The Hidden Leaf Village bustled at the foot of the mountains. Naruto bounced on his toes. 'Race you to the Hokage Monument!' he called.
Sasuke appeared beside him and took off. The village children shouted. Naruto charged after, boots slamming the dirt. But Sasuke reached the monument first.
Naruto practiced all afternoon. He stumbled over a log. He face-planted in the leaves. He got up and tried again.
He got up and tried again. The sky turned gold. Naruto kept running — faster, smoother, lower to the ground.
Thunder cracked overhead. Rain hammered the training ground. Naruto and Sasuke scrambled under a wide pine. Water dripped from the needles. Neither moved.
A toddler's red kite sank into the fast river! Naruto leaped onto a wet rock. Sasuke hurled a rope.
The string caught a tree root. They pulled — breathless, muddy — the kite flopped onto the grass.
The toddler hugged the dry kite. Naruto and Sasuke stood shoulder to shoulder. 'Nice throw,' Naruto said.
Sasuke almost smiled. The village hummed behind them. Naruto looked at his rival and felt something unfamiliar — like a finish line they had crossed together.
The Hidden Leaf hummed around them. Two rivals, soaked and muddy, standing on the same bank. Same road home.
