"That's it, Naruto! Just a bit farther and you've got it!" Naruto looked towards Jariya, who had been training him ever since he left Konoha for special training. Jariya was training him in chakra control right now. Naruto had to cross a moving river by standing on the water. Naruto turned towards Jariya. "This is it! I'm going to make it! And in only 472 tries! This is eas-whoah!" He lost balance and fell in to the river. Naruto heard Jariya on the side of the river, cracking up. Naruto looked up at the sky. He had not seen Sakura or the other ninja for a while. I wonder how Sakura's doing…
Sakura groaned. This is so hard. But, then again, Naruto must be suffering ten times as hard…Tsunade looked down at Sakura's work. "Well done, you found the location of all the major chakra organs." Tsunade left the room, and then returned a short while later. "Sakura, the next chunin exams are going to begin soon. Do you want to participate?" Sakura thought about it. She would love to, but she had a question first. "Tsunade-sama, how will I participate? Naruto's with Jariya, and Sasuke is…" Tsunade interrupted her. "Don't worry, I've got it taken care of. Remember that one genin, Shikamaru, which became a chunin? Well, that team wanted to enter, but is one member short." Sakura nodded. "I'll go to them now."
On her way to Ino and Choji, Sakura thought about how they might have changed since she last saw them, 5 months ago. When Sakura got to Ino's house, she knocked on the door. Ino opened the door, and yelled "welcome to them Ino-Cho! We are grateful you could join us so we could enter the chu-BILLBOARD BROW! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!" Sakura smirked. "Looks like this team is now Ino-Saku-Cho." Ino fell to the ground. Sakura walked inside. Choji was already there, holding his usual bag of chips; he and Ino hadn't changed a bit.
Way outside of Konoha, two shadowy figures stood outside the land of fire. One of them spoke. "Are you ready, my little demon child?" The other then spoke. "Yes, Lord Orochimaru."