Chapter 3: A rival or a friend

Well in answer to one of the reviews the only reason I like people to vote is it removes the task of picking pairings and hassles like that.

I hope everyone enjoys this chapter. As you can probably tell by now in this story Naruto is different due to his father's influence. Also thanks for the nice reviews a few of them made me laugh.

Chapter 3-

Climbing off the roof Naruto swung from the edge of the shingled roof into his dad's office. He had just been practicing his chakra control for the test. It had been two days since Jiraiya had left, giving Naruto one last day of training.

Naruto looked around to see the room empty, the papers right where his dad had left him when he went out, two hours earlier.

Naruto looked around searching for something that might hint where his dad was. Minato had been coaching Naruto for the past two days mainly on genjutsu and taijutsu and Naruto now wanted to try ninjutsu his favorite of the three. He searched for a few minutes before giving up and heading out to practice on the training ground where Jiraiya and he had first talked.

He strode out of the building heading at a brisk pace, wondering why, his dad hadn't at least told the guards where he was going. He shook the thoughts of and ran the rest of the way to the training grounds.

He pushed the wooden gate open and began to trudge up the slight hill pushing the tall grass to the side with each step.

Naruto was half way up the hill when he heard voices. Patiently he tried to listen but their voices were to far off so Naruto got down on his stomach and crawled to the top of the hill overlooking a fully vegetated field.

The voices were clearer now and easily recognizable to Naruto. One was his father and the other was Jiraiya.

-------Minato------

"Jiraiya what do you mean your giving the boy a test you already agreed to be his teacher."

Jiraiya sent his student an annoyed look both ninjas knew someone was overlooking them and both having seen Naruto come to the training ground predicted it was him.

'Fine Mr.Fourth Hokage if that's the way you want to play.'

"Well you know Minato he doesn't seem like he wants it enough. If he really wants it he'll sacrifice himself his time his body… his soul. You know better than I that ninjas must have something they want to protect or something they want to prove. What does he have?"

Minato grimaced at Jiraiya, he really hoped Naruto wasn't listening because all though he agreed with Jiraiya he was worried Naruto would take it the wrong way. "Naruto is too young to have someone to protect and to young to want to prove something. Right now he should train to one day have the power he needs to protect and serve."

Jiraiya nodded, "If what you want is for Naruto to become my student perhaps you should help him. After all he is quite young and guidance no matter how little is always appreciated."

The light in the fourth's eyes seemed to cool and the gleam of his blue eyes showed Jiraiya that Minato was thankful of his assistance.

"Alright I'm going off to help Naruto now, but I'm not done with you yet." Minato smiled at Jiraiya who grinned back.

"You'll have to find me first." The old man joked walking past the fourth and right by Naruto and heading into the town.

Naruto looked at his father before backing away until he couldn't be seen and then running off back to the Hokage's tower.

Minato sat reflecting on the night two days back when Anko had kissed him. She hadn't realized it but the kiss saddened him immensely, it reminded him of his wife sadly enough so aggressive and demanding.

His pain was not only for himself but for Naruto and that only made the regrets worse, it made him feel guilty he hadn't saved her life but he was going to save the village.

Minato sighed and looked up to the sky watching the peaceful clouds roll by in the blue canvas. He walked to a wooded area and tried to accept the pain as his punishment, but his frustration got the better of him and he slammed his arm into the tree to the right of him obliterating its section he had hit and causing the top to slam into the ground.

He lifted his head once and looked at the sky again as if waiting for some one to tell him to stop acting like a fool. As if waiting for his wife to come yell at him. The Yondaime then in an attempt to get rid of the extra chakra, causing him to feel so much, he put his hand on the fallen tree. "Reconstruction of life." He said the name of a technique he had been developing.

The broken tree's bottom began to grow and be rebuilt slowly at first but gradually gaining speed until every last leaf was present on the huge tree.

The Yondaime sighed, his frustration eased he turned and began to walk toward his office all the while rubbing the back of his neck with his right arm.

Naruto was punching the tree before him with intense concentration, so intense in fact that he did not even notice the figure which sat in a tree above watching him.

Sweat filled Naruto's eyes as his vision began to blur. He fired one last punch as hard as he could into the tree, and fell back breathing hard.

The boy who had been watching Naruto jumped off the tree and landed right behind Naruto so he could look at the blondes face. He was dressed in a blue shirt with the symbol of his clan on his back.

Naruto cautiously opened his eyes to see the black haired blue shirted boy looking at him.

Naruto looked at the boy, oddly comfortable.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked having regained his strength.

"My name is Sasuke, you're Namikaze, Naruto aren't you." He answered confident that he was right.

"Yes how did you know?" Naruto asked.

"I've seen you before. You were with the Hokage in the Hokage's tower."

"Oh…" Naruto hesitated before pushing himself off the ground and wiping the dirt off his clothes.

Sasuke got off his knee and stood as well. "Naruto I was wondering if you would like to spar with me."

"Spar?" Naruto asked, "What is that?"

Sasuke looked at the other boy in surprise. "Well… It's like practice fighting. Have you really never heard of the word spar before?"

Naruto shook his head.

'How am I going to impress Itachi if my opponent is weak? It doesn't even matter that he's the son of the Hokage. Maybe I should leave…'

"How does it work?" The blonde asked inquisitively.

Sasuke shrugged in annoyance. "It doesn't matter." He turned to leave but Naruto grabbed his shoulder and turned him around.

"Come on tell me. I'll spar with you if you explain it to me."

'Well it can't hurt.' Sasuke sat down and began to explain it to Naruto.

After a few minutes of nodding and asking questions Naruto stood up, "Alright I'm ready".

"Fine one last rule, no weapons. Ready now?" Sasuke asked, feeling more confident and

ready to fight.

Naruto got set in his fighting stance-for a style he did not know how to use-.

Sasuke charged right away and threw a fist towards Naruto's head who barely dodged.

Sasuke continued the assault, falling to the ground and kicking Naruto's feet out from under him.

Naruto landed on his back but quickly somersaulted backwards and away from Sasuke foot which slammed into the ground.

'He's fast… I have to slow him down.' Naruto's thought were coming too quickly and slowing his movements he jumped back ten feet from Sasuke and began to collect himself.

"What's the matter do you give up?" Sasuke asked bored.

Naruto stood his arm against a tree propping him up thinking of his father's words of advice.

Flashback

Naruto sprinted towards his dad and jumped over him dodging the two wooden shuriken his dad threw at him. The kicking off the tree Naruto tried to fire kunai and shuriken at his dad who wasn't even where Naruto had thrown his weapons.

Naruto slammed his fist into the ground in frustration. "I can't do this, what's wrong with me."

The Yondaime chuckled, "Naruto you need to stop thinking so much and use your senses."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked breathing hard.

"I mean you're guessing too much and going against what your fighting instinct tells you. Naruto you need to trust yourself and not fear being wrong."

"But, I hate getting it wrong. Why is it so easy for you?"

The Yondaime laughed again, "Naruto I have trained my hearing and I trust my instinct. If you want to be able to predict your enemy movement, you have to be able to use your senses to tell where they are and are going."

"But doesn't that involve thinking?" Naruto asked confused.

"Only, when, you don't trust your abilities." The fourth walked off his hand behind his back pushing on the red robe. "Naruto keep practicing and I know you'll get it."

Naruto sighed and looked at the clone his dad had left him to work with.

End Flashback

Naruto concentrated and cleared his thoughts. "I'm not done yet Sasuke."

Sasuke charged Naruto and tried to punch him, but Naruto caught his fist and punched Sasuke in the stomach and then spun and kicked Sasuke into a tree.

Sasuke got up wearily, 'That's what I get for not taking my opponent seriously.'

Naruto grinned and gestured to Sasuke to come. Sasuke smirked at the gesture and stood up and jumped right over Naruto's head.

Naruto watched and waited until just before Sasuke landed to send a kick to his chest. Sasuke pushed the foot to the side, but wasn't ready for the follow up kick which hit him in the face and knocked him into the ground hard.

Naruto wasn't grinning anymore he was frowning at the blood which was dripping out of Sasuke's nose.

"Do you want to keep going Sasuke? You look like your hurt pretty badly"

"Naruto you don't stop so early into the fighting." Sasuke said pushing himself to his feet.

Naruto hesitated as Sasuke charged and the second that he hesitated was all Sasuke needed to knock Naruto to the ground.

Naruto got up just in time to duck under Sasuke's kick and when Sasuke continued his twirl Naruto blocked his other leg and grabbed his neck.

Sasuke brought his hands to his neck and as he tried to remove Naruto's hand he was slammed into the ground.

Naruto released him as Sasuke eyes closed shut. "You win Naruto."

Naruto turned as he heard someone begin to clap behind him.

"Very nice work Naruto, you took down an Uchiha very impressive, you might pass my test yet."

"Jiraiya when did you get here?" Naruto asked.

Jiraiya winked at Naruto, "That doesn't matter. I'm going now I just came to check up on you, anyway you should probably bring Sasuke home." Jiraiya rustled Naruto's hair before walking off.

"Wait!" Naruto shouted to Jiraiya who was almost out of hearing distance. "I don't know where he lives."

Naruto wiped the blood off Sasuke and applied some healing cream he had in his back to his wounds.

Jiraiya laughed at the blonde and continued walking away. "That's not my problem."

Naruto groaned and put Sasuke on his back. "Let's go find out where you live." Naruto said to the unconscious Sasuke on his back. Naruto ran off in search of someone who might know the way.

Ino was in her mom's store looking at the flowers and greeting the customers when she saw Naruto walk by with Sasuke on his back.

She glanced at her mom who she saw wasn't paying attention and ran outside. "Hey Naruto what are you doing?"

Naruto smiled, relieved to see Ino. "Hey Ino-chan, I'm taking Sasuke back to his house but I don't know where he lives."

Ino looked slightly awed by the situation. "Is it easy to carry him?"

Naruto nodded wondering why she asked such a silly question.

"Hold on Naruto, I'll ask my mom if I can show you the way." Ino walked back inside the flower shop with Naruto following her.

Ino waited patiently for a minute until her mom had finished helping the customer she was with.

Her mom smiled at Ino and then at Naruto.

"How are you Naruto?" Mrs. Yamanaka asked, while writing something in a blue planning book on the counter.

"Good, and you?"

"Fine,… Who is on your back? Mrs. Yamanaka asked. 'Naruto is pretty strong.' She noted.

"Sasuke Uchiha," Ino answered, "Naruto is going to take him back to his house, so mom, can I show Naruto where Sasuke's house is?"

"Well sure." Mrs. Yamanaka replied confused. "By the way Naruto why are you carrying him home?"

"Well Sasuke asked me to spar with him, so I did but then he wouldn't stop even though I was winning so I knocked him out." Naruto said, acknowledging what he said was kind of weird.

Ino blinked impressed. "Really I thought you found him. I didn't think anyone our age was strong enough to beat Sasuke."

Mrs. Yamanaka nodded her head in agreement. "That's quite a feat, but you should know Uchiha's don't like to lose so you should expect him to challenge you to spar again. Now get going you two, especially you Ino it's only a few hours away from dinner and you haven't eaten lunch yet."

Naruto walked over and held the door open for Ino before following her.

Ino led the way enjoying the task of leader in the search for Sasuke's house. The three children continued on until they were out of the center of the village.

After a few more minutes of walking and Ino talking to Naruto they reached the Uchiha mansion.

The main gate was open and Naruto took charge heading in first with Ino hiding behind him.

The garden leading to the house was beautiful and fully vegetated but empty and it wasn't until Naruto and Ino had walked a few hundred yards in that they saw someone.

The tall boy wore a long blue cloak like Sasuke's and had his hair in a ponytail. His red eyes looked at Naruto with a tentative kindness.

"Hello there, who are you?"

Naruto looked at the older male "My name is Namikaze, Naruto and I'm looking for a person to give Sasuke to."

"Yes I see you have my brother… What happened to him."

"Well you see he challenged me to spar and I beat him, but he wouldn't stop fighting so I knocked him out. I'm sorry to have hurt him… Should I give him to you? By the way what's your name?"

"My name is Uchiha, Itachi and no you can give him to our mother. She is inside the building behind me." He paused for a second but as Naruto passed him he spoke.

"Forgive me for not recognizing you Naruto, but I have only seen you a couple times."

Naruto nodded, "Ok," he walked on and stepped inside the main house. It was beautiful and very homey. Naruto felt very comfortable inside.

Ino felt so too, "This place is amazing."

Naruto noticed soon after walking in, the shadows that moved in the doorway to his left.

He walked to the door and opened it to see a beautiful woman cooking over a large pot humming to herself.

Naruto watched her for a moment enjoying the aura she gave off. "Excuse me." He said speaking up.

The woman gracefully turned. "Hello-" she droned off immediately rushing over to the beaten Sasuke.

She lifted him off Naruto's back and laid him down on the bench next to the white wall.

"Would you mind telling me what happened?" The woman asked, sternly.

Naruto was now starting to get annoyed at being asked this question, but he answered telling her exactly what he told Itachi.

The woman sighed after hearing the story. "I'm sorry if he bothered you but he just wants to be as strong as his brother."

"Hmph. He didn't win… Well I should have expected him to lose. Hello Naruto-san." A deep voice said from behind them.

"Hello Uchiha-sama," Naruto said bowing.

"So you remember me, huh." Mr. Uchiha said. "Thank you for bringing him home you may leave now."

Naruto nodded, bowed again and turned to leaving grabbing Ino's hand and pulling her with him.

'So there are some ninja who may be useful in this generation as well. Well I bet Itachi is pleased.'