Naruto half dragged Sasuke to the tower, entering the front door at the very last second. Beside him Sakura walked in with one arm still useless; and the other holding a kunai in case of attack. Naruto placed Sasuke against a wall, which he slid down to a sitting position; Sasuke's skin had gotten clammy and pale, and they were beginning to wonder if he was going to actually make it. Sakura took out the two scrolls, and unfolded them to reveal a pair of summoning seals. Iruka warped to the spot, his grin at seeing his students fading as he took in their condition. "What happened to all of you? I knew that you were unready to enter the exams… Why didn't Kakashi listen to…" Naruto cut off his rambling by promptly passing out at Iruka's feet, leaving only Sakura awake of the group. "Sorry Iruka sensei, Naruto has had to carry Sasuke for two days now and he just can't keep it up. Can we rest before the next exam?" Sakura asked hopefully, knowing that if the exam continued they weren't going to pass. She began to cry when Iruka shook his head, because all of the work that they had done was going to be worthless now. Iruka looked at the three of them, and then turned his back while clearing his voice. "Shinobi don't show their tears, Sakura. I will see what I can do for the three of you, but this was always a possibility. Missions fail sometimes, no matter how hard you work to make them work." He remonstrated, unable to look at Sakura as he said it. Tears began to run down his cheeks as well as he walked down the hall way.
Sakura managed to get Naruto and Sasuke down the hallway by grabbing both of their belts in her right hand and dragging them. They entered the arena room like that, with tears and wounds and blood. Kakashi stared at the state of his students, stunned that they looked so close to death from what should have been the easiest of their tests. The Hokage seated above looked down at them, and then whispered to Hayate. The tournament referee leapt down to them, and asked Sakura if her companions would be able to continue; they would have to fight in a tournament round almost immediately. Sakura looked at him, with fresh tears beginning to drip down her cheeks, and then nodded. "We will fight. And we will destroy you!" She shouted the last part, pointing at Team Guy. Hayate smiled slightly, and whispered "you might want to get them awake before boasting like that." Sakura looked at them, and then bent down to wake them up. Sasuke opened his eyes blearily, and forced himself to a standing position; he quivered from the effort of simply standing up without a support. Naruto refused to open his eyes until Sakura stomped on his stomach, causing him to hack and cough and finally get up. The three of them took their positions with the rest of the competitors up above to await the computers match ups; the reason that they had to fight this precursor round had already been explained to the other's. The first match was between Naruto and a rain ninja several years older then him. Naruto swayed from exhaustion as he began to descend back down the stairs to the arena; and he was intercepted by Kiba part of the way down. "Eat this." Kiba whispered into his ear urgently. "Eat this, and remember that you represent the leaf." Naruto nodded and threw the small pill in his mouth without even stopping to wonder what the object was.
Each of the last ten steps felt like less of a burden to take, so that upon reaching the bottom Naruto felt only like he had been training all day, rather then three days straight without food. He pointed at the rain ninja, grinning his traditional idiot grin while shouting "I will defeat you! Dattebayo!" Hinata thanked Kiba for saving Naruto as the match began, a smile on her face as she prayed for him to win. The small rain ninja snorted through his snorkeling mask, feeling disgusted that a half dead rat could think he could defeat him! The moment the match began he began to weave hand signs, knowing that as exhausted as his opponent was he wasn't going to be very fast. ' Water Release: Mist Clone Army' was the best weapon against an exhausted opponent, let the idiot use up what little energy he had left trying to find the real one. As the thirteen clones and one real rain ninja circled around Naruto, pulling out kunai and shuriken to throw, Naruto brought his hands together and did what came naturally to him. His fourteen clones rushed out from him, each attacking one of the mist clones and tearing through it. The real body was hit as well, and Naruto charged him and simply began to pulverize him with his fists. After a few minutes of this, the rain ninja was unable to get back up and Naruto limped back up the stairs to fall immediately asleep.