Summary:

Wind always pairs with fire, fueling it to be stronger than before. It was the most powerful combination there was. So when Sasuke, the most talented fire elementalist in his year, pairs with Naruto, who has the greatest wind element seen in centuries, they should've been the most formidable team in history. Yet they can't seem to win one match. Always at each other's throats, they fight constantly and can't seem to get along for one second. Naruto has his eyes set on being the best, but the road to greatness is a long and winding one full of hardships and lessons, and in the end when it comes down to it, Naruto would do anything to achieve his dreams.

A/N: I'm just going to post a few chapters to see how it does, so if you like it comment and/or fav. If I do continue this chapters may come out slow. So let me know if you like it and thanks for reading!

Adrenaline pumped through his veins as Naruto hid in a thicket of bushes. Crouching below in the shrub, he creeped forward, his breaths coming out slow and steady. As silent as he could, he stepped forward and peered out between the brambles. Leaves tickled his skin, but he locked his jaw shut, making sure not a single sound could escape him. No matter what, he couldn't be seen. Not now, when he was so close.

A few meters out before him, he saw a red flag waving in the wind, almost like it was beckoning to him. A smile spread on his face. Victory was as good as his. He breathed out one last time, looked around at his surroundings, and then ran like his life depended on it.

Wind slapped his face as he sprinted as fast as he could to the flag. His confidence soared when he saw no one around him still. There was no doubt in his mind that this would be his win. Not only would he get to rub it in Sasuke's face, but he could prove to everyone how amazing he was after single handily getting the flag. Even he himself was amazed he'd gotten this far.

Inches away from it, he reached his arm out, excitement shooting through every part of his body. Then, as his fingers touched the cool metal of the pole, someone jumped down from the tree, grabbing the pole at the same time he did. Naruto looked up, ready to fight them off, but froze once he saw Sasuke. All the anticipation he felt melted away into annoyance.

"Let go, I was here first," he said, tugging the pole in his direction.

"I'm on offense. You're supposed to be backing me up. So this is mine," he said, pulling it towards him.

"You weren't here and I saw it first, so it's mine."

"We're on the same team idiot. Just let go."

"Why don't you let go then?" Glaring at one another, they pulled the flag between each other, going back and forth, but then, Sasuke suddenly loosened his grip. Naruto wrenched it away from his hand, about to uproot it from its place in the ground.

"Fine," Sasuke said.

Before Naruto could react, a line of fire came from Sasuke's hand, striking him in the chest right over his vest. The heat made his eyes flutter shut and he fell back on the ground with a thud.

"Fatal blow detected. Player eliminated." Naruto looked down at his vest as it faded from light blue to black. Even though it blocked all of the damage, the intense warmth from his fire made Naruto feel like his skin was covered in burns now, even when he was perfectly fine. Crushing the dirt beneath him in his hands, Naruto lifted his head to Sasuke, nothing but anger flashing in his eyes. Yet all Sasuke did was smirk at him and reach for the flag.

"You bastard!" He shouted, springing up from the ground. Before Sasuke had a chance to take the flag, he tackled him to the ground, pining his arms down. The wind around then picked up, violently blowing through the trees and ripping out leaves, almost like there was a tornado near by.

"Get off me! They're going to come back at any second!"

"Why should I? You just got me eliminated."

"You're going to make us lose again!"

"I don't care! You deserve it."

Sasuke struggled under his grip and then sent his knee into Naruto's abdomen. He coughed and weakened immediately, enough for Sasuke to push him off and stand again. His hand holding his stomach, Naruto shifted on the ground and grabbed his ankle at the last moment, making him pause.

"Damn it Naruto. Let go!" At that moment, two people dropped down from the trees and stood before them, yet their movements were slow and relaxed. Shikamaru crossed his arms across his chest as he stared down at them, and Choji just stood behind him, a bored expression on his face.

"Seriously guys? Again." Shikamaru said.

"Hurry up and shoot him," Naruto encouraged him. He held Sasuke's ankle tighter and pulled it hard enough to where his knee landed on the ground. A murderous look on his face, Sasuke turned and faced him, raising his hands to shoot more flames at him, but Naruto dodged.

"Why can't you both go one match without fighting. It shouldn't be that hard."

"You don't know what it's like to be stuck with such a bastard like him. It's pure hell. Now shoot him already."

"Naruto," Sasuke said, his voice low and laced with malice. It was a warning for him to let go, but Naruto didn't listen. He never did. Shikamaru sighed and glanced behind him at Choji. Choji yawned. With a flick of his wrist, the ground in front of him turned into a spike, and when he stomped down on dirt behind it, it slid forward, piercing the vest on Sasuke's chest within seconds.

"Fatal blow detected. Player eliminated." Satisfied, Naruto let go and stood, yet a bitter feeling still remained in his chest. There went his victory.

"Winner: Shikamaru and Choji." A robotic voice from the speakers spoke. Sighing, Naruto frowned and crossed his arms. For once, he would've liked to hear his name over the intercom, but he knew that was just a dream that would never happen. All because of him. He looked up, throwing a glare at Sasuke. Yet he seemed to be just as pissed.

"This is your fault," Sasuke fumed. "We could've won if you would've let me take the flag."

"If you would've let me have the flag, we would've won."

"The match is over. You don't need to keep fighting," Choji said, but the words didn't reach either of them.

"Just leave them," Shikamaru muttered, walking away from them. Soon, Choji followed after him, leaving Naruto to glare at Sasuke while he did the same. The air around them crackled as wind and heat clashed with each other. There was nothing Naruto wanted to do more than punch that smug face of his, but he held his arms to his side and clenched his teeth, fighting back what every inch of his body told him to. Without a word, he turned and started towards the exit, proud to be the bigger man this time. A few seconds later, he could hear light footsteps as Sasuke followed from a distance behind him.

At this point, he just wanted to get out of the practice arena already. All it did was remind him of every match he lost, which was practically all of them. He bit his lip thinking about it. Every match he'd ever had, he went in feeling positive and confident, but after doing nothing but losing for the last year, that got harder to do. The only thing he wanted was one win, but he had a feeling that would never happen.

Dejected, he sped his pace and reached the wall at the boundary in minutes. He went through the door, closing it on Sasuke. He was already feeling down from his loss, but as he saw Iruka standing in front of him, his arms crossed over his chest and a disappointed look already pointed to him, he felt even worse. Kakashi stood behind him, but his eyes were trained on the monitors attached to the wall as they replayed the fight they just lost. Naruto offered a small smile.

"I tried my best."

"You call that your best Naruto? You got you're own teammate eliminated."

The door to the arena slammed open as Sasuke walked through it. "He got me eliminated first!" He said, pointing to him.

Not missing a second, Sasuke snapped back at him. "Casue you wouldn't give me the flag."

"I had it first!"

"No, I–"

"Both of you! Stop it!" Naruto shut his mouth at hearing Iruka raise his voice. He shrunk back and gazed down at the floor. "Both of you are in the wrong."

He faced Sasuke. "Instead of shooting him with fire and getting him eliminated, you should've just let Naruto take the flag. It should be common sense not to attack your own teammate." Naruto shot him a smug look over his shoulder and stuck his tongue out.

"And you," Iruka turned back to Naruto, "you have a wind element, so your main focus should be supporting Sasuke. As soon as the match began you just darted away and left him by himself. And even though he did wrong by eliminating you, you shouldn't have tackled him and held him down while encouraging the other team to get him out." Iruka sighed and rubbed his temple. "Never have I seen a team as dysfunctional as you two."

Naruto pointed his gaze down. "He started it," he mumbled.

"What was that?" Iruka snapped.

He shook his head. "Nothing."

Iruka sighed again and took a step back. "Is there anything you want to add?"

Finally, Kakashi looked away from the screens. "No. You covered everything."

When he didn't say anything else, Iruka rubbed his forehead. "Okay, both of you go back to the dorms. We'll talk about this tomorrow." He sounded exasperated as he spoke and Naruto could see how tired he was by the way he slouched. A twinge of guilt grew in his chest at the sight. After years of training from both Iruka and Kakashi together, they still had nothing to show for it. As a team, they were still as good as the first time they ever fought together, if not worse. And he felt bad because of that. Because he's wasted years of their effort. Playing with the beaded bracelet on his wrist, he looked behind Iruka, avoiding his gaze.

"Sorry," he said softly.

With that, he turned and started for the exit. Sasuke was already gone, probably heading towards the transportation center. As he walked away from the arena, he could hear Iruka and Kakashi whispering behind him, but he ignored it and tried not to look into it too much.

By then, the lobby outside of the practice arena was empty, and when he glanced through the windows that lined the wall, he saw a few clouds tinted peach while the sun began to set below the horizon. The match went by in a flash, but whenever he competed he lost all sense of time. What felt like thirty minutes to him must've been at least four hours.

Before he left, he unfastened his vest and slung it over his shoulder, and then he visited the locker room in the back and got his ID card and wallet from it. The sound of him slamming his locker door shut echoed throughout the room. For a minute, he stood there, clenching his ID in his hand, and then he calmly exhaled. He didn't know why, but all the anger he felt earlier when he wanted to punch Sasuke came back to him. He was just tired he guessed. Tired of him and Sasuke always fighting, but it was something he knew he couldn't fix. Combing his fingers through his hair, he snapped out of his daze and walked outside.

The parking lot was empty except for one car that he knew was Kakashi's, and the streetlights were already starting to light up. As cold weather seeped through his shirt, he breathed warm air in his hands and rubbed them together. Puffs of frosty air still blew into him, yet he liked the feeling of wind against his skin.

He took the sidewalk away from the arena and headed into the city, though he could already see purple, gold, and a whole array of other colored lights shining brightly in the sky over the city. He'd lived there for seven years, yet the sight was still as breathtaking as when he first saw it. He'd only now gotten used to all the city had to offer since it was so different from the countryside, where he originally lived. But he liked the change.

Slipping his hands into his pockets, he strolled along the sidewalk, walking until he reached the transportation center. Countless people bumped his shoulder, but he'd managed to get used to it. He followed the stairs underground and flashed his ID to the scanner at the entrance. When the gate let him through, he got on the train that would lead him to the academy and stared out the window at the passing city. It was still light outside, but by the time he reached the academy, it was completely dark, yet the city lights still illuminated the sky.

He went upstairs to his dorm room, beyond tired. He reached to the doorknob and twisted it, but it wouldn't budge. He sighed and hung his head. He knew he should've seen it coming.

"Come on Sasuke, just open the door already." When there was no response, he huffed and banged on it until multiple people shushed him from their rooms. But Sasuke still didn't respond.

"Fine, be that way," he muttered, sending one last hard kick to the door. He turned and stormed downstairs into the main room. Luckily, no one else was there. He strode over to the couch in the middle of the room and plopped down on it. A blanket already laid folded over the back of the couch since he's slept here so many times. It was basically his bed by now. He took it and wrapped it around himself as he laid down on the cushions. Within minutes, his eyes closed and he drifted off to sleep, forgetting all that happened that day.

|::::::::::::•::::::::::::l

Naruto awoke to someone poking his cheek. He groaned and swatted the hand away, shifting to where his face was pointed to the sofa cushions.

"Hey, get up. You're hogging the whole couch." Naruto laid there for a few minutes before he sat up sleepily, his hair sticking to his forehead. After he rubbed his eyes, he saw Kiba and Shino standing over him, the TV remote in Kiba's hand. He scooted over and not a second later they sat down and turned the TV on. In a second, Naruto was nodding off again.

"Did you get locked out again?" Kiba asked.

"Yep," he answered sluggishly. He set his elbow on the couch arm and rested his head on his hand. Yawning, he stared at the TV too.

"So I heard about yesterday's match." Naruto inaudibly groaned. He had a feeling that everyone knew about it, though it shouldn't of been a surprise. "What is that, like the thirtieth loss?"

"Thirty-fourth," Shino corrected.

Naruto frowned. "The number doesn't matter. And it wasn't my fault anyway."

"That's what you say everytime."

"That's cause it's his fault everytime."

"Sure it is," Kiba said sarcastically.

Naruto opened his mouth to defend himself, but then his cellphone going off in his pocket interrupted him. He paused and took it out. Once he saw Iruka calling, he stood and ambled away from the couch while he answered.

"Yeah?"

"Where are you?"

His eyebrows furrowed as confusion washed over him. "...In the dorm building?"

"We're supposed to meet at the usual room. I texted you last night and this morning." He quickly checked his messages to see that Iruka did really text him. He went back to the call and started walking over to their designated classroom. "Naruto?"

"I'm coming, I'm just five minutes away."

"Okay. Just hurry."

"Got it." He hung up and sprinted across campus to the meeting room. In three minutes, he reached it, panting and out of breath. He opened the door and stepped in, ignoring the look that Iruka gave him.

"Sorry," he mumbled while he sat at the furthest seat away from Sasuke.

"You're wearing the same clothes from yesterday," Kakashi mentioned, glancing up from his book.

"Yeah. Someone locked me out of my room and I couldn't change clothes. I had to sleep on the couch downstairs and now I have a knot in neck and my back—"

"No one cares. Just shut up already," Sasuke said, interrupting him.

"Make me." They glared at each other, irritation clear to see in both of their eyes. Iruka sat down in front of them, crossing his arms all over again.

"This is what we're going to discuss today. You're constant bickering is just making everything more difficult, and it's obviously bringing you down as a team," he said.

"It's—" Iruka sent him a look, silencing him in the middle of his sentence.

"So Kakashi and I have decided that we're not going to train you anymore until you can get your fighting down to a reasonable, controllable level."

"Impossible," Naruto said.

"I don't care if it's impossible."

Out the corner of his eye, he saw Sasuke sit up in his chair. "This isn't fair. Kakashi, you said you would help me advance my element."

"And I will," Kakashi said. "Just when you and Naruto can get along."

"That'll take forever."

"Then I guess it'll be awhile before I can help you." At seeing a frown form on Sasuke's face, Naruto felt slightly better.

"Well how are supposed to just...get along?" He asked. It was the last thing he wanted to do, but he needed to learn how to control his element, so taking a break from training wasn't helpful to him now.

"I'm glad you asked." Kakashi slammed his book close and focused his attention on Naruto. "I've set something up for both of you that should work."

"What is it? Like a bonding exercise?"

"Something like that." With the way he said that, Naruto got the feeling that he wouldn't like it at all.

"When do we start?" Sasuke asked.

Kakashi stood up from his seat and leisurely walked to the door. "Now."

They both shared looks, yet Sasuke's was spiteful. Once Naruto saw Kakashi push the door open, he stood and stepped after him, and Sasuke did the same. Iruka stayed seated though, his head resting on his hand. With just a glance, Naruto could tell that he was tired and seconds away from falling asleep, but he didn't blame him.

"Walk."

Naruto bristled when he realized that Sasuke was standing right behind him. He scowled and stood there for a few extra seconds just to annoy him before he started after Kakashi.

He led them across campus, and then suddenly halted in front of a door. Naruto curiously peered around him at the door, wondering what was behind it. But then, not a moment later, Kakashi took a key from him pocket and unlocked it. As he pushed it open, Naruto's eyes went wide at the sight he was met with.