battle time - who's ready ?

After a bunch of small and trivial D-rank missions, Team Seven was sent to the Water country, together with Tazuna, a bridge builder who feared his life might be in danger. On their way to Water Country, they first came across two Mist ninja who "killed" Kakashi right in front of the young shinobi's eyes. Due to that, they were forced into combat, but it turned out that Naruto wasn't ready at all for a fight, despite his big talking. He froze and wasn't even able to move. Sasuke in contrast didn't have any problems with the fight; he was cool as ever, kept the control and protected not only himself, but also the rest, speaking Naruto, Sakura and Tazuna. Later also Kakashi, who had been alive the whole time, interfered and finished the two mist ninjas off.

Naruto felt horrible - all he had done was standing around and shivering, while Sasuke seemed not to have the slightest bit of angst, nor a scratch anywhere. As if this wasn't enough for his self assurance and pride, Sasuke teased him of having behaved like coward.

"..hey! Are you hurt,.. scaredy-cat?"
Sasuke, Chapter 10

Thus Naruto felt even more mortified and was angry at himself and his body for not reacting to his commands. After Kakashi told him they'd need to go back to the village in order to treat his wounds, he completely lost it and cut his own hand with a kunai to get rid of the poison. Deep down Nartuo must have been really desperate, because he didn't understand why there was still such a huge difference between Sasuke and him - after all, Naruto had spent all of his free time training, everyday practising a new jutsu or two and still, Sasuke seemed to be ahead of him. At that time he had sworn to himself he'd never ever need to be saved again, because he had become strong and he'd never ever be afraid or run away again.

"I'm not going to lose against Sasuke..!"
Naruto, Chapter 10

They continued the mission and Naruto was more than eager to prove he was also able to do something worthwhile- and of course, he was also careful not to let Sasuke get all the "good points" and have him hog the spot light. Out of exaggerative intentness, he was extremely out to overcome his own barrier and to show everyone around him, especially Sasuke, what he's made of.

Those scenes were a great opportunity to take a closer look at both Naruto's character, as well as his relationship to Sasuke. Naruto has never been the type who got everything right on from the start, and that's also shown here again. The humilitation in front of his team of not having been able to do anything, followed by Sasuke's mocking attitude lead the blonde once more into the direction of taking another step towards acceptance, namely leaving his fears behind and plucking up the courage to show the world he is Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage.

Actually, Naruto's and Sasuke's relationship is based on the principle of reciprocity.

Sasuke is one of the main reasons in Naruto's life why he has worked so hard and always will, since his taunting only increases Naruto's efforts and incites him to become even stronger. But as a matter of fact, also Naruto should have this kind of effect on Sasuke, as the story progresses, and how we should learn later. It's still incredible how much they affect each other, and that from the very beginning on.

Found at Chapter 10, Episode 6