Sasuke and Sakura: Friends or Foes?

The freshly graduated genin file into the Academy for orientation. Sakura races toward Sasuke's seat, flattening Naruto along the way, only for Ino and a crowd of other girls to fight for the same spot. Jealous of all the attention, Naruto climbs onto the desk to glare at Sasuke, who glares right back. When Tobio bumps into Naruto, the shove sends him tumbling forward into an accidental kiss with Sasuke, and the furious girls pummel Naruto for stealing what they wanted.

Iruka arrives and lays out how the graduates will be sorted into three-person squads under a jonin. Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke become Team 7, Hinata joins Kiba and Shino on Team 8, and Ino pairs with Shikamaru and Choji on Team 10. Naruto protests being grouped with Sasuke and learns the pairing is deliberate: his scores were the worst and Sasuke's the best, so the two balance the team out.

At lunch Sakura ignores Naruto's invitation and hunts for Sasuke instead. Stung again, Naruto climbs through a window to jump Sasuke, and the aftermath first appears to show Sasuke standing over a bound Naruto. It is soon revealed that Sasuke only beat a substitution before the real Naruto overwhelmed him using shadow clones. Naruto then transforms into Sasuke to find Sakura, who tells his disguised self that Naruto is annoying and leans in for a kiss, only for a sudden bathroom emergency to force him away.

Once the genuine Sasuke frees himself, he meets Sakura, who mocks him as friendless and badly raised for having no parents. Sasuke retorts that she has no idea what real loneliness feels like and calls her annoying, which nudges Sakura toward treating Naruto more kindly. Naruto keeps trying to ambush Sasuke but is repeatedly derailed by his upset stomach. Back at Naruto's home, the Third Hokage briefs Kakashi on Team 7, and Kakashi discovers the spoiled milk carton behind all of Naruto's dashes to the toilet.

The opening includes a calendar shot, absent from the manga, dating the events to Tuesday, October 15. Naruto's accidental kiss with Sasuke stayed intact in the Viz and YTV English dubs, but the Cartoon Network airing cut it and froze on the prior shot due to broadcast-standards restrictions of the era, though the moment resurfaced later via a flashback in episode 16. Naruto's whisker markings vanish during the kiss frame. In the original English dub Kurenai Yuhi is voiced by Saffron Henderson, with Mary Elizabeth McGlynn taking over afterward and redubbing the role for the uncut version.