God was merciful that day. Chapter-1:

Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke first meet at the academy grounds, when one of them is being beaten to a pulp and the other has no choice but to intervene.

It's not a life-changing moment –they don't even speak to each other afterwards. It's not startling either, since Naruto is used to people ignoring him and Sasuke hates it when they don't.

They are, however, pleasantly surprised to find each other in the same class the next day.

For a week, Naruto observes Sasuke from his kingdom at the back of the classroom. He observes how Sasuke is always alone and how he is always brooding. He listens to the girls' squeals and the rumors about the Uchiha massacre and comes to a quick decision.

"Yo. I'm Uzumaki Naruto." He says, cornering Sasuke one day after class, "and I have decided to be your best-friend."

Sasuke doesn't even blink at him. "I don't need friends."

"Why not?" Naruto demands.

"I don't have time to waste." The black haired boy tilts his head and scowls at a tree, "I have to kill somebody."

Even the Sandaime gets nervous and admonishes him whenever he says this.

But Naruto nods sagely and agrees, "I know. Sometimes you just have to."

They look at each other.

"Who though?" Naruto asks, "And why?"

Sasuke is silent for so long, Naruto begins to wonder if he has heard.

"A bad person..." Sasuke answers finally, "he killed my clan."

"Must be powerful to kill all of them," Naruto opinions, "but, don't worry! When I'll become Hokage I'll help you kill him. He's going down, dude!"

Sasuke startles, "You will help?" he whispers.

He doesn't mean to whisper, but his voice has disappeared. He feels that rush of fear again, the stark reality of being alone and the raw helplessness to change it. He's eight and he's never been on his own in his entire life and he's not certain of anything anymore and his heart burns to see his mother just one last time.

"Of course I will!" Naruto declares, "It's what best-friends do! They fight for each other and they live for each other and- get this- they even die for each other."

Sasuke is doubtful of this, but the boy looks like he knows what he's doing, so Sasuke nods tentatively.

That's all the confirmation Naruto needs, before he grabs the other boy and drags him away to the ramen place which he says is the best in the world-no seriously.

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Chapter 2 coming up. please review, dear reader.