Sasuke and Sakura: Friends or Foes?


 * Title: Sasuke and Sakura: Friends or Foes?
 * Premiere date: October 17, 2002
 * Episode Code: 003
 * Episode Length: 24.5 minutes
 * Episode Airdate:
 * Japan: October 17, 2002
 * UK, Ireland: July 23, 2006
 * US: September 17, 2005
 * Canada: September 23, 2005
 * Ireland: July 24, 2006
 * Germany: September 20, 2006
 * Poland: February 20, 2007
 * Manga arc: Exposition
 * Chapter:
 * Chapters:

is episode 3 of the anime series Naruto. It is part of the exposition of the series.

In other languages

 * Polish: Sasuke i Sakura: Przyjaciele, czy wrogowie?
 * Turkish:Sasuke ve Sakura arkadaşlar mı, yoksa sevgililer mi?

Episode Synopsis
This episode introduces Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha, who will become Naruto's teammates on Team 7.

Sasuke and Sakura
Sakura Haruno, who Naruto has a crush on, is a highly intelligent girl with long pink hair. However, Sakura detests Naruto, who is a constant failure and dropout in her eyes, and continues to flirt with Sasuke Uchiha.

For the girls, Sasuke is the most popular boy in the Academy. He is a recluse, preferring to train extremely strenuously and by himself. His good looks and cool manners, which he cares little about, have earned him the privilege of being liked by all the girls. Naruto hates Sasuke because Sasuke is the embodiment of all that Naruto wants: acknowledgement, success, and pride.

However, deep within himself, Naruto does have empathy for Sasuke, as well as vice versa, since they are both lonely orphans - one who lost everyone he valued, the other who didn't have anyone to begin with.

Plot
It seems like just another day for Naruto. He wakes up, has a cup of ramen for breakfast, and drinks milk out of the carton. However, this day is special because it is his first day as a ninja. En route to his ninja orientation, Naruto runs into Konohamaru, who as usual is unable to properly disguise himself. Naruto then explains to him that he can't hang out today because of his ninja orientation. Konohamaru admires Naruto's new status as a ninja. Elsewhere, Sakura is on her way to school and also is excited about becoming a ninja. On the way she runs into Ino Yamanaka as she leaves her house. Almost immediately the rivalry between them flares to the point where they race each other to school, even though neither attains a even a minor lead over the other. At school, Naruto is proudly showing off his headband to Shikamaru Nara, who thought Naruto failed the graduation exam. Hinata Hyuga, who has a crush on Naruto, is quietly pleased. Both Ino and Sakura make it to the classroom at the same time; nevertheless they argue about whose foot was further inside. Naruto blushes over seeing Sakura and is delighted when she looks his way. He gets even more excited when she heads over to him, but his elation fades when she knocks him aside to address Sasuke, who had been sitting next to him. She politely asks to sit next to him, which incites the wrath of all the other girls in the class except for Hinata.

As they're arguing, Naruto becomes angry and jealous. He hops onto the desk in front of Sasuke, glaring right at him. Sasuke returns the glare, and their glaring match further provokes the wrath of the girls. They continue to glare (electricity flying in typical anime fashion) until the boy sitting ahead of them stretches back and accidentally bumps into Naruto, who falls off and lands on Sasuke, accidentally kissing him. Absolutely no one is pleased with this turn of events: both Sasuke and Naruto are gagging, the outraged girls glare daggers at Naruto, and Sakura cracks her knuckles. All of this is observed by the Hokage and some of the Konoha Jonin through a crystal ball. Later, Iruka Umino shows up to explain what their tasks will be as Genin. Naruto is badly bruised and Sakura managed to sit next to Sasuke. Iruka then announces that the Genin will be divided into three-man teams. Both Sakura and Ino swear to end up on Sasuke's team. Naruto doesn't care which team he's on as long as Sakura's on it and Sasuke isn't. Sasuke just thinks three-man teams are a waste of time. Iruka goes through the teams up to Team 7: Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha. Both Naruto and Sakura in turn cheer when their prospective admirer is announced on their team, but frown when they realize the other person on their team. Hinata quietly laments that she won't be on Naruto's team until Iruka places her on Team 8, along with Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame. Ino fumes about not being on Sasuke's team and Shikamaru, who is sitting next to her, complains about how annoying this all is. Ino says she'd hate to be on his team, upon which Iruka announces Team 10 comprising of her, Shikamaru, and Choji Akimichi. Ino immediately moans over her new teammates. Later during lunch, Sakura goes looking for Sasuke to eat with him. Naruto approaches her for the same reason, but she coldly dismisses him. Angry yet again, Naruto formulates a plan when he sees Sasuke eating lunch in an empty room. Under the watchful eye of Team 10, Naruto jumps at Sasuke through the open window, and the window falls down, obscuring the events inside from view. Yelling and sounds of fighting ensure, and Sasuke is shown standing over a bound and gagged Naruto. Sasuke hops out with a smirk on his face. Sakura is shown sitting by herself on a bench wondering how Sasuke could ever be attracted to her. However, she suddenly notices Sasuke looking directly at her. Sasuke then asks her what she thinks of Naruto, but she says that Naruto is annoying and if he always had his way, she would never be happy. Sasuke leans in to kiss Sakura, but gets diarreaha and runs away.

Sasuke is subsequently shown bound and gagged in the room where he was eating lunch, and the truth is revealed in a flashback. Naruto had jumped into the room and attacked Sasuke, but Sasuke tied up Naruto and gagged him. However, the bound Naruto was merely a shadow clone, and it dispersed in a puff of smoke. Five more Narutos leapt out of the corner and defeated, gagged, and tied up Sasuke.

This is confirmed when Sasuke, sitting on the toilet, tranforms back into Naruto. He then hatches a scheme to make Sakura hate Sasuke. Meanwhile, the real Sasuke, who managed to escape Naruto's bonds, walks by Sakura. Sakura states that she envies Naruto since he has no parents to chastise him for his behavior; however, since Sasuke, being an orphan himself, can understand the harsh realities of loneliness as an orphan, Sasuke becomes hostile and aloof upon hearing Sakura's sentiments and tells Sakura that she's "annoying" before walking away.

Sakura wonders if her rejection of Naruto upsets him as much as Sasuke's rejection upsets her, and she resolves to be a bit nicer to Naruto. Naruto then approaches Sakura and when Sakura tries to be amiable, a surprised Naruto thinks it's merely a vengeful Sasuke transformed into Sakura. He yells at Sakura before getting diarreaha again and fleeing to the bathroom. Naruto, however, runs into Sasuke while heading to the bathroom. He makes four shadow clones and is about to pummel Sasuke, but abruptly all five of the clones have to go to the bathroom. All the Naruto clones then fight and scramble to get into the bathroom.

At Naruto's house, both the Hokage and Kakashi Hatake are there. The Hokage briefs Kakashi on Team 7, which Kakashi will be leading, but Kakashi eyes the milk carton from Naruto's breakfast, which is still sitting on the table. He examines the carton and declares that the milk had spoiled a long time ago, commenting about how much of a problem Naruto will be. The scene then cuts to a shot of Naruto on the toilet, having ended the clone jutsu and holding his stomach in pain as he bemoans his agonized condition.

Trivia

 * The Japanese title of this episode literaly translates to "A Rival?! Sasuke and Sakura".
 * Naruto accidentally kisses Sasuke in this episode after being knocked onto him by another student. The kiss is not edited out of the Viz and YTV editions, but Cartoon Network removed the actual scene, instead freezing on the previous scene for the duration of the kiss. The actual kiss is shown in episode 16, however, in Sasuke's flashback. This is one of the few occasions where the animators forgot to include Naruto's "whiskers".

Manga Chapters
This is a list of chapters from the manga this episode is from.
 * Number 3-Enter Sasuke!