Five years have passed since the day Arashi Uzumaki became the guardian of Naruto Uzumaki. For five years, Arashi has taken up the role as Naruto's protector, and "older brother". During this time, Arashi and Naruto developed a bond only existing between families: a bond of trust, love, and acceptance.

"NARUTO! WAKE UP BEFORE YOU'RE LATE FOR YOUR FIRST DAY AT THE ACADEMY!"

The blond's eyes snapped open as the little five-year-old shot up about three feet in the air before landing on the floor with a loud thud.

Arashi watched with a smile as the little blond struggled to untangle himself from his sheets. After about thirty seconds or so, Naruto finally popped his spiky blond head out from tangled mess of his blankets. The small glare the boy sent at Arashi only served to widen his grin.

"You could've just knocked or let my alarm clock wake me, ya know." Naruto complained with a yawn.

"You mean the thing that's been beeping for the past hour?" Arashi replied, placing his hands on his hips.

It was only in that moment Naruto noticed the rather loud beeping sound filling the room. "Now get dressed! It's your first day and I'll be damned if you're late for the Entrance Ceremony!" With that, Arashi turned to let Naruto get dressed.

A couple of minutes later, the blond emerged from his room wearing a black t-shirt with the symbol of their clan on his chest and white shorts.

"I'm ready! Let's get a move on, Slowpoke!"

Arashi rolled his eyes, pulling on his bright orange jacket and following the excitable child out their door.


A large crowd of children with their parents had gathered in front of the Hidden Leaf Ninja Academy. The children were chatting with each other, each proclaiming how they were going to be the greatest shinobi the Hidden Leaf Village ever produced since the Fourth Hokage. Their parents took to finding their old teammates and catching up with one another.

And then there was the Third Hokage, who stood in front of the doors to the school with three Chunin instructors standing behind him.

But Sasuke Uchiha didn't care about any of them.

No, his mind was focused on one very important individual: Fugaku Uchiha-his father. He'd been hoping to find him smiling proudly at the fact that his second son was entering the academy. But instead his father had his eyes closed, with an almost dejected expression on his face.

It was this sight that motivated Sasuke towards his current goal: be the absolute best student in the academy, to be the top in every field, so that his father would say the words he wished to hear the most: "That's my boy."

His father often said those words to his older brother Itachi, but never to him. Virtually the only thing young Sasuke ever heard from him was to "...become a strong, splendid shinobi like your brother."

The pressure wore heavily on his temper, so the little five year old was probably a bit colder than he initially meant to be when he introduced himself to his classmates.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha." He said with an almost detached, uncaring look to his face.

Sasuke noted with a satisfied smirk the reactions of his fellow classmates at the mention of his name. The most of the boys were regarding him with admiration, and virtually all of the girls were staring at him with star struck eyes. Trying his best not to blush, Sasuke made his way back seat, next to a kid with spiky blond hair.

"Alright, next up is…"

"ME!" The blond suddenly shouted, bolting up from his seat.

With everyone, Sasuke included, staring awkwardly him, the blond sprinted to the front of the class. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki, and I'm gonna become a better shinobi than all of you!"

Sasuke was dumbstruck for a moment as the implications of what the blond said sank in. This boy was claiming he was better than him - an Uchiha - the elite of the elite! The thought made Sasuke smirk at the boy's arrogance.

"Well then, I guess I'm just going to have to put him in his place." He thought as the blond returned to his seat next to him.


After his rather boisterous introduction, Naruto began to notice something with a vast majority of the other students. They were all giving him the exact same glares that adults did on the streets.

He hated the way people looked at him; it was like he was a piece of trash hidden away in some dark place they couldn't find but wanted to desperately discover and throw away. It made him sick to his stomach. The only people who didn't look at Naruto like he was worthless were his older brother and his teammates, Ayame Kazan and Hokori Hyuga.

As Naruto sat in his seat he could feel the glares from all around him. It was really starting to make him uncomfortable. But what was worse than the glares were the whispers. Wherever he went, he heard people whisper things about him.

Generally they were things like: 'Why does Lord Hokage allow that thing to remain in the village?' or 'There goes the Fourth's mistake.'

That one always confused him. Whenever he asked his older brother what they meant by 'the Fourth's mistake', Arashi would give him a sad look and apologize, saying, 'I'm sorry Naruto, you'll have to wait until you're older.'

It really pissed him off.

'Just you guys wait. I'll show all of you guys who the mistake is!' Naruto thought as he looked around the classroom.

His classmates had apparently grown bored glaring at him and returned their attention to whatever they were doing at the moment. All of them were ignoring him, except for one student: it was a little girl with short blue-black hair and pupiless lavender eyes.

'Hinata Hyuga' Naruto realized, thinking back to when she introduced herself.

The girl's pale skin blushed a deep shade of red when she noticed he was looking at her. Naruto couldn't help but blush and smile a bit as she turned away from him. Naruto's smile was still on his face when he turned to glance outside, once again trying to figure out the best way to earn the respect he felt he deserved.

It was then that his eyes fell upon the carvings of the Four Hokages on the mountainside.

"THAT'S IT!" Naruto shouted, startling about half of the classroom and drawing a partially furious glare from Iruka.

"What is it now, Naruto?" Iruka growled, irritated at having his class interrupted by the blond twice in one day.

The blond gazed at his teacher, sending him a large wild smile that would be seen many times in the future.

"I'M GONNA BE THE NEXT HOKAGE!"


Acting with the composure expected from the elite Uchiha clan, Sasuke waited patiently as several students were called up to spar for their first taijutsu lesson.

"Naruto Uzumaki."

He watched as the rather annoying blond kid darted to the sparring ring. Sasuke secretly hoped he would be selected as his sparring partner, if for no other reason than to put him in his place.

"Sasuke Uchiha," Iruka announced, as if to grant his silent wish.

Barely maintaining his excitement, Sasuke walked into the ring. Across from him the blond kid stood, his bright blue eyes narrowed while looking at his opponent.

"Alright you two make the symbol of combat." Their sensei ordered.

Both Naruto and Sasuke made a one-handed tiger seal, signaling they were ready to begin. Iruka, with a quick nod of approval, raised his hand.

"Begin." He declared, bringing it down.

As soon as Iruka's hand lowered, Sasuke was moving. He smirked at the surprised look on Naruto's face as he grabbed him by the front of his shirt, hooked his leg behind Naruto's and pushed. As expected Naruto fell backwards, but that's where the tables turned, for Naruto grabbed onto Sasuke's wrist with one hand, and his shirt with the other.

As Naruto fell back he planted his foot in Sasuke's stomach to pull Sasuke over him, sending him sprawling on his back. Sasuke was stunned-the loud mouthed blond just used his own attack against him with flawless timing and placement. As the young boy pulled himself to his feet, Naruto was already rapidly approaching.

Sasuke blocked Naruto's kick with his forearm, proceeding to tackle Naruto to the ground. The boys rolled around in the dirt, each trying to stay on top of the other for more than a few seconds.

While they fought three things were going on: Iruka was trying to get the boys to stop, the boys cheered, throwing suggestions for where they could hit each other next, and every single girl-with the exception of Hinata-were screaming at Naruto for "daring to hurt their precious Sasuke."

"That's enough!" Iruka shouted, finally managing to pull the children away from another.

"Why're you stopping us?!" Both boys shouted.

"The idea is friendly sparring, not trying to kill one another," Iruka scolded, "Just look at yourselves!"

Both boys were covered in dirt, and where Naruto had a little blood dripping from his nose, Sasuke had the same with his lip.

"Now both of you make the symbol of harmony so we can move on."

Sasuke sighed before holding out his hand with his index and middle fingers extended, but Naruto had something else in mind.

"Which one of us won?" he asked.

Iruka seemed to pause for a moment, as he considered who the victor should be. Before they started brawling, both children were doing very well. Sasuke started strong and recovered nicely whereas Naruto surprised everyone with that little maneuver of his.

"Go on sensei, tell him I won." Sasuke said smugly, intruding on Iruka's thoughts and arousing the anger of Naruto.

"What are you talking about, idiot? I won!" Naruto shouted.

"I put you on the ground!"

"I reversed that move, and on top of that you're bleeding!"

"You're bleeding too you idiot!"

"Well I made you bleed first!"

"Both of you shut up!" Iruka shouted, jumping between the boys before they could resume their brawl. "The match was a draw!"

With the final ruling both boys returned to the other student's on opposite sides. All of the girls rushed over to Sasuke to see if he was okay, though a pink haired girl had offered to kill Naruto if he wanted.

He ignored them as he glared at Naruto, who was getting some pats on the back from a few of the other boys. Naruto returned his glare. They both knew their fight only just began.


"So how was school today?" Arashi asked, placing a bowl of ramen in front of Naruto.

"Fine." Naruto replied casually, practically inhaling his food.

"Did you make any new friends?"

Naruto thought for a moment. "No, but I made a rival."


The rivalry between Naruto and Sasuke becomes more intense with each passing day. But when tragedy strikes the Uchiha family, Sasuke is surprised when help come the people he'd least expected it. Next time: The Uchiha Massacre.