To all readers who followed "The Rest of the Scroll," and thought 'The End?' meant the story was over... shame on you.

The night was unusually quiet. In this part of the country, noises would be commonplace. There would usually be thousands of insects in a moonlight choir, or some animals calling to each other from across the forest. Of course, there was also the screams of terror and pain from the humans that dared enter this area. After all, Training Area 44 was also called the 'Forest of Death.' In the center of this area, standing several stories high, was a tower. This was the goal of most of the humans that were out in the forest right now. The finish line for the Second Exam of the Chuunin Selection Exam.

Two cold, blue eyes peered into the clear night sky from inside a small, empty room, somewhere on the tower's east side. The young shinobi known as Naruto sat on the floor in that room, leaning up against the cold, damp wall, gazing through the room's only window, letting his mind drift back over the events of the past few months. Anyone other than his own Team 7 would find this as very odd behavior, for Naruto was not known to either stare quietly and not sleep. But then, they don't know him as well as they think...

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
You see, the Naruto in that room is not the true Naruto. Yes, he does look and act exactly like he always has; hyper, loudmouthed, a little dim... but that's what he wants you to think. For the past few months, the true Naruto has been asleep; asleep in his own mind. In his place is the spirit of a warrior, long-dead and nearly forgotten. He is Ishida Senshi, a taijutsu expert who died many, many years ago, but has since been brought back to the realm of the living via a special summoning spell hidden within the text of the Scroll of Seals. However, he was brought back within Naruto's body.As a result, he has maintained a constant mental link with Naruto, giving him advice and even holding short conversations. He also was able to take temporary control of his body, allowing him the freedom of movement once again.

Then, a few weeks afterwards, things got ...complicated. During a mission into the Wave Country, his team encountered two very powerful missing-nin, and as a result, the young Uchiha Sasuke gave his life to protect Naruto. Then, due to Naruto's own emotions raging to a new level, the seal over the Kyuubi began to crack, and the beast almost broke out. In fact, one of the two Shishou-Fuin was destroyed, but Senshi managed to rebuild it just in time. However, as a result of the conflict, Naruto's true self withdrew into the deepest parts of his mind, and it has not stirred since. Senshi had no choice but to take full control of his body.

Within days of their return, Senshi began 'researching' Naruto better, finding out his habits, has usual attitude, his friends, and the various aspects of his life. He had no intention of sharing his situation with anyone other than Kakashi, Sakura and Hokage himself. This meant he had to really work hard at playing the part he now had.
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Thinking back on this, Naruto smiled to himself. He had even begun calling himself by the boy's name in his head. It really wasn't that hard to remake himself into the number-one loudmouth ninja of the village. In fact, he had enjoyed it.

A shuffling noise drew his attention away from the window. Other than himself, there were three cots in the room, and Haruno Sakura was fast asleep on one of them. As she turned herself over in the moonlight, the various patches of dirt and blood were nearly unnoticable. Also, the cuts and bruises she had gained these past few days were healing rather nicely.

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
Sakura had several of her own problems to deal with after the Wave Country mission. The most obvious one was Sasuke; the young Haruno had spent years trying to win the Uchiha's affection. Heck, his would have been sufficient. But now he was gone. Sakura fell into a rather deep depression for 5 days. All their missions had ceased, as well. For a while, it looked as though Team 7 would be torn apart.

Then, as quickly as she went into her depression, Sakura got over it. During training sessions, she began putting forth 110, no longer holding anything back. Kakashi guessed that she finally came to her senses and realized that without Sasuke, the team would be relying in Naruto alone. Naruto, on the other hand, thought that she had finally realized that Sasuke wouldn't have accepted her mourning. He had died with honor and the way she had been sulking over him was disgraceful. Of course, Sakura avoided the subject altogether, focusing instead on improving her own skills.

Only days after her 're-awakening,' Sakura began intense study of just about every medical jutsu that Konoha had information on. She also began secretly training with Naruto, alone, to learn a few of his jutsu. For the most part, things progressed smoothly.

One afternoon, exactly 2 weeks, and 3 days after returning from the Wave Country, Team 7 was called into the Hokage's office. He explained to them that the reason they no longer were given missions was that a team of only 2 shinobi was not even considered. That left the old man with two options: 1) Find a replacement Genin to fill in, or 2) dissolve the team. Over the past week, he had examined every available Genin, and was confident that he had found a suitable replacement for Sasuke. The Hokage called to his assistant outside, instructing him to bring in the new recruit.

A young woman entered, walking calmly towards the center of the room. She had black hair, and wore a pair of slim, light-grey pants, a dark-grey turtleneck sweater with the sleeves removed, and both arms were wrapped in bandages up to her elbows. She wore black, fingerless gloves, as well as a leather belt that had several pouches. Her forehead protector gleamed slightly in the afternoon sun. Upon getting a closer look, they noticed that her hair was tied in a rough ponytail, almost like she had tied it by herself. Also, her deep violet eyes, while beautiful, had almost no expression. Both Sakura and Naruto shivered slightly as they both realized the same thing: this girl had the same expression as Sasuke! The same!

The girl was introduced as Tsumetai Hayasa. She was only one year older than Sakura, but had only recently graduated to Genin. According to Hokage, her basic stats were very simillar to Sasuke's. Even though he knew it was risky to introduce a new Genin to a team that already had a few missions under it's belt, it was better than letting them all go in different directions.

As it turned out, Sandaime couldn't have made a better choice. Hayasa quickly established her place on the team, even winning over Sakura as a friend, rather than a rival. It was also clear that she was bringing some new strengths to the team that Sasuke didn't. The Uchiha's fighting style was mostly ninjutsu mixed with some taijutsu, while Hayasa's style was mostly ninjutsu mixed with some genjutsu. Also, she demonstrated that the little taijutsu she used was mostly weapon-based. She always carried her personal twin short-swords with her, constantly trying to improve her accuracy which, as most chuunin teachers claimed, was already the best in Konoha. One of them went so far as to compare her to the Uchiha clan, who were renowned for their Sharingan eyes.

Later on, she revealed one more secret. Speed. She was as fast as any Jounin in the entire village. She had spent much of her life training herself to run faster and faster, and her reflexes had grown just as quickly. Because of this, her nickname at the academy had been 'Shiden.'
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Morning broke over the high foliage of the trees. A pair of birds flew away, off to find their morning meal. Naruto, who had not had a wink of sleep, stretched his arms over his head, taking in a large breath of morning air. Beside him, Hayasa rose slowly from her cot, also stretching her arms over her head. She looked over at the window, squinting in the sunlight. Her own clothes looked just as raggedy as the other two, if not worse, and she had her own cuts and bruises that were still healing. Groggily, she stood up, shuffled to the door, and made her way into the hall, making a bee-line for the bathroom. A half-grin appeared on Naruto's face.

Sakura was up next, her recently trimmed hair sticking out in almost every conceivable direction. She groaned slightly when she ran her fingers through it. "Well, ...at least it's shorter, now. This would have taken me a week ...(yawn)... to fix when it was still long." Naruto nodded in agreement. She looked over at him, slightly suprised. "Didn't you sleep well?"

"Not since this whole exam started." The blonde rose from his spot on the floor, wiping his rear off from the dirt of the floor. "At first, I didn't think it would be all that hard. The written test was easier than it looked."

Sakura grinned. "Yeah. I still remember the confused looks on some of the faces after they were told that only two chuunin were planted to cheat off of. They thought there were three." Both shinobi laughed lightly at the memory. A few moments of silence passed. "Which day is this?"

"The fourth. We have to wait here one more day."

Sakura groaned again. "Crap. And all we get are these cheap cots? No beds? My back's gonna be tied in a knot by the time this is over!"

Naruto replied "At least your butt's not asleep." He moved his legs some, trying to regain feeling in his hind end. They were still laughing when Hayasa came back into the room, hair re-tied and clothes straitened out.

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
The news that the village's number 1 rookie had been killed recieved mixed responses. Most of the adults that had held an admiration for Sasuke were mourning him. Many of the other Genin did the same. There were a few, however, that did not. Rock Lee, a skilled taijutsu fighter, tried instead to wrap his mind around how someone as potent as the Uchiha prodigy could be killed. He knew well how Sasuke fought. They had fought a few times as Academy students. It just didn't make sense.

Of all the Sasuke fanatics that began a massive period of grieving, none went quite as far as Yamanaka Ino. For an entire week, the blonde locked herself in her room, shut the blinds, and hugged a picture of Sasuke to her chest while she sat on her bed, crying. She would later look back on this and wonder how she had so many tears for one guy.

Hyuuga Neji, on the other hand, cared very little. He had been the number 1 rookie the year before, and since then had seen that title taken away by Sasuke. Now, with him gone, that meant that not only was he the number 1 rookie again, but he also would never have the chance to fight the Uchiha in an even, 1-on-1 battle. All the attention was back on the Hyuuga, and he didn't even earn it.

This was what was on his mind on the second day of the Second Exam, when his own team came up next to Naruto's. There was thick forest between the two teams, and for a moment, Neji considered taking them on for their scroll. After some consideration, he changed his mind. Besides that, using his Byakugan, he noticed that they had the 'heaven' scroll as well, so it would do no good.

Since all the focus was on Sasuke's death, Senshi had a much easier time getting into the role of Naruto. He had many slips and quite a few out-of-character moments, but no one noticed. In no time, he was completely familliar with Naruto's hyperactive, prankster ways. No one suspected a thing.
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

The three Genin sat back inside their room, sighing lightly. "It's nice that we don't have to keep foraging for food once we make it here." Sakura said.

"Yeah. They're pretty decent cooks here." Naruto replied. He patted his belly, which was only slightly swollen with his latest Ramen binge.

"I noticed Hinata, Kiba, and Shino were there. I'm glad we weren't the only rookies that passed."

"Yeah..." Naruto sighed again. Slowly, his look became more serious. "Did you notice those guys from the Sand were here before us?"

Both Sakura and Hayasa looked over at him. Sakura said, "Yeah. I half-expected them to beat us here. ...Why do you ask?"

Naruto's eyes wandered. "That red-haired kid. I knew there was something strange about him." He paused for a moment, glancing over at his teammates. "We got here in just over 3 days. They got here in less. Don't you think it's odd that for a kid that small, travelling that fast, he hasn't got a mark on him? Or that his clothes are perfectly clean?"

Sakura's eyes widened. She clearly remembered how ...clean he looked. After coming through the forest of death, no one should be unharmed, much less some kid. Even most jounins couldn't get through it without at least one scratch. Something was clearly wrong.

"All I noticed was his smell." Hayasa offered. "He smelled strongly of blood."

It's only a short chapter because I'm recapping the end of the last story somewhat, and I want to keep the fights together as much as possible. Anyway, sorry for the delay. It takes me too long to do this, sometimes. That, and I was waiting on the appropriate episodes to download from the internet. Good reference!

R&R!