Time Transcendence

"Sasuke~" Naruko barged headlong into her childhood friend from, knocking him to the floor. He yelled in surprise, causing birds in nearby trees to fly off in surprise into the orange dusk sky. They went down together in a large cloud of dust. "How did you do on the test?" she asked. The boy under her pushed her off, looking glum.

Her playful attitude immediately turned into one of concern. "What's wrong, Sasuke?"

Sasuke sighed. "I really shouldn't get worked up over this, but my father is always comparing me to nii-san..." He clenched his small fists. "I don't hate nii-san, but I wish my father will show me his approval, if only once..."

Naruko patted him on the back comfortingly. Her lips pulled into a frown, slightly upset at her friend's troubles. "That's not fair of him," she protested, "you're already at the top of the class in all your grades!" She dug into a pocket, pulling out a sheet of paper. "In the meantime, I get this!" She pointed at the big red number sixteen at the top of the paper. The rest of the paper was covered with red correction marks. She sighed. "Iruka-sensei grades too harshly!"

Even Sasuke had to laugh. That was the Naruko he knew; the same one that would use her own failings to make others feel better. Anyone else would have hidden their shortcoming and made up for it with ego. He threw his own hundred mark test paper at Naruko teasingly. "At least we know there's one that that you do better!"

With that, he jumped on top of her without warning, and they rolled into the bushes at the side of the road. As the dust settled, Naruko was on top, holding Sasuke down with his arms behind his back; secure enough that he can't break free, but light enough so it didn't hurt... much.

"My taijutsu seems to be the only thing that ever gets better," she laughed. She let go of Sasuke's arms and got off him, pulling him up.

The raven hair stood dusting himself off. "I suppose it comes from having the former Hokage teaching you as soon as you were old enough to walk."

Naruko laughed again, punching her friend in the arm playfully. "That may be true, but your brother and father are really cool too. I'm not sure who would win between my father and your brother."

Sasuke shrugged. It was not important. He reached into his pocket again and pulled out a handful of money. He looked at them. "On a side note, my father sent me out with these. I kind of forgot about it while I was walking. He said if I should bump into you..." When he looked up again, Naruko's eyes were almost sparkling. One could almost imagine the her spouting ears and a wagging tail.

His thoughts turned into a dark direction; his imagination describing to him a huge fox with nine tails destroying Konoha. The same fox that everyone in the village talked about when Naruko was not in earshot. She knows what they are talking about, but she knows that she herself is not the object of everyone's hatred. The fact she had a scary mother and respect father helps a lot. Even if she does lose control when they were both younger. The damage was always small though, and it happened a lot less when she entered the Academy for some reason.

He shook his head to clear the thoughts. When he looked at Naruko again, she had a confused and concerned expression on her face. He smiled at her and took her hand and she smiled back. They ran through the familiar roads of Konoha toward Naruko's favorite ramen shop, hand in hand. At least Teuchi likes the little girl and her friend.

In a tree nearby, two men stood watching them. One had bright yellow hair and leaned on a crutch; the other had black hair and red eye, and wore a flak jacket filled with weapons.

As the two children disappeared into the brightly lit shop, the two men vanished without a trace.

-.-.-.-

"Stop putting random things in my ramen, Sasuke!"