tension and awkwardness

After all the events in the water country, everything seemed pretty easygoing and peaceful again in Konoha as Team Seven returned - everything, except for Sasuke's and Naruto's fighting that is. Both avoided talking about the incident with Haku, and therefore simply switched in their roles as rivals just as if nothing had happened. In fact, the only thing which had changed since then, was that the tension between the two of them only got worse - both boys absolutely refused to admit they needed each other in battle and from all the supporting and fighting together wasn't anything left.

Even during all the insignificant missions Team Seven got assigend with at that time, Naruto was more than excited to show Sasuke who really was inferior between them. However, at the end of the day it was Naruto who was completely worn out- and the phrase with which he wanted to show off in front of Sasuke, came from none other than his rival himself.

This heated up the atmosphere even more, since after some good amount of time, both were already sick of all the meaningless missions. Everything only seemed to get worse when Sasuke told Naruto he should become stronger if he wanted to quit looking that bad. As a result, one could really feel the tension in the air from both sides- Sasuke as well as Naruto were utterly obsessed with the thought of fighting stronger enemies and therefore prove who's the stronger one.

Their wish should soon got granted with the Chuunin exam. First Sasuke completely outmatched Naruto again, for example when they first met with the Sand ninjas. Actually Naruto had planned to handle them, but Sasuke interfered before he was able to do anything - and as always, Sasuke was the one who got all the attention, leaving Naruto in the shadows.

Soon though, Naruto couldn't bear it anymore, being tired of staying always behind and therefore, when Rock Lee originally challenged Sasuke, Naruto was the one who said he'd gonna take charge of the "thick-eyebrow". Unfortunately he had completely underestimated his opponent and got knocked out within a few minutes. Soon though, it was proved Sasuke didn't have much luck either- he misjudged Lee as well, and therefore lost just as badly as Naruto did.

After Naruto had noticed the bruises on Lee's hand, he remarked that the "thick-eyebrow" had probably trained much more than Sasuke ever had, which is why he had been beaten so easily. Sasuke was first irritated and upset, but shortly afterwards his anger turned into excitement - and together with Naruto and Sakura they entered, as motivated as never before, the Chuunin exam.

Actually, I'd say t was only a matter of time until Naruto was sick of the whole "Sasuke here, Sasuke there" thing - it was just as always; everyone only cared for Sasuke while permanently overlooking the blond. When even Lee ignored Naruto and only wanted to fight Sasuke, his rage got the better of him and without warning he rushed towards Lee. Lee in contrast, was only interested in the boy with the name "Uchiha"- and so he finished him off rather quickly. Sasuke who had been watching, must have already felt his oppononent is noone to take lightly, but he still had faith in his Sharingan eyes - which unfortunately weren't of any help since Lee only used taijutsu and not ninjutsu or genjutsu.

However, the 2 of them weren't depressed at all- the fight with Lee had for both only the opposite effect, namely both were even more thrilled than before to get the chance to fight against such guys who really are worth fighting. Of course, Naruto didn't let the opportunity slide to make fun of Sasuke saying things like "the Uchiha clan isn't this good after all" (ignoring the fact he wasn't exactly in the situation to talk) but he also was the one mentioning Lee's arms. In fact, Lee's whole appearence had a great influence on both Sasuke's and Naruto's mind. Even if they did lose badly right here, it was only some sort of foretaste of what would await them - and instead of backing down, they were positive to go through everything and anything, together.

Found at Chapter 37,36 Episode 24