Sasuke really had no desire to remain in the store, so when Yura guided him out he was too happy to follow. Even though they had left the shop however he wasn't free from scrutiny, and all around he could hear people talking about him, about his clan and what had happened. He was so sick of being a curiosity and a piece for discussion like this, he just wanted to live his life, whatever was left, and not be questioned or treated special all the time. All these annoying favors people did for him, while well-intentioned, really got old and felt almost obligatory. If they didn't want to help him then fine, he'd get by with just Yura.

Though he ought to be excited at a promise of food, the young Uchiha could only give a small nod in reply. He wasn't terribly hungry at the moment, more trying to focus on ignoring all of the people around them than anything. All but forgetting that Yura was there for a bit, he glanced over curiously when she brought up animals. "Uh... I guess... Certain kinds," he answered, shrugging his shoulders before looking at the ground again. "I think... Hawks are cool... And I like cats well enough, I suppose." He'd never really considered getting one though, and now that it was just him and Yura he wasn't so sure they could take care of one either. She'd go on missions soon, all shinobi did, an he couldn't take care of it himself.

More than ready to just be home and back in privacy, Sasuke frowned when he spotted a familiar mess of blond hair down the road. Of all the people he'd seen over the last few days, Naruto had been one he'd been trying to avoid. Sure, before this he and the other boy might have been on decent terms, but now he was worried that, like everyone else, Naruto was just going to tell him how sorry he was, and how bad he felt. Sasuke was getting sick of hearing it, he just wanted to move on from it all already. So when he met the other boy's gaze and he started coming over, the raven almost considered running away, but knew Yura would probably stop him if he tried.

"Hey, Sasuke-kun! What's up?" Naruto said cheerfully, grinning as he waved to the Uchiha boy. Other villagers were now leaving due to his presence, yet he in large ignored them, paying more attention to his friend. Walking over to meet him he paused when he realized Yura was there too, frowning and glancing up at her confused. Eh, who the heck was she? He'd never seen her before, but she kinda looked like she was part of his clan. "Say... Sasuke..." Naruto mumbled, pointing up at Yura as he closed his eyes, looking very confused. "Who's the old lady with the big boobs?"

“Hawks, huh?” She would have to remember that. Those were useful birds, even normal ones not belonging to a summoning contract or anything. And at least he didn’t hate cats. That was good. She was going to get another soon. As for who would watch it… well she could think of that when it came to it. She was told that protecting Sasuke was her mission indefinitely. She wasn’t extremely happy about that. But she would have taken an interest him no matter what and she wouldn’t want to leave him too soon. But not knowing whether she would ever be allowed on a mission ever again? Her career was over at the level of a chuunin? That was harsh.

She put it from her mind.

She glanced around the street. Some civilians were still paying attention to them, but not everyone had stopped to gawk or gossip. So it wasn’t that bad but she hated that it was making Sasuke so down. When the people noticed Naruto the mood changed even more. She saw people openly scowl and turn away. Some even left the vicinity. All of the sudden everyone remembered things they had to do and hurried on! It was done so automatically, like it was habit. It gave her a chill.

But this wasn’t the first time she had seen it happen. She hadn’t been away from the village THAT long. Sure at lot had changed in her absence… but of course things hadn’t changed for the dangerous kyuubi boy… why would they? She’d never had anything to do with him so she never paid attention to what his life must be like or anything. But now it struck her how unfair it was. AND how much he might have in common with Sasuke now… Maybe it was just the juxtaposition of the crowd’s reactions to them a moment ago, and the fact that she was outside of things now too. She was seeing with fresher eyes.

Then Naruto came over. She had a brief sense of Sasuke’s flight instinct but he controlled it before she had a chance to put her hand back on his shoulder and stop him. She was a little surprised by how cheerful the blond-haired boy’s greeting was. But pleasantly surprised. She actually smiled.

Then he approached and frowned at her consideringly. She kept smiling, in a friendly way. But it only took him a moment to make a statement that wiped it away.

Yura almost dropped her groceries. ….the hell had a little boy just said about her?!

Of all the people Sasuke did not want to see right now, Naruto was pretty close to the top of the list. The blond had an obnoxious way of being cheerful even though his own situation sucked, and seeing the other boy like that made him feel even worse. Before this he might not have been so reluctant to see Naruto, now he just wanted to get away. With Yura at his side however he knew he wasn't going to get out of this, and so the Uchiha boy simply stood at her side, trying to avoid the other boy's gaze as he shifted uncomfortably on the spot. Of course he'd be completely oblivious to his discomfort, and now he was trying to get him to talk?

Sasuke was about to respond until Naruto dropped a bombshell of a question. The second it left his mouth he could feel the tension in the air, and nervously he glanced up in Yura's direction. She was angry, no doubt about that, leave it to Naruto to pull something like that. Sighing to himself, the Uchiha boy reached up and put a hand on Yura's to try and keep her from snapping, giving the blond a somewhat annoyed glance in turn. "She's Yura, and she's taking care of me. That's all you need to know," he responded curtly, grabbing Yura's hand then and leading her away. That probably confused Naruto more than it helped him, but Sasuke didn't much care. He had to take his new caretaker away before he killed the idiot for asking a question like that, so this was doing him a favor.

Surprisingly the blond dolt didn't follow, and Sasuke was able to get Yura a safe distance before letting her go. Releasing her hand as soon as he was sure it was safe he placed both hands in his pockets, casting his gaze downwards once more. He'd wanted to actually chat with his classmate, but that was difficult when he was pissing off the only person Sasuke had left. That aside and it was pretty tense when around Naruto, with all the villagers treating him like he was diseased or something. He still had no idea why they did that, he'd never seen anyone be shunned so much as Naruto was. Sure he was a trouble maker, but then so were a lot of kids their age, so what did he do to earn that?

"Yura...? Why does everyone hate Naruto?" Sasuke asked, voicing his confusion. Looking back up at his caretaker he frowned, furrowing his brow as he tried to make sense of it in his mind. "He's never done anything that bad, has he? And it's not like he's old enough to hurt anyone, he's my age. I don't get why everyone looks at him that way..." In a way it wasn't fair, how both he and Naruto were treated. Neither of them had much of anything, yet Sasuke was never shunned or treated like a stray animal. He even lucked out and found someone in Yura to take care of him, yet Naruto was wholly alone. Even though he didn't know the word for it, the hypocrisy absolutely disgusted him. Tightening his hands into fists, the raven-haired boy wrinkled his face in discontent and gave a shake of his head. "I hate that everyone does that... They're all wrong..."

In the past, Yura had never taken any notice of Naruto. She vaguely remembered the kyuubi attack and eventually learned what everyone her age and up knew. She liked kids and was a compassionate person… or else she would not care about Sasuke now, and she did care. But she’d never taken the time to really think about Naruto’s situation. She hadn’t even thought to notice that he didn’t have a guardian and was growing up alone. But he was, wasn’t he? And he was treated very ill, that much was plain.

So no one had taught him to speak properly to strangers and elders, had they? She shouldn’t have been angry at him. Besides, he was just a child. What did she care what he said about her? It was the part of her that had been trained by her parents to be respectful that had gotten angry. Nevertheless, she would have only spoken to the boy sharply, not hurt him. She allowed Sasuke to pull her away from the situation though, ending the awkward situation for the moment. His hand was small and soft. Too soft for a ninja’s. But it was still somehow pleasant… like, sweet. It made her feel protective of him. Was that silly?

When Sasuke stopped and opened up to her, her heart lurched. She waited to respond until he was finished. She couldn’t answer his questions. But she put her free hand on his shoulder.

“If that’s how you feel, maybe you should run back and invite him to lunch with us? I bet he doesn’t have anyone to take care of him, does he? Or to train him not to speak like he does. I shouldn’t have gotten angry. So it’ll be an apology for me to cook for him.” She smiled slightly. “And it’ll be less dreary and quiet, I bet, as long as he’s around. What do you say?”

She held her arm out toward his grocery bag, offering to take it from him so he could go back to Naruto.

Naruto was not someone Sasuke felt he could handle right now. Even with all the problems he faced, the blond somehow managed to smile, laugh and joke around in class. Him though? The Uchiha boy spent every day now in a somber silence, unable to so much as crack a sincere smile anymore. It was difficult to say exactly what it was what made him uneasy around Naruto. Was it envy, envy that the other boy could somehow be happy? Or maybe it was disdain at that fact, that he should be every bit as miserable as Sasuke, as both their situations were grim. He didn't know, and whether he felt any discontent or not he couldn't shake the sympathy he also felt, wondering why it was that Naruto was treated so poorly.

"Do you think we should...? I mean..." Did he really want Naruto coming over his house? When everyone looked down on him so badly, what might bringing the other boy home do to his clan and its name? He was the only surviving member save for Yura, Sasuke felt he had to preserve what honor his clan might have left. Was bringing such a despised kid over his house going to tarnish that? Yet at the same time the young Uchiha felt a desire to try and help, or at the very least reach out to Naruto; they had been almost friends before, and while they were never terribly close maybe now they could try changing that.

"I think I'll go get him... Uh... See you at the house," Sasuke mumbled, handing off his bag to Yura before turning and hurrying back to where they had been. Naruto wasn't in the same spot, no surprise, yet it only took a bit of searching to track down the blond. Spotting Naruto walking towards the downtown district, Sasuke hurried after him and reached out to grab his hand to stop him, forcing a small smile as he did so. "Wait! I uh... I wanted to ask you something..." he explained, letting go of the other boy and rubbing at his arm awkwardly. "Uh... We're going to have lunch soon... Do you... Want to join us? We have enough for one more person."

Naruto wasn't stupid. But there were a lot of things he didn't know. Mainly, why everyone mistreated him. But also mundane things like how to take care of himself properly or talk to adults respectfully. Actually, in the last instance it had less to do with being untrained and more to do with "giving as good as he got." So he might not have known how rude he was to Yura and just blurted it out. But mainly, he had no reason to think she was going to be nice so he didnt speak nicely to her. That was his habit, honestly.

Afterward though he did feel guilty. But it wasnt like he could take it back. And they left already. So he resorted to being angry instead.

"Well, fine then! I didn't want to talk to you either!" He yelled, though they were too far to hear him. He glared at the rest of the people that had heard and then he loped off in the direction of the ramen shop... The only place he ever felt welcome.

He was surprised when Sasuke caught up to him. And half expected to be attacked maybe verbally or physically. But instead, the other boy grasped his hand to stop him and smiled a little. Sasuke of all people! The one whose clan was murdered and looked dead himself ever since... But even more surprising than all of that was the invitation that came next. It was literally the last thing he expected to happen.

He was so shocked that he actually screamed in terror and fell down. Then he just clutched his chest, wondering what on Earth he was feeling right now. These werent emotions he recognized...

When he finally lifted his head he had tears in his eyes. He looked into Sasuke's eyes briefly then quickly looked away. He nodded once.

Sasuke wasn't quite sure why he decided to go back for Naruto. Desperation for someone to talk to? Pity? Whatever the reason was he promptly left his things with Yura before doubling back, trying to find where the blond boy had gone off to. They had left on a less than stellar note, yet he hoped the other boy wasn't going to outright hate him for it. When he thought of them as "friends" before, it was probably in the loosest meaning of the word; they were essentially polar opposites and fought a lot, yet there was some friendship in that unstable, dueling sort of relationship. That was how he saw it anyways, question was now did Naruto see that too?

Surprisingly Naruto was found in much the same spot: unsurprisingly, he was all but alone now in the street. How could he reconcile things and make the other boy feel better? Smiles usually did the trick, and while it was painful to smile nowadays, maybe he could force one for his peer's sake. The Uchiha did just that, and Naruto's reaction to such a gesture was... Less than gratifying. Watching as the blond freaked out the smile promptly vanished, replaced by a more typical solemn expression, his lips in a thin line. He was trying to be nice here, so what was Naruto freaking out for? Furrowing his brow when Naruto sat for a moment, Sasuke waited for him to say something before finally rolling his eyes, feeling awkward for the silence.

"Yes or no? I don't have all day," Sasuke snapped, glancing down and meeting the teary eyed gaze of Naruto. What? Why the hell was he crying? It wasn't like he'd just had some traumatic experience, he'd been asked to join someone for a meal! Resisting the urge to tell him to suck it up, the young Uchiha instead grabbed Naruto's arm and pulled him to his feet, his face a slight pink in embarrassment as he looked way. "Don't cry, it's lame... Just... Follow me, okay?" Seriously, what reason did this moron have to be crying? He didn't want people getting the wrong idea either and think that Sasuke had done something to hurt him; given how everyone in the village seemed to look down on Naruto, he somehow doubted hurting the boy would get him in much trouble.

The two boys walked in an uncomfortable silence back to the Uchiha compound, passing quite a few confused adults along the way. No one could seem to understand why someone like Sasuke was associating himself with Naruto, and truth be told, Sasuke himself didn't know either. It was a rare show of sympathy he supposed, or maybe a desperate need to distract himself from his own troubles with someone else's. Whatever the case he had done something he thought he'd never do, and that was bring another person to his home. It was as ever today, silent and utterly devoid of life, save for the occasional animal. Rather than show anything, Sasuke promptly brought Naruto back to Yura's home, saying nothing as he stepped through the door and slipped off his sandals. "I'm home... And Naruto is here too," he called, glancing back at the blond expectantly.

Naruto let him pull him up. But then... "Ha! Whose cryin?!" he demanded. He jerked his arm away from Sasuke and wiped at his eyes. His fingers came away wet and he cursed and furiously scrubbed at them and his whiskered cheeks. This only made them appear worse, though. And it was embarrassing. Eyes burning and cheeks flaming, he trudged along silently after that.

Why had he cried? That was so stupid! Just because someone his own age offered to feed him and smiled at him and touched him? That happened to other people all the time. It was nothing! And even if it wasn't nothing to him, it was nothing to cry about! He was so weird. He was going to ruin this! His heart began to pound.

The whole walk he was oblivious to the crowd. He only focused on Sasuke. The other boy looked grim. Was he regretting this already? Was he going to change his mind? Or was it a cruel trick all along? If it was, Naruto would get him back. He swore to himself then and there that he would ruin Sasuke's life forever if this was a trick. But...

Sasuke's life was already ruined... wasn't it? The silence of the compound seemed to loom up even before they entered. You could sense how empty it was. And then once they entered... There was just... There weren't any dead bodies anymore but it somehow felt like a graveyard.

But after a while they turned a corner and saw lights on. That must be where the onee-chan lived. Who was she again? Naruto wracked his brain but he couldn't even remember what explaination Sasuke had given about her. All he remembered was putting his foot in his mouth.

When they got there Sasuke began taking off his shoes. Naruto was too busy looking around the home. It felt... kind of barren too. But not as bad as the rest of the district. And there was glowing light and music and a good smell in the kitchen. Naruto took a deep breath and then sighed.

Then Sasuke looked at him expectantly. Naruto smiled hugely. It wasn't a trick. He was really going to get to eat at Sasuke's house!

He hurriedly kicked off his shoes. He knew to do that much, because of school, and then he bouncey walked toward the kitchen.

"Come in, boys!"

Yura was just laying dishes out on the table, filled with individual portions of food. She had made the promised o-musubi, with pickled plums. There were also miso soup and tea. It was, again, simple fair. But it was hot and flavorful and filling which is all you need for a good meal.

Before Naruto could descend upon the food, Yura smoothly got in his way. When his head snapped up, suddenly looking worried, even fearful, she eased him with a smile and pointed toward the bathroom.

"You boys wash your hands and then come eat. Welcome to my home, Naruto-kun."

Naruto froze for a second, not sure what to do. Then he hesitantly bowed and then rushed toward the bathroom.

Was he trying to play tough or something? The dobe had just been crying right in front of him, there was no use in trying to hide it. Sasuke bit his tongue though, rolling his eyes when the blond tried acting like nothing had happened. "Whatever, come on, I don't want to keep her waiting," he said, turning and starting back the way he had come. It was odd that Yura had invited Naruto, and stranger still he'd agreed to it; Sasuke hadn't wanted anything to do with his peers recently, so what was the change now? Oh well, no use in getting too bent out of shape over it, chances were Naruto would probably chicken out and leave before they ever got there.

Or... Not. By the time they had made it to the Uchiha compound Sasuke was acutely aware that the blond was still with him. Just what did Naruto think of this place, he wondered. The other boy had never been here before, yet even he had to know what had happened. Was it nerve-wracking to be in a graveyard like this? To know so many people once roamed these streets, and now it was only them? The young Uchiha's chest throbbed painfully at the thought, though he managed to push it aside and continue on like nothing was amiss. Being here wasn't going to reduce him to tears, yet the heartache it inflicted was probably never going to leave.

And perhaps it was due to the fact he wasn't used to it yet, but Yura's home made him feel strange as they approached it. No one had lived here before, and it was funny in some grim way now that every other place was abandoned, this house came to life. Stepping into the building he promptly removed his shoes, glancing back at Naruto and waiting for him to do the same. What was he smiling for? They were just having food, idiot... At least he knew enough to kick off his shoes, saved Sasuke the trouble of correcting him.

"We're here, Yura!" The smell of food carried to the entryway from the kitchen, and it was enough to make Sasuke's stomach grumble in anticipation. He didn't even need to see what it was to recognize the scent, and while it wasn't his mother's cooking it still smelled delicious. She'd gotten everything prepared for them it seemed, yet they couldn't quite eat just yet. Already turning to go wash up he paused to check on Naruto, his brow twitching slightly as he watched the blond give an awkward bow. He really wasn't used to being around people was he?

The two boys washed up in silence, Sasuke not entirely sure what to say right now. What could he say? He'd just been traumatized, he was with a boy who had no one, yet he felt next to no connection due to that; there ought to be something they could talk about, yet they only thing they shared was too unpleasant to speak of. With luck they would be too preoccupied during the meal to have any semblance of conversation.

"Thanks for the meal..." Sasuke mumbled, sitting down in his seat and folding his hands together. Having Naruto joining him at the dinner table was... Different. He'd never had any of his classmates over before, so no one really knew what his house was like or how he lived. He figured with the recent tragedy it never would have happened, yet here was Naruto of all people sitting right next to him. It wasn't quite what he imagined, finding that the added company was less than enjoyable. Should he try talking to the other boy? He'd attempted to act friendly earlier and scared Naruto, so maybe not. Maybe Yura could handle that, he didn't even know where to begin with Naruto.

Naruto made it to the table and then he stared at the food hungrily. He glanced at Sasuke and at Yura several times, as if to make sure he was really allowed to eat it. Then he "itadakimasu"ed quickly as well and dug in. Starting with the rice ball. Which could technically be a hand food but not the way he messily ate it. He scarfed it down, barely pausing to enjoy the taste. Then he drank the tea. Then he started on the miso soup... but thankfully used the wide spoon Yura had provided. He slurped noisily to show how much he enjoyed it.

Yura didn't appear discomforted or surprised. She let his behavior go unchallenged. She would have liked to talk to the boy and try to get him to open up but she decided to wait until his mouth wasn't full.

"Sasuke-kun... Was there anything else you wanted to do today? We still have all afternoon before you go back to school," she said. Then she continued ladling soup into her mouth.

Compared to Yura's first attempt at cooking, this was heavenly. Just the way he liked it, even if it was missing a certain something that his mother used to add. You wouldn't know it from Sasuke's otherwise emotionless face as he ate, but he was loving every bite of it. Not quite to the extent Naruto must have been, he was eating as though it was his first meal in ages. Hell, for all they knew it could be, who even took care of him? The way he ate really spoke volumes about what he was like, and the differences between him and Sasuke. They were like night and day in how they acted, even during a meal, yet Yura didn't appear bothered by it at all.

Sasuke, on the other hand, was struggling not to snap at Naruto. He'd always been taught to use manners at the table, and while slurping could be seen as a compliment the blond was taking it a bit far. How was he even able to taste the food, shoving it down so quickly? Calmly picking away at his o-musibi, his eyes shifted up to his brow to glance at Yura when she spoke to him. Was there anything else? He'd not considered much, nor could he think of anything at this very moment. It was somewhat difficult to think when there was a starving animal scarfing down ever morsel of food right beside you. Setting down his chopsticks he let out a sigh, his eyes averting themselves to his food as he shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know... I guess train? There's not a whole lot else I can think of." They would be starting combat training soon enough, meaning sparring with his classmates and trying to earn high marks for it. Already Sasuke was fair confident he'd do perfectly fine, yet it couldn't hurt to have a little extra practice; having a seasoned shinobi like Yura instruct him certainly wasn't going to do any harm. There was one slight problem though, namely the blond at his left. Should they send him home after the meal? He considered it, yet the dobe had seemed so happy to be invited over. Wouldn't it be cruel then to kick him out so soon?

They should involve Naruto, though he wasn't so sure the blond could even keep up. He got in fights a lot, didn't he? Yet whenever Sasuke saw him he was bruised and sore, that wasn't exactly supportive of his ability to fight. While the Uchiha knew he had a ways to go and was far from a proper shinobi, at least he could walk away unharmed from a simple school yard fight. "You can join us, if you want to..." he added, taking another bite of his meal before shrugging his shoulders casually, "Or don't, you can just sit there and watch too. You might not be able to keep up with us." Nothing negative was meant by that, it was just his honest opinion of Naruto. No doubt though he was going to get all agitated over it.

Yura hummed noncommittally. She was fine with the idea of more training but if only he wanted to do something more fun... like shopping for a cat, even. But they could always do that later. She wasn't settled in yet herself, after all. What kind of training could she do with Sasuke though?

"Perhaps some genjutsu?" she murmured thoughtfully. She picked up her tea cup and let warmth seep into her palms. Then she drank.

Naruto gave another jolt when Sasuke invited him to train. But this time he quickly recovered. And then he shifted into anger.

"I can do anything you can do, believe it! I'll train with you! I'll knock your block off!" He stood up. "You wanna go now?! Let's go!"

His eyes blazed with challenge and he pumped one fist into the air. Not as if to strike him, just as part of the challenge.

Kicking Naruto out after giving him a meal seemed a bit cruel, so what to do then? Should they involve him in training? Sasuke hadn't trained with Yura yet aside from his bow training earlier, there was no telling how she might have them work. That aside he was already ahead of the blond in terms of ninjutsu, would it be really fair for them to train together? If Naruto couldn't keep up then he'd just end up humiliating himself, maybe they should spare him that humiliation.

Or not. Sasuke really hadn't meant anything by that and yet Naruto took exception to the statement, getting all defensive and agitated over it. Setting down his chopsticks, the Uchiha boy glanced over with a frown, glancing up at Naruto's fist before smirking slightly amused. "You want to fight me...? You're serious?" He'd never exactly imagined sparring with the blond, he wasn't even someone remotely on the radar for training partners. Sure, he could get along alright with Naruto now and again, but that didn't really make them sparring buddies.

The fact they were basically on the opposite spectrum of the class made Sasuke even more skeptical about their sparring together; Sasuke was top of the class, Naruto was almost the very bottom, there couldn't be a more mismatched pair if you looked. That didn't appear to bother the blond though, he was every bit as riled up despite that fact. Scoffing faintly, the Uchiha boy slid off of his seat and placed one hand on his hip, waiting for Naruto to come down as well before waving him along, "Come on then. I'll kick your butt real quick, then we can finish eating."

The two boys would go out to the rear of the house, a small open lot that was exposed to the surrounding spaces, making it feel bigger than it really was. Aside from two small bushes at the rear of the building it was utterly bare, save for the thin sheet of grass covering the ground beneath their feet. If they were actual shinobi then this would never do, but it ought to suffice for what amounted to a school yard scuffle. "Just remember you asked for this," Sasuke said, smirking as he took a very casual stance, "Let's hurry up so we can go eat."

As a concerned adult, Yura should have put a stop to the fight before it could begin. But she and--more importantly--THEY were ninjas. The fight hadn't come about because of a quarrel. It was meant to demonstrate their skill to each other--even if they would probably take a little too much relish in doing so. So in her mind it wasn't a bad thing. Ninja will be ninja.

She followed them at a distance and then sat on her back porch to watch. This should be interesting.

Naruto was ablaze with energy. He'd eaten his first good meal in who knew how long and someone had been nice to him and now he got to fight Sasuke! There was a little irritation at being told Sasuke would defeat him--but Naruto knew that was just smack talk.

"You don't stand a chance, chicken head! I'm gonna plant that smirk of yours in the dirt!"

Once Sasuke was ready, Naruto initiated the fight.

By flinging himself wildly forward. There wasn't a lot of finesse in him. But he roared enthusiastically as he aimed for Sasuke's head.

Sasuke almost felt bad for agreeing to this, hardly seeing it being worthwhile to fight with Naruto. Sure, the blond could be dangerous... If he attacked someone while they were asleep. Honestly though he packed a bit of a punch if he hit you, shame he was about as coordinated as a drunkard in a bar brawl. Smirking as he teased Naruto, the raven-haired boy raised an eyebrow when he was given a threat in turn. "Is that right...? Well, you have to hit me to do that." It would be a miracle if Naruto landed a hit, maybe he'd humor the other boy and let him get in a free one.

He was ready for anything, even a ninjutsu if Naruto had any. Expecting something well thought out and clever, Sasuke's eyebrow twitched in slight irritation when the blond just charged right in at him. Seriously, did he think that was going to work? It was insulting if he did, that was such a poorly obvious attack it was almost begging to be countered. Keeping his stance up until the last moment, the Uchiha boy reached out and pushed Naruto's hand aside with his palm, using his free hand to grab the boy's back and push him away, side-stepping so Naruto essentially ran right past him.

"Come on, I thought you were going to wipe this smirk off my face," he taunted, still smiling as he resumed a stance, "My turn to try." This time he ran in as well, though he weaved a bit to the side to try and confuse Naruto. He'd seen Itachi do this dozens of times with his sparring partners, surely he could pull it off against Naruto, right? Once he was close enough to strike he reached out like he was going to attempt a punch, but instead of following through he brought his leg forward as well, trying to sweep Naruto's feet out from under him and knock him over.

Naruto ran past, stumbling a bit. He turned back in time for Sasuke's taunt.

"Just you wait!" he retorted as Sasuke ran toward him next.

Naruto charged back in too, undaunted. He slowed slightly and swayed from side to side, trying to keep up with Sasuke's weaving. Then a punch was aimed at his head and he bent in half to duck, instead of leaning back. Now his head was pointed at Sasuke's chest. Then he was suddenly tripped and fell forward even faster and lower so that his head connected with Sasuke's stomach. Naruto had a hard head but the impact still made him dizzy. As they fell, Naruto scrabbled for a loose grip on the other boy's clothes so he couldn't roll away.

"Wait for what? You to give up?" Sasuke taunted, grinning as he went ahead and tried attacking this time. He knew Naruto wasn't a match for him, so why was he so excited for this? There was nothing to gain from doing this and yet he couldn't wait for the sparring, wanting nothing more than to make this session last. Managing to trick the blond and trip him up, things went a bit south, literally, when Naruto fell forward and into the young Uchiha. Letting out a soft "oomph" as he was hit, Sasuke fell back onto the ground beside Naruto, wondering how in the world he'd messed that up so badly.

Trying to get back to his feet Sasuke found his shirt being pulled back, glancing over and spotting Naruto holding onto him. "Tch, let go of me dobe! That's fighting dirty!" he shouted, placing a hand on Naruto's face and pushing to try and make him let go. He did finally manage to escape, albeit in doing so his shirt was torn, leaving it lopsided and rather silly looking after the fact. Getting back to his feet he scowled seeing his clothes ruined, just a little bit annoyed one of his favorite shirts was now torn in two.

"So is that what I was waiting for, a torn shirt?" Sasuke asked, frowning as he began dusting himself off in annoyance, "My clothes are so scared of you, dobe. I bet none of them are ever going to want to fight you again." Rushing back in for another go he reached out and grabbed Naruto's shirt in turn, pulling him close and trying to hit him in the stomach with his own knee. "That's for hitting me!" the Uchiha snapped, then trying to grab Naruto's arm and flip him over, provided the knee to the gut even worked.

Naruto smirked. He was used to fighting dirty! Not everyone avoided him, some of them sought him out to make his life miserable. It was one reason he'd started going to ninja school--to learn to fight. Not that he'd made much progress.... as this fight was showing. He needed to get better if he wanted to become the Hokage!

His eyes widened as hand suddenly shoved at his face. He struggled with Sasuke until the shirt ripped and they were suddenly apart. Unfortunately, Naruto had no chance to crow about the small success because Sasuke immediately criticized it.

Naruto got to his feet angrily. He tried to dodge the kick to the stomach but barely turned aside. And then he was lying in the dirt on his back. He groaned and coughed. Then he grinned upside down at Sasuke, squinting up at him through the sunlight.

"Hitting you was the point, teme."

And then he was back on his feet, grinning eagerly. He wasn't very skilled but he recovered and healed fast, faster than even he realized, and his energy felt limitless at times.

"Is that all you got?" he asked, holding out both arms, challenging him with his fists.

Tch, what kind of fighting was that? Shinobi weren't supposed to do that kind of thing, it was something you'd expect in a street brawl. Granted Sasuke himself knew he wasn't quite a proper ninja yet, but surely he fought better than Naruto? After breaking the grasp on his shirt and tearing it in the process he was annoyed, finding that this was far from the enjoyable scuffle he had hoped it to be. The fact Naruto was gloating over a dirty move like that only furthered that irritation, as if doing something like that was something to gloat over.

He'd just have to remind the blond of how people actually fought, not this school yard scuffle stuff. After delivering a sudden knee to Naruto's gut he grabbed the boy's arm and flipped him over onto his back, smirking smugly down at him. Despite being shown up like that though he kept smiling, causing Sasuke's smirk to quickly fade as an eyebrow twitched in irritation. "So you got one hit in, and now you're on your back dobe. How was that worth it?" he spat back annoyed, frowning as he watched Naruto get back to his feet. What was he even getting so bothered about this for anyways? He should have known it would have gone like this, to expect next to nothing from Naruto. Besides, all he'd planned to do was be nice and invite him over for lunch, but now he was being forced into whatever this was.

"Hn, you're kidding right? It's not even a fight between us," Sasuke retorted, narrowing his eyes at Naruto as he tried to egg him on, "You really want to be beaten that badly? Fine." Rushing back in he made a throw to the right to punch Naruto in the shoulder, and whether that landed or not he'd try kicking the blond in the gut next. Whether due to his annoyance or whether it was pent up fury over recent events he didn't know, but he found himself wanting to really hurt Naruto now. After the kick he'd try to kick again, this time aiming to hit Naruto on the back and knock him down into the dirt. "You're not anywhere near me dobe, I'm way above you! Don't act like we're equals!"