27. Troublesome (Narusasu)

Naruto could barely contain his excitement as he stood at the starting line. Today was the day of competition for all Konoha ninja. There would be a number of athletic events for all types of ninja, and of course, all of the citizens of the village were going to watch. He was at the event--actually a race where all ninja skill was banned–that all of the ninja from his graduating class were going to participate in. Sasuke was going down today.

There was a whistle blown somewhere to Naruto's right, and he was off with the clump of men and women that he had grown up with. He could not quite pick out Sasuke amongst the people, but he was almost positive that his rival was somewhere behind him. Naruto snickered. He was definitely going to win today.

His foot landed unevenly on the ground and he barely caught his balance, grabbing at the nearest person. Shikamaru gave out a cry of dismay as he was shoved to the ground. "Naruto! What are you doing?!" he cried from the ground, rubbing his hip.

People were tripping up all around them, only some catching on and using their acquired skills (which was technically against the rules) to move around the growing pile. Naruto gave Shikamaru an apologetic smile before taking off toward the finishing line; he had seen Sasuke swerve around the growing chaos.

He knew that there were people already crossing the finish line, but that did not matter. Sasuke was a few yards in front of him, and still farther from the end of the race. He sped up, pushing himself almost to the limit of his speed (without the help of chakra).

Hah, take that, Sasuke! He thought as he passed his rival. He could almost taste victory in the air as he narrowed in on the finishing line. There was a curse behind him, and someone's hand shot out and grabbed his arm. Naruto's balance was gone, he was tumbling to the ground.

"What is wrong with you?!" he yelled at the person clinging to his arm. Turning his head to see who the offender was, he was astonished to find that it was Sasuke glaring at him.

In an instant the two of them were on their feet, running to the finish line like their lives depended on it. They crossed the line at the same time, both falling to the ground to the side of the track. Naruto glared. "You cheated! If you hadn't broken my momentum, I would have beaten you!" He pointed an accusing finger at Sasuke.

"Oh well, you'll have to deal with it." Was Sasuke's cool response.

Naruto's eyebrow twitched, and he pounced, crushing his lips to Sasuke's. He pulled away after a few seconds, still glaring. "Shut up," he muttered.

Sasuke stared at him in surprise for a moment before landing a solid punch on Naruto's jaw. "Dobe."

The fight that ensued was much more interesting than the race had been and had the crowd cheering wildly.

Shikamaru turned to Chouji, rolling his eyes slightly. "How troublesome," he muttered.

"Troublesome indeed," Chouji said, grinning.

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wow, that was crappy!!! sorry 'bout that.

sorry this one wasn't shikachou... I actually have no idea why it wasn't... it is definitely shikamaru-esque.

I FAIL AT LIFE!!! I'm so sorry that this wasn't posted yesterday!!! I wrote it really fast so that I could post it, but then my parents were like, "Lauren, we're leaving... NOW!" and I had to go before I got the chance to post it!!! I'm so sorry!!!!