The other side of the river.

Chapter one.

It was on a sunny day, walking through the busy streets of a late afternoon day in Konoha when Naruto met his first friend.

It wasn't really a friendship at first, as they argued back and forth all the time, trading insults like money exchanged hands. It tooka while after they met, that their friendship solidified.

They still insulted each other on a daily basis however. After all sharing a living space with the one who you had a love/hate relationship with was sure to come with some difficulties.

Naruto didn't know till much later in his life, what had drawn him to the raven haired boy that day by the river. The day where it all began.

The sun beat down on his back as he trekked through the dusty streets of Konohagakure. His sun coloured hair waving in the non existent breeze. Eyes the color of the clear sky above sparkled as he mused on the memories of his latest prank.

That shopkeeper guy had it coming to him. Not letting him buy anything from his store. Jiji had told the people to sell him stuff a few times but the villagers never listened. So Naruto took matters into his own hands and pranked the idiot shop owner

It was beautiful...

Naruto walked without a worry past the neon orange building, whistling a jaunty tune, scuffing his feet across the ground and further ignoring the death glare being sent to the back of his head.

For no reason whatsoever, the blond decided that he wanted to go exploring today. He never had the chance to explore anymore, not with the academy taking up most of his time.

Naruto decided that he was going to go to the river, it was a hot day after all and a swim in the significantly cooler waters couldn't hurt.

Skipping in his good mood, Naruto rushed through the streets, ignoring the mutterings of the villagers about some tragic massacre or something, didn't seem too important.

The blond quickly reached the pier that jutted out of the river bank. But someone already was sitting on the wood.

It was Sasuke-teme! That hair and the clothes were recognizable from miles away. Scowling, the Uzumaki made his way down the grassy slope and stepped lightly onto the wooden platform; the water that was disturbed was the only warning the Uchiha on the end of the pier got before he was splashed with water.

Sasuke stood and turned around rapidly, his heart rate picking up and his breathing getting heavier, looking for the person who had disturbed his mourning.

All he could see was a pile of bright orange clothes that were dumped in a pile hear the grass.

'Dobe?'

He looked back out at the wide river, seeing a flash of blond in the water he relaxed slightly and sat back down, his bare feet making ripples in the still water.

He went almost undisturbed for a while, watching as the blond idiot swam through the water playfully, surfacing every so often to get a fresh air supply. Sasuke wasn't to worried about Naruto, the Uzumaki's calm and carefree demeanor had effected himself as well as the schools of fish that swam with the boy.

Soon after a few hours and the sun was beginning to set, Naruto finally got out of the water, dripping wet and only clothed in his underwear. It wasn't that cold yet at this time of the year so Naruto's discomfort was minimal.

They didn't say a word to each other as the blond boy came and sat with the Uchiha, still not clothed yet. Although, the fact that the sun was shining on their spot may have influenced this decision - the boy could dry faster -

Sasuke stared at the Uzumaki, watching as he shook his head like a dog in order to get the water out of his hair. It seemed the blond was mindful to not get water on him... Or it could be a fluke.

A half hour the two sat there in silence, watching as the bright blue faded from the sky to be replaced by pinks, oranges and reds. The sky was then overtaken by the dark blue almost black, that was the night sky. Shining stars started appearing as well as the waning moon.

Naruto was dry by then, so he got up, got dressed and began to leave. His only parting words were:

"See ya, Teme."

Sasuke stared at the spot where the blond stood only moments before, a strange warm feeling in his chest. It felt oddly familiar.

'Good bye... Dobe.'

"Tch! Can you even hold the thing right, dobe? Who taught you?"

It was a few weeks later, the two boys did not speak to each other again after that day of peace. Today, at one of the empty training grounds that are designated for academy students, Naruto was training his kunai throwing technique... Although his failure was evident by the littered kunai that were covering the ground from him, to the target. Not even one even hit the target board.

"Teme! Of course I can hold a kunai right god damn it! And just so you know, Mizuki-sensei taught me how do to a secret way of throwing the kunai, but its not working! AGH!" Naruto threw the kunai he had in his hands viciously at the target, but the blade stopped short of the target only reaching half way across the field.

As Naruto shouted about the injustice of the kunai throwing art. Sasuke picked up one of Naruto's knives, noting the way the kunai was very blunt and was imbalanced - weighing more at the tip.

"Oi! Dobe, where did you get these?"

Naruto stopped ranting to glare at the Raven haired Uchiha.

"Picked them up from some people who dropped them. What do you care huh?!"

"Hn, these kunai are useless. They are unbalanced which will lower your accuracy and the edges are as blunt as a chopstick. You should get new ones."

Naruto crossed his arms in a huff. "I don't have the money." He mumbled, barely audible.

Sasuke stared at the boy for a few moments, before sighing and reaching down to take out a few of his own kunai.

"Here." The four knives landed in a neat line embedded in the ground by Naruto's feet.

Naruto looked up at the Uchiha, suspicion and a small amount of surprise on his whiskered face.

"Uh, thanks I guess..."

"Hn."

Naruto scowled, but picked up the given kunai. Marveling at how much better they felt in his hands.

"Try them."

Naruto looked at the target with determination, aiming the new kunai at the target he drew his arm back slightly. He would amaze the Teme with his awesome ninja skil-

"You're still doing it wrong."

"Gah!" Naruto span round, only to find the Uchiha right behind him. Naruto's own size being evident as Sasuke stood nearly a full head taller than the blond.

"Tch." Sasuke began moving him about, placing his feet and arms differently than before. It felt weird but more comfortable standing there.

"Now, remember there is not much force needed behind the throw, only a gentle swing of the arm and a flick of the wrist is needed. I also noticed that you inhaled while you threw. It is better to exhale as it gives a better throw than inhaling and you will be more accurate. Try it again."

Naruto closed his eyes and took in a deep breath and let it out, in and out... In.

*thunk*

Naruto opened his eyes to see the kunai he just threw.

It had landed on the outer most ring.

"YATTA!" Naruto jumped for joy, turning and giving the biggest hug he had ever given to his temporary sensei.

"Thank-you! Thank-you! Thank-you!- "

Sasuke just stood frozen under the embrace staring at the target where one measly kunai sat neatly in the board.

'What am I doing?...'

The raven haired seven year old growled as his stone sunk into the river on the third skip, not even halfway across.

He picked up another from the pile by his feet, he aimed once again for the other side of the Naka river.

He was startled by a stone flying past his ear and skipping neatly across the river, reaching the other side.

Sasuke turned to see the blond idiot behind him, the thin arm outstretched as if something had recently left the open tan hand.

"Just aim it a little higher than you'd expect. That's the trick."

"Hn, baka. I don't need you telling he how to do it. I will get it to the other side."

"Hmmm... But I've already made it to the other side... Not much of a competition is it Teme!"

"Hn. Dobe."

"Grrr. My name's Naruto! Teme... Not Dobe!"

Naruto was ignored by Sasuke in favour of skipping his stone across the river.

'That looks like what Inu-Nii does when he's throwing Shuriken!'

The stone whistled as it left the Uchihas hand. The flat stone skipped along the water longer than before but it still sunk, but it was only inches from the river bank

The pier by the river was silent for a while.

"Tch."

Sasuke walked away from the pier, a scowl marring his face.

He looked back at the blond with onyx eyes filled with an undeterminable emotion.

"If I'm to call you Naruto then you have to call me Sasuke."

Naruto was startled but his face relaxed into a foxy grin.

"Sure... Sasuke."

Sasuke turned back and walked away from the river.

"See you at the academy on Monday, Naruto."

"Aa!"

As the two separated an identical though ran through both of their heads. Although they didn't know why they thought this:

''How...nostalgic..''

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Ja ne ;3

Madara