Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Be glad I don't; If I did, I probably would have botched it up very, very badly a long time ago.
Chapter 1
The New Team 10: A Second Chance
Sakura walked slowly back to her house, her face downcast. The road at her feet was all she could see Her heart set a beat that her feet could walk to. Thump-thump. Step. Thump-thump. Step.
Normally she was never this depressed, but today was different. Today was the year anniversary of Naruto's departure. She would never admit it to his face, but she was actually missing him. It felt to her as if… well, she had already lost Sasuke. It almost felt as if, now, she had lost Naruto.
She knew others were taking it harder. Hinata, for instance. She was practically a quiet recluse now, dedicating herself to training and becoming stronger, and succeeding in all her missions. Others like Kiba seemed to have even quieted down a little bit. The only ones who didn't seem to be affected at all were Rock Lee, who found joy from training with Gai, Shino and Neji, who were always this quiet anyway, and Shikamaru, who was too lazy to change for anything.
In fact, the whole village seemed a little less quiet now. Konohamaru tried to fill the spot, and did a good job at frustrating her at times, but it was different from having Naruto. Naruto was her age, for one, and though she acted annoyed at his antics of affection towards her- well, she didn't necessarily like them, but they had just become routine. Part of her life.
Tsunade had, if anything, become more irritable and harsh. Maybe it just seemed like that because she was Sakura's teacher. But others noticed too. Shikamaru constantly complained about being overworked by her, as if she were trying to work him to death precisely because that was what he would hate most. And… well, she was sure there would be others who could testify to that.
Speaking of Tsunade, the Fifth was now turning out of an alley and headed… straight for her.
"Ah, Sakura." she said.
"Yes, Tsunade?" Sakura asked.
"I'll get straight to the point. First of all, we are going to hold the Chuunin Exams again, and I think you should take part in them." she said.
Sakura was stunned. The Chuunin Exams? But, that did make sense: They couldn't put it off forever. Normally the Chuunin Exams happened twice every year, but after Orochimaru's invasion, they had skipped a couple. But now- well, they had to get back on their feet sometime, and they needed more Chuunin for missions and such.
On the other hand, she felt thrilled. Now was an opportunity to show her improvement, to prove that she wouldn't be left behind. A second chance. It gave her a rush of excitement that seemed to break the gloom that she had been possessed by just a few moments ago.
Sakura nodded.
"And the second?" she asked.
Tsunade sighed.
"As you know… for the Chuunin Exams, you need to have a team. Therefore, I have assigned you to Team 10 with Akamichi Chouji and Yamanaka Ino."
One thought shot through Sakura's head: NOT INO-PIG!
"So, why didn't you just summon us to your office and tell us there?" Sakura asked.
"I was going to, but I ran into you first!" Tsunade exclaimed, "In fact, now I have to bring you so I can say the exact same thing with all three of you present!"
"And so, because of your former teammate Nara Shikamaru's promotion, and Team 7's… circumstances leaving Haruno Sakura the lone member, I am adding Sakura to Team 10 for the course of the Chuunin Exam." Tsunade finished.
She looked up from her position with her chin on her hands to find Ino and Sakura glaring at each other. Chouji looked visibly worried, and had even stopped eating his potato chips for once to watch them.
Ever since Ino realized where Tsunade's mini-speech was going, she had glared at Sakura. Sakura had been glaring at her on and off for pretty much the whole time, since she knew already.
ANYONE BUT HER! They were both thinking at once.
Tsunade cleared her throat. Both of them warily turned back to her, and Chouji relaxed visibly and began munching once more.
"Any questions?" she asked.
"Umm, what do we have to participate?" said Ino, glancing at Sakura.
Tsunade raised an eyebrow.
"Is her aversion for Sakura really that strong?" Tsunade thought.
"What's wrong, is Ino scared of losing to me?" Sakura asked teasingly.
This seemed to fix whatever it was Ino was worring about.
"That's not what I meant!" Ino protested, giving Sakura a death glare as if to say I will never lose to you! and gained a calmer complexion. "I meant, don't we have to have Asuma's permission? With Shikamaru gone he may… well…" she didn't finish that thought. We don't need to have Shikamaru to succeed!
"I have already talked to Asuma. In fact, he nominated both of you at the Jounin meeting last week, given I could find a third member for you to replace Shikamaru." Tsunade said.
Nobody else said anything.
"All right… well, I think that's all… you're dismissed." she said.
The three turned and walked out the door.
As soon as the door shut, Ino and Sakura looked about to explode again, but Chouji surprised both of them by speaking up first, saying:
"Please wait until we're at least out of the building."
They didn't know what to say to that.
9992… 9993… 9994… Rock Lee thought.
At least he's keeping the counting silent like I asked him to… thought the so called genius, slowly practicing his Gentle Fist movements in exaggerated detail. It kind of makes me wonder how far along he is, though.
9995… 9996…9997...
Tenten sat in a tree branch above them, sharpening one of her many projectiles before stashing it into her scroll, and pulling out another one seemingly out of nowhere. It sure is a nice day, isn't it? she thought as she looked down on her training teammates. Lee's capacity to do so many pull-ups at once constantly astounded her, and Neji was a genius so whatever his training was accomplishing it must be brilliant.
9998… 9999…
"10,000!" Lee exclaimed suddenly as he catapulted off the pull-up bar, somersaulting in midair before landing in his "nice-guy" pose. The sudden noise startled Neji out of his concentration, and almost made Tenten fall out of the tree.
"That fast?" Tenten blinked. He had started about ten minutes ago.
"I know, I should have done better." Lee responded, "But I lost track of my counting somewhere in between seven and eight thousand, so I had to start over at seven thousand."
Neji scoffed.
"LEE!" came an overly-exuberant voice. That would be Gai.
"Gai-sensei!" Lee exclaimed.
"That which we have hoped for has come true!" Gai exclaimed.
Lee blinked and thought for a moment, then burst into a wide smile while laughing and cheering with Gai.
"Anyone mind telling us what this is about?" Tenten said after a long time of nothing but the same.
This calmed them down, and Gai cleared his throat.
"Well, Tsunade has decided that we are going to hold the Chuunin Exams again." he said.
Tenten understood now why Lee was laughing. She, too, looked forward to this, and for good reason too. She had more tricks up her sleeve this time, and she was determined not to lose. Even if it was that fan-girl, Temari. She had specifically thought out a way to be her, but the selection was random and it wasn't likely to get her rematch…
Neji just smirked. He had it won this time, he was pretty sure of it. No Naruto to beat me now, he thought. He immediately felt ashamed, though. Naruto had been gone a year, and the only thing he could feel was happiness that he wouldn't be in the way? Well, either way, he was definitely not going to lose this year.
"Was I right to assume that you would all want to participate?" Kurenai asked her team. She was eyeing Hinata especially.
"Heck yes!" Kiba exclaimed. Akamaru barked joyously too, "No Naruto to get in my way this time!"
Unlike Neji, it seemed Kiba didn't seem to have any regrets about seizing the opportunity.
"About time." was all Shino said.
Kurenai kept looking at Hinata. She was looking down. Is she really ready for it, after what happened last time…?
Hinata looked up suddenly, her eyes filled with a confidence that was very unlike her.
"Of course." she said, "This is my chance to show everybody how much I've improved!"
"You sounded like Naruto just then." Kiba said.
Hinata blushed deeply and went silent again.
Kurenai sighed.
"Well, that being the case, we have two weeks to train. And trust me, I am going to make sure to train you hard. Very hard." Kurenai said, and as she said that trees erupted from the ground and enveloped them all.
"What? Already?" Kiba groaned as he struggled against the genjutsu.
Then, suddenly, the illusion faded. Hinata and Kiba stumbled, dizzy, while Shino explained.
"Genjutsu manipulates the chakra in your brain. So I just had my bugs eat the chakra she was manipulating; that's why you're a little dizzy."
Kurenai smiled.
"Come catch me if you can!" she called, leaping over rooftops towards the forest.
"Let's go! Akamaru!" Kiba exclaimed, following. Hinata and Shino followed in silence.
Finally… this is my chance to show how much I've improved! Hinata thought.
