A/N: Third chapter (which was supposed to be the second chapter but decided otherwise)!

Football = Soccer :D

We finally get to see a little bit of the Naruto we all know and love! None of that whimpering mess I wrote in the last 2 chapters.

*DISCLAIMER APPLIES*

BEFORE THE WORST

Of Bullies, Dinosaurs, and Shurikens

Sasuke, after being dropped off to school by his mommy, giddily skipped through the clean halls of his preschool. The excitement from his tiny from threatened to bubble over. He guessed he wouldn't be able to act cool today judging from his current disposition. He was just too excited!

Yesterday, Old Man Sarutobi announced that they would be having Show and Tell today. He asked everyone from the class to bring their favourite thing and to talk about why they thought it was interesting. A smile lit up on Sasuke's baby face. No one could possibly top what he had brought to class today.

Sasuke entered the room and quickly sat on his seat. From the little chatter here and there, Sasuke could tell his classmates were equally as thrilled as he was. He saw a few of his classmates even showing off their Show and Tell item before class even started. The little Uchiha fidgeted on his tiny desk. He really really couldn't wait!

The door to the classroom opened, and in came Mr. Sarutobi who was accompanied by Naruto. The two looked like they were having a genial conversation. The old teacher then gestured for the little blond child at his side to take his seat. Naruto nodded and, instantly looked for Sasuke (because Naruto always looked for Sasuke). Once Sasuke was found by his blond best friend, Naruto's face beamed and the blond rushed to the empty seat beside the little Uchiha.

"Good Morning, class." Mr. Sarutobi's face crinkled with warm delight.

"Good Morning, Mr. Sarutobi!" The class answered back in a multitude of teeny tiny voices.

"As you all know, today is Show and Tell. Did everyone bring their favourite thing with them?"The old man asked his students, trying to gauge the little munchkins' excitement level.

"Yes!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen chuckled. It would seem that his students' excitement level were way off the charts. "So let's start then!"

"Yeah!"

"Aburame Shino, you can go first."

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. . .

. . .

. . .

This was so boring!

Sasuke pouted, not afraid to show his grumpiness. All the other kids brought boring things! He should have known it would turn out this way when the first person, Shino, had a dead butterfly with him; but then Shino started to cry directly after he pulled out his Show and Tell for the class to see. Apparently, the butterfly was alive when the boy took it.

Everything else was just a big blur to Sasuke as each child presented their items to the class. He vaguely remembered a white puppy, though (and he only remembered solely because that was probably the most interesting Show and Tell so far).

"Thank you, Shikamaru for sharing your... like for clouds with us." Mr. Sarutobi sweatdropped at his peculiar student. Shikamaru didn't even bother to bring a Show and Tell item, arguing that clouds are everywhere so he needn't bring his favourite thing. Looking at his list, the teacher called for the next student. " Sasuke, you're up next."

Finally!

Sasuke jumped from his seat and ran to the front of the classroom, taking his backpack with him in the process. He opened his bag and brought out a funny-looking dinosaur stuffed toy and three rubber (but really well-made) shurikens.

"This is Corky. He's a Tyrannosaurus rex. And these are what you call shurikens. They help me fight the scary things that come out at night." He showed his objects with great pride.

One of his classmates raised her hand and immediately shot out a question. "A Tyraurus rex?"

While another student, this time a boy, said with uncertainty "Shurikens?"

Sasuke groaned at his two inept classmates. "Tyrannosaurus rex, better known as T-rex.. Tyrannosaurus means tyrant lizard, and rex means king. Shurikens are ninja stars."

Suddenly, an onslaught of sighs from the girls in his class erupted. The little Uchiha showed his displeasure. He didn't like it when the girls bugged him. He was sure that his show of intelligence (although, truthfully, he didn't know what tyrant meant) would have the girls swarming him after class.

"My brother gave me these things when he came home for Christmas break from his boarding school in another country." Sasuke gloated. "My big brother is the best big brother in the world! He's super smart, and he can do all sorts of things! He can run really fast and he's a good football player! When he visits, he teaches me a bunch of cool stuff!"

Mr. Sarutobi giggled at the little Uchiha who was going on and on about his older brother. It would seem that Sasuke wasn't really here to talk about his beloved toys, but was really here to boast about his older brother. That or the lad didn't really mean to segue to the topic of older brothers. Getting sidetracked was very common, especially with little children.

"So there you have it!" Sasuke ended with a smug grin. Corky and his three shurikens were really great toys. His classmates must be envious (the Uchiha tyke didn't even realize he spoke of his older brother much more than he spoke of his toys).

"Thank you, Sasuke. That was very interesting." Mr. Sarutobi patted the boy on his head before leading the child back to his desk.

"Next up is Naruto."

Naruto's countenance brightened and the child skipped to the front of the room. In the past year, Naruto had definitely bloomed into a spunkier individual and Sasuke was truly impressed with the change.

Sasuke blinked at the stuffed object in the blonds' hands. It was vermilion stuffed fox which was dulling in color and slightly ripping at the seams. It might have looked old and dirty to anyone else, but Sasuke and Mr. Sarutobi knew better. The toy was simply well-loved.

"This is Kurama. My mom gave him to me when I was still a baby." After the blonds' introduction, Sasuke noted the way Naruto hugged the plushy closer to his little chest.

"It's old." A little girl seated at the front sneered.

"Can you really still play with that? It looks broken." Another child added.

Sasuke glared at the two kids that disrupted Naruto's Show and Tell. A small whimper which caught Sasuke's attention was heard coming from the blond; but then Naruto crinkled his brows and straightened his stance.

"He's not that old! I just play with him a lot!" The blond five-year-old tried to defend his favourite doll. The girl who first interrupted Naruto's presentation simply harrumphed.

"Kurama is my favourite thing because he reminds me of my parents. That's why he's very special to me." Naruto smiled at his fox plushy. "Uhmm. That's all I have to say, I guess. Thank you." And the blond child silently returned to the seat beside Sasuke's.

"Thank You, Naruto. Kurama is very special indeed." Sarutobi fondly smiled at his student. "Ino, would you like to share next?"

Sasuke, not planning to listen to his classmates any longer, looked to Naruto and offered the other a small smile. "After class, we can go outside to play with Corky and Kurama." Sasuke whispered. Naruto agreed with an enthusiastic nod of his head.

The rest of the Show and Tell presentation was quickly forgotten by the two children as thoughts of the adventures Corky and Kurama filled their little heads.

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Sasuke pouted as he searched the playground for his little blond friend. Where was he? Mr. Sarutobi only spoke to Sasuke for a few minutes. The blond couldn't have possibly left yet.

"Naruto?" Sasuke called out as he searched inside bushes and behind trees.

"Stop it!"

Sasuke's ears perked at the distressed scream coming from behind the small playhouse. That voice was definitely Naruto's. The little Uchiha made a wild dash to where he thought he heard the voice had come from.

"Hahaha! Look at this ugly thing. It's so old!" A taller boy held Kurama above his head. If Sasuke remembered correctly, the boy's name was Arashi and was in the second grade. With Arashi was the girl from earlier who sneered at Kurama's aged appearance. Sasame was their classmate's name.

"Sasame! Tell your cousin to give Kurama back to me!" Naruto growled and screamed as he tried to reach for his beloved plushy. Sasame simply winked at Naruto and stuck her tongue out to taunt the blond.

"Give the doll back." Sasuke commanded. His boyish voice had three heads, all varying in emotion, turning to his direction; one of annoyance, one of excitement, and one of distress.

"And who're you, squirt?" Arashi glared at the kid who dared to fight back.

"Sasuke!" Sasame greeted as she blushed at the arrival of the little Uchiha.

"Sasuke, help me show these guys!" Naruto shouted as he continued to kick and squirm at the seven-year-old bully. The blonds' struggled fighting only seemed to infuriate Arashi even more.

"Get off of me, you baby!" The bully shouted as he pushed Naruto to the ground. Sasame couldn't help but laugh at little blond on the ground who was glaring daggers at her older cousin.

"Grow up! Only babies play with stuffed animals!" And as Arashi said this, he ripped poor Kurama's fuzzy head off from its body.

"No!" Naruto stood up to try and attack the nasty older boy, but then blur of black and white zoomed past the blonds' form. Suddenly, Sasuke was gripping Arashi's uniform, pulling the older boy's head down making it so that both children were eye-level with each other. The bully, although bigger and older than Sasuke, looked completely overpowered by the little Uchiha. Sasuke vaguely heard Sasame gasp out loud at his assault on Arashi.

Despite Arashi's apprehension, he attempted to intimidate Sasuke by barking out a "Why you little shrimp!", and tried to grapple with Sasuke's hold.

With strength he didn't know he had, Sasuke pounced on the bully, letting the latter fall back-first to the ground. Much to Arashi's great surprise, Sasuke was kneeled over his trounced body. The little Uchiha's left hand held the boy in place while the right was balled into a fist aimed to Arashi's head.

"Wait wait! I'm sorry! Please don't hurt me!" Arashi begged the little Uchiha.

"Hn. Too late for that." Sasuke raised his elbow higher to get more momentum for his impending punch.

"No! Stop! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Talk about being a baby. Arashi was openly crying by this point.

"...Hn." Feeling a teeny bit merciful, Sasuke let go of the grip on Arashi's uniform; but not before whispering a threat to Naruto's tormentor. "If you ever come near Naruto again... well. My big brother taught me how to throw ninja stars." Sasuke brought out one of his rubber ninja stars from his pocket to make a point. "Wouldn't want one of these to go right in between your eyes, right?"

Arashi whimpered and frantically nodded. With a smirk, Sasuke stood up, completely releasing Arashi from his baby Uchiha wrath.

"Come on, Sasame! These guys are crazy!" Arashi abruptly escaped, pulling his younger cousin along with him.

Sasuke returned his attention to Naruto. The blond sat on his heels, looking forlornly at his ripped plushy. Kurama, with his stuffing spilling out, appeared mangled.

"Kurama..." Naruto's voice quivered. Sasuke knew his friend wanted to bawl but couldn't. Naruto promised to stop being such a cry-baby, but Sasuke could let this one slide.

"Hey. You don't have to hold back. You can cry if you want to." Sasuke rubbed Naruto's back to offer the latter comfort.

Naruto shook his head. With a sigh, he then reached for Kurama's ripped pieces and cradled the stuffed animal.

Sasuke, wanting to wipe the sadness away from Naruto's face, opened his backpack and brought out Corky. "We can share Corky if you want. I'll let you borrow him." And then the most brilliant idea came to Sasuke. "My mommy can fix Kurama up for you. Until then, you can have Corky."

Naruto curiously glanced at Sasuke. "But you love Corky."

"Hn. I won't miss him too much. Just don't drool on him or something."

Naruto's eyes began to sparkle (Oh, that one had Sasuke panicking all over again), although, surprisingly, it sparkled not because of unshed tears but because of uncontained joy.

"Thanks, Sasuke." Naruto beamed up at the littlest Uchiha.

"Hn. Don't mention it." Sasuke looked to the side to hide his rapidly growing blush.

"So does Corky really help you fight the scary things that come out at night?"

"Duh! So you can sleep well tonight since Corky will be with you. Then, you have me in the daytime. I'll scare anything away for you." Sasuke, unaware of the implications of what he just said, admitted.

Naruto thought back to the Arashi situation just a few minutes ago and silently agreed with Sasuke. For the little blond, Sasuke would make all the bad things go away.