Disclaimer: Me own nothing.

AN: " He updated? I thought he was dead..." ME TOO GUYS, ME TOO!

Sasuke growled rather loudly as his high kick was calmly slapped away by Naruto. As his body turned ever so slightly from the blond's quick block and push, he threw his body back with his grounded foot. As he was moving backwards, he kept his eye's on his opponent in case he attacked while he was vulnerable; regaining his balance. It just wasn't right. This nobody just shows up one day, passes the Gennin exam, gets placed on his team, shows Taijutsu prowess that he had never seen, and easily deflects any and all physical attacks directed at him. He had caught a few glimpses of him against Kakashi, but this was ridiculous!

They had been doing some lousy D rank missions for the past three days and he couldn't help but feel as if he was losing his edge despite his constant practice. Wanting to asses himself, he decided to challenge Naruto while said teen was walking home from the latest chore labeled mission. He knew that Naruto was just as disappointed in the missions they were getting as he was and, as hard as it was to admit it, he knew that the guy was pretty good.

Not as good as him, but well that was to be expected.

After Naruto had graciously accepted the offer of a spar, he had spent the rather silent trip to the training ground thinking of how Naruto would react after he was defeated. He hoped the boy wouldn't feel to disheartened when he trounced him. Sasuke felt a bit of kinship with Naruto, being an orphan and learning everything on your own. Even so he would not go easy on his fellow Gennin.

...and Now he stood a bit away from said blond panting a bit with a sheen of sweat covering his body. He just could not penetrate his defenses. As he was about to rush in, anger rising steadily in his chest, Naruto held a hand up.

"Wait, Sasuke. Take a break for a sec and regain your breath so you don't get worn out." Naruto spoke with a placating voice. He noticed Sasuke's anger boiling over as the spar went on though he just could not understand why. He had no idea for the source of Sasuke's rage.

"NO! Don't you dare look down on me! I'm not some child, I know my limit's!" Sasuke hissed out. How dare this bastard try and insinuate that he was tired. He was an avenger, he couldn't just take a rest. He had to give it his all and could never settle for less. As long as he was breathing while conscious, he would fight. His charge however halted as he watched Naruto lower his defense and just sit on the ground. He snarled but listened as Naruto spoke.

"Ma, I have NO idea why your getting so pissed off. I mean, all I do is train in Taijutsu constantly. I am just trying to help you out so we can spar longer..." Naruto nervously spouted out with a confused expression. He was elated when Sasuke had come to him asking to spar. He desperately wanted a sparring partner...but didn't really know how to go about that. He hated to admit it...but even though he was polite and could hold a conversation with almost anyone he really didn't have anyone to talk to a lot around his age. His peer's that he had briefly met at the academy were nice...but he had gone there with the expectation of not seeing them until he was either in one of the future exams or if he was paired with them for a mission in the far future. That only left his new teammates. Sakura did not seem like the type to spar much and he was slightly afraid that Kakashi would start to dig further into his abilities, which may lead to him finding out about the scroll.

Sasuke was perfect...but so quiet he knew not how to approach said Uchiha. Today though, Lady luck decided to shine down on him. The dark boy had come to him after another of those annoying missions he knew were important to teamwork, and offered a spar to relieve some anger about the recent 'missions'. It started well, Naruto deciding from the beginning not to use his Myaku unless pressured and wanted to gauge Sasuke's impressive Taijutsu style. Then he noticed that after blocking and dodging all of said Uchiha's attacks that the boy was getting sloppier and angrier.

He didn't want to upset his only chance at ever getting past this rut...and hopefully his first friend. He watched as Sasuke stopped his charge, the anger slowly drained from the Uchiha's face. His breathing began to even out and Sasuke slowly sat down while taking a deep breath.

"...how many Ninjutsu or Genjutsu do you know?" Sasuke said evenly, his anger quickly subsiding.

"Ehh, I actually only know two Ninjutsu besides Bushin and Kawa. Genjutsu...well I know it exists and the theories." Naruto chuckled a bit and scratched his head in embarrassment as spoke a little quieter. "I don't really even know how to throw Kunai and Shurikens. I just know how to defend myself from such attacks."

Sasuke ran a hand threw his hair also a bit embarrassed about his anger. Now he understood why Naruto was so great at Taijutsu. It was his specialty. Sasuke could boast about being pretty well balanced, but Naruto was concentrating on a certain field of expertise. He could respect that, seeing that even though he didn't seem to have any type of long range attack the boy would be able to react extremely quickly if worst came to worst.

"I see. No wonder your pretty quick. Sorry for losing my temper...I just didn't expect to go against a Taijutsu specialist."

Naruto shrugged and stood up. ' I guess I do seem like a Taijutsu specialist...it is pretty much true since I have no offensive Ninjutsu or Genjutsu.' He dusted off his clothing as he began speaking. " It's fine. You seem to be pretty balanced from what I remember of your fight with Kakashi. " He watched as Sasuke also stood from the ground. The boy nodded and smirked slightly while he began stretching. Naruto's eyebrow twitched as he noticed Sasuke's arrogant smirk, yet it didn't annoy him as much as it should have. He really didn't like cocky people, but he supposed he could deal if said cocky guy wasn't weak and useless. Sasuke was definitely neither of those.

Naruto walked a distance away before he slipped into his stance. Sasuke's eyes narrowed. He had never seen anything like it. It was so...unassuming. Almost brawler like...

Sasuke snapped out of it and slipped into his own stance as Naruto spoke. " The reason I didn't attack was because I wanted to gauge your style. This time though, no holds barred. You use Ninjutsu and weapons while I try to get around it. In the end it can only help us both get better." Naruto finished off with a grin. Finally he had a chance to go gauge his strength. Going against the academy's best student of the year and an Uchiha seemed like a great test.

Sasuke also couldn't help but feel giddy. Maybe he had found someone who could help him get closer to his ambition.

With no hand seals, two Bushin appeared on each side of Naruto. Sasuke quickly began his own set of seals. 'This is going to be fun...'

Meanwhile, across the village in the office of one of the greatest Ninja to live, Kakashi was having a conversation with the Hokage about his new students awing ability.

"...I see. So he knows some elemental manipulation. That is extremely odd." The Sandaime spoke while rubbing his chin thoughtfully and letting a puff of smoke escape his mouth around his wooden pipe. Kakashi sat in front of him just as confused as the Hokage was. For such a young Gennin to be able to use his elemental chakra was amazing. What made it astounding was the fact that said Gennin had only books and scrolls to learn from and was mostly alone.

"Not some. It's like hes almost mastered his element. Hokage-sama, has Naruto ever mentioned reading up on such things?" Kakashi asked. He was so shocked when said boy had forced him to retreat with such a great blend of electricity and Taijutsu. It was truly a humbling and enlightening moment. He could honestly say he had never seen a combination like that. The only thing that came close was the Hyuuga's Jyuuken. He had lost most control of his arm from just blocking Naruto's strike. Thankfully he had gotten away because of his mastery of the basics or he would have been pretty embarrassed. It had shown him that he had definitely gotten rusty and that he had to start getting back to training.

He shook himself from his musings when Sandaime spoke, a grim expression adorning his face. " After that kumo nin had somehow infiltrated us undetected and wounded, I had a lot of work to deal with. A lot of questions popped up; though cloud insisted they had no idea what his motives were and that they had not sent him. Dealing with that problem, increasing the security, arguing with the elders...I truthfully had very little time to talk to the boy. I'm ashamed...but there wasn't much I could do at the time. I was able to visit him and give him tests to gauge his academic knowledge, but not much else. I did however give him full access to any reading material that was public knowledge."

Kakashi shrugged confusedly. "He could have read about it somewhere, stumbling on it and learning...but I'm not quite sure. I doubt its his prisoner's doing, at least at the moment. The best I can think of is just keeping an eye on him."

Sarutobi nodded his head. "Seeing as he's doing nothing harmful in the slightest, I believe that's a very good course of action." A smile slowly formed on the elder's face. " It seems we have a lightning element specialist. A secret prodigy...maybe even better then a Jounin I know..."

Kakashi sighed at the obvious gibe at him.

"Katon: Gokakyu No Jutsu!" Sasuke roared, dispersing the three Naruto's that were rushing towards him. He fluidly pulled four kunai from his pouch, noticing that his Jutsu had gotten rid of one of the Bushin. The other two however were rushing him from either side. He quickly threw two at each at precise angles and began his charge towards the Naruto on his left. He smirked as the kunai he had threw in front of him passed easily through the now identified Bushin and he began making speedy hand seals.

His body quickly turned to the Naruto behind him, which he had figured to be the real one. As his body was in motion, he was already bringing the nearly invisible wires that were attached to the predicted duck dodged kunai he had thrown earlier to his mouth.

"Katon: Ryuka No Jutsu!" As the deadly streams of flame traveled along each of the wire, Sasuke couldn't help but grin. Said grin quickly disappeared when he saw the fire nearing the other boy who just kept charging. ' That's not him! He said he had a technique to stop projectiles. Where is he-'

He spun around only catching a glimpse of flames pass through the blond as he turned to see and block the real Naruto. He had turned just in time to barely intercept Naruto's strong jab with his left forearm. He grunted rather loudly as he threw away the punch only to cross guard when Naruto spun extremely quickly to gain momentum from the thrown off jab and impacted strongly against Sasuke's guard with an elbow.

Naruto grinned as Sasuke leaned back while sending a kick towards his abdomen. Naruto quickly stepped back bit to avoid the kick, only to try and leg sweep Sasuke's grounded leg. Sasuke leg barely came off the ground where Naruto's leg passed as Sasuke landed on his back. He rolled backwards and sprung from his crouch with a flying knee aimed at the now standing Naruto's head. That plan was crushed as Naruto's fist was suddenly in Sasuke's stomach before he could leave the ground.

Sasuke slid on his feet, but didn't have much time to think about the slight ache in his stomach as Naruto was upon him again with quick strikes. As the exchange of blows continued, Sasuke received more and more glancing hits. He knew he just wasn't up to Naruto's level of Taijutsu, but he would not back off. If he was going to get better at hand to hand, this was his best chance. Even if he was getting pounded. He ground his teeth as his arms began to ache painfully. He had to get better.

Naruto on the other hand, didn't even see Sasuke's once again raising ire.

He was having so much fun. He had never sparred against anyone besides his own clones. This was so much better. He felt so invigorated, fighting against someone who was so flexible. He barely realized that he was getting a bit faster and more vicious while Sasuke was becoming slower.

Sasuke was desperately trying to keep up. Another blow caught him in the face, but he didn't let his guard drop. It felt as if Naruto just got faster and faster. His eye's strained to see. He couldn't see. It was too much. He had to react faster. He wasn't even countering. He could not be that pathetic, it just wasn't possible!

Suddenly his vision became much clearer and it wasn't as hard as to block Naruto's onslaught. He became confused though as Naruto instantly stopped attacking. "I think that's enough for tonight. Your eye's are all red and weird. Are you tired, or did you get dirt in them?"

Sasuke's 'red' eyes widened and he quickly pulled out a Kunai to check his reflection. A small smile appeared on his face and only grew as he looked at Naruto. ' To think I would unlock my abilities fighting someone I never even knew about before a month ago. Just who are you?'

Naruto didn't know how to react when the moody, depressed, angry Sasuke smiled at him. ' Hmmm...all the signs point there, but I just won't think it. Because if I acknowledge he has an interest in me, I'll go insane before the Chunnin exams.'

"It's the Sharingan. My bloodline has awakened." Naruto finally realized what that meant and he grinned. He had read somewhere about the Uchiha in Konoha's history and even saw it mentioned it in 'the scroll'. Its one of the reasons he was so excited about the fight. What he didn't know was that Sasuke hadn't unlocked it yet. That meant Sasuke would be a lot stronger. and he would have to be even better. "Well then, I think you owe me some damn ramen."

Sasuke looked into the sky noticing that it was getting dark. He shrugged, still too ecstatic to turn down the blond who had helped him unlock something that would push him closer to killing his traitor brother. " Whatever, I'll pay for a bowl, but then I have to go home and look up some scroll's..."

Naruto chuckled while following the dark haired boy who was leaving the training area. ' Same here. The only thing I remember is that the Sharingan copies stuff...and you are NOT taking my style.'

Sakura was completely baffled. When she had come into sight of the team bridge to wait two hours for their late Sensei (Not that she minded, more Sasuke time for her) she noticed that Sasuke was talking. To Naruto. Casually.

It didn't seem like the world was ending. In fact, it was just another beautiful, warm, sunshiny day in Konoha. So what was going on?!

Sasuke never talked to anyone besides a few words. Yet there he was, casually talking to Naruto. It wasn't as if he was smiling while talking, the Uchiha was still mostly stony, but still. She realized that she had stopped far enough that she couldn't hear anything they were saying. She quickly jogged over, forgoing her usual shout of "Sasuke-kun!" and opted for a small wave which caught both boys attention.

" ...ai Bushin? Does it tak-" Was all Sakura heard from Sasuke before he stopped talking and turned away from her and Naruto. Her head drooped and she let out a pathetic sigh. "Errr, Good morning Sakura-chan." Naruto said kindly in an attempt to cheer the rejected girl up.

Sakura lifted her head and gave a small strained smile to Naruto, who knew she was just trying to be polite. " Good morning..."

"Ma, don't be upset Sakura-chan. Sasuke is just..." Naruto looked looked towards Sasuke who was staring into the water under the bridge. The brooder seemed to be doing everything in his power to ignore them. "...He's just in love with me because I have coolio skills."

Sasuke growled audibly and Sakura couldn't help but let out a small giggle. Then she stared into space with a blush on her face as she imagined Naruto and Sasuke together...hugging...then...

Naruto tried a few times to talk to her, but she was too far gone. Sasuke was just annoyed at him. Naruto now felt like the dejected one and let his head droop. 'Damn, guess I'll go cry by a tree...' He sat down silently next to a large oak and began going through a short set of seals, trying not to get Sasuke's attention. 'Gotta get these down before out next spar. Friend or not, If I see him do any of my moves I will kill him.'

Two hours later Kakashi arrived. The strangely quiet atmosphere was broken by a low "Your late..." muttered by a distracted Sakura and a loud " Do you own a clock?!" from the only blond.

"Sorry I'm late guys, I woke up this morning and saw that my house was on fire. Sadly It burned down. So I rebuilt it!" Kakashi cheerily exuded.

They all stared at the Jounin.

" ...Did your parents have slippery hands?" Was what broke the silence that had enveloped the team for a good minute.

" Nope! But for our next mission you guys better not have slippery hands. You see, there's this cat named Tora..."

A few days would pass since the day they learned of Tora. The great almighty Tora, bane of all D rank missions. Two days and they had caught the cat way to many times to count, besides their other menial chores. It was also the main reason that Naruto was on the ground in front of the Hokage and Iruka whom were seated with mission scrolls surround them, staring disbelievingly at the blond. Even the rather large woman squeezing the life from said cat stared at the Gennin.

"Please Jiji -sniff-if we don't get a better mission, I'll have nightmare's again!" Naruto pathetically sniffled out.

" Naruto show the Hokage some respect! D rank mission are very importan-" Iruka tried to explain, only stop as Naruto put up a hand.

" It's fine, I understand." Naruto slowly standing up. Everyone raised an eyebrow at the attitude change. "...Sasuke, give me a Kunai. I'M COMMITTING SEPPUKU!"

Naruto then began to beg Sasuke for a kunai who ignored him, while Iruka yelled at Naruto for his rudeness. Sakura was trying to calm the blond and Kakashi just continued reading his book.

They all went silent as Sandaime chuckled into his hand. " Calm down everyone. Kakashi?"

Kakashi snapped his book closed and looked to his leader inquiringly. " Yes Hokage-sama?"

"Do you believe your team is ready for a C rank mission?" Sarutobi replied calmly, holding back a chuckle as Naruto stared at Kakashi with a quivering lip. Sasuke and Sakura looked to the Hokage in surprise, as did Iruka.

" Hokage-sama, you can't be serious? They only graduate-" Iruka said disbelievingly before getting cut off once more.

" Sorry to interrupt Iruka, but yes they are ready. They are quite a team, even if a little odd." Iruka sighed and put a hand to his forehead as the Hokage opened a scroll.

"Please get Tazuna while I explain the mission to team 7." Iruka grudgingly stood and walked out while team 7 listened attentively to the Sandaime.

" Tazuna is a bridge builder who will need an escort back to his home in Wave country. He then will need protection as he completes the bridge. Any questions?"

All three Gennin shook their head's as they contemplated the new mission.

Naruto was beaming. He was so happy that he would not be chasing that evil cat who he knew had some how learned the Ninja arts.

Sasuke finally felt as if he wasn't going to waste his time. Hopefully something exciting would happen.

Sakura didn't know how to feel. She was happy that they were traveling out of the village, but she couldn't help but be a bit nervous.

They all turned as they heard someone open the door Iruka had left from just a while ago. It was a man who was rather old, but still pretty big. He wore all brown and was slightly intoxicated. He looked at the team in front of him with a scowl.

" Is this my protection? What's with the blond and pink hair? Aren't you ninja?" the man named Tazuna slurred out.

Naruto pouted while Sakura glared at the old bridge builder. " Hey, just cause were young and pretty doesn't mean you can pick on us. Are all people this mean to their body guards?" Naruto whined.

Tazuna sputtered as Kakashi and Sandaime chuckled. The Jounin stopped after a moment and cleared his throat." OK team, enough fooling around meet me at the gate in an hour. Pack necessities, well be gone for a while." The team nodded and parted to their homes to gather supplies for the long journey ahead.

" I spy with my super awesome ninja eye, something...green." Naruto said with a small smile on his face. Everyone except Kakashi and of course Naruto groaned.

" Naruto...if its a leaf again-" Sakura said threateningly. It had been mildly entertaining at first, but Naruto had quickly ruined the game by choosing a leaf every time it was his turn. They had been traveling for quite a while, so Naruto had suggested it after some time. Sakura quickly agreed, even Tazuna had tried. Kakashi would participate every once in a while between reading and giggling, but Sasuke said nothing the whole time.

" Its not, I promise it's something much nicer. " Sakura sighed and began guessing what object Naruto had in mind. After multiple guessing of everything remotely green that was in eye sight, Sakura groaned.

" OK Naruto, I give up...what is it?" She didn't really care what it was, but she asked anyway to be nice and because she rather be talking then silent. Even if it was annoying it was better then just being bored.

Naruto smiled. " Your eyes."

Sakura found herself flustered for some reason. She turned from Naruto and looked at the ground in front of her, making sure not to go anywhere near the puddle. She had no idea why Naruto's comment had made her blush. Really, all he had said was 'your eyes', and compared them to a leaf saying they were much nicer. But tha-

Sakura's train of thought halted as she suddenly heard a noise. It took a second before she realized it was a chain. In her sight she watched in complete surprise as the chain she had heard was about to be wrapped around Kakashi. She realized that he was going to die. The chain was razor sharp, and Kakashi was completely surprised.

Instantly, Kakashi was enveloped in smoke and in his place was Naruto. "NARUTO! NO!" The chain began moving and her heart stopped. To her amazement though, the chain's suddenly blasted open, loosening their almost deadly grip. She noticed two Nin connected to the chain watch wide eyed for a second before the chain was quickly released from their gauntlets, leaving them unconnected. Not a second later Sasuke was already engaging one with a sweep kick.

She had no time to watch as the other one quickly sped towards Tazuna. Her fear was over looked, somehow she hastily jumped in front of the old man while pulling out a Kunai and held it in front of herself as a weak form of protection. Even she knew though that this was probably her end. She was going to die on her first mission outside the village. She would never live her dreams.

She was startled out of her acceptance when the Nin stopped charging and began convulsing. Smoke started appeared, rising from his body before he dropped to the ground motionless. He crumpled revealing Naruto with an arm outstretched and grip lose. His face though was frozen in shock as he stared at his own hand. Her body began to calm down as she noticed Kakashi hurriedly walk from where Sasuke and the other unconscious nin were to Naruto.

Kakashi solemnly crouched down and checked the pulse of the still slightly smoking nin.

"...He's dead."

Naruto barely registered Kakashi's words, because deep down he had already knew. He knew he had take that nin's life. He knew when he grabbed the shinobi by the back of the neck in rage and anger at trying to hurt his friends; When he began channeling the electricity made from the shock tag's into the weakest point on the guys body instead of pulling him away by the clothing like he should and could have. He felt the man convulsing, squirming, full of pain and screaming in agony, yet he did not let go. He did not let go because for some reason...

He had enjoyed it.

And that scared the hell out of him.

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AN: Well, I finally had some time, so I updatededed....ded. I'm already starting on the next chapter, I swear! It's small, but it's really mostly fillerish :( but the good stuff is coming up! PLEASE NO LEAVE ME!

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Naruto's Jutsu List

Myaku (Taijutsu) - Basically the manipulation of his elemental chakra in conjunction with his Taijutsu strikes.

Myaku: Tai Ji Bunya (Taijutsu/Ninjutsu) - Two strong pulses are emitted. The first magnitizes metal objects, and the second repels them.

Rai Bushin No Jutsu (Ninjutsu) - Create's a very volatile clone made of lightning chakra. They cost quite a bit of chakra and are dispelled very easily and have a time limit. When dispelled they emit enough electricity to freeze the attacker for a moment. They cannot use Ninjutsu.

Item's:

Shindou Natsuin (Shock tags) - Small seals that transfer chakra that flows through and passes the seal into small amounts of electricity. These serve many purposes. Increase's muscle reaction, durability, and helps to slowly but surely modify or create the lightning element in the user's body.

Leg warmer's (weights) - Basically just weights that increase depending on how much chakra is run through their seal.

(Also Know's Bushin and Kawarimi.)