Summary: She looks up to gaze at his coal obsidian eyes as he gazes downward at her enchanting sky blue eyes. They both thought, "Is this love?" Who says opposites can't attract? SasuFemNaru… MORE PAIRINGS INSIDE

Pairings: SasuFemNaru, ItaFemKyuu, LeeSaku, NejiTen, ShikaTema, KibaHina, ChouIno

Warnings: OOC-ness, language

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Kesshite Wasuremasu
by Aesura

Breaking New Ground

Kakashi stared idly at the three genin in front of him. Naruto was tied up against the middle log, Sasuke sitting to her right and Sakura on the opposite side. A pair of bento boxes sat in front of them. He mentally shook his head in disappointment, disbelieving that the three children could me so incompetent. He heard three stomachs collectively signaled their dissatisfaction.

"Your stomachs are growling, eh?" Kakashi crossed his arms. "By the way, about the results of this test…" They looked at him. "None of you need to return to the Ninja Academy."

"Does this mean we three…?" Sakura asked hopefully, not bothering to finish her sentence.

"Yeah, you three…" he smiled, drawling out his sentence. "…should quit being ninjas!" Kakashi shouted with a cold visage, breaking all of their hopes.

"Quit being ninjas? What do you mean?" Naruto protested loudly. "So we couldn't get those bells on time, but why do you have to say we should quit?"

"It's because you three are just kids who don't even deserve to be ninjas."

Sasuke gritted his teeth. He dashed at the jounin with a look that could kill. But just as he got within striking distance, Kakashi disappeared from his vision and a hand grabbed him by his wrist in a vice-grip. He suddenly found himself slammed into the ground face first. He cried out as a foot crushed the back of his head, disabling movement, and his left arm was pulled behind him in a hammer-lock.

"See? You all are just kids." Kakashi stated.

"Don't step on Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yelled angrily.

Kakashi's eyes focused on her. Sakura immediately shrunk back in fear. He then spoke to all three of them. "Do you guys think being a ninja is easy?" No answer. "I see. By your silence, you're too afraid to answer. Or you three don't know your flaws that could very well cost you your life."

Kakashi turned his attention solely on the pinkette. "Sakura! You care more about Sasuke than Naruto, even though she was right in front of your line of vision and you didn't know where Sasuke was." Sakura bowed her head in embarrassment, the truth of his words ringing in her ears.

Kakashi shoved Sasuke's face harder against the ground. "Sasuke. All you did was work on your own. Your pride and egotistic attitude stopped you from asking for help from your other teammates from the beginning. You even gave away your hiding spot to save Naruto from a simple kawarimi, a technique you should have saw through. I'd expect your clan would had taught you how to counteract that low-rank jutsu from afar, at the very least."

His eyes moved to the tied-up blonde. "Naruto! All you did was showed off your ninjutsu and acted cocky when you thought you had beaten me. Though unlike these two, you actually had come close in gaining both bells, and I commend you for that." Naruto's eyes lit up, but the cold look Kakashi was giving took it right away. "But you did not capitalize on your advantage! You were too motivated in trying to defeat me that you allowed your competitive side to take over, while your main objective was dangling from my waist just inches from your hands. Plus, that last move could have given away secrets of our village if an enemy ninja had to capture or killed you." Naruto shut her eyes, preventing tears of shame from coming out. "Damn it, he's right…"

Kakashi allowed what he said to sink in. "If today's exercise was a real battle, all three of you would be dead." He stated firmly, then his voice softened. "...and I would be getting a letter from the Hokage telling me my team had died in action."

Kakashi stood, releasing Sasuke, and moved towards the onyx monument. "Look at this… the numerous names carved into this stone. All these names are those praised as heroes in this village. But they were not your normal heroes. They were those who were K.I.A," Kakashi elucidated as Sasuke moved to joined back with the other genin.

Sakura looked at the monument sadly. "Those who were killed in action." she said in a low voice, finishing off Kakashi's explanation. Naruto's face dropped to a sad look. Sasuke narrowed his eyes, looking grim.

"This is a cenotaph." He looked down at the monument with respect, and a look of sadness. "The names of my friends are craved in here as well." Without turning around, Kakashi asked, "Tell me. Do you three know the answer of this test, the answer to this test that would pass or failed you?"

Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke looked straight at him simultaneously and answered, "Teamwork." Sakura elaborated, "We just didn't realize this until it was too late.."

"..You're not as hopeless as I first thought," Kakashi complimented as his hands roamed over the names of his deceased comrades. "Be that as it may, even though you three looked underneath the underneath and found the real meaning to the test, you still all fail. Timing is crucial on a mission. If one of your teammates abandons you, but then they realized their mistake and came back to help you, but it's already too late, then you lose more than a failed mission." Kakashi's fingers lingered on one name in particular, tracing the characters of their name with a sorrowful expression. He sighed out loud, looking up at the sky as if looking beyond the clouds.

"What would you do, Obito?" Kakashi gazed into the sky, as if looking into heaven. He closed his eyes and listened to the wind, as if the words of his fallen best friend were carried within its gentle breeze. After a few moments of silence, he once again opened his eyes and turned his head to the trio.

"I'll give you all one more chance." He saw their faces perked up slightly. "However, the battle for the bell will be much harsher after lunch. Eat lunch only if you are up to the challenge. But don't let Naruto eat. She goes hungry."

The blonde glowered at Kakashi as he walked towards them. "Nani? Why?" Naruto asked, talking for her growling stomach. She tried freeing herself from the bindings, but found the task to be unexpectedly hard to accomplish.

"This is your punishment for your actions today. Out of all three of you, yours would have cost your team their ultimate demise the most …And I'll stop that struggling if I were you. Those ropes are chakra-infused, only responding to my chakra signature. Your attempts are useless." He moved his gaze over Sasuke and Sakura. "If anyone feeds her, the person will immediately fail."

He ignored Sasuke's glare. "My word is law. Got it?" their sensei said in a menacing tone before disappearing.

Once Kakashi was gone, Naruto watched as her two teammates picked up a bento box each. Looking down, she tried to not let anyone see her face and how hungry she was. She tried to ignore the rumbling of her stomach and the pang of hunger from not eating breakfast, but it wasn't working like she had hoped it would. Peeking up, Naruto saw Sasuke eat another bite of food and her stomach gave a rather noisy rumble.

Naruto didn't know what was more uncomfortable. The fact that she was tied to a wooden post, or the fact that she was starving and her teammates were enjoying their packed lunches in front of her. As if wanting to torture her, her stomach released a noisy and hungry sounding growl. The two glanced at her briefly, chopsticks poised and ready to enter their mouths at any moment. Sakura and Sasuke frowned slightly as they lowered their food, quickly shooting a glance back and forth between their lunches and the tied-up ninja. The blonde blushed with mild embarrassment, and looked away. "If I had just one more day to practice that hiraishin technique, I would have nailed it… Then I wouldn't be starving like a mangy mutt right now…"

Her thoughts were cut short however, when a pair of chopsticks bearing scented rice was stuffed surprisingly into her mouth. Food! But where had it come fro-… "Sasuke?"

The Uchiha just started to gather another portion of rice on to his chopsticks. "Just swallow it."

A low gasp from her left had her glancing in that direction. "Sasuke-kun! Kakashi-sensei said we're not allowed to feed her!" she whispered furiously, eyes darting around to make sure he wasn't anywhere in the vicinity. She didn't want her beloved to get into trouble now, did she?

"We're supposed to be a team. How can we expect Naruto to do her best on an empty stomach?"

"Sasuke-kun…" Sakura sighed softly, but nodded her agreement, offering her bento box to Naruto.

"Sakura…?" Naruto thought, her eyes widening in disbelief. She didn't expect this small gesture to come from her, or Sasuke in that manner. Seeing that she meant it, Naruto offered a small smile of thanks. "Arigatou…" Sakura returned the grin, her feelings mutual. Unknown to the three of them, this was the first time those two had shown any loyalty to her as a team. And at that exact moment as the two kounichis exchange their gratitude, a feeling intertwined the three in a way they couldn't decipher.

Friendship.

Kakashi watched from his location behind a tree a good distance away, secretly listening into their conversation. His position was perfectly concealed from the three genin in a method that he could see them, but they couldn't see him unless they looked behind the tree.

It was like looking into a mirror. He didn't see Sasuke offering his boxed lunch to Naruto, but saw himself in the exact same position when he was younger. He also failed along with his three genin teammates during this bell training many years ago. Like Sasuke, he went off on his own to retrieve a bell. Yet, he failed.

Yet, they all failed as a team.

He watched Sakura offering Naruto her bento box. It was time to act.

Just as Sasuke's chopsticks rose for the second time, their sensei showed up in an explosion of smoke and dust. "YOU THREE!" Naruto bit back her cry of surprise, reaching into her reaching into her weapon pouch, only to remember that she's tied up, in other words, she's a sitting duck. Sakura screamed in fear, defending herself with her arms upon instinct. Sasuke gritted his teeth, bearing his grounds, prepared for any type of attack.

The galestorm encircled the training field, howling an ominous wail. That and Kakashi's murderous glare still remained. His visible eye glowered at them, the aura he was masked over with waves of killer intent. "You three just broke the rule," he snarled. "Are you ready for the punishment?" He went through several handseals. Suddenly, the sky darkened immensely with streaks of lightening and foreboding clouds. The earth shook violently, though Kakashi still maintain his perfect balance. "Any last words?"

Sasuke scowled at the silver haired man, his hands itching towards his kunai if the scarecrow dared to make the first move. He wasn't going to give up without a fight. The pink haired kounichi cowered in fright, too shaken up to do anything. Naruto glanced from her two teammates, one too tense while the other too frightened. She couldn't do anything while contained like this, so maybe…

"But…!" Naruto shouted, getting the attention of the other three. "Hm?" Kakashi said, the earthquake diminishing in the process. The blonde's voice slowly gained confidence. "You said that we all have to work as a team if we wanted to pass. That's why…"

"We're a three man team, right?" Sasuke said, completing Naruto's sentence.

"Yeah! We three are one!" Sakura's voice was higher than usual, but her teammates' words gave her enough assurance to stand up against the jounin. Kakashi shot the girl a look out the corner of his eye, though she didn't flinched away this time.

"You three are one, eh?" Kakashi walked up to them, the tone of his voice becoming more threatening. It was as if Shinigami itself had come to take their souls to their tormenting graves inside the pit of its stomach. In a quick motion, he dug into his weapon pouch for a shrunken, pumped some of his chakra into the metal, and whipped it directly at Naruto. She shut her eyes as the weapon neared, but instead of feeling pain, she felt her arms loosened. The now-sliced ropes lay limped around her feet as she looked up at Kakashi for an explanation.

"You pass!" he replied cheerfully.

"Huh?" Sakura lowered her guard. All three of them looking confused.

"You pass." Kakashi repeated more slowly, letting the two words sink into their heads.

"Pass? Doushite?" the pinkette finally uttered, still wearied that this abrupt change in mood is just another trick. The sky begins to clear up, letting the rays shined through like rebel stars.

"You three are the first. People I had previously were blockheads who just listened to what I said." He continued. "'Ninja need to think beyond the normal.' In the world of the ninja, those who break the rules are trash. But those who don't care for their friends are worse than trash." Kakashi looked up into the sky. "Isn't that right, Obito?"

He turned to face his newly found team, a voice of authority present in the air. "The training ends here. Everyone passes! Team 7 will start missions starting tomorrow!" he concluded, giving them a thumbs-up in congratulations.

"Yes, sir!" cheered Sakura.

Sasuke nodded, smirking at the silver haired jounin in contentment.

"Kakashi-oji…" Naruto looked up to him with a happy-sad type of look. "I think.. I'll like having you as my teacher, Sensei."

The sun was beginning to set as Hinata decided to wander around the forest after her accomplishment in her genin test. Well… her teammates Shino and Kiba did most of the work. She just came in when needed… Hinata didn't want to go back to the Hyuuga compound yet, she just wanted to get away from her father for a bit. During this time, her father, Hiashi, would be training Hanabi, because she was a better fighter than Hinata. She would never say that out loud, but she knew it was true. Hinata was considered weak. Her father thought she was weak, Hinata even thought herself weak. She could not defeat her sister, even though she was five years her senior.

She was now in her favorite part of the many training grounds, where there were many trees surrounding her. She headed to her favorite sitting spot, under a tall oak tree. Hinata came in sight of her favorite tree. She frowned a little, there was someone there. Someone in orange… she gasped. There was only one person that size who wore orange.

Hinata whispered, "Naruto-chan…"

Naruto ran vertically up the tree but soon felt her control faltering after six feet. Gripping the kunai in her hand, she marked the spot where she exceeded the highest, and back-flipped gracefully on to the ground. Beads of sweat trickled down her cheek. She wiped them off with the back of her hand, muttering incoherent things under her breath. Hinata thought, "Naruto-chan, you are truly amazing…"

"Only gone up six feet..." The girl thought staring at the height she managed to mark. "Damn it!" She cursed in frustration. "Stupid things weighing me down," she grumbled, lifting her sore arm that was latched on to the weights. Naruto sighed and formed the necessary hand seal, gathering the required chakra on her feet to try once more.

"Hmm?" She stopped her advancement, sensing a familiar chakra presence nearby. "Why are you hiding behind a tree, Hinata-chan?"

The girl yelped aloud in surprise at being caught. "A...ano..."

"Eh? What's wrong, Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked turning around and walking towards the shy girl.

"I...I was j-just wandering i-if I can also do something like that..." Hinata asked looking down on the ground fidgeting her fingers.

"That?" Naruto asked looking back at the marked tree. It easily came to her that Hinata was referring to the tree climbing exercise. "Of course you can!" She exclaimed turning back to the shy girl.

"B-but it looks difficult. I... I don't think I can..."

"Of course you can! Now come on!" She reached down, grabbing one of Hinata's arms. Naruto then proceeded to pulling her up on her feet. "You just need to have confidence in yourself! I'm sure you can do it!" She continued encouraging her.

Hinata was surprised at the faith Naruto was putting in her. Never in her life had she met someone who believed in her as she was used to being looked down at home, especially by her father for her lack of ability. With doubt looming over, the white-eyed girl looked sadly down on the ground.

Naruto felt her impatience mounted over the girl's lack of self-confidence. "Hinata-chan, listen. Just gather chakra on your feet then run up the tree. It's actually not that hard once you start to get the hang of it." Naruto instructed.

Hinata nodded and reluctantly did what she was told to do. Joining her hands forming a hand seal to mold chakra unto her feet, she began to race across the ground and didn't take long before she reached the same tree Naruto was trying to climb. The first step came as a success with her foot sticking firmly against the wood. "I can do this. Naruto-chan is watching me. I cannot fail." Her thoughts screamed as she made it step by step up the tree. Suddenly her foot slipped causing her to lose balance and pummeled straight down.

She was anticipating a hard impact with the ground below but instead felt a feathery breeze cushioned her fall. When she turned around she saw Naruto dropping a handseal, giving her a "you're welcome" smile. "A-Arigatou..." She muttered weakly, embarrassed that she couldn't have landed effortlessly like her friend did.

"Hinata-chan..." Naruto muttered while inspecting the tree that she climbed.

"She's probably thinking what a failure I am." Hinata thought sadly lowering her head in shame. "I shouldn't have tried climbing up that tree. I just made myself look stupid in front of her." She suddenly felt a pair of hands grasp her shoulders and when she looked up she saw Naruto staring at her, her face beaming with admiration. "That was incredible, Hinata-chan! You made up to at least fourteen feet on your first try!"

Surprised, Hinata glanced up the tree. All that she could see were the marks Naruto had scratched off from the bark. There was absolutely no way for her to confirm if the achievement the girl was giving her credit for was true or not. For all she knew, she may not have even reached halfway through the marks. When she turned her head down once more, the same look didn't seem to leave Naruto's face. "A-Arigatou..." She said nodding meekly, a light shade of pink staining her cheeks.

"Come on, Hinata-chan! Let's celebrate our official graduation day as genin!" Naruto boosted, grabbing Hinata's wrist and towing her to the excited blonde's desired location.

"Wah..! N-Naruto-chan!"

Naruto and Hinata were walking along the dirt track leading out of the woods that evening. Thought exhausted, the girl was in a fairly good mood because of the huge progress she made in today's training. Hinata was also feeling better. Training with Naruto even for just a short time showed her that she can accomplish a lot of things if she just had faith in her abilities. The village lights came closer as Naruto continued to practically dragged Hinata onward. The Hyuuga heiress, her curiosity finally taking over her, asked, "U-Um, Naruto-chan? Where a-are we going a-actually?"

Naruto halted her advancement, staring ahead with a wide grin. She turned towards Hinata. "We're here!" The timid looked at the sign hanging in flaps over the entrance halfway. "I..chi..ra..ku…—..!" Her energetic friend continued tolling her to the entrance, finishing off her surveillance from her perspective. "The best ramen in the world!"

They lifted a flap out of their way, entering the warm ramen bar. Naruto breathed in deeply, closing her eyes to better savor the smells, surprised that the place could smell so good when nothing was even cooking. "Ah, one of my favorite customers is back! Is it the usual today?" a deep robust voice said.

Hinata and Naruto adverted their attention to the one who spoke, a middle-aged cook named Teuchi. Behind him was his daughter Ayame, starting to prepare to ramen. "Make it two. One for me and the other for Hinata-chan."

"The heir to the Hyuuga clan." Teuchi noted mentally. Being an important member of one of Konoha's most prestigious clans, the girl was quite well-known within the village, just like Naruto for being the only daughter for the Yondaime. Teuchi studied her features for a while before turning his eyes back to his second number one customer. "Is she a friend of yours?"

"Hai. We were classmates at the Academy," Naruto explained as she and Hinata sat down on the first two available stools they saw. After a few minutes of waiting for their orders to come back, they finally smelled the delectable aroma of miso wafting their way. Hinata hadn't realized how hungry she was until just now.

"Here are your orders, Hinata-san, Naruto-san!" the owner said breaking the silence; he sat down the bowl of miso ramen in front of the two girls. Naruto, upon hearing the suffix '–san' placed after her name, frowned at the owner. Teuchi noticed the unenthusiastic look, which worried him since she's always excited when there's ever ramen in front of her. "Eh, what's wrong Naruto-san? Is the broth—"

The blonde slammed her hands onto the counter top while standing up, rattling the ramen bowls considerably. "That's my problem! Stop adding the '–san' at the end of my name!" She settled down into her seat with a aggravated huff. "Geez, it gets really annoying…"

"R-Right. Gomenasai, Naruto-sa— ..Naruto," Teuchi corrected, stopping himself for saying respectable ending at the end of her name. Naruto grinned boldly now that she had won the argument. "And that's goes the same for you, Ayame-neechan." Ayame jumped a bit from suddenly being pulled into the heated quarrel. "H-Hai."

Hinata observed the exchange, remembering the time when she had added the '–san' when she'd first met Naruto. She got the similar order.

Clapping her hands together, Naruto closed her eyes. "Itadakemasu!" Hinata carry out the same traditional prayer, only less enthusiastic. Hinata couldn't help but smile inwardly at the light-hearted display. She too began to eat her ramen slowly and in silence, a clear testament to her noble upbringing, and quite contrary to Naruto's tomboyish and rapid manner of eating, for she had no care of what people think of her manner of consumption.

"So, Hinata-chan," Naruto asked after she gotten through her fifth bowl and counting. "How did you do on your genin test?"

Hinata paused her intake, her eyes clouding over in disappointment. "…My t-team passed, b-but if it wasn't f-for Shino-kun or K-Kiba-kun.. I would have f-failed. I h-hardly did anything to help t-them. They j-just helped m-me when I get in their w-way.." Her voice became slowly became inaudible until it was just a whisper, more to herself than to her friend. "I'm just too weak…"

Naruto protested, "You aren't weak Hinata-chan!"

Naruto didn't even give Hinata time to protest against her statement. "You have the potential to become a great ninja! And your chakra control is way better than mine, so you can manipulate your chakra a lot better than I can by a long shot!"

Hinata was lost for words. That avowal was something Hinata hears as truly genuine, her ears can tell that much. "N-Naruto-chan… arigatou gozaimasu." Naruto believed in her from deep within her heart, so she thought that the least she could do to repay her kindness was for her to believe in herself. "Arigatou Naruto-chan. From now on, I'll try harder."

Naruto laughed a bit at her unneeded gratitude. "Why thank me? I'm only telling the truth." Although Naruto didn't know it, she had lit a fire of determination in Hinata's heart that she had not seen for many years.