Okay guys, I'm on a major mind block on my other story right now, so I thought the best way to get around it was to try and get a new story going. I hope you enjoy it. Also, any kind of ideas for my other story would be greatly appreciated.

Summary- takes place during exams. Sakura and Hinata, both greatly depressed by their losses during the first round, are approached by a shadowy figure. What could Danzo possibly want?

Do I own it? Please, if I did, Sakura would kick ass! Also, anything I take from other anime, and trust me, you will recognize them, do not belong to me.


' If you get put up against Neji, forfeit.'

'You don't make a good shinobi, forfeit now.'

I stood on the bridge, watching the reflection of the clouds go by, cruising on their paths. Never told that they don't form a good shadow, or they can never become a rain shower. Truly, an easy life, a cloud.

"Hinata" A familiar voice called to me. A smile played across my features, I turned my head slowly. A bruised, scraped pinkiet girl stood next to me, looking up at the sky.

"You know, if you want to watch the clouds, the best way is to look strait up at them, not at their reflections." She lectured, her eyes never leaving the sky. I stared at my friend. Her eyes had a light glaze, as if she were remembering something. Remembering something, happy, sad, fun, even annoying, I never could quite tell what was going through her head when she went into that state.

"Hey, Hinata, do you ever feel that… if you weren't there… your teammates may already be chunnin?" She inquired. Yes, I did. I always felt like that. I guess that we had more in common than I thought.

"Sometimes." I whispered. "I guess, since your asking, you do, too."

She sighed deeply. "Always." She whispered, holding tears back. "Always."

"What if I could change that?" an elderly voice called. I whipped my head around; my short bangs hitting my face. There, standing there across the bridge was Danzo, the leader of ROOT. Most of his face was covered in a bandage, along with his arm, and he walked with a cane.

"You can?" Sakura stared, concentrating on everything the elderly man had to say.

"And ROOT can do so much more for you." He spoke like a market salesman, desperate to try and sell you his product in order to keep food on the table.

"Wait" I said, no longer in my normal whisper, but that of a commanding officer, a shinobi. "Who are you?"

He chuckled softly." My dear child, my name is Danzo." He said. "And root is…"

"I know what ROOT is. And I also know about what you do, and it's not exactly the prettiest picture of a person if you're going to trust them. " I snapped. I never knew I could be this mean. It was really quite fun.

"Power" whispered Sakura from behind me. "I need power." What was she talking about? Does she really think this is the way to get power? She has no idea what this man has or will do.

"Sakura, listen to me." I commanded.

"No, YOU listen to ME!" she said. I could feel my mouth drop and my eyes widen. She went around me, then went over to stand next to Danzo.

"Saku-" "Hinata. Unlike you, I don't have any family besides my mother and little sister, and my mothers very ill, she can't work, and my sister is paralyzed and blind. (1) I have to sustain my family, and the way to do that is to go up in the ranks" She turned to Danzo. "And if you can help me do that, I'll do whatever you want me to."

He chuckled again. "Yes, child, I can make you ANBU in a matter of months." Sakuras eyes widened. "ANBU? Really?" Danzos one eye tuned on me. "And you can both IMPROVE you byakugan and your skills in a matter of weeks." If my eyes could get wider, they did.

"Improve? Is that possible?" I whispered, my resolve gone.

"Yes child. Interested?" Salesman again.

I looked down, defeated. "Okay, what do you want us to do?" I questioned.

He smiled, he had just sold us. "Come with me." He turned around and slowly walked the opposite direction. Sakura followed immediately, and reluctantly, I stepped after him as well. He led us all the way to the wall that surrounded our village. Using his cane, he tapped on the wall five times. With a soft 'clink' the wall opened, and we stepped inside. There was a minimally lit hallway so small, we had to walk in single file. For about ten minutes we walked downward, then suddenly, the walkway opened wider, and I stepped faster, standing side- by- side with Sakura.

"Sakura, I'm sorry, I had no idea about your family." I said. I was truly sorry, I had been good friends with her for some good amount of time, but I still had no idea what was happening with her life.

She turned her head towards me, a kind smile on her face. "Its fine, Hinata." She placed her hand on my shoulder. "We're in this together now." I nodded my head in response. We didn't speak again for the rest of our decent. Another ten minutes passed, and suddenly a horrible odor came over my senses. The tiny hallway widened out into a large, circular room. On the opposite side was an upper level viewing deck, much like the one in the arena where I battled Neji, and Naruto watched me be defeated. Danzo stopped and turned towards us.

"I will take you under as my students under one condition."

"Hey, wait, you're the one who asked us!" Screamed Sakura. Danzo waved his hand in dismissal.

"Oh, don't worry child. Its not a very hard condition to keep." He spoke in that salesman voice again. Suddenly he dropped his hand, a serious mood dropping over us. "You only have to…survive." Then he was gone. Survive? What did that mean? A loud clang rang out from behind me. I turned. The door we had come in through was closed, and a larger door under the upper level had opened. Inside stood the insane smiles and murderous eyes of a thousand shinobi.

"So, lets see if you can survive" Danzo whispered from the upper deck.


(1) Okay, you guys can probably tell which show I got THAT from, and if not, its from code geass's Nunnally (I think that's how you spell it. O_O?)