Sakura gritted her teeth as she squeezed her Kunai. Rain poured down beating against the trees that surrounded her, and the wind composed an eerie sound which surrounded her ears.

One day before the Chuunin Exam... she thought. One day before the test...

Carefully, she aimed the Kunai at the small dot on the circle. Can not fail... she grimaced. Sakura gritted her teeth as wind blasted her, making her dig deeper into the wet mud with her shoes. Will not fail... she prayed, and threw the Kurani.

Much to her surprise, it hit squarely in the dot. Sakura breathed a sigh of relief and lazily leaned on the tree. It was almost dawn, and she was in the middle of brushing up her abilities.

I hope Sasuke notices... she thought giddily.

As the sun crept along the plain's border, Sakura heard a happy cheer coming bluntly from the left. She jerked her head toward the direction, and much to her dismay, saw Naruto jumping up and down as he apparently hit 5 Kunai's in a row at the same time.

"Naruto?"

Naruto looked surprised when his name was called, and even more astounded to find Sakura at the practice area. "Sakura-chan?" Sakura frowned.

 "You here! I thought you never practiced!"

Sakura glared at Naruto, then hit him squarely on the head with her left fist.

"Ooowwwww..." he protested, but before he could go into detail about how much he hated it when she would hit him, Sakura cut him off.

"Are you ready to go into the Chuunin Exam?" Sakura asked nervously.

Naruto blink, and scratched his head. Looking up at Sakura, he gave her a dumb smile and a thumbs up sign. "You Betcha!" Sakura hit him again.

"Idiot," she said annoyingly. "You realize how difficult the Chuunin Exam is? And here you are giving me that idiotic grin again. Although I don't know much about the Chuunin Exam, I do know it takes alot of skill and determination to pass. And look at you!"

Naruto frowned, and the pointed at Sakura's kunai. "One," he said.

"Is that all you have to say?" Sakura replied impatiently.

Naruto gave a smile and pointed at his practice arena. Sakura swallowed spit, she knew where he was going at.

"Five,"

Sakura bit her lower lip. She was about to attempt a comeback when Sasuke casually strolled in.

Crap... she thought. Out of all the places and times we could meet...

Sakura squeezed her fist and tried to think of something to say. "H-h-hello Sasuke-kun..." she stammered.

"Hi," he answered back lazily. "I just wanted to tell you guys that the Chuunin Exam is starting soon,"

"Oh!" Sakura cried. Naruto just frowned and got up and started walking.

"What are you doing Naruto?" Sakura asked. She began to get up too.

"Restocking my weapons, what else?"

Sakura grumbled and got up from her spot as she headed to her apartment. "Well, uh, see you later Sasuke-kun," she said as she nervously walked away. Sasuke just grunted and began walking to his home.

As the sun continued to rise, the Shinobi of the Villages began to gather. Like Naruto and Sakura, they all have seemed to possess a strong sense of curiousity of what were they going to do during the test. And, although unknown to some of the other shinobi, a terrible plan would begin to unfold, right in the home of Konoha, where Naruto, a ninja with incredible potential resides...