entwined - the meaning of teamwork

The loser with the worst grades and the genius at the top get forced together on a team - as one could imagine, at the beginning, it didn't really go well. Naruto was jealous of Sasuke in any way, who, in comparison, was only annoyed by the hyper knucklehead ninja and didn't care at all for anyone around him. After Naruto had successfully managed to pull off the exam as well (a bit different to rest though) he was sent back to the academy - and this was the time the whole spectacle began.

Sakura appeared and Naruto wanted to sit beside her- Sakura though, only wanted to sit next to Sasuke. Naruto being jealous, didn't understand what's so great about the Uchiha heir, and their contest of evil-glares first took place. Through an accident then, Naruto got pushed by another pupil and - we all kow what happened next. Quite an image, may I add.

As one can imagine, as soon as Naruto got to know his teammate was not only Sakura, but also Sasuke, he complained and protested loudly saying why such an outstanding ninja like him had to be with such a jerk on a team - Iruka-sensei, slightly confused, told him off: Sasuke was the best rookie of the year and they had to do this in order to balance out the team. Sasuke in the meanwhile told Naruto just not to slow him down (followed by "dead-last") and thus, ticked Naruto off. Screaming followed, insults and their feelings of rivalry once again flamed up - and they hadn't even been on a mission yet..

At noon Naruto was pondering again about why Sakura always only sees Sasuke, and once he had descried the raven, he promptly started a fight - and to noone's surprise, it seemed as if Sasuke had won. What we had not known yet at that point of time was that Naruto had tricked Sasuke (after all, how should Sasuke have ever guessed that the class clown who couldn't even do a proper transform jutsu suddenly was able to use the Shadow Clone Jutsu?) and then transformed into him.

This clearly shows that Naruto should not be underestimated - as soon as Naruto made up his mind about something, he has got quite some surprising moves in order to get things done. He might not be the brightest in theory, but in the practical ways he's got a lot to to show.

However, Sasuke's also not dumb, and soon freed himself in order to go looking for Naruto. In the meantime Naruto, disguised as Sasuke, approached Sakura and only learned that she has always only been highly annoyed by him - soon though she changed the topic and seemed to be only a few inches away from kissing Naruto. But something simply had to go wrong, and Naruto was forced to leave due some - let's call it - stomach cramps. On his way back he encountered Sasuke, who was not very pleased by the whole idea Naruto running around disguised as himself.

Naruto performed his Shadow Clone Jutsu again, and admited for the first time he wanted Sasuke to acknowledge him. He wanted to fight him and thus, gain respect and recognition by the other. Unfortunately his stomach wasn't ready yet, and so he ran towards the toilet again, only to leave a perplexed Sasuke behind.

This proved for the first time, Naruto especially longed for Sasuke to accept him as an equal. He was highly confident of himself and his skills, not to forget the high value of selfworth he posesses. But despite this all there definitely must have also had feelings of inferiority inside of him. Sasuke didn't take Naruto seriously at all, although he was surprised that he could perform a rather difficult jutsu, like the Shadow Clone Jutsu. Still, he didn't spend much thinking about this incident, and kept seeing only the little prankster in Naruto.

Kishimoto himself stated in one of the interviews regarding that "accidental" kiss that he drew those scenes, because he found it interesting to start such a rivalry with something tender and chaste like a kiss. It was indeed a completely new way to establish such a relationship, with the sideeffect of founding a shounen ai fandom of such an immensity, like it barely existed in any other yaoi manga ever before. Well done, Kishimoto-sensei, I'll give you that much.

Found at Chapter 3, Episode 3