He'd become the strongest ninja, and then Hokage. It was a dream, an ambition that evoked nothing but laughter and insult, so much that Naruto hardly declared it above a whisper anymore. It was something he'd wanted more than anything but as the ridicule became thick enough to penetrate his rock solid carefree facade, it gradually slipped into second place, behind the goal of getting Sakura-chan to be his girlfriend.
Problem was all she had eyes for was Sasuke Uchiha. She, like the many other girls in class, was a self-appointed custodian of the last Uchiha's existence. It pissed him off, annoyed him to the point he developed unmerited animosity towards the other boy. His obsession, and this desire to unravel his crush's devotion to Sasuke, soon spiralled out of control. He'd goad and challenge Sasuke into fights he'd promptly lose. This went on for half a year. Nothing but unsuccessful attempts at exposing his 'fraudulent' classmate.
Prodigy, a title among many others used to describe Sasuke. Wanting no fingers pointing at it with accusations of favoritism, the universe gave Naruto just as many titles descriptive of his character. One such was deadlast, used to punctuate how much of a loser he was.
One morning, Naruto arrived first to class and watched his classmates pour in. No one acknowledged him as the chatter grew louder and the number of empty seats dwindled. It stung but he had grown used to it. He smiled on command when he caught a glimpse of pink hair at the door.
"First!"
"Think again Forehead!"
Sakura and Ino rushed towards Sasuke the instant they saw him and proceeded to fight over the conveniently unoccupied seat next to him, completely obliterating Naruto's good mood. He strategically sat at the back of class. His approach was different this time. Instead of instigating fights he never had the hopes of winning, he thought it'd be smarter to simply just sit back and unearth Sasuke's glory.
He was dozing off half an hour later thanks to Iruka's millionth retelling of how the Leaf was founded. He yawned and sat upright, looking at Sasuke through lidded eyes. The dark haired boy sat at the window, his gaze fixed outside. His pose hadn't changed since beginning of class, not an inch, and yet half the girls in class occassionally sent him looks with hearts in their eyes.
Naruto still couldn't tell why.
Elbows on the table, fingers interlaced, and the ever-present scowl. Naruto was unconvinced. There had to be more.
What made them swoon about someone who had issues expressing the tiniest bit of joy?
In Shikamaru's own words, it was troublesome, but if he wanted to avert Sakura's devotion onto himself and finally get to be with her, then he needed to study his competition, thoroughly.
-
Like himself, Sasuke was alone. No friends or family. The former was more by design but Naruto had done a bit of investigative work on the side to get why… kind of. The slaughter of his clan at his brother's hands had traumatized him for a good portion of his childhood. Sasuke barely made the effort to make any friends since joining the academy. He found comfort in his own company, which comprised mostly of training.
Naruto had come to find that it was all Sasuke seemed to do.
Training, something as foreign to Naruto as a perfect attendance.
Security to the Uchiha compound was as dead as the clan that Naruto snuck in unobstructed. He should be in class at this time but it'd make no difference. Iruka-sensei had long given up on him. Mizuki, his other sensei, didn't even bother to set him straight.
Be that as it may, Naruto had a reason for tiptoeing around the haunted compound, one that would improve his chances with Sakura and his standing in class.
Two birds. One stone.
-
"Ready?"
Taijutsu practice.
"Go Sasuke-kun!" and other similar cheers followed as the boy in question stood across of his opponent, Kiba Inuzuka, one of the few students that had a decent track record of giving Sasuke a good challenge.
"Begin!"
As much as it saddened him to take his eyes off of Sakura, Naruto had to.
Analyzing, he believed it was called.
His little endeavor at Sasuke's place had turned out fruitful. Even more so because what he was currently witnessing perfectly correlated with what he gleaned from the scrolls he had… borrowed. Judging by the amount of dust they've laid collecting over the years Naruto doubted Sasuke would mind or notice them gone.
A broad grin nearly split his face in half as he correctly predicted the kick that connected with Kiba's midriff. It didn't end the fight then because he scrambled to his feet to block Sasuke's follow-up attacks, but it did excite the girls as they cheered louder, a combination of praise and adoration Naruto wanted, no, needed, to be on the receiving end of.
At Kiba's eventual defeat, the girls ran forward to swarm Sasuke. They were attracted to strength, and the Uchiha was the very definition of the word.
Naruto smirked. If this was the reaction he could look forward to everytime he won a fight, maybe it was high time he genuinely got on with it, this training.