Naruto was a little mad at himself.
It was by his genius that they had helped Kakashi beat Zabuza. It had been Naruto's plan that had freed Kakashi from the water-prison, and he had even worked with Sasuke to do so.
So why was climbing a tree so fucking hard?
His only comfort was that Sasuke wasn't doing any better.
Sakura, of course, had done it easily. Her and Kakashi had long since retired to the bridge-builder's house for the evening.
But Naruto had refused to go. He was bound and determined to learn how to control his chakra so he could climb the damn tree. And he was determined to beat Sasuke.
And Sasuke was just as determined to beat Naruto.
"Ready to give up yet, dobe?"
"Don't call me that, teme!"
'And so the fighting starts again.' Kakashi thought to himself. Despite what he had told Naruto and Sasuke, he wasn't really at the bridge-builder's house. And neither was Sakura. He was giving the konoichi a lesson in chakra concealment, and they were secretly watching the other two members of the team. This also allowed Kakashi to keep an eye on the two, something that was obviously very much needed.
Sakura rolled her eyes when she saw Naruto lunge at Sasuke. Honestly, couldn't that boy see that he was obviously no match for Sasuke? A sharp look from her sensei kept her from slipping off into daydreams about the raven-haired boy, and instead, she settled on watching the boy, who had just easily dodged Naruto's attack.
It really was too easy for Sasuke. The idiot would just throw himself blindly at his opponent. A quick sidestep was all that was needed to get out of the way, and he grabbed Naruto's arm, with every intent of sending him smashing to the ground.
He was a little surprised when Naruto anticipated the move and pivoted, using his free hand to land a punch in Sasuke's stomach.
Sasuke recovered quickly. Using their closeness to his advantage, he brought his knee up into Naruto's stomach, still not releasing his grip on the blonde's wrist.
Naruto took a step back, using the grip Sasuke had on his arm to jerk his arm over his head, leaving his side open to Naruto's kick.
Sasuke staggered slightly and aimed a punch for Naruto's face. Naruto caught his wrist, and they were both still for a moment, staring at each other with nothing less than loathing in their eyes.
Gravity was against them when they both tried to kick the other's feet out from under them at the same time, and they crashed to the ground in an ungraceful pile of limbs.
By this point, Kakashi was seriously considering intervening. If he didn't, he knew it could get ugly. But curiosity kept him watching, still hidden in the trees.
Sasuke had one of Naruto's wrists pinned to the ground, and Naruto had his other arm bent at an awkward angle. Their legs were tangled together, and they were lying on their sides, facing each other.
It was Sasuke that tried to pry his arm free first. "Let me go, dobe."
"You let me go, teme!"
"Not until you let me go!"
"Fuck you! I'll let you go when you let me go!"
Sasuke growled and tried to wrench his arm out of Naruto's grasp. Naruto simply tightened his hold.
"You're such a loser!"
It was Naruto's turn to growl. "You're one to talk! I've got you pinned!"
"No you don't! I obviously won!"
"You did not!"
"I did to!"
Naruto growled again. "Yeah, you won alright!" His voiced was laced with sarcasm.
"You bet I did- ahh!" The noise that suddenly came out of Sasuke's mouth, though he would deny it to his dying day, was a yelp. Naruto had suddenly bit his neck-hard.
"Get off!" He let go of Naruto's wrist, and instead, grabbed his hair. "Let go!"
Naruto muttered something he couldn't hear into his skin as a reply.
Kakashi was a little amused by this point. Trust Naruto to keep the fight going in any way possible. Beside him, Sakura was silently seething. She was the only person allowed to bite Sasuke's neck, Damnit!
Sasuke was yanking desperately on Naruto's hair, and finally the little fiend let go. There was blood smeared on his lips.
"Asshole!"
"Bastard!"
"Just shut up!"
"No!"
Sasuke tightened his grip in Naruto's hair, and Naruto's free hand grabbed a handful of Sasuke's hair.
"You bit me!"
"Get over it, princess!"
Sasuke pulled harder on Naruto's hair. In response, Naruto pulled hard on his hair.
"Let go!"
"You let go!'
"We both let go."
"On three."
"One."
"Two."
"Three!"
Neither boy budged.
"You didn't let go!"
"Neither did you!"
Sasuke growled in frustration. "This isn't getting us anywhere!"
"No shit!"
Sakura was getting bored. It was really boring just watching those two fight. She almost started complaining, but remembered that she needed to be quiet.
Kakashi, on the other hand, was far from being bored. There was definitely something different when Naruto and Sasuke fought while no one was watching. There was more hate, if that was even possible.
Sasuke's wasn't looking into Naruto's eyes anymore. He was staring at Naruto's lips, where his blood was still smeared. He didn't even notice that they're faces were getting closer together. He didn't notice until he felt Naruto's breath on his face.
When he met Naruto's eyes again, he could still see the hate, but he also saw another, deeper emotion. He could almost see the memory that was playing in Naruto's mind, and he closed the few inches remaining between them, brushing his lips uncertainly against the blonde's. Naruto responded immediately, pressing his lips into Sasuke's and immediately plunging his tongue into his mouth.
Kakashi put a hand over Sakura's mouth to stop the gasp he was sure would emerge. He was pretty shocked himself. That had definitely never happened before while he was watching.
After a few seconds, the boys broke their kiss and simultaneously released each other, pushing themselves off the ground and getting to their feet. When they made eye contact again, Naruto was the first to speak.
"I still hate you."
"I still hate you. This is just-"
"-A truce." Naruto finished the sentence and picked up his abandoned kunai off the ground, once again returning to the task of climbing the tree. Sasuke silently did the same.
Kakashi finally removed his hand from Sakura's mouth, and motioned for her to follow him. She did, a stricken look still on her face. She didn't speak until they were in front of the bridge-builder's house.
"Kakashi-sensei?"
"Yes Sakura?"
"Does- does that mean that Sasuke is gay?"
Kakashi looked down at his student, a thoughtful look on his face. "No Sakura. Don't think too much of it. They were fighting, and that's just how the fight turned out. Although I think it would be best if you didn't mention that to anyone."
Sakura nodded, and followed Kakashi into the house.
5 years earlier
"I don't want to Itachi!" Sasuke said stubbornly, stomping his foot on the ground. Itachi ignored him and continued to drag him along the street.
"You're going to apologize."
"No! I don't want to! Uchiha's don't apologize!"
Itachi finally stopped, giving his younger brother a harsh look. "That is a load of bullshit. I don't care what lies our parents have been feeding you."
Sasuke pouted.
"Naruto is your friend. I know you're mad at him, but he's mad at you too. It's simple. You apologize, he apologizes, and you can have fun again."
"I don't want to have fun with him!" Sasuke yelled.
Itachi sighed. "Remember when mom and dad said you couldn't be friends with him? Do you remember how mad you were?"
"Yes." Sasuke said evasively, looking at the ground and shuffling his feet.
"Remember how we've been sneaking around just so you could spend time with him for the past few years? Do you know how much trouble I would be in if our parents found out?"
"Yes." Sasuke still didn't look up.
"Are you telling me that you want to end your friendship with Naruto over something as stupid as spilt ice-cream?"
"No! I just- I don't wanna apologize to him!"
"Tough! You're going to!"
"Fine!" Sasuke jerked his hand out of Itachi's grasp and shoved it into his pocket, now sporting a defeated expression.
Naruto was sitting alone in the park, gloomily staring at the ground. He had gotten into a fight with Sasuke. He didn't even remember what had started it. All he knew was that Sasuke and him hadn't talked for three days, and he missed him.
No one was in the park. Another park had been built not too far away, and it was where all the kids went.
So Naruto was just sitting alone, trying to think of a way to try and make up with Sasuke. Sasuke was his first and only friend, and he had never gotten into a fight with him before.
He knew that when Sir and Ma'am fought, they didn't talk. But they always made up. They made a "truce" and then things were all better.
But Naruto didn't know what a truce was. And he wasn't sure if it would work. He was half convinced that him and Sasuke weren't friends anymore.
"Naruto?"
The blonde was jerked out of his thoughts. He looked up to see Itachi and Sasuke. Sasuke was looking at the ground, and had his arms stubbornly crossed. He looked for all the world like he didn't want to be there.
"I know you both are still mad, but I think you should call a truce." Itachi explained carefully. He was sure that if he could just get them talking again, everything would be just fine. He had worked hard to make sure they could stay friends, constantly making sure his parents didn't find out. And he wasn't about to let their friendship end.
"What's a truce?" Sasuke asked his brother, still not looking up from the ground.
"I know!" Naruto jumped up excitedly. "It's what grown ups do when they're mad at each other!" He ran over to Sasuke and took one of his hands. "I'm really sorry."
Sasuke finally looked Naruto in the eye, and he smiled. "I'm sorry too Naruto."
"Truce?"
"Yeah!"
Then Naruto leaned in and kissed Sasuke sloppily on the lips.
"What was that for?"
"When grown ups 'truce', they kiss to seal the deal." Naruto explained.
"Oh. I think mommy and daddy do that too." Sasuke was thoughtful for a moment, then leaned in and kissed Naruto back. "Okay. Lets build a sand castle!"
"Okay!"
Itachi watched the scene fold out in amusement. Oh, this was great. His seven year old brother was going to grow up to be gay. His parent's would be thrilled.
Itachi watched from a distance as Sasuke and Naruto jumped into the sand box and underwent the task of building a sand castle, talking excitedly about everything that had happened to them in the last three days. He sighed. If only it was that easy to make up with anyone.
It had taken Itachi about two weeks to convince his parents to let him look after Sasuke again after they had first discovered that their youngest son was friends with the kyuubi vessel. And since then, Itachi had been sneaking around so that Sasuke and Naruto could play together. He was almost positive that his parents hadn't figured out what he was doing, and he got a great sense of pride from that. But of course, it wasn't all that hard to outsmart his parents. After all, he had been able to since he was ten. And when they tried to follow him, a pair of clones fooled them rather nicely.
Yelling and laughing broke out in the sandbox, and Itachi smiled as he watched his brother start shoving handfuls of sand down Naruto's pants. Naruto quickly returned the favor, and soon the sand castle was abandoned altogether.