"Sachi. Sachi."

Sachi opened her eyes to find a concerned Sakura staring down at her. "You alright?" Sakura asked.

"Yes," Sachi automatically replied. Even though she said this and it was true that she felt fine, Sachi was confused about why she was lying on the ground.

The last thing I remember is going to check on Sakura…

Sachi frowned, no matter how hard she tried to think about what came after that she just couldn't remember.

"That's good," Sakura replied with a smile, "Well I'm gonna go look for Sasuke."

Sachi picked up on the worry in Sakura's tone. Sachi knew that Sasuke was the most talented of their group, however, even so, Kakashi was in a different league, so Sakura worrying made sense.

"I'll come with you," Sachi voiced. We need to stick together; it's the only chance we have. We need to face him as a group.

Sakura nodded and the two of them headed off to look for Sasuke.

As Sachi walked alongside Sakura, another problem occurred to her. While their best shot was all four of them working together as team, there was still only three bells.

At this thought Sachi felt a queasy feeling in her stomach. No matter what one of us fails…but who?

Sachi bit her lip as she pondered this dilemma, but then she quickly reached her decision.

I'll give them the bells. After all, they are all much more qualified than me to be ninja. Sasuke's top of the class. Naruto may be a jokester, but he's really determined and has already shown great improvement, especially with that shadow clone jutsu…that was really amazing. And Sakura is really smart; she was always really good at understanding concepts in class. But me…there's nothing great about me…Sure, I passed the graduation exam, but for how long can I keep this up? After all, if I don't regulate my chakra usage, I'll quickly faint from exhaustion even from a simple elementary jutsu like the clone jutsu.

It made her sad that she would not be able to carry on. She would also be letting down so many people that believed in her.

Mom, Dad, Shino, Reina, I'm sorry.

Sachi nodded once more to herself, garnering her courage and resolve.

Yes, they deserve to pass more than I do.

With her newfound determination filling her with renewed strength, Sachi once again focused on helping Sakura find Sasuke.

However, while Sakura and Sachi were successful in finding their teammate, before Sachi could voice her thoughts a buzzing sound filled the air. It was lunchtime and that meant that their time was up.

Sachi clenched her hands by her side; she was filled with dread and misgiving, yet a small part of her refused to give up. She defiantly stared at Kakashi who had just popped up after her, Sakura, and Sasuke had offered to share their lunch with Naruto, something that Kakashi had forbidden. Now he was extremely angry; there were even ominous grey clouds looming over his head.

However, it did not matter how mad Kakashi was, Sachi would not regret what she had just done. Naruto was her teammate, so she would be there for him.

Yes, Naruto is a part of our team, so I won't forsake him.

This was why Sachi, even though a part of her was deathly afraid of Kakashi's wrath, stood protectively in front of him. This way if Kakashi lashed out at them in anger at least Sachi could shelter Naruto a little, after all, he had already been hurt by Kakashi in their previous encounters; he did not deserve to be beaten anymore. It would not be fair. She on the other hand, had hardly done anything during this whole excerise, so it was time that she did her part.

I will not be a burden to this team. I will do my part.

Sachi was fully braced for Kakashi's attack, however, he uttered two words that astonished them all: "You Pass."

Sachi along with her three teammates stood dumbfounded at Kakashi's declaration. Sachi's thoughts were a jumbled mess.

We Passed? What? How? Why?

She listened to Kakashi's explanation with incredulity. He explained the duties of a ninja and concluded with a statement that resonated with all four genin "However, those whose do not stand by their teammates are even lower than scum!"

He then proceeded to dismiss the genin for the day. "Alright that's all for today. I shall see you all tomorrow for our first mission."

With those final words Kakashi sensei bid farewell to his new squad and headed off to inform the Hokage of the day's happenings.

Sasuke and Sakura also immediately took off both with bright eyes and minds filled with thoughts of the future now that they had overcome one major hurdle in their lives.

Meanwhile, Sachi had moved from her position in front of Naruto to the back of the post, so she could free him. She looked at the rope pensively.

Hmmm…the knots Kakashi-sensei used are well done, very complicated and not easy to break. I don't know if I can undo them; it might take a while.

Meanwhile while Sachi was examining the rope, Naruto believing everyone had left him was wriggling around impatiently and calling out to Kakashi, Sakura, and Sasuke, who were already quite a ways away.

"HEY! WAIT! YOU GUYS UNTIE MEEEEEEE!"

Sachi hearing Naruto cries decided to free him in a quicker way. She pulled out a kunai from her holster and held it in position over the rope.

I should be able to break through this rope with one strike if I focus my chakra just right and channel it through the kunai.

Maybe it would be better if I just untied the rope; it would take longer, but….

"SOMEONE HELP! SOMEONE UNTIE ME!"

Hearing Naruto's continued cries, Sachi shook her head forcing her doubts away. She could do it. She had read about and even practiced it before as part of working on controlling her chakra.

Sachi took a deep breath and repositioned her kunai. She then closed her eyes, forcing all outside noises out of her mind, concentrating solely on focusing her chakra.

Focus. Focus. Picture the kunai as an extension of myself. Feel the chakra flow through my arm, through my hand down into my fingertips, and then into the kunai.

Sachi focused her chakra until she felt that the right amount was channeled into the kunai and then her eyes flicked open and with a fluid downward slash she brought the kunai down onto the rope, effecicently cutting through all the layers.

A moment ago Naruto was filled with feelings of elation at having passed Kakashi's surivial test, but those feelings of elation had given away to agitation when Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura had all left without untying him. Naruto wriggled his body furiously trying to free himself. Was he destined to spend the rest of his life tried to this post? Never to become hokage. Never to eat any more ramen ever again. These thoughts were just too dreadful to bear that they filled Naruto with an intense determination.

"NOOOOOOOOO! I WON'T LET THAT HAPPEN!" Naruto roared and then tried once more to free himself, yanking himself forward with all his strength.

Suddenly, Naruto felt the ropes loosen and fall away. "YES! I'M FR-" But before Naruto could finish his words of liberation he fell face forward onto the ground with a loud "thump".

He lay momentarily dazed on the ground.

"Ugghh," groaned Naruto, rubbing his head that was now throbbing.

"Umm, Naruto are you all right?" A quiet voice asked.

Startled by the voice, Naruto looked up to see one of his team members staring down at him with a worried expression. His bright blue eyes met the vibrant violet ones of Sachi Aburame.

"Hey, what are you still doing here? I thought you left with the others," he questioned.

She shook her head. "I stayed to untie you." She offered a hand towards him to help him up.

"Uh, thanks," grinned Naruto, while taking the offered hand.

Sachi smiled. "You're welcome."

Her smile caught Naruto slightly off guard, he was not used to people smiling at him. It was nice, but it also made him feel slightly embarrassed. "Ah, well, I'm starving, so I'm going to grab some ramen. See you tomorrow." Naruto grabbed his bag and started to leave.

"Bye, see you tomorrow," murmured Sachi.

Sachi, smiling, watched Naruto head off. She was filled with happiness at passing the survival test and at becoming an official genin, but she could not help but feeling that she could have done more during the test, could have been more useful.

I need to become stronger. I have to. I don't want to be a burden to my team.

She knew that there was only one way for her to become stronger and that was to keep on practicing. As such that was what she would do. Right now. She had already packed a bento this morning with the thought of doing training later in the day.

With these thoughts, Sachi secured her own backpack and headed off to her usual spot to do some training.

Sachi sat on the tree branch trying to catch her breath. She wiped the sweat from her forehead with the sleeve of her sweatshirt.

I think that's enough for today. I should head home; the sun's already starting to set.

Sachi reached into her pouch and pulled out a kunai. She then carefully stood up onto the tree branch and lifted up the kunai to mark her progress on the tree she had been climbing. When she did so she let out a gasp. Her eyes widened as she stared at the trunk of the tree; there were no existing marks in this place.

But how? Did I really?

Sachi was amazed; she had finally surpassed the same place she had been at for months. She had been practicing this exercise for about two years in order to better her chakra control. She had read in a book that one of the most difficult places to regulate one's chakra was the bottom of the feet. Since she had read that she had been practicing every day by walking up this specific tree with only using her feet. It had been nearly impossible at first; it had taken her a whole month just to get a couple of feet off the ground. Then after that she began improving little by little, but then at the beginning of this year she had hit a wall. No matter had much she practiced she could not surpass a certain point on the tree and at times she felt really discouraged; she could push and push herself yet to no avail. Once she pushed herself so much she actually fainted and woke up to find herself on the ground; she was lucky she hadn't broken her neck. Since that day she had been more careful and had reduced this aspect of her training to once a week. But now today she had finally surpassed that stalemate. Sachi looked down. She could see the marks of her old stalemate about five feet below her.

She felt happiness welling up inside her. Her hard work had finally paid off! Maybe she could become a helpful and dependable member on her squad after all. Sachi looked up; she was still only maybe halfway up the trunk of the tree, but she hoped that someday she would make it up all the way. With those thoughts, she began climbing down the tree, using her hands this time, after all, she had to be careful about how much chakra she used.

However, climbing down she felt a little different than usual; it was true that she was tired, but somehow it was not that bone deep exhaustion that she usually felt after tree climbing using her chakra. She pondered this for a little while as she climbed down, but then soon pushed it to the back of her mind as happiness at overcoming her stalemate settled over her.

Sachi walked along the river that led out of the forest her mind filled with thoughts of coloring in the picture she had drawn in the morning.

"Meeew!"

Sachi's head snapped up and her eyes suddenly became alert. She had just heard the melancholy cries of a cat. Her eyes roved her surroundings trying to find the origins of the sound.

"A kitty is in trouble," Sachi gasped.

"Meeew!"

This time she found the source of the sound; it was from a black cat who was struggling to stay afloat in the water and was desperately trying to make it to dry land. Without thinking, Sachi ran towards the cat at full speed, forgetting her former tiredness. She stepped onto the water and ran across it to where the cat was struggling in the water. She immediately reached down and scooped the cat into her arms.

"It's okay kitty, everything's going to be okay," soothed Sachi cradling the cat in her arms. "You're a big kitty," noticed Sachi looking at the cat. Sachi's eyes then looked at the cat's stomach. "You have such a big stomach." Sachi eyes widened as a realization hit her. "Wait kitty? You're not? You are! You're pregnant!"

The cat purred in response and snuggled further into Sachi's arms, rubbing its face against her dry and warm sweatshirt.

Sachi giggled and a big smile adorned her face. "You're going to be a mommy."

Suddenly Sachi's smile was wiped away as she felt exhaustion course through her body. She suddenly realized that she was out in the middle of a river and that she had walked across the water. She had read about using chakra to walk across water and had tried it a couple of times before, but had never made it that far across the river before she felt a significant drag in her chakra.

But now she had did it without thinking about it. This caused her to smile a little as she looked down at her feet. However, her smiled was replaced by a grimace; she didn't think she had the energy to walk back across the river.

But…She looked down at the cat that laid purring in her arms and smiled. She had to try for this cat. She would just go very slowly, one foot at a time.

Right. I can do this. I just need to concentrate and go very slowly.

Sachi put out one foot in front of her and then paused. Then she moved her other foot. She took a couple more steps.

So far, so good, just a little bit more.

But at that moment a bird flew overhead and the cat in Sachi's arms caught sight of the bird. Excited by the bird, the cat let out a meow and began squirming in Sachi's arms. This squirming caused Sachi who was in mid step to lose her concentration and as such her right foot went crashing through the surface of the water. Since her right foot was unbalanced, this caused her left foot's balance to become wobbly. She could feel herself slipping; she could feel the delicate balance of her left foot starting to break. She could feel panic bubbling up inside her; she was going to fall through the surface of the water and the cat would along with her and she didn't think she had the strength left to swim across it.