Book 1

Awakening

Chapter 6 - Classification Contention

A/N: Hello once again, readers! Welcome back. The first thing I have to say is, thank you, everyone, for the reviews and the kind responses; I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter, sincerely. Next, although I know that it wasn't quite as good as I could have made it (early morning editing again...), I'm glad to see that the focus I put into the writing paid off. Now... something I've noticed lately is that a lot of new viewers are coming in, viewing the cover page, and then skipping to the chapters they find to be more 'interesting'. Now, while I personally don't care what you do, it's entirely up to you, I should warn you that you should only skip chapters of this story at the risk of your own satisfaction. I'm not a complete stiff, I will put chapters in at some point that won't necessarily effect the overall message of the story, and without them, the story would be clear enough... however, there won't be any chapters in this story that can truly be skipped; they all have pertinent information that moves the story forward, especially these first 7 chapters. After the first 7, it'd be a bit silly to skip, as most of the chapters will either be extremely pertinent, or action packed; they won't be something you'd want to miss. This was just something I thought I'd bring up. You're free to do as you please, but you should know that I'm not a push-over author and you're only doing it at the risk of your own understanding and enjoyment!

Hmm... this note isn't too long yet, so I suppose I can give some brief responses. Let's see:

jascat: I hate Sakura as well, but I can promise you, I plan to 'work her' differently than canon did. I don't want to reveal too much, just know that (and this is to everyone), you shouldn't be too 'upset' by any of the things you see... To a point that it'd deter you from the story. Yes, they're meant to evoke emotion (that's why I write them as I do...), but there is a meaning to everything that's happening. This serves to reply to Rose Tiger as well: Yes, Sakura does need to apologize. That's a long time coming, though.

Codaram: Thank you, once again. (I'm beginning to sound like a broken record. Where is the 'thank you' to end all 'thank you's?) Anyway, though, I've gone through and fixed that accent mark problem; I prefer the mark too, it looks more 'official', heh. Yes, the flashback was short, but it was just to make a point. Read on to find out.

tim lee1: I'm disappointed that you feel that way, but, thank you for your vote of good luck.

*To everyone*: I'm sorry if you feel the story is 'taking too long', but you have to keep in mind, it's a very long story. It may come up to a total of 300 chapters, or more. If I spend 5 giving depth to my other characters, can you really blame me? I can promise, NaruHina will be a central point of this story, probably one of the most important factors short of the plot itself, but it's not everything. I apologize, but I just can't please everyone. This is to please myself, more than anything. Nonetheless, though, I hope you can bear with me and try to enjoy it.

Guest: I've been waiting for you. #Supert history

Before we get into it, folks, I must suggest that you all stop by my profile, there are a few little notices that I believe a large amount of you may be interested in. Thank you.

Now, please enjoy Chapter 6.

The day was upon them. It was a new month, and the long awaited, and anticipated, or, in certain cases, dreaded day of Graduation had arrived. It was January 1. One person was particularly motivated, though, beyond all reasonable doubt. This person, was none other than Uzumaki Naruto.

An orange-clad figure could be seen falling through the air, headed for an unoccupied patch of ground directly within his field of trajectory. Konoha was a ninja village; typically, people would ignore the day-to-day activity of the ninja populous; it was none of their business, and it seldom disturbed them. The activities of this rapidly plummeting figure, however, were a different story.

"WAHOO! Today's the day I finally graduate! I'm going to be a ninja!" Naruto blared as he fell through the air. As he landed, he startled a passing mother and her young child. Chuckling apologetically, he murmured, "Sorry about that, guys. I need to watch where I'm going, I'm just a little excited today!"

"Coool!" Exclaimed the child in youthful wonder. Tugging at his mother's shirt-sleeve, he beckoned, "Okā-san, look, look! Did you see the cool ninja guy!"

With a single, snide glance in Naruto's general direction, the woman promptly decided that he wasn't worth the acknowledgement. With a rigid change of direction, she turned her nose up and grasped her son's collar, giving him a firm tug to signal him to follow. "Wild brat..." She muttered to herself as she walked away, dragging her still star-struck and very confused child with her, ignoring his every protest.

Naruto watched the family go. He still wore a goofy grin, unperterbed by the ever-present resentment a large majority of the village held towards him; to this day, he didn't fully understand it, but on this day, specifically, it was inconsequential. He had too much to be happy about; it was his day.

Dismissing the situation, Naruto turned and began to jog towards the academy at a moderated pace, dodging the people as they came and went through the broad streets. Amongst the flock, Naruto's wandering eyes picked out a distinctly familiar head of midnight-blue hair. 'Hinata-chan!' He thought happily.

Without thought, he proceeded to jump over a few less-than-pleased denizens, excitedly making his way toward his pale lavender-eyed best friend. And, with a final leap, Naruto landed right behind Hinata. Gently placing his hand on her shoulder, he greeted her, "Morning, Hinata-chan!"

Startled, Hinata sharply turned her head in the direction that the voice had emanated from. Upon seeing Naruto, Hinata's look of shock was soon replaced with a pleasant smile. "Good morning, Naruto-kun."

Picking up the pace a little, to keep in step with Hinata, Naruto continued. "Are you excited about today as I am?" He inquired, his eagerness spilling out in his words.

"Definitely, Naruto-kun," she assured him, before adding, with a hint of sadness creeping about the perimeter of her features, "b-but... I'm still worried that we won't be placed on the same t-team..."

Sensing her mild dejection, Naruto sought to reassure her. "Don't worry about it Hinata-chan," he said, waving a hand to and fro in front of himself, as if refusing something, "I'm sure they'll put us on the same team just because we're so awesome! We'll be the strongest team ever!"

Hinata giggled, despite how ideal that would be, she highly doubted the logic behind it. "But... Naruto-kun... Isn't the general idea u-usually to balance the teams?"

Naruto, having still been utterly enthralled in his ridiculous 'super team'-tangent, was brought crashing back to Earth by Hinata's reasoning. "Uh-," he choked out, a hand remained raised up with pointer finger erect, as if to make a point. He paused... trying to find some way to penetrate her virtual rationale fortification.

As they walked on, Hinata looked on in curious expectance, upon Naruto's still frozen features. His mouth still hung open... perhaps he intended to say something? "N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata gently prompted him.

The gears in his mind turned, searching, querying every available deposit of information for some sort of response. Alas, in the end, he came up with nothing. Dropping his head in solemn defeat, the posture of Naruto's pointer finger deteriorated in conjunction with his spirits. "You're right... maybe it's hopeless..."

As sad as it was, Hinata couldn't help but smile at Naruto's fluctuating emotions; he was so animated! She did still feel the need to console him, though. "Maybe there will be an exception... We j-just have to hope," she offered.

Naruto grabbed for the proverbial straw. "Really? You really think so, Hinata-chan?"

Hinata nodded in reply, giving him all the reassurance he needed.

"Alright!" He cheered, pumping his fist in the air.

In his excitement, he'd come to realize how far they'd actually come since they began walking. Looking ahead, he could see the main entrance, quite apparently. He turned his head to Hinata. "Hinata-chan," he started, grabbing her attention, "we're already here."

Hinata looked away from Naruto and toward the large school-buildings. As they approached the entrance, her confidence began to steadily evaporate. She lowered her gaze and brought her hands together, in a characteristic nervous habit, and began to press her pointer fingers together. The pressures of her already stringent family weighed heavily on her fragile emotions. Before they could enter the building, she stopped short, she gulped slowly as she receded into her thoughts.

'She is weak.'

'She is not receptive to instruction. This is folly.'

'She cannot handle basic examination, what makes you think she's prepared for the life of a ninja? Especially representing the Hyūga.'

'Useless girl.'

'Why is it, that you were born into the Main Family. It is almost a direct mockery of those who are competent in the Branch.'

'She is no longer qualified to be the heiress; she must be replaced.'

'Plagued by childish notions and governed by her feelings... It is a pitiful combination, not befitting of a Hyūga.'

"Hinata-chan?" The voice of her crush shocked her back into the present.

She raised her head, looking to the left, in the direction of Naruto. "N-Naruto-kun? What's wrong?"

"You were in like a trance or something, I tried calling you about 4 times..." Naruto angled himself to more properly face her. "Are you okay?"

"I... I was just thinking ab-about the... " She thought for a moment. "... the graduation spars. I'm f-fine..." She stretched the truth, hoping consciously that Naruto wouldn't press the question.

Naruto had watched her eyes as she spoke; he knew that she wasn't as confident as she pretended to be. Despite his usual oblivious nature, he was becoming more attuned to the signals that his best friend gave off; he knew she wasn't quite 'fine'. "Hinata-chan," he said, reaching his hand out and placing it atop her shoulder, "lets do this!" He encouraged her, bringing his free hand up into a gusto-packed 'thumbs-up'.

Hinata was filled with a familiar warmth, almost instantaneously. 'Naruto-kun...' She brought her head back up to it's previous stature and turned towards Naruto with an equally bright smile. As she was about to nod in happy agreement, a not-so-subtle "Tch." could be heard, coming from behind them.

A quickly moving Uchiha Sasuke brushed past the still posing Naruto, deliberately bumping into him, with his shoulder held out. Sasuke was prepared to enter the building without so much as another sound, until Naruto called out to him. "Hey! What was that all about, Sasuke!"

Without so much as turning, Sasuke shot a cold glance over his shoulder at Naruto. "It's the only gentle reminder you'll get. You should know your place, failure." With a quick glance at Hinata, and a flash of a smirk, Sasuke returned his gaze forward and continued into the building.

At this, Naruto's mouth had crooked itself into a loose scowl as he kept his eyes on the exact path Sasuke had taken into the building.

Seeing, but not believing, what had just occurred, it took Hinata a moment to register that Naruto was in fact, still suffering from the under-handed blow. Softening her gaze, she reached her hand out—albeit, hesitantly—to place it against Naruto's arm.

The physical contact brought him from his thoughts. Naruto blinked once before turning to face Hinata, his eyes not betraying his mild confusion.

"I know that you will graduate successfully... Naruto-kun," Hinata stated confidently.

Seeing the sincerity apparent in her words, match the intensity of the honesty in her gaze, Naruto couldn't help but sprout a wide grin. "You know it! Dattebayo!"

The last instructional day of their unbegun ninja careers was on the verge of starting. They all sat in their usual seats. The seats that they'd grown so accustomed to over the years; stories had been exchanged, friends had been made and lost, lessons had been... sat through; these seats held the elusive memories of their schooling history.

All over the classroom, students found ways to pass the time. Some slept, some studied for the written test they'd already taken... and passed, some ate, but, most talked. In the middle column and back row, Naruto sat a few inches apart from Hinata at the desk that he had come to be a resident at, they sat in peace. Naruto's mind was stuck on something though; Sakura. Ever since that day, nearly three months ago, he had taken to staying out of her way. At this point, he wasn't really sure what he thought of her, but, just as old habits die-hard, apparently, so did old memories.

This, however, wasn't what plagued Naruto's conscious thought, at the moment. Something was definitely off about the typically bubbly pink-haired kunoichi. Granted, she'd been different ever since that day, no, even before that; but this... was something on a different level.

Sakura sat at her desk—if you could call it sitting; she sat hunched over the desk-top, her elbows planted firmly apart with her hands open, pressed against her face. Her arms supported her head, and seemingly her upper-body like thin, weather-beaten pillars. Sakura's characteristic bow was missing from her dress ensemble and her bubble-gum-pink hair lay in a rugged, disshevled mop atop her head. If one were to look closely, which Naruto was, they would be able to see the wrinkles in her usually steam-pressed-neat dress; a tell-tale sign of it being reused. Above all, though, her seafoam-green eyes fell on the empty desk-top, devoid of any notable expression, and every few seconds, seemed to unconsciously dart in the general direction of where Sasuke was seated; she was generally oblivious to even the person seated mere inches away from her: Yamanaka Ino.

Just as Naruto's gaze was beginning to become an inactive stare, he caught sight of their teacher, Umino Iruka entering the room and making his way to the center of the class, where he settled, standing before the podium.

After taking a cursory glance around the room, Iruka decided it was best to grab everyone's attention before beginning to speak. Looking up to give the impression of maintaining eye-contact with all of those who could see him, he cleared his throat. Once. Twice. On the third time, he caught a fair amount of eyes looking to him in conjunction with a noticeable decline in the class' overall volume. Satisfied, he began, "Good morning class, and welcome back!"

The class extended a droned greeting back to him, blending a mixture of varying murmurs of "Hello", "Good Morning", "Morning", and a handful more into a collectively unintelligible groan; he smirked at their lack of enthusiasm.

Disregarding the inadequate greeting, Iruka continued, "Today, all of you who are able to demonstrate the basic skills required of novice ninja, will be inducted into the village military system, as official ninja of Konohagakure! You've all been given this past week as opportunity to withdraw from the academy, so, I can only assume that all of you here today are committed to becoming ninja?" Finishing his statement, Iruka looked around the room to affirm his belief in the assumption; when he received only nods and steady stares, he nodded in satisfaction.

"With that... there's something that must be said to those of you remaining, as it is pertinent to all of you," Iruka further stated. With a heavy sigh, he continued, raising a hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose; the thought pained him. "I'm certain that there are those of you who've noticed that Mizuki is missing..."

Around the room, there were several surprised gasps, but, for the most part, there was a consistent trend of knowing nods, confused looks and young faces etched with nervous anticipation. Then, there were those who noticed that Iruka had dropped the courtesy of the title 'sensei' that he typically extended to his colleagues.

Shikamaru, in particular, was one of these perceptive students. "Iruka-sensei..." He spoke in a lazy drawl, creasing his brow. "Are you implying that Mizuki-san is no longer affiliated with the academy?"

Shaking his head, still in disbelief at the entire matter, Iruka managed, "Shikamaru... I'm saying that Mizuki is no longer affiliated with Konoha." Turning to once again face the entire class, and leveling his stern gaze, Iruka explained the situation. "Mizuki is a traitor to Konoha... I can't believe we've had him under our noses for the past 7 years... Mizuki attempted to steal some secret documents belonging to Konoha, and deliver them to an enemy of the village, country, and potentially the world: Orochimaru..."

Just as Iruka was about to continue, an unexpected voice cut through the shocked silence of the class. "Iruka..." Sasuke spoke. "Who is Orochimaru? If he is so well known... and so dangerous, why haven't we learned about him...?"

Naruto turned to Sasuke, watching his calculated, onyx gaze hold Iruka to the spot.

Taking a moment to think, as he watched Sasuke, he finally decided to speak. "People have potential in them that we, or they may not even realize... Orochimaru's exploits were taken out of the curriculum because we were afraid that we would inspire another ruthless ambitionist." Iruka returned Sasuke's hard, unwavering gaze.

After a moment, Iruka continued. "However, since you've taken an interest, Sasuke... I suppose it wouldn't hurt to tell the class the most important information about him. Orochimaru was one of the renowned Legendary Sannin; he was a student of Sandaime-sama... the third student. He did a great service for the village in the Second and Third Great Ninja War... He was regarded as a hero. Orochimaru was always the prodigy of the group, he was described by Hokage-sama as having that 'special shine'... that wondrous affinity for everything; it would motivate you to teach, and teach... Orochimaru was ambitious, though. He wanted to keep growing stronger, and stronger; his goal was to master every technique; his goal was to be immortal. The problem was, he saw nothing as a boundary for his goals, including the lives of his fellow ninja... The rest isn't of any concern to Genin; it's classified information." Iruka abruptly ended the brief anecdote.

Sasuke tightened his gaze, his hands still raised in front of his face—weaved together—as he supported his chin and head with firmly interlocking thumbs. 'Orochimaru...' He rolled the thought about his cerebral maw.

Iruka addressed the class, once more. "Now, class, settle down," he spoke authoritatively, and waited for the side-conversations to simmer to an unnoticeable buzz, "I'm going to be explaining the graduation exams that you will all take today; even if you've heard this before, I suggest you listen. There will be a Ninjutsu and Taijutsu portion; you will be assessed on all E-rank techniques necessary for graduation and basic Academy Taijutsu. This year, however, we're attempting something new. A post-examination of the Taijutsu pre-assessement, instead of the traditional Taijutsu exams. You'll be assessed on a rating scale before the class as well as observed to see if at least basic skills are up to par; this is a more accurate application of a Taijutsu assessment idiom, as it is a practical demonstration of your possessed Taijutsu ability, applied to a real situation—versus the traditional form-display."

With that said, Iruka looked up, regarding the entirety of the class with a genuine smile. "You've all had time to prepare... and I'm proud of all the future ninja who sit before me today... I look forward to having all of you as colleagues!" Turning his head slightly, Iruka captured Naruto's beaming visage, and let his own features crease into a complete smile. 'I know you'll make it, Naruto.'

Bursting with excitement, and beaming with a toothy grin, Naruto jumped to his feat, slamming his palms against the table-top. "Let's go Iruka-sensei! I want to graduate already!" He carefully modulated the energy that he put into this display, however, so as to not startle his desk-mate.

Sakura's eyebrow twitched at the sound of Naruto's voice, in a brief moment of recognition, Sakura rose her head somewhat. Without turning to Naruto, she began to speak in a tone that characteristically preluded a shout, "Naruto... Don't interrupt Iruka-sensei! Why can't you be mor—"

Sakura's statement was cut short by a curt command that ripped through the air, severing Sakura's brief brush with cognizance and sending her drifting back into her out-of-touch state. "Sakura. Be quiet," Sasuke spoke.

Sakura imperceptibly, albeit unconsciously, shuddered at the bite behind Sasuke's words.

Sasuke paid the reaction no mind, merely turning his passive gaze back toward the front of the room.

Naruto reaffixed his vision on Sasuke, not hardly missing the tinge of disgust tinting his otherwise clear eyes. The rest of the class, however, couldn't keep their eyes from constantly shifting between Sakura and Sasuke.

Iruka, once again, reclaimed focus, and with a tired sigh, he decided to proceed. "Naruto has a point. We do need to begin. We'll do the Ninjutsu examination first, going in alphabetical order by Family name. First, Aburame Shino..."

As soon as Iruka had begun to call students to the front of the room to perform their Ninjutsu examination, Naruto had tuned him out, knowing that he would be last. He needed time to mentally prepare...

For the first time since class had begun, Sasuke allowed himself a glance in Naruto's direction. 'This is where it ends, Naruto. Then I can finally be rid of you. You always were an obstacle, in my experience in this class; now, you're going to be disenrolled from the Academy and forgotten, like the nuisance you are.'

Student after student reported to the front of the classroom to demonstrate their ability to perform the required E-rank techniques. Most of them were reasonably successful, some, though, evidently had either more practice, aptitude or, a lucky combination of the two, than others.

Finally, the last name was called. Looking up from his clipboard, which he now held in-hand, Iruka spoke, "Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto swallowed the lump in his throat, upon hearing his name. Standing up, and sparing a quick glance toward Hinata, Naruto turned to face Iruka once more, and, sliding out from the space between the edge of his chair and the beginning of the barrier that was the desk he'd been seated at, he began his descent. Taking careful steps, he slowly approached the front of the room, he took caution to balance his weight in each stride, so as not to loose balance when shifting to a new platform. Reaching the base of the in-built staircase, Naruto turned and looked back on the class. All eyes were on him, but he found encouragement solely in those tranquil pools of gentle lavender, that were Hinata's eyes. He smiled. Turning once more, with a swift pivot on the ball of his leading foot, Naruto proceeded forward and righted himself, presenting himself before the class and his examiner. He looked to Iruka, awaiting further instruction.

"Naruto," Iruka began, setting aside his clipboard to focus on the student before him, "please perform the Henge technique. Assume my form."

Naruto nodded, and brought his hands together: one positioned slightly higher in the seal than the other, with the index and middle finger of both hands standing straight; he had formed the 'Ram' seal. "Henge" Naruto intoned. In a subsequent burst of smoke, a perfect replica of Iruka was found to be standing in Naruto's place.

Iruka nodded, pleased with the results. "Alright, Naruto. Now, please perform the Bunshin technique. You are to create 4 stable Bunshin that can be used for distraction, confusion and misdirection."

'Breathe Naruto,' he coached himself, closing his eyes for concentration. 'We've done this before, all that training with Hinata-chan wasn't for nothing!' His eyes sprung open. 'Alright,' he thought, 'here we go.'

'Hitsuji-Mi-Tora,' he thought as he sped through the hand-signs. "Bunshin no Jutsu" He called out, powering through the pressure he felt to succeed. A massive cloud of smoke materialized around the area Naruto had been standing in...

'Oh no...' Thought Iruka, disappointedly. 'Don't tell me, after all he's been doing... he still didn't...'

Iruka's train of thought was disrupted however, when the smoke cleared enough to reveal a small troop, consisting of 20 copies of Naruto, standing with nearly perfect posture, saluting the class. "I did it!" Shouted all the clones at once, causing Iruka to burst out in laughter. "Naruto, that's amazing! When did you master the Bunshin... to that extent?!"

With a bashful chuckle, Naruto commented, "Well... I have my best friend, Hinata-chan, to thank for helping me with my chakra control..."

Sitting at their shared desk, Hinata was attempting to deflect all of the sudden attention by squeezing as much of herself as she could into her jacket. 'N-Naruto-kun...!' She buried her intensifying blush under the layers of fabric that her faithful jacket provided, wishing for the first time, that she could recall, for Naruto to forget that she'd spent all of that time with him.

Off to the far corner of the room, Sasuke sat in solitude, observing the scene before him. Inside, he hated what he saw.

It was unusually quiet outside. The majority of the school year took place when the outside was teeming with the foliage and fauna that called Konoha home. And, although it was Winter, today was a particularly brisk day. The air popped and pricked against the skin with tension, like hot oil; this, only served to add to the effect the cold temperatures had on blood flow, and the subsequent result of the lack of such a thing.

The fresh Genin-candidates had assembled outside, before a makeshift sparring circle that had been etched into the ground, presumably a long while ago; it had since faded. It was not too small, but it was certainly not large enough. Trees, littered with kunai and abandoned wooden targets completed the surrounding background; this was a nigh on ubiquitous factor in Konoha.

The students stood, silent, sparing glances to their teacher every now and then. The silence was eating at them.

Looking around, Iruka checked to make sure that everyone was gathered. Satisfied, he raised his clipboard, once again, and began to explain the procedure. "Okay... let's begin the spars. I'll be calling out two names at random, these names were paired deliberately, before the intercession. The people by the two names that are called are to report to their respective sides of the sparring circle, bow, and commence with the spar. No Ninjutsu is allowed, but, if it is inclusive in your distinct style of Taijutsu, Kekkei Genkai usage is permissible."

Each student let their eyes drift between the clipboard and Iruka, wondering which was the decider of their fate.

"First will be... Kudo Aomori, and Aburame Shino."

The two students glanced at each other, pausing for a moment to assess their to-be adversary. Satisfied, Shino led the way to the make-shift ring, ready to begin the spar. Aomori followed in his stead, he did his best to keep a safe distance from the mysterious member of the Aburame clan...

In the crowd, several people payed scarce attention to the spars. Two of these people, were Naruto and Hinata.

"Hinata-chan," Naruto spoke in a hushed voice, aiming the words at the girl standing beside him.

"Yes, Naruto-kun?" Hinata responded, looking to her immediate right.

"You seem a little bit nervous... are you okay?" He asked, concerned.

"I... I'm just a l-little bit nervous about having to f-fight Sasuke-san..." Hinata admitted.

Naruto turned to her. "What? You're worried because you may have to fight Sasuke?" Naruto glanced towards Sasuke, over his shoulder. "You really shouldn't worry about him, he's no big deal."

"B-But... Naruto-kun, Sasuke-san seems to hold you in contempt... and he's very powerful for our age..."

Naruto waved his hand in front of himself dismissively. "Nah, Hinata-chan, he's only dangerous when he uses all of his fireball techniques," Naruto spoke while gesturing with his hands to create the image of a large ball being forcibly expelled from his mouth, in conjunction, he added sound effects in an attempt to simulate a sizzling fire—unfortunately, he ended up sounding more like a hissing snake: 'sssss-,' "you're a Taijutsu specialist, right Hinata-chan?" She nodded in response, still somewhat dumbfounded by his 'special effects'. "No problem then! You know, if anyone should be nervous, it's me. I may get paired up against you, and I know that you can kick my ass..."

Hinata couldn't help but attempt to stifle a powerful spasm of giggling, after being broken out of her speechlessness by such a ridiculous insinuation. She didn't believe she could do such a thing... she wasn't that strong. "Na-Naruto-kun! That's not true..."

"It is!" He vehemently insisted, waving his arms above his head for emphasis.

"I... Even if it were t-true... I would never hurt you, Naruto-kun..." Hinata responded, diverting her look in a futile attempt to hide her blush at the revealing (or so she thought) admission.

Naruto felt an unfamiliar and unknown warmth grip at his heart upon hearing Hinata's words. Mentally, there was no register; there was no comparison. But something in him... something deep within him recognized the feeling. All he could make of it was, that he enjoyed it immensely. 'So this is what having a truly close friend feels like...?' Despite his ignorance, though, Naruto knew better. This was more than the feeling of camaradarie, if the heat welling up in his cheeks and soul was anything to go by, that is. As Naruto was struggling to find the words to respond with, him, along with Hinata and the other students who found themselves to have been in a daze were snapped out of their musing by a recurring, strong voice.

"Next: Hyūga Hinata, and Haruno Sakura," Iruka called out again, for clarity.

As Naruto was about to wish Hinata luck in her spar, he and Hinata both were distracted by seeing Sakura make a virtual bee-line for... Sasuke.

Hinata was given pause, but she quickly re-established her situation and began to make her way to the sparring circle to await Sakura's imminent arrival.

Sakura meekly approached the still stolid Sasuke. By this point, her ways were already pre-programmed, and all she needed to fulfill her self-encoded 'purpose' was opportunity. Sasuke being available, was one such opportunity. "S-Sasuke-kun," she began, parlaying with her last, remaining shred of composure. "w-wish me lu-luck... o-k-kay?" She nearly begged.

In turn, Sasuke regarded the frail spirit to the immediate left of himself with distaste. After a moment, he twisted his features into a cold sneer, and with a terse "Hn", turned his head towards the now approaching-the-ring Hinata and offhandedly offered, entirely dismissing Sakura. "Good luck... Hinata."

In Sakura's mind there was a small crack to be heard. With a destroyed and empty look about her countenance, she drudged towards the ring, following the aforementioned Hyūga.

Hinata jerk her head back towards Sasuke in mild shock. 'W-What...did he...?' Quickly refocusing, Hinata turned her attention back towards her opponent.

Naruto nearly snapped his neck, at the speed which he did a double take between the smirking Uchiha and his friend, a look of shock plastered on his visage.

Sasuke's look soon returned to its impassive norm as he watched the two kunoichi stand apart from each other, both in completely different mental states.

Naruto crossed his arms, folding them across his chest as he observed the stand-off. 'Come on... Hinata-chan. You can do this.'

Iruka interjected, wanting to bring the sparring progress out of it's current stagnation. "You two may begin whenever you're ready..."

Hinata took this as a cue, hoping that Sakura would come out of her lost daze at a sign of the fight beginning. Standing up straight, Hinata maneuvered her hands before herself, holding them in a loose Jūken form. Repositioning her feet to better accommodate her center-of-gravity, she completed the stance, her knees slightly bent.

Swallowing her inhibitions, Hinata attempted to reach her far-off opponent. "S-Sakura-san... I'm sorry. I... I don't harbor any resentment... I d-don't want there to be any hard feelings between us... Please, let's have a fair fight..." Hinata gently worded her offer of sportsmanship, sans Byakugan.

Sakura's head snapped up violently from it's semi-cocked state as her eyes regained focus, an unhealthy focus. "Fair?" Sakura asked, quietly. "Fair?!" She repeated incredulously, causing Hinata to jump slightly. "What would a stupid, stuck-up Hyūga know about fair?!" She spat, her eyes wild with bitter longing.

Naruto's eyes widened, reverberating slightly at the caustic nature of Sakura's words... 'What's happened to her...?'

Observing from the sidelines, Sasuke merely narrowed his eyes and commented, with unwitting magnitude, "Sakura! Stop wasting time, and fight, we don't have all day."

Sakura's muscles went into spasm in the wake of her rapidly escalating anger. Letting out a cry at being unable to handle what she was hearing, Sakura violently charged forward, beginning a malicious whirlwind of uncoordinated strikes, directed at Hinata.

Hinata was taken aback by the ferocity of the onslaught. She back-stepped, observing Sakura's wild gaze. 'She's actually trying to h-hurt me...' Hinata instantly shook her head, dismissing the thought and the unvoiced accusation. Hinata struggled to deflect the random blows with the intent to redirect; this was not Taijutsu. 'She... Why would she...?' Hinata couldn't shake the thought, it kept burrowing it's way back to the forefront of her thoughts, insisting on being acknowledged. It was slowly but surely becoming apparent to the still evading Hinata that maybe... just maybe...

Sakura jumped a minimal distance off the ground and merely swung her leg up and out, in a vain attempt to perhaps take Hinata's head off. Hinata took the opportunity to jump back a few meters and distance herself. "S-Sakura-san! I... I don't want to fight you like this!"

But Sakura merely ignored her words. She continued to throw uncontrolled strikes, swinging her arms violently and occasionally raising a leg for a vicious lob in an effort to tear down the manifestation of her demons that she'd transposed unto Hinata.

"AHH!" Sakura shouted, charging forward in reckless abandon.

Hinata ducked under the vicious blow, still giving reason the benefit of the doubt. "Sakura-san! Please, stop!" But, it was to no avail. Forced to spin into an expertly executed series of bobs and weaves throughout Sakura's shoddy deterrent, Hinata juxtaposed herself to Sakura's supporting foot and spun behind her. Stumbling back slightly, in the aftermath of the spontaneous maneuver, Hinata managed to maintain her breathing at a slow and controlled, yet nervous rate.

Sakura stumbled forward, unable to gain her balance as she collapsed over her inadvertently swept foot. She collapsed on the hard soil; a feeble, heavily breathing, and still readily volatile heap—with hands murderously digging finger-sized trenches in the dirt.

Hinata slipped into a standing position, hesitantly. With a re-aligning breath, she raised her hand, palm open, above her head and spoke out, alerting Iruka. "I-Iruka-sensei... I forfeit..."

Iruka, now back in-touch, looked up and with a slight pause, relented. "Umm... That's... Alright, Hinat—" Iruka, however, was shortly cut off by an unscrupulous vociferation. "NO!"

Sakura shakily stood up, ailed by rage. "She can't! We're not done!"

Sakura began to stalk towards Hinata, but before she got remotely close to reaching her, Naruto spoke up. "Sakura! Stop! Hinata-chan didn't do anything to you!"

Sakura rose her head to meet the awestruck and condemning eyes of her classmates; more importantly, though, she caught the looks of Hinata, Naruto, Ino and... Sasuke. Shaking her head, she tried to speak. "I—" The looks remained. "I... I—" The looks still remained... Dropping her head sullenly, she proceeded to attempt to blend back into the crowd of students, returning to her initial realm of malignant depression. The other academy students kept a safe distance from her; they were afraid of being the subject of another unexpected outburst, they didn't say it, but she knew it... She knew it.

With a much needed deep breath, Iruka raised his clipboard to eye level and examined it, searching for a new pair of names to select. He called out, almost regretfully, "Uchiha Sasuke, and Uzumaki Naruto."

There was a moment of silence.

Naruto and Sasuke will wordlessly proceed to the sparring circle, eyeing each other out as they walked; they left their motor mechanics to muscle memory, too focused on each other to make any sort of conscious effort. The only sound that could be felt was the gentle, earthy scrape of their sandles against the earth.

Reaching their respective opposites of the crude circle, they remained, fixated on the subtle movements of the eyes, ears, nose, mouth, feet and hands. Sasuke took the initiative, taking a single, hard step forward, he was halted by Naruto bowing. He merely lowered his head in response, wordlessly refusing to angle his chin at any further than 25 degrees.

His foot still remained out, in a walking stance; he felt he was in no danger.

"Sasuke... Good luck," Naruto stated, never taking his eyes off of his rigid opponent.

"Naruto. Don't patronize me. We both know how this will end; just as we did last time," Sasuke spoke at a steady monotone, unrelenting in his gaze.

Naruto started, much like he did all those years ago, with a chakra spiked lunge he flung himself through the air, arm cocked back with a fist balled—his grip as hard as steel. Sasuke darted from his out-stretched foot, spinning to the right to coincide with Naruto's unguarded broadside.

Naruto's vigorous punch slipped past Sasuke as he ducked his head forward ever so slightly. Bringing his arm around, folded over to bring his elbow to a rough point, he slammed it back, timing Naruto's fall perfectly; the elbow slammed into Naruto's rib cage, causing him to wince in pain.

Knowing that Naruto was bound to fly back from the propulsion his elbow-strike had redirected, Sasuke opted to continue the assault. Spinning on his left heel, he spun back in the opposite direction, aiming a back-handed fist at Naruto's vulnerable face.

Naruto, however, saw this coming after he'd notice Sasuke's direction change; he also knew, though, that he was incredibly vulnerable to the strike, there was no way he could dodge...

Sasuke's fist picked up momentum as it went, until he felt the satisfying dull smack of his knuckles slamming into the blond fool's jaw. He smiled to himself. 'Perfect.'

"Sasukeee!" Naruto shouted, catching Sasuke's attention. "Never turn your back on an opponent!" He exclaimed, drawing his free fist back as he held Sasuke's still out-stretched fist with his right hand.

Following the momentum that he generated from throwing his fist forward with the rest of his body attached, Naruto nearly slammed the free fist into Sasuke's nose. Sasuke, in the nick of time, hopped back, bringing the previously captured hand with him. At this point, though, he was stumbling.

Naruto took the opportunity with a happy smirk, lunging forward Naruto followed up with a full-swing high sweep, aiming for Sasuke's open mid-section. Sasuke kept attempting to back-pedal, his balance still escaping him. Naruto finally had an opening.

He weaved forward, jumping to the left and right to throw off Sasuke's balance even further as he progressed closer and closer to the Uchiha. 'Now!' Naruto faked a short jab with his right hand, swiftly pulling it back, he used it as a pivot for his hips; with a bolstered speed, he sent his left fist slamming brutally into Sasuke's open cheek, jerking his head violently to the left.

The pain the Uchiha felt pulsating over the nerves in his face, at the blunt impact of the steeled fist, brought the scorn of yesterday rocketing to the predominancy of his mind.

Ishika began to turn to leave, but midway, he paused to speak "Power is truly a tragic thing, but, we all are endowed with the potential to achieve it. It's an inalienable factor of human existence. Although it is important what you do to gain it, it's truly important what you do with it... if you make the right choice in the end..."

Sasuke had been lamenting. Staring emptily at the ground in hopes of some sort of answer... How could he have lost? What had happened? Was he really right...?

In the last moments of his thought-cycle, though, Ishika's words had interrupted. No, they had not simply interrupted, they had impacted...

'Heh...' rung out in Sasuke's mind. 'Here's where I prove you wrong, you senile old fool.'

Naruto watched Sasuke, who seemed to be frozen by his strike, his hair blocking his wayward-facing eyes from sight, covering his face in shadow. A steady trickle of blood ran down Sasuke's lip.

Just as he planned to retract his hand, though, Sasuke moved at a much faster speed than it was initially anticipated that he was capable of, catching the wrist of the offending arm in a vice grip.

Sasuke turned his head back to Naruto, facing him fully, Sharingan blazing. Bringing an elbow up with nearly twice his previous speed, he smashed it down into Naruto's opposite shoulder with a sickening thud; following up his previous strike, he brought up a leg and jutted it out, heavily connecting with Naruto's chest cage as he let go of the previously locked-in wrist, sending him flying backwards.

Naruto was stunned, both in pain, and in shock. 'What the hell? How did he...' He wasn't able to complete the thought, though, as he was forced to defend himself from a rapid-fire flurry of precise fist-strikes, interleaved with kicks to every imaginable vulnerability on his body. 'He's reading me...'

Naruto brought up his arms in a cross-block to defend against the fourth punch in the gatling gun succession Sasuke had just assaulted his body with, which had resulted in 3 bruised ribs. 'Damn...'

Sasuke followed up with a leaping roundhouse, which he brought down diagonally at the intersection of Naruto's neck muscles and tendons. Spiraling off of that momentum, Sasuke reached down with a cupped hand and caught Naruto's shoulder to use as leverage to flip himself over Naruto. Back to back, Sasuke countered every move that Naruto attempted to use, before the move even became apparent to the on looking crowd; he struck his wrists to prevent punches, his elbows to prevent strikes, his under arms to prevent counters, his neck and ribs to draw on the aide of old injuries, and a succession of other weak areas to follow up with.

'This is crazy, he's breaking me...'

'This is wonderful... I can see everything he does as if it were in slow motion; it almost feels like he's letting me win... as it should be.'

In a final desperate lunge, Naruto jumped over Sasuke. Spinning around, he planned to throw a solid hook right to Sasuke's unsuspecting throat, but in the place where Sasuke had been, he found nothing... 'What?!' Then he saw it. A flash of blue in his lower peripheral vision; Sasuke had ducked low under the punch long before Naruto had even completed turning around, he was ready.

'And this... is the end.'

Balancing on the ball of his left foot, Sasuke hooked his right leg in a crooked arc, striking the backs of Naruto's knees and following through by righting himself. Pulling Naruto through the stance, he effectively brought his legs entirely out from under him, letting him land back-first against the ground, his head deftly falling back against the coarse dirt, his arm still outstretched as if to punch. His arm fell, with a faint tshh.

With the wind knocked out of him, Naruto coughed, and, with a wince, glanced up at Sasuke against the sun, with only a single eye half open. 'I'm still... not strong enough to beat him,' Naruto thought, as he stared into Sasuke's piercing, crimson Sharingan.

'Naruto-kun...' Hinata thought, observing from the sidelines.

"Tch," Sasuke barely uttered as he swiveled on his heel, and nonchalantly strode away from his opponent. "Iruka," he commented, already reimmersing himself in the crowd, "the fight is over."

With a grunt, Naruto pushed himself up on one arm, watching as Sasuke walked away. He was soon brought out of his focus, though, by Hinata kneeling down at his side. "A-Are you alright, Naruto-kun?"

Turning to Hinata, he quickly attempted to cover the situation, try to forcefully contort his expression into his jubilant norm. "Yeah... yeah I'm fine! I'm sorry about your spar though, Hinata-chan..." He mentioned, changing the subject. "You coulda' really showed them what you can do!"

Hinata gave him a peaceable smile. "I-It's alright, Naruto-kun. There will b-be a next time." Looking down, a blush adorning her delicate features, Hinata reached into her jacket, and from it, produced a small jar. "Naruto-kun... This is for you. You can apply it to a bruise or cut; it will help ease the pain and disinf-fect it..." Lowering her head, she presented the jar to Naruto with both hands, unable to bring herself to make eye-contact, despite their history.

With a light laugh, Naruto replied in amazement, "Wow! Thanks, Hinata-chan. I remember, you had some of this stuff during training; it was awesome!" Reaching out, he eagerly retreived the jar from her extended hands, and with a powerful grin, added, "You're the best!"

At this, Hinata's blush intensified as she practically whispered her thanks...

Mingled amongst the crowd of waiting students, in a tired utterance, Iruka listed out the names of the next two 'combatants', wanting to continue. "Yamanaka Ino, and Suzuki Mariko..."

Looking down, from an elevated section of the Academy roof, his arms folded across his chest, Kakashi observed intently. He narrowed his one-visible eye in scrutiny. 'Kurenai will certainly have her hands full with that one... Team considerations aside, it's probably for the best to separate those two anyway...' He paused. '...As for my team... I suppose now's a better time than any to begin the preparations. Then... we'll know where to truly begin.' With a calculated Shunshin, he vanished in a spontaneous burst of smoke.

Inside of the classroom, standing in front of a long table with a sheet laying over-top of it, Iruka stood to address the class. All eyes were on Iruka as he scanned the classroom slowly. After a few moments of hanging suspense, he spoke, "Have any of you noticed that there are some students missing?" The class, in turn, took a moment to glance around, taking notice of the fact that there were in fact classmates of theirs that were no longer there.

Iruka, having started off with a somewhat serious expression, will instantly develop a bright smile. Looking up at the class, he announced with a great air of pride, "Everyone remaining... has graduated. You are all now officially ninja of Konohagakure no Sato! Congratulations to you all!" Taking after him, the entire class began to increasingly glow with an aura of joy and pride.

Overjoyed, Naruto turnd to Hinata and (much to her surprise) wrapped her in a powerful hug shouting, at a regulated volume, "We did it, Hinata-chan! We did it!"

Hinata—still not use to the close contact with her unwitting love—merely painted her features with a stunned look and a steadily heating blush, her mouth barely ajar. The only thought running through her mind was: 'N-Naruto-kun is h-hugging me!'

Over the clamor of the still bubbling classroom, Iruka could faintly be heard explaining that they could all pick up their 'Hitai-ate', team meeting assignments and squad number at the front, with him.

Naruto eagerly leapt up, heading for the front, to grab hold of his future.

Naruto walked along the polished wooden corridor with his shiny, new hitai-ate adorning his forehead and a piece of paper in his hand. His gaze was fixed on the paper, as we walked through the halls that he knew well enough to navigate through without sight, thinking to himself. 'Hmm... Team 7... I wonder what kind of people are on this team.' Scrunching his face up in thought for a moment, he let the possibilities pass through his mind before merely shrugging and redirecting his focus back the path he was walking, heading towards the Academy Main Roof.

Upon reaching the roof-top, the first thing Naruto's eyes caught sight of was Hinata. His happiness soared. Greeting her happily, he took off in a sprint to where she was standing, observing a log with a note tagged to it—written in a hasty scrawl.

"Hey! Hinata-chan!" Naruto called out to her.

Jumping in surprise, Hinata turned to see Naruto running towards her at top speed. "N-Naruto-kun! Are y-you on.."

"Yup!" Naruto finished for her, scratching at the back of his head, he decided to make sure this wasn't just a figment of his wild imagination. "Umm... Team 7, right?"

Hinata nodded, a huge smile growing on her face.

"That's awesome! We're on the same team, Hinata-chan!" Naruto cheered, jumping up in the air and clapping his feet together; he'd completely forgotten about the struggles he'd faced earlier in the day...

"N-Naruto-kun..." Hinata began, trying to formulate her question to be as clear as possible. "D-Do you know who else is on our t-team?" Hinata cocked her head to the side, slightly.

"Hmm..." Naruto started, rubbing his chin. "Nope! But maybe it—"

Just as Naruto was beginning to speculate, Sasuke walked up behind, but slightly between their positions and flatly asked, "What does it say."

Knowing what he meant, Naruto bent down. He squinted at the messy penmanship, carefully reciting, "'Lost... on the... path of life... Meet me... in the mor...ning, 6 AM, Training Gr...ound 7.'" Quickly turning to face both Hinata and the invader of their privacy, he incredulously quipped, "The path of life? What the hell is that supposed to mean?! What kind of Sensei are they supposed to be?!"

Hearing a slowly softening tap sound, Naruto turned to notice Sasuke merely walking away, not saying a word, before leaping off the side of the building, presumably heading 'home'.

"Geez. What is that guy's problem?" Naruto asked, reaching his hand back to scratch his head in exasperation.

"Well!" Naruto exclaimed. "I know what always makes me feel better! Ichiraku Ramen!" Turning to Hinata, Naruto offered, "Wanna come with me, Hinata-chan?" He watched her inquisitively.

As much as she wanted to accept, Hinata knew that she could not. "I-I'm sorry Naruto-kun. I would like to, but I'm expected at... home."

"O-Oh, alright, Hinata-chan. Well I'll see you tomorrow!" Looking back, Naruto added, "And, Hinata-chan... I'm really happy we're on the same team. I-I l...," he paused 'I can't say that! She'll think I'm weird or something!', "...l-look-look forward to working... with... you?" he attempted.

Hinata stifled a giggle with a hand raised daintily before herself. Naruto's antics always brightened her spirits, even if she didn't quite understand all of them. "I'm very happy as well, Naruto-kun."

Next Time: Chapter 7 - Albatross