruto lacked in speed, he made up in raw physical power. Sasuke was good at reading his opponents movements, even those of someone as unpredictable as Naruto. Naruto was good at improvising, making up complex plans on the fly changing from one plan of attack to another as soon as Sasuke figured out what he was doing. Naruto was a stamina monster. After the first three fights where Naruto beat Sasuke simply by outlasting him, Sasuke worked on becoming more and more efficient in his attacks and defense, always moving the least amount needed to avoid a blow, never throwing a punch or kick unless he was sure that it would do some damage, or as a part of a plan. Sasuke took his, comparatively, tiny pool of stamina and stretched it as far as it would go.

In the second year at the academy, they began learning the basics of Ninjutsu. Naruto had a lot more experience than Sasuke, especially when it came to actual Jutsu, but Sasuke was a natural, his fingers longer, thinner and more flexible than Naruto's. He quickly used his natural speed and flexibility to catch-up to, and then surpass Naruto in terms of hand seal fluidity, allowing him to theoretically fire more jutsu off faster than Naruto. Naruto's physical stamina carried over to his chakra as well. While Sasuke could cast more in a short period of time, Naruto could keep casting long after Sasuke died of chakra exhaustion.

There were two areas that Sasuke had a clear lead over Naruto in, Genjutsu, which Naruto lacked all but the most basic skills in, and the actual school work. Naruto was still having difficulty with written tests-he would read questions wrong put answers down in the wrong spot, or just completely blank out. The fact that Sasuke had him beat in these two things drove Naruto nuts, and ensured that Sasuke kept the number one spot in the class.

Sakura had changed the most, but not in a good way. After the shock of finding out that Naruto had a hand in her father's death, she seemed listless for weeks, before seemingly deciding that the best way to get Naruto back for the pain he caused her was to devote herself to his eternal rival Sasuke, becoming one of his many fangirls-always cheering the loudest when Naruto lost, punching him if he tried to talk to her, and ignoring him the rest of the time.

It was official, Hinata hated Sakura. At first it was just a little jealousy, because Naruto liked Sakura and barely seemed to notice her, but after Sakura trampled Naruto's heart in the mud, she wanted to kill her. If only she had his confidence… maybe there was something she could do about that.

Shikamaru and Choji were largely unchanged, still the same middle of the road average. And neither of them were really interested in being more than that.

Konoha: Three Years, Four Months, Two Days ago:

Sasuke was frustrated-no matter how hard he tried Naruto was always right behind him, always pushing, never letting him rest on his laurels. And worst of all, despite their similar painful pasts he was always cheerful. It drove Sasuke mad-why were they so different and how was Naruto so strong if he was so happy? Sasuke had given up everything in his quest for vengeance and Naruto seemed dead set on proving that you could be happy and strong at the same time.

So Sasuke found himself stalk-following-Naruto around in an attempt to find out just what Naruto's secret was. So far Naruto had just wandered around Konoha for an hour, only stopping to eat a prodigious amount of Ramen.

"Is this all he does? How is he so strong if he doesn't actually train?" Sasuke mumbled under his breath.

"It's not his training time for another 37 minutes and…45 seconds" Sasuke nearly jumped a foot when he heard a soft voice directly behind him.

"H-Hinata? Are you following me?"

"No, Naruto"

"Um…" something she had said just clicked in Sasuke's mind, "I have to say, the fact that you Naruto's schedule down to the second is creepy."

"He has the same schedule every day, it's not hard."

"Um… Normally you stutter a lot more…"

"N-N-Naruto i-i-isn't h-h-here," Hinata said blushing crimson.

"I see… so what does he do next?"

"He goes to Training Ground Zero. Follow me." Hinata led Sasuke after Naruto. Sasuke was impressed, she followed him like a ghost. Sasuke wasn't even sure that he would ever notice her if she was following him. Eventually they came to a blasted wasteland that stretched from one edge of Training Ground Seven to a ravine almost half a mile away. The fact that Sasuke couldn't remember anything like this being on the maps of Konoha he had seen was lost by what filled the training ground. There were hundreds of Narutos grouped into tens and twenties, each group doing something different.

"So, what did we learn today guys?" Naruto spoke to his copies, "You all know the drill, disperse in groups of ten with ten second breaks in between." Naruto sat down in a meditative pose as the copies dispersed. Half an hour later when the last group disappeared in a puff of smoke, Naruto stood up, "Oh, so that's what I was doing wrong! Okay now that that problem's solved let's get to work on the next bit, yeah? Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!" Once again there were hundreds, if not thousands, of Narutos in the field. "Alright guys get back to work!"

"A Bunshin Jutsu? That's Naruto's worst jutsu!" Sasuke stayed the entire time Naruto was there, watching him, trying to figure out what drove him. He came back twice a week.

Konoha: Two Years, Eleven Months, Seventeen Days ago:

Uchiha Sasuke was nervous, and he hated being nervous. The civilian council had summoned him to its chambers for an 'important' meeting. But the council wasn't here-instead of the usual twenty members of the civilian council there were only three. At the head of the table sat the three elders. In the center was the bandaged Shimura Danzo, whose lone cold eye sent shivers up Sasuke's spine. On his right was the bearded and bespectacled Mitokado Homura. On Danzo's left was the sour faced Utatane Koharu. Sasuke couldn't figure out what he'd done to get summoned by the elders.

"We called you here to discuss your outstanding success in the academy," Danzo began, his voice flat and emotionless. "We wish to invite you to join a special subgroup of ANBU."

"Of course you will graduate at the top of your class; you need not worry about getting the rookie of the year award." Koharu reassured Sasuke.

"You may take the Chunin exams at later date if you're not satisfied with a field promotion. By joining you are not disqualifying yourself from anything." Homura said in a bland, bored voice.

Sasuke blinked in shock-they wanted him to join ANBU! He must be doing something right-Itachi was 13 when he joined ANBU- and he was only nine! But, he only really started to get strong because of Naruto. What if it was Naruto that made him strong? "Does this offer apply to Uzumaki Naruto as well? Academically he's not that far behind me, and we're pretty evenly matched in terms of skill; he's slightly better at Taijutsu while I hold the edge with Ninjutsu. If you think I'm worth recruiting surely Naruto is as well." If his rivalry with Naruto was the secret to his growth, he wouldn't give it up for the world.

"Unfortunately, no, it does not. And even if it did, his guardian has made his desires very clear to us-Naruto is to stay in the academy until he graduates at a normal age," Danzo answered for the council, his unnaturally cold voice gave Sasuke the creeps.

"Then I am afraid I must decline your generous offer."

"What!" Koharu screeched jumping up from her seat, "What does that demon have to do with advancing your career? From the power you so clearly desire!"

"My rivalry with Naruto has taught me a few important lessons. Do you know how he got to be as good as he is? I asked his sensei, Jiraiya-sama, one day, what Naruto's secret was. Do you know what he said? 'Hard work and lots of it.' I followed him one day to see just how hard he trained. Did you know he uses a technique that would kill anyone else to maximize his training? He uses 2000 Kage Bunshin to practice what he knows, and he does this every day before the academy and he can still out last me in any chakra related exercise."

The council watched silently as the revenge obsessed boy raved about his rival, Homura and Koharu shared a look and a thought, 'Is he gay?'

Seemingly ignoring the odd looks the council gave him Sasuke continued, "That's one thing I learned, just from watching him-the value of hard work. Before I met him I thought I was a hard worker, but I never seemed to get stronger. After sparring with Naruto on a regular basis and seeing how his strength grew too, I realized something else, something that you want to take away from me. Iron sharpens iron; without Naruto to push me, I won't get stronger." Sasuke stood up and walked out of the council room.

"Did he just turn us down?" Homura blinked in shock. "We really need to remove Naruto if we want to proceed with our plans."

"Why don't we kill him ourselves?" Koharu grumbled. "Sure, he seems to be immune to poison, probably because of that damn fox, but I bet he's not immune to beheading."

"No, that would be too obvious. Then we would have to deal with Jiraiya, and he's already snooping around," Homura pointed out.

"I will deal with them myself," Danzo's cold voice brought the conversation to an end.