The sun shined bright in Konoha. Sasuke had finally gotten out of the hospital. Everything that had happened to him was still burning in his mind. Itachi had growled at him, "You'll never have enough hate. And you know what?...you never will." Naruto seemed to becoming so much stronger than him. Even against Gaara, it seemed like Naruto had an unlimited amount of strength.

Sasuke clenched his fist. There was an option that lay in front of him: seek out more power. This sort of thing would likely require him to leave the village. Perhaps even Orochimaru, the villain of the three legendary sanin, had more power. He had so much power, that Sasuke couldn't even think of ever attaining it one day. Perhaps that could be an option to him…

But…would I really want to leave…?

Sasuke realized something: he had three very good friends that he had learned to rely on. Kakashi-sensei, though he thought of him as an idiot once, was a better teacher than any of the jonin in Konoha; in fact, he could've been better than the Hokage. He seemed to understand him, though sometimes Sasuke didn't want to accept it.

Sakura was a very bright kunoichi. It seemed that no matter how badly Sasuke could mistreat her and call her annoying, she would always protect and admire him. Whether for his looks or his personality, he wasn't sure, but he had to admit: she WAS a bit attractive.

And Naruto…no matter how annoying he got, Sasuke could always seem to rely on Naruto. He was a rival, nonetheless, but he had come to accept Naruto as a friend. He wasn't sure if Naruto felt the same way, but he seemed to work together with him well.

Sasuke thought of all the other genin that lived with him in Konoha. There was Team 8 and Team 10 that he trained with at the academy, plus Bushy Brow and Neji, who seemed to think of him as a rival, or something.

The Konoha genin felt a little better as he left his house that morning. He pondered a moment, and thought that maybe…just maybe…he wouldn't have to pursue more drastic measures to gain more power.

Sasuke blinked wildly as suddenly Naruto came at him full force and grasped him around the back of his neck. "Sasuke!" he greeted. "Guess what today is?"

"What?" Sasuke was very puzzled, as well as very annoyed at his comrade.

"It's Konoha male genin bonding day!"

"It's WHAT?!"

Sasuke was dragged along as Naruto took his teammate up to a small hallow on the other side of the village, where the other genin and Shikamaru in his class were gathered. Shikamaru rolled his eyes as he saw Naruto and Sasuke.

"Geez Naruto, you just had to drag along Sasuke with you, didn't you? Whadda drag…"

"Sasuke!" Lee suddenly leapt out in front of his classmate and held out his hand in battle position. "I believe that it is time for us to finally spar! That way, after I have defeated Neji, I will indeed have become a splendid ninja!"

The Uchiha ninja's eyebrow twitched. "Um…"

Neji grabbed Lee's collar and dragged him away. "You loser! Now's not the time to get a sparring match."

Naruto sweat-dropped. "Geez, Fuzzy Brow doesn't seem to be slacking off any…"

Kiba sighed impatiently. "So c'mon Naruto, let's get on with whatever we have to do and then we can leave, alright?"

Naruto put his hands behind his head. "Alright men," he announced, and watched as all the shinobi his age gathered around him. "It appears to me that we haven't really got to know each other. So today we're going to have a day where we can just screw around, doing stuff that guys do! Believe it!!"

Shino watched a mosquito fly past him with a blank gaze. "Uninterested."

Naruto clenched his teeth. "What was that, Shino?"

"I said that I didn't feel like taking part in this," Shino repeated. "I mean, what's in it for us?"

"Yeah Naruto!" Kiba agreed. "I mean, we could be using this day to practice some ninja moves, or something! Why do we have to spend it doing who knows what with you?!"

Neji folded his arms. "This seems like a total waste of time."

Naruto clenched his fists. "Well, that's what it's supposed to be!" he yelled. "C'mon, you guys, don't you know how to have fun! If you don't even know how to have fun, then you don't know an important part of being a ninja!"

Lee's eyes suddenly lit up. "You mean to tell me that this is in fact a ninja training technique, Naruto?"

The Uzumaki ninja nodded. "Sure, you could say that." He turned to Shikamaru. "I mean, tell 'em Shikamaru, why did you become a ninja in the first place?"

The chunin blinked. "Well, he's got a point there," he pointed out. "I became a ninja so I could have complete freedom."

Choji swallowed his potato chip. "I became a ninja so I could eat barbeque all day because I would have the money for it!"

Naruto smiled. "See guys? Being a ninja isn't all about being uptight and unfriendly. Sometimes you have to have fun, believe it! Now, who wants to go have some fun, ninja style?"

Sasuke sighed. "Well, I suppose it couldn't hurt anything," he muttered. He actually wanted to get his mind off of the last few days. This would be a good distraction.

Slowly, everyone nodded in agreement.

Naruto punched his fist into the air. "Alright, let's go!"

"OK, now the first thing we need to do to have fun is to spy on girls."

Naruto's face was met with some awkward stares. "Spy on girls?" Choji repeated, puzzled. Naruto nodded.

"Sure. I mean, every guy's dreamed of it."

Shikamaru leaned on a building. "Why on earth would I want to look at a troublesome woman for even a second longer than I have to?"

Lee pointed at Naruto. "Besides, that would be breaking the privacy of someone, which is very, very unyouthful!"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Oh, yeah, I'm sure Fuzzy-Brow-sensei hasn't ever spied on a lady."

"How dare you disrespect Guy-sensei!"

"Augh! Get off me, you freak!"

Choji stared at Naruto. "Besides, how would we even find any girls to spy on?"

Naruto struggled out of Lee's grip and smiled at his classmate. "Why, we go back to the academy, of course. That way we can get into the girl's locker room."

Shino's unmoving gaze stared off into the distance. "But they'd never let us into the place. We would have to have visitor's passes. Even then, they have jonin teachers out on patrol."

Neji nodded. "Aburame's right," he pointed out. "They'd catch a large group like us."

Naruto looked around mischievously. "Well then, why don't we just use our ninja techniques to cause a distraction to the jonin?"

Kiba looked confused. "What do you mean?" he asked. Naruto snapped.

"Don't you see?" he asked. "All we have to do is create some shadow doppelgangers to cause mischief, and then we're in the clear for the locker room!"

Lee stared blankly out. "But I cannot create shadow doppelgangers, Naruto." He said, sounding some-what defeated. Shikamaru sighed.

"Lee, do you really think that you'd wanna be a part of something like this if you think that your sensei would smack you into next Thursday?"

Lee saluted. "Of course not!" he cried. "You are now a higher rank than me! I salute your authority!!"

Shikamaru sighed. "Whadda drag…"

Naruto clenched his fist. "Alright, let's do it! Believe it!" He put his fingers in formation. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Two clones of the ninja appeared. Naruto glanced at Kiba. "Alright, Kiba, it's your turn."

"Right." Kiba created two shadow clones as well. "They aren't as solid as yours, Naruto, but they'll do." Choji threw down his empty bag of chips and created two as well, although he made one of them look slimmer. Neji created one as well.

The clones dashed into the academy and went straight towards the locker rooms. It wasn't long before the jonin started chasing the clones on the other side of the building. Naruto stayed alert until the sounds disappeared.

"Sounds like it's clear," he reported to his fellow genin and Shikamaru. "C'mon, let's do it."

Silently the shinobi crept into the building. When they approached the door to the locker room, Naruto began sniggering helplessly. "I can't believe that actually worked!" he giggled. "On the count of three…one….two…" The door to the locker room swung open, and the shinobi were greeted with the blank stares of the academy kunoichi.

"Spys! They're spies!!" One girl squealed. "And they're spying on US!"

"Let's get 'em!"

"Wait!" Konohamaru's friend stared at the ninja. Naruto smirked. He thought that she was going to spare him because she knew him. "Spare the one with dark hair. He's cute."

Naruto whipped his head around. "Sasuke?!" he exclaimed, but was cut off after being mauled by a bunch of rookies.

Later, everyone sat down in the street, gasping. Naruto had the most lumps on his head, but everyone else only got slightly beat up. "I can't believe they spared Sasuke," Naruto fumed.

Lee looked around. "Speaking of Uchiha, where is he?" he asked. Naruto perked up.

"You don't think he's…back at the academy still, do you?"

All the kunoichi grabbed onto Sasuke's arms.

"Oh, Sasuke-kun, your arms are so strong!"

"How often do you work out?"

"Are you as powerful as you are cute?"

"We'll have to train together sometime whenever we become shinobi!"

Sasuke was as irritated as he was when he was surrounded by girls when he was a student himself. "Please get off me," he muttered.

"But why?"

"You can say here as long as you want, Sasuke-kun!"

Sasuke fumed as the girls held a tighter grip. I'm going to kill Naruto.

Later, after the genin rescued Sasuke from the academy girls, they sat on top of a building. Naruto smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. "Er…sorry 'bout that, Sasuke," he apologized. Sasuke fumed and his face darkened.

"Later, I'm going to kill you," he informed his squad mate. Shikamaru sprawled out lazily and watched the clouds roll by.

"Alright, Naruto, I've had enough fun for one day. I'll just stay here the rest of the day and watch these clouds." The orange ninja jumped up.

"You can't bail out on us now, Shikamaru!" he protested. "We've only gotten started for today."

Neji dipped his head and sighed. "Don't tell me that you're planning to drag us out again on another idiotic task."

Kiba ground his teeth. "Yeah, Naruto, that last one was a close call, anyway." Naruto crossed his arms.

"Who cares?" he asked. "We still didn't get caught. This next one will be better than hanging out with a bunch of prissy girls, anyway."

Shikamaru yawned. "Well, as long as it's not a drag, I'll do it."

"What is it, Naruto?" Choji asked. Naruto smiled brightly.

"This time we're gonna go do the ultimate thing…pull Kakashi-sensei's pants down in front of…Grandma Tsunade!"

Shino furrowed his brow. "So that's the ultimate plan, huh?" he asked. "I sure am glad I've never had you plan anything for me."

Naruto got frustrated. "Shut the heck up, Shino, you're just jealous because I know how to have fun and you can hardly even comprehend it!" Sasuke stared at his squad mate disbelievingly.

"Naruto, Kakashi-sensei is a jonin. There's no way that he'd fall for some stupid trick like that." Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Well, he sure fell for that eraser trick that I pulled when we first met him. C'mon, I overheard him say that he's meeting for a mission with Grandma today."

The 7 genin and Shikamaru traveled to the Hokage's building. They hid in a small room as Kakashi passed into the Hokage's office. Then they all crept out of the room and peeked in the doorway to watch.

As Tsunade gave Kakashi his mission, Naruto chuckled. "Alright, I'm goin' in!" he whispered. "Oh, and I don't want to get in trouble, so I'll transform into Sasuke."

"What?!" Sasuke demanded, but it was already too late. Naruto, now looking like Sasuke, dashed in and pant'sed Kakashi.

"Wa ha ha! Sorry Kakashi-sensei, but you deserved that!" Naruto-Sasuke taunted and ran out, with his sensei in tow. Of course, the first Sasuke that Kakashi saw was the real Sasuke, since Naruto was already long gone.

Later, everyone sighed disdainfully as Sasuke groaned. He had whelps all over head and face. Naruto chuckled. "Uh, s-sorry about that Sasuke," he said. "I didn't think that Kakashi-sensei would beat you up so badly…" Sasuke fumed.

"Naruto…I WILL kill you…" he muttered.

Lee looked at the orange ninja. "That was way too close, Naruto!" he warned. "Had it not been for the rest of our quick reflexes, our fate would have ended up the same way as Sasuke's!"

Naruto smiled goofily. "Yeah, but that's what having fun is all about, Bushy-Brow! The danger! The excitement!"

"I thought that was being a ninja," Kiba added skeptically. Naruto blinked.

"Well, yeah, I guess that works, too. But anyway, we've only got one more event left."

Shikamaru sighed. "Well, it can't be that troublesome, can it?"

Neji rolled his eyes. "I really don't want to know what this is, Naruto."

Before the Hyuga ninja could run away, Naruto grabbed his collar and barred his teeth. "Oh no, Neji, you're doing this with us whether you like it or not," he hissed. Shino huffed.

"Just tell us what it is already."

"We're doing the ultimate thing…we're going to SCREW WITH ERO-SENIN'S BOOKS!!"

Choji blinked. "Who?"

"Jiraiya, you know, ero-senin," Naruto answered matter-of-factly. Lee gasped.

"B-b-but…how are we ever going to get past someone of the sanin rank!!?" he cried, sweat rolling down the sides of his head. Naruto cocked his head and shrugged.

"Easy…here's the plan…"

A little later, the 8 classmates ducked behind the fence at the Konoha hot spring. Naruto squinted through the steam and finally spotted a mess of white hair on the other side of the spring. "There he is," he muttered. "Oh, wait a minute…is that…KAKASHI-SENSEI?!"

Sasuke smacked Naruto upside the head. "Shut up, you idiot, we're going to get found out!" Naruto shot his teammate a dirty look before looking again.

"Oh, wait, ero's on the other side…sensei is looking at some chick. Hey, she's kinda pretty!"

The Uzumaki ninja grabbed Neji's hand before he could smack him as well. "I know, I know, cool your jets…look, I'm going to go distract him. In the meantime, the rest of you guys head to that house I showed you and go screw his work up. OK?"

"Right," they all muttered, and headed out. In the meantime, Naruto used the Oiroke no Jutsu and leapt into the spring.

"OK, find anything that resembles a book or something," Kiba instructed when everyone had arrived at Jiraiya's house. Sasuke, being the smart one, decided to check in the room that was right next to the kitchen that resembled a study. Lee was not clever like him, and decided to check in the bathroom.

Bingo! Sasuke smiled victoriously as he came across some pages that were stuck partway in a typewriter. "Hey, guys, I found it!" he called out, and soon Neji, Kiba, Shino, Shikamaru, Choji and Lee were all gathered into the study. Sasuke sat down in the chair and poised his fingers over the keyboard.

"What should I write?" he asked. Shikamaru inspected the page.

"Why don't you try to continue the story?" he suggested. "I mean, if it's, y'know, APPROPRIATE enough."

"The guy's not right in the head," Neji said, rolling his eyes. "There's no way it's suitable for children."

"Whatever," Sasuke said, brushing all the ideas off. "I'll just start typing something stupid." So the Uchiha ninja got to work. All the genin and Shikamaru anxiously read over Sasuke's shoulder to see what he was typing:

When Akira got back to the house, there were beer bottles everywhere. She gasped. "What the heck?" she exclaimed. Suddenly, her front door swung open and none other than Barney the Dinosaur walked in. "AAAHHHHH!!!!" Akira screamed, and she tried to get away, but the dinosaur was too fast for her. "Gimme a kiss," he said in his lovey-duvey voice. "NEVER!" Akira cried, struggling out of his grasp. "C'mon, just a little one?" "NO, FAT BUTT!" Then Akira attempted to kick Barney, but there was no way to move. She was TRAPPED!!

Lee put his hand on his chin. "You know, Sasuke, I think that you are supposed to start a new paragraph each time a new person speaks."

"YEAH, WHY DON'T YOU TRY IT, JUMPSUIT BOY!" Sasuke snapped. Suddenly, all the ninja really did hear the front door open, and then a conversation.

"Naruto, get off me! I know it's you!"

"No, Ero—I mean, Jiraiya baby! I just want to spend the rest of the day with you!"

"Stupid idiot, stop hugging me! I'm going to stop your chakra flow if you don't knock it off!"

Everyone had heard enough. All the shinobi split except Sasuke, who was still somewhat confused as to what was going on. Jiraiya then walked into his study and saw him, his hands still poised over the keyboard.

"YOU MESSED UP MY PRECIOUS NEW BOOK, ICHA ICHA TACTICS?!" the sanin roared, leaping for Sasuke. The Uchiha ninja's pupils dilated.

And then, impact.

Sasuke walked home alone that night. He was covered from head to toe in bruises. Everything ached. He could barely walk home. He hardly noticed when he passed Naruto on the side of the road, who didn't look much better. "Oh, hey Sasuke," he said, his speech slurred by the missing teeth. "I don't think we should have another one of those days anytime soon, huh?"

When he got home that night, Sasuke slipped off his sandals and collapsed onto his bed. His thoughts sprang to his inner argument earlier that day: should he stay in Konoha, or should he leave to find greater power?

No, Sasuke thought. Why should I stay in Konoha with that sort of thing going on in my everyday life? There's nothing here for me, no opportunity to get stronger. I defeated Gaara in the chunin exams, and what do I get for it? I'm still a genin. If I'm ever going to defeat Itachi and finally get revenge for my clan, I have to leave Konoha.

And I need to do it soon if I'm ever going to break away from my friends.

I need to sever the bond.

Continued in Naruto manga…