Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Being Watched

Several weeks had passed since the first day of school, and Naruto was falling into the role of class moron better than he had expected. He still kept up with himself when no-one was around, so he wouldn't actually be as bad as he seemed, but more and more, he felt... comfortable with acting like a child. And he had made quick friends with the Akimichi and the Inuzuka, mainly because Shikamaru acted as a go-between of sorts. He dispelled the initial awkwardness that first day.

Flashback- first day of the academy about an hour after the escape

"..."

"..."

"..."

Three of the boys to have made a mad dash for freedom looked at each other apprehensively, not really knowing what to say. A loud sigh from Shika, who had laid back as soon as they stopped moving, caught their attention.

"Troublesome... Naruto, how much do you think you could shovel down in an eating contest?" the blond boy's brow crinkled in confusion.

"Umm... well I usually leave Jiji crying for his wallet when he buys food." Choji immediately perked up at this.

Ahh, yes, Naruto thought to himself. The famous Akimichi appetite. Considering their jutsu are caloric-based the Akimichi take eating very seriously. Evidently all those stories of eating contests leaving restraunts without supplies weren't exaggerated. Suddenly, the usual brashness of the Inuzuka reared it's head full-force.

"And you want to be Hokage? Ha! I have a better chance than you do!" Naruto snapped his eyes to the boy, irritation evident in them. What he had said to the class hadn't been a lie, he did want to be Hokage.

"Oh yeah?! I bet I could beat you in a spar!" Naruto shouted loudly.

The inuzuka smirked. "You're on! First spar of the class, I'll get Iruka-sensei to pit us against each other!"

Flashback end

From there, the group had only become close friends. He consistently beat Choji in eating contests, and he usually just came out on top against Kiba, but only in personal spars. In class, or class-related events, he intentionally lost.

Today, he was sitting in class, listening to Iruka lecture about how Konohagakure no Sato was founded. After Iruka had all but glued him to his seat, he really had no choice. The man might despise him, but he took his job very seriously. For that, he had Naruto's respect.

Naruto flicked his eyes around the classroom, taking in everything with a bored expression. He felt three sets of eyes upon him; the Nara heir, the Yamanka Heiress, and the Hyuga heiress. Shikamaru, he knew was analyzing him because of the discrepancies between his actions while alone with friends and those while in class. The Hyuga, he noticed was casting side-long glances at him, then blushing. So he had an admirer. He would have to let her down gently, as he knew her father would never let her be with him. Hiashi's reason for this was much more sensible than the villagers'; Naruto's reputation as a notorious prankster cast him in a bad light, and relations with someone who showed no signs of remorse for being a delinquent would look bad for the Hyuga as a whole. He never seemed to look at Naruto with disdain for the Kyuubi when they crossed paths, he merely seemed wary of the boys pranks.

The Yamanaka girl was harder to get a read on, though. She seemed utterly devoid of emotion when gazing at him, as though analyzing him, but at the same time, whenever he looked at her, she looked away quickly, unlike Shika who kept his gaze steady, as though fearful of being caught staring at a boy other than her crush. He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, and saw her frowning slightly while looking at him, and nudging the bubblegum girl, whom he had learned was named Sakura, with a few whispered words. Despite the fact that she was whispering so quietly it appeared Sakura could barely hear her, despite being less than a foot from her, Naruto heard her clearly thanks to his enhanced hearing- a gift from Kurama when they first met.

"Hey, forehead, is it just me, or does something seem off about that Naruto kid? He's obviously an idiot, but he's always trying to hang out with Sasuke-kun... almost like he's watching him..." Naruto grimaced. While it seemed he was found out, he knew it was just idle speculation by a member of a clan full of mental specialists. He spent just as much time trying to 'be friends' with the Uchiha as with everyone else. Right at that moment, Iruka called a break for lunch, and Naruto was the first one outside, stretching his arms in the sun and groaning happily. He much preferred being outside in the sun than inside in the Air conditioning. Kiba soon followed him, along with Choji who was dragging Shikamaru. He rest of the class trickled out slowly.

He turned to the door and saw Sakura step out. She saw him and look of fear flashed across her face, then she high-tailed it to the opposite end of the lunch yard. Naruto shrugged and looked around for someplace to sit. He noticed a mane of black duck-ass sitting alone under a tree, eating out of a bento. A small frown graced his features as he watched Sasuke.

That lonely look in his eye... he's a lot like me before Tou-chan adopted me... and even know, I'm mostly alone. He walked over, his own bento still in the bag, and sat down next to the Uchiha silently, then began eating. Sasuke looked at him sideways, a small glare in his eyes.

"What do you want, dobe? Go away."

Naruto merely kept eating. Sasuke turned to face him fully, his normally stoic and uninterested face full of anger.

"I said go away!"

"No-one should be lonely, Sasuke. That is the path of a traitor," Nruto said quietly. He felt the Uchiha stiffen.

"Dobe..."

"I saw the look in your eyes, Sasuke. It was the same as mine, before I was adopted."

"You're adopted?" for once, the face of the last Uchiha showed something other than boredom or contempt. Naruto nodded.

"I suppose you have it slightly worse off on that front, seeing as I never knew my parents in the first place, whereas you had love for the first part of your life. All I have ever known was loneliness and the contempt of the villagers, who either refused to acknowledge me, or beat me up. But when Tou-chan adopted me, I finally had someone who cared about me. I shudder to think what would have happened if that hadn't happened. I don't want to see you go down that road either."

Sasuke remained quiet for a moment, before a small genuine smile graced his lips.

"I suppose it wouldn't be too bad to have one friend. As long as it's not one of those fangirls," he finally said with a small shudder. Naruto chuckled.

"No worries, I won't swoon over you. You're not my type." Sasuke smirked at the joke, then turned and kept eating. Naruto finished his lunch as well. As they rose to return to class, Naruto could feel the glares of every girl but one directed at his back as he walked and joked with the Uchiha, who surprisingly had a personality. That one girl's glare was directed at Sasuke, who seemed to either not notice or not care. They walked into the academy together, acting like they'd been friends forever.

A/N: a fairly short chapter, mostly filler. But seriously, Sasuke might be an ass sometimes, but it's true; everyone needs a friend. Naruto would know that better than anyone, and he was actually the first to reach out to Sasuke. I just made it so he did it before the whole 'I am an Uchiha, you are all inferior to me' complex developed.