He tried five more times, each attempt ending with him flat on his back in the dirt. By the sixth fall, his perfect hair was a mess and his usually pristine clothes were thoroughly rumpled. His breathing was labored—maintaining precise chakra control was apparently exhausting work.
"Maybe that's enough for today?" Naruto suggested, feeling genuinely bad for putting Sasuke through this.
"No." Sasuke pushed himself upright again, determination blazing in his dark eyes. "I don't fail at things. Especially not basic chakra exercises."
*Basic?* Naruto thought. *If this is basic, what does that make me?*
Sasuke's seventh attempt was his worst yet. He managed to get both feet on the tree trunk, took a single step upward, then immediately shot backward like he'd been launched from a catapult. He landed hard enough to leave a small crater in the dirt.
"Ow," he groaned, not moving from his prone position.
Naruto crouched beside him, studying the Uchiha's frustrated expression. For the first time since he'd known him, Sasuke looked... human. Fallible. Like just another kid struggling with something that was harder than it looked.
"Hey," Naruto said quietly. "It's okay to not get something right away, you know. Even for someone like you."
Sasuke's eyes snapped to his face. "Someone like me?"
"You know. Perfect at everything. Never makes mistakes. Never struggles with anything." Naruto sat cross-legged in the dirt beside him. "Must be nice, usually."
Something complicated flickered across Sasuke's features. "Perfect," he repeated, his voice oddly flat.
"Well, yeah. Everyone knows you're the best in our class at... everything. Except maybe this tree thing, I guess."
Sasuke was quiet for a long moment, staring up at the sky through the oak's branches. When he finally spoke, his voice was barely above a whisper.
"My brother could do this when he was seven."
The words hung in the air between them, heavy with meaning that Naruto didn't fully understand but could feel anyway. There was pain there, deep and old and carefully hidden behind Sasuke's usual mask of cool indifference.
"Well, your brother's not here," Naruto said simply. "Just you. And this stupid tree that's being way harder than it should be."
Sasuke turned to look at him, surprise flickering in his dark eyes. "You're not going to tell me I should try harder? Or that I'm disappointing everyone's expectations?"
"Why would I do that? You're already trying as hard as you can, right?" Naruto shrugged. "Besides, I can't even do basic clone jutsu most of the time. Who am I to give advice about living up to expectations?"
For the first time in their entire acquaintance, Sasuke's expression softened slightly. Not much—just enough for Naruto to glimpse the exhausted twelve-year-old boy beneath the prodigy facade.
"Your kunai technique really is impressive," Sasuke said quietly. "Even if I don't understand how you do it."
Naruto felt his stomach clench with guilt. Here was Sasuke, being genuinely honest about his struggles, and Naruto was still lying through his teeth about everything.
"Maybe..." Naruto started, then stopped. Could he trust Sasuke with the truth? Could he trust anyone?
"Maybe what?" Sasuke prompted, sitting up and brushing leaves from his shirt.
"Maybe we could figure it out together," Naruto finished, taking the coward's path. "The tree climbing thing, I mean. I bet if we both work at it, we can get it eventually."
Sasuke studied his face carefully. "You don't know how to do it either, do you?"
Naruto's cheeks burned. "I never said I could! I just said it was foundational work for wind techniques!"
"Which you also can't actually do."
"I can too!" The protest was automatic, but it sounded weak even to Naruto's ears.
Sasuke was quiet for a moment, then did something completely unexpected. He laughed.
It wasn't his usual cold smirk or dismissive snort. It was an actual laugh—surprised and genuinely amused and almost... fond?
"You're terrible at lying," Sasuke said, shaking his head. "Absolutely terrible."
Naruto's face went from pink to scarlet. "I'm not lying! I really can do wind manipulation!"
"Uh-huh. And I'm secretly the Hokage." Sasuke stood up and offered Naruto a hand. "Come on. Let's both try to figure out this tree climbing thing. Maybe together we can avoid looking like complete idiots."
Naruto stared at the offered hand in shock. Was Sasuke... was he actually being nice? Understanding? Not demanding answers or threatening to expose Naruto's secrets?
"You're not going to tell everyone I'm a fraud?" Naruto asked hesitantly.
"Are you going to tell everyone I can't do basic chakra exercises?" Sasuke countered.
"Never."
"Then we have an understanding." Sasuke's hand was still extended, waiting.
Naruto took it and let himself be pulled to his feet. For the first time since this whole mess started, he felt like maybe—just maybe—things might actually work out okay.
"So," Sasuke said, turning back to the tree with renewed determination. "Ready to embarrass ourselves together?"
Naruto grinned, his earlier anxiety melting away into something warmer and more hopeful. "Believe it!"
They spent the next hour taking turns falling out of the tree in increasingly spectacular fashion. Naruto's attempts were wild and uncontrolled—too much chakra, too little focus, feet going in completely wrong directions. Sasuke's were more methodical but ultimately just as unsuccessful—precise failures instead of chaotic ones.
By the time the sun started setting, they were both covered in dirt, bark, and bruises. But they were also laughing—actually laughing together—as they compared their various crash-landing techniques.
"I think your face-first approach might be worse than my backwards tumble," Sasuke observed, picking twigs out of Naruto's hair.
"Hey, at least I didn't bounce off the tree and land in that bush full of thorns," Naruto shot back, grinning.
It was the most normal conversation they'd ever had. No competition, no hostility, no weird undercurrents of suspicion or resentment. Just two kids bonding over their shared incompetence at something that was apparently much harder than it looked.
As they packed up the scattered kunai and prepared to head home, Sasuke paused.
"Naruto," he said quietly. "That technique you did yesterday—the impossible kunai throw. I still don't understand how you managed it, but... I don't think you're a fraud."
Naruto's heart skipped a beat. "You don't?"
"No. I think you're hiding something—probably something important. But I also think..." Sasuke hesitated, then forged ahead. "I think maybe everyone underestimates you. Including me."
The words hit Naruto like a physical blow, but in the best possible way. Someone saw potential in him. Someone believed he might be more than the dead-last, the class clown, the kid everyone expected to fail.
"Thanks, Sasuke," Naruto said softly. "That... that means a lot."
"Just don't let it go to your head," Sasuke replied, but there was no real bite to it. "We still have a tree to conquer."
As they walked back toward the village together, Naruto felt something he'd never experienced before: the warm, steady presence of what might actually be friendship. It was fragile and new and probably complicated, but it was real.
And for the first time since discovering his impossible ability, Naruto thought that maybe—just maybe—he didn't have to face everything alone.
As they reached the village gates, Sasuke stopped walking and turned to face Naruto with that analytical look that had become all too familiar.
"There's still something you're not telling me," Sasuke said, his voice quiet but insistent. "About the kunai. About your technique."
Naruto's stomach dropped. He'd thought they'd moved past this, that their shared failure at tree climbing had somehow satisfied Sasuke's curiosity. But of course it hadn't. This was Sasuke Uchiha—he never let mysteries go unsolved.
"I told you, it's just—"
"It's not wind manipulation," Sasuke interrupted firmly. "Your chakra control isn't nearly good enough for that level of technique. We just proved that." He crossed his arms, studying Naruto's face in the fading light. "So what is it really?"
Naruto felt the familiar panic rising in his chest. They'd had such a good afternoon together, laughing and training and just being normal kids. He didn't want to ruin it with lies, but he couldn't tell the truth either. The truth was too big, too dangerous, too impossible to explain.
"Why does it matter so much to you?" Naruto asked desperately. "Can't you just accept that sometimes weird stuff happens?"
"Because I've been thinking about it all day," Sasuke said, his intensity returning in full force. "The trajectory was impossible. Physics doesn't work that way, chakra techniques don't work that way, and you definitely don't have the skill level for advanced manipulation." His dark eyes narrowed. "But you did it anyway. Twice."
"Maybe I'm just lucky—"
"You keep saying that, but we both know it's not true." Sasuke stepped closer, his voice dropping to barely above a whisper. "I've been watching you, Naruto. Really watching. And there's something different about you. Something you're hiding."
Naruto's heart was pounding so hard he was sure Sasuke could hear it. The weight of his secret felt like it was crushing him from the inside. Part of him wanted to tell the truth—wanted to trust this boy who'd spent the afternoon laughing with him and picking twigs out of his hair. But the larger part of him was terrified.
"Look, Sasuke," Naruto said, trying to keep his voice steady. "Some things... some things are just personal, okay? Private. Not everything has to be analyzed and figured out."
"Private things that defy the laws of physics?"
"It's my secret," Naruto said more firmly, drawing on reserves of stubbornness he hadn't known he possessed. "I don't need to tell anyone about it. Not even you."
Sasuke blinked, clearly not expecting such direct resistance. For a moment, his mask of cool indifference slipped, revealing something that might have been hurt underneath.
"I see," he said quietly. "So we're not really friends. You're just another person who doesn't trust me."
The accusation hit Naruto like a kunai to the chest. "That's not—! It's not about trust, Sasuke. It's about..." He struggled for words that could explain without explaining. "Some secrets are too big to share. Too dangerous. It's not that I don't trust you, it's that I don't trust what could happen if people knew."
"People? Or just me?"
Naruto could see the walls going back up around Sasuke, could feel their fragile new friendship cracking under the weight of his refusal to be completely honest. It made something ache deep in his chest—the loss of something precious before he'd even fully understood what it was.
"It's not about you specifically," Naruto said desperately. "I've never told anyone. Not Iruka-sensei, not the Hokage, not anybody. It's just... it's just mine, okay? Some things have to stay secret."
Sasuke was quiet for a long moment, his expression unreadable in the growing twilight. When he finally spoke, his voice was carefully neutral.
"I understand," he said, but Naruto could hear the distance in it. "Everyone has secrets. I have them too."
"Sasuke, I—"
"It's fine, Naruto." Sasuke turned away, facing the path that led toward the Uchiha district. "Thank you for the training session. It was... educational."
The formal politeness was somehow worse than outright anger would have been. Naruto watched Sasuke start to walk away and felt something desperate clawing at his throat.
"Wait!" Naruto called out, causing Sasuke to pause without turning around. "Tomorrow... do you want to try the tree climbing again? Together?"
For a moment, Sasuke stood perfectly still. Then he glanced back over his shoulder, and Naruto caught a glimpse of something complicated in his dark eyes.
"Maybe," Sasuke said quietly. "If you think you can tolerate training with someone you don't trust."
"I do trust you," Naruto said urgently. "Sasuke, I really do trust you. It's just—"
"Just not enough to be honest with me." Sasuke's voice was matter-of-fact, but it cut deep anyway. "I get it, Naruto. Really. Some secrets are more important than friendship."
With that, Sasuke walked away into the gathering darkness, leaving Naruto standing alone at the village gates with the taste of regret bitter in his mouth.
*I'm an idiot,* Naruto thought miserably. *A complete and total idiot.*