Naruto's Wish

A bright afternoon sun shone throughout Konoha, and the students of the ninja academy took this chance to train out in the schoolyard. No clouds, no wind, it was a perfect day that made the kids squeal with joy. All but one blond blue-eyed boy crowded together and showed off their moves. He separated himself from the others, not enjoying the time outside.

"Wow! Sasuke-kun, you're amazing!" the kids exclaimed as a raven haired boy stepped back to examine his shurriken work. only one shurriken was off target by a few centimeters.

"Not good enough…" Sasuke mumbled to himself. At hearing this remark, the blond boy in the back frowned.

"Hey duck-butt!" The boy mockingly called to Sasuke.

The crowd of students separated so that there was a clear path between Sasuke and the boy. "Who dares call Sasuke-kun that?"

"Naruto-kun better stop picking fights that he'll lose!"

"What a loser!" They jeered. Sasuke just stood there with his back to Naruto.

"You think you're so cool, well I got news for you! Your not!" Naruto yelled.

"And I'm supposed to care, why…?"Sasuke turned to face Naruto, smirking.

"Well…y-you're just…!"Naruto stammered. He saw the mocking look on Sasuke's face and became frustrated. "Don't act like you're better'n me!" Naruto stormed past Sasuke and prepared to throw his shurriken.

Swip! Crash! His shurriken hit a window and it shattered. Sasuke's smile grew larger. "What? You have a grudge on that window pane?"

Naruto's face turned bright red in embarrassment and frustration. "A true ninja shows his skills in battle!"

"You're not even worth the effort-"

"What did you say?" Naruto lunged himself at Sasuke, but was caught and held back by his sensei.

"Uzumaki! Do you want me to suspend you from the field trip tomorrow?" Naruto glared at Sasuke one last time and stormed off.

"What's that kid's problem?" Sakura asked. Sasuke shrugged and walked away.

---

The next morning all the young shinobi-in-training gathered outside of the academy. "Before we leave for our camping trip in the forest, we're going to set up a buddy system." Iruka explained. "So get into groups of two." He approached Kiba as the boy searched for a partner. "Inuzuka, could you be Uzumaki's partner?"

"Sure." Kiba knocked Naruto on the back of the head. "Hey, Naruto-kun!"

"What was that for?!" Naruto yelled back at him.

Sasuke looked over and saw that Kiba already had a partner, so he continued to scan the crowd. "Sasuke-kun." Sasuke turned around and saw nerdy Shino, the only other boy without a partner.

"Uh, hey Shino-san…partners?" Shino smiled.

Soon the group had set off into the forest. Everyone chatted with each other about various things and every once in a while they would stop and have something explained to them by their sensei. Naruto, Kiba, Sasuke, and Shino stayed at the back of the pack. Kiba was telling Sasuke that his sister's dog had babies and that he got to keep one. "I'm naming him Akamaru!" He spoke cheerfully.

"That's neat, are you going to bring him to the academy?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah! Once he's big enough to feed on his own!" Kiba replied excitedly.

"My spiders have been having babies like crazy too." Shino remarked. Everyone became silent.

"Uh…that's great Shino…Oh! I have to tell Hinata-chan!" Kiba exclaimed partly to tell Hinata and partly to get away from Shino. He hurried up the path to meet up with her. Shino soon darted off as well because he saw a cool bug.

Naruto was busy shooting glares at Sasuke when he spotted something shinny on the ground behind the Uchiha . "What's that?" He ran towards it. Sasuke, who was mildly interested in what dumb thing the blond would do next, followed. They came to a metal fox trap set in front of a small fox hole. "What's this doing here?" He reached down to move it away from the den.

"You're going to hurt yourself." Sasuke warned. Naruto ignored him and picked up a stick. He was going to spring the trap so that he could move it.

"Ow!" The trap sprung and clammed down on Naruto's fingers.

"You idiot. I told you you were gonna hurt yourself." Sasuke knelt down and pried the trap off of him. Naruto quickly pulled his hand back and stuck his fingers in his mouth. Sasuke grabbed the trap and put it in his backpack. "We have to hurry back so that we won't be left behind."

They started back to where they thought the path was and found that they were wrong. "You can track us back to them can't you?" Naruto asked.

"We don't learn tracking until next year." Sasuke said.

"Oh? So the great Sasuke Uchiha can't find his way through a forest? He's lost?" Naruto mocked.

"I am not lost. And what about you, you can't find our way back to them either." Sasuke started off, trying to prove he could find his way.

"So?" Naruto hurried after him. "No one expects me to." he whispered to himself. Sasuke heard the less-than-cheerful remark. It shocked him, he thought that Naruto was always loud, obnoxious, and happy. Maybe there was more to him than met the eye.

After what seemed like hours of wandering to the forest the two sat down for a rest. "It's starting to get dark." Sasuke sighed. "I'll admit it, we're lost."

Naruto jumped up and pointed at him. "Ha ha! Told you so!"

Sasuke glared at him before continuing to speak. "We should find a place to spend the night by a river or something." He was silent for a bit. "There, I hear one!" He pointed to their left and they started off in that direction.

"Y'know Sasuke-kun, you are a pretty good ninja." Naruto said. Sasuke raised his eyebrows. "But one day I'm gonna be better than you."

Sasuke chuckled. "Right."

"No, really!" Naruto protested. "Someday, I'm gonna be the Hokage! And you and everyone else will have to listen to me!"

"Hokage, huh?"

"Yup!"

"I'll believe it when I see it." Sasuke looked up and saw that they had reached the river. "For now, how about you go catch us some fish and I'll get the firewood."

"Okay."

---

Night fell and the boys lay next to the river. Sasuke stared up at the stars, they shone brightly. A shooting star zoomed across the sky and he closed his eyes. He heard Naruto whisper. "I wish Sasuke-kun and I were friends."

He must have thought that Sasuke had already fallen asleep when he said this. Sasuke waited until he heard Naruto's breathing slow. He reopened his eyes and turned his head to see Naruto fast asleep next to him. Sasuke sat up and peered into the water. In the moonlight, his reflection looked similar to his brother's. Memories came back to him, he had to avenge his clan's death and he knew the way to do it.

To gain eyes like mine you have to kill your best friend.

"I'm sorry, Naruto. I can't grant your wish."