Red Thread

by Typetypetype

Their fates were joined together by a red thread from the moment they were born. Naruto and Sasuke were missing a member because of the insufficient number of academy graduates. Fate brought Sakura to them on their first C-rank mission out of the village. Who is she? How will she change Team Kakashi. Romantic Action. Prequel of 'A New Adventure with an Old Team'

4. Chuunin Exams

Hello guys! I have another chapter of the prequel 'A Different Story' but now known as 'Red Thread' Info for new readers :D This chapter is epicly long, you can just scroll through, I'm reeeeeally sorry for those of you that don't like long chapters. Enjoy! See you at the end of the chapter! I hope

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!

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Chuunin Exams

Naruto stood still, dumbfounded when he found out that Sakura is currently staying at Sasuke's house in the Uchiha District till she finds a place of her own. The third hokage seemed to have been debriefing Itachi for another mission when Sakura came in with Suzume with confirmation of her test results so the hokage decided to hand the responsibility down to the Uchiha district since the hokage quotes 'Too peaceful there'

"B-But Sakura-chan, isn't it a bit dangerous for you to be staying there. You ARE living with Sasuke the bastard, you know?" said Naruto, jabbing a thumb at Sasuke for emphasis. Sasuke glared at the back of his blond teammate's head.

But before Sakura could speak, Naruto's face lit up with an idea "I know! You can come live with me! It's way safer than living with that perverted bastard" Naruto offered. Sasuke threw a rock at Naruto's head, knocking it with a loud thonk. "Huh, Looks like your head really is hollow" Sasuke smirked victoriously as he dodged a very angry Naruto and retreated up a tree. "You're a real bastard, Sasuke, you know that?" said Naruto, rubbing the lump on his head.

Sakura looked back and forth Naruto and Sasuke "Do you guys ever stop fighting?" she asked them. "Yeah, when I die" Sasuke answered. "I'd rather jump off a cliff than get along with him" said Naruto. "Shouldn't we do some training before the exams? It sounds like a big deal, it's probably not like that shinobi exam I took when I got here right?" said Sakura. "Of course it's not! Jumping up from Genin to Chuunin is like a step closer to being Hokage!" said Naruto as he pumped up his fist.

Sakura's eyes lit up "Whoa... then we'll have to train hard. I know! Lets invite Naruto over, Sasuke" said Sakura, looking towards Sasuke. "What?" Sasuke's eyes snapped up, his face clearly disagreeing with Sakura. "Hell yeah! I'll be there first thing in the morning!"

"Great!" Sakura chirped. They parted ways soon after that conversation. While Sakura and Sasuke were walking home, Sakura halted right in front of a grocery store. Stealing a glimpse of the inside as people entered and exited the store. Sasuke stood close by, wondering what was she thinking. "What a peculiar place, so many different smells coming from it" she muttered to herself then turned to Sasuke "Sasuke, can I buy something from here?" she asked.

Sasuke gave her and odd look but agreed nonetheless.

They exited the store with a very happy looking Sakura, hugging a paper bag filled with food. "Sorry for making you pay, Sasuke. I return the favor once I start earning money from missions" she said. Sasuke shrugged "Try not to burn down the house if you're going to cook" he said. He was well aware of where this girl came from and he doubted that they taught her how to cook when they trained her in a cave.

Sakura giggled "I'll try"

When they reached home, Sakura disappeared off into the kitchen. Sasuke walked past the kitchen, catching a glimpse of Sakura as she trotted around the kitchen, looking for things and washing the dusty utility. He wondered if it would be okay for him to leave her alone in the kitchen. But after seeing her handle a set of kitchen knives like she was playing with toys, he figured it would be alright for him to leave and continue with his training.

The kitchen wasn't far from the backyard, to get to the backyard, all you had to go was to walk past the empty living room and open the paper sliding door and you'd be able to see the lake.

The night came quickly and Sasuke was, once again. Soaked to the bone but he had gotten used to standing on water nonetheless, as expected of the Uchiha prodigy. Sakura was just about done with decorating the plate with tomato bunnies and cabbage.

She looked up from her work and saw Sasuke watching her with water dripping from him. "You must be sick of getting wet huh, Sasuke" said Sakura with a smile. "Dinner's ready so, help yourself. I'll go get you a towel" Sakura trotted out of the kitchen, leaving Sasuke and the table of different dishes.

Sakura came back to see Sasuke munching around on the dishes she left on the table with a fork, still standing. Her face lit up as she approached him "How is it" she asked him eagerly. Sasuke looked surprised by Sakura's presence before lowering his head. "It's good" he muttered softly.

A wide smile broke out upon her features as those two words made her happier than anyone could imagine. She allowed Sasuke to eat before telling him to go take a warm shower. "You're beginning to sound just like my mother" Sasuke sighed. Sakura smiled "I'll take that as a compliment"

Sasuke smirked and disappeared up the stairs. Sakura washed the dishes as she began to drown her mind in her thoughts. 'The chuunin exams…. Huh'

Soon, their two weeks were up. They spent the whole time on training as they were not sent for missions due to being chuunin candidate, they arrived outside the examination hall, brimming with confidence, although Naruto was the only one that was glowing. The village was rather lively as genins from other ally villages have come to take the exams as well.

They were told that the exams only come once every half a year and this time, Konoha was chosen to host it. So now the village was filled with unfamiliar faces.

"Geez I can't wait to take the test. I wonder what are they going to make us do. Fight a beast? Or maybe even take on the third hokage!" Naruto rambled. Sasuke snorted "Then have fun peeing yourself in fear, loser" said Sasuke. "Sasuke, you bastard!"

Naruto and Sasuke continued to argue till Kakashi finally arrived to stop them. "You kids can't do one day without squabbling like an old couple, can you?" Kakashi sighed. "You're too slow, Kakashi-sensei! Everyone's already inside!" Naruto yelled. "I think I'm infected with Naruto's idiocy" Sasuke scowled. "Hey!"

Kakashi cut in before another fight would break out "Here are your identification cards, just go in hall 5 and sit accordingly to the seat number on your cards, don't cause any trouble, good luck" he said before giving them a wave and then bursting into a puff of smoke.

"I'm kind of nervous" said Sakura, taking a look at her card. "You'll be fine, you can rely on me if anything happens" Naruto said. "Don't, you'll fail" said Sasuke. Naruto glared at Sasuke before both their hands were grabbed by Sakura. "Let's not worry about that for now, we need to go in" Sakura said, dragging her teammates behind her.

They were walking through the lobby which was now empty when Sakura felt someone eyeing her, she was about to turn around before something green appeared in front of her and stole her hands from her.

"OOOOOOH! In my entire youth, I have never seen a more beautiful girl!" said a weird looking guy with a bowl cut. Sakura looked at him questionably. He looked intently into her eyes. "May I know the name bestowed upon such a beautiful goddess of youth?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the green jumpsuit guy's hands, he was irritated but he didn't really get why.

Sakura opened her mouth to speak when Naruto interrupted "What's the big deal, bushy-brows, don't go around grabbing other people's teammate's hands" said Naruto.

Only then did bushy brows take notice of Sasuke and Naruto's presence, his freakishly round eyes narrowed down on Sasuke. "Uchiha Sasuke" he said in a serious tone. "If it is okay with you, I would like to challenge you to a duel, I'd like to know where my skills stand against a prodigy" he said.

Sasuke looked amused as he turned his body to face Lee. "Fair enough, I'm not in a good mood now anyway" he smirked. "Sasuke, now's not the-" Sakura was cut off when Naruto shouted at Lee "You don't need Sasuke to take you down, I just need 5 minutes" Naruto snapped then charged at Lee. "You are not the one I wish to fight" the challenger said. Naruto threw punch and immediately it was struck down by Lee's hand, knocking Naruto off balance. Falling to the ground, Naruto used his hands to hold himself up so that he could recover and swing a kick at Lee.

Lee leaned back and easily dodged Naruto's kick before ducking down and swiping his legs across Naruto's hands "Konoha Violent Wind!" Causing Naruto to tumble down and spin uncontrollably on his back before finally coming to a stop when he collided with the wall. "Naruto!" Sakura called

Lee immediately went for Sasuke. Sakura's eyes widened as he rushed past her 'He's fast…!' Sasuke immediately lifted his hands to block Lee's attack but instead of a straight forward attack. Lee disappeared down and the next thing Sasuke knew, he was sent flying through the air. Wincing, Sasuke struggled to regain control before he saw Lee, jumping up to him.

Then out of nowhere he suddenly jerked to the side and tackled out of the air before Lee could reach him. They tumbled across the floor and finally coming to a stop. He got up and looked behind him to see Sakura do the same. Lee was about to make his next move before his teammates and teacher arrived. "Lee!"

"Tenten, Neji" he said, shocked by their appearance. Another voice sounded "Lee! What have you done!" Lee looked up see his identical teacher, standing on the railing before jumping down in front of him "Gai-sensei!" his face immediately lit up with admiration on the older man in the exact same green jumpsuit and the exact same bowl cut.

"Lee! You shouldn't have challenged a fellow candidate to a duel just before the exam" his teacher seemed to be scolding him yet it didn't seem like it. Lee looked astonished "I shouldn't have?" he said. Gai shook his head "You will get a chance to test yourself in the exam, you might be sparring with him. Till then, you must keep your cool. That is how it is supposed to be in your springtime of youth!" Gai raised his volume as he spoke, till finally he exploded.

Waterfalls of tears ran from Lee's eyes "I'm so sorry, Gai-sensei! I WAS FOOLISH!" Lee sobbed. Naruto and Sasuke stared at them, eye twitching and a little grossed out. A hand was placed on Lee's shoulder, he looked up to meet Gai's eyes that were filled with tears. "It's alright, Lee. Mistakes are also a part of your youth" Gai gave him a thumbs up before they threw themselves at each other.

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

A girl with two buns tried on top of her head approached Sakura who was standing with Sasuke. "I'm sorry about that, they're always that embarassing" the girl said. She smiled at Sakura "I'm Tenten from Team Gai. I haven't seen you before" Tenten reached out a hand to Sakura. Sakura returned the smile and shook her hand. "Ah, it's because I only came to this village just recently. I'm Haruno Sakura from Team Kakashi"

Gai's attention turned to Sakura. "Team Kakashi? If I remember correctly, Team Kakashi had only two members" he said. "That would mean they had found a third member. Tch, foreigner" Neji mumble. "Neji! You're being rude" Tenten snapped. The boy with the brown hair snorted and turned away.

Lee approached them and then bowed to Sasuke "A thousand apologizes for my rude actions, Uchiha-san. I'm Rock Lee. I hope that one day we would be able to spare again" he straightened and looked seriously at Sasuke before his eyes lingered to Sakura and he turned red. "OOOOH! No matter how many times I look at you, YOU ARE TRULY AN ANGEL OF YOUTH! AHHHH IT'S SO GOOD TO BE ALIVE AND YOUTHFUL!" he grabbed Sakura by her hands once more.

Sakura gave him a meek smile before her eyes gleamed with seriousness "You were seriously going to injure Sasuke, weren't you" it sounded off more like a statement than a question. Lee looked taken aback before his shoulders slump and he began to emit a gloomy atmosphere. "I see… I must have caused you worry for your teammates, for that I am sorry. I know I won't be able to make up for it with my youth but from this day onwards, I WILL PROTECT THIS CHERRY BLOSSOM OF YOUTH WITH ALL MY MIGHT TILL THE DAY I DIE AS REPENTION FOR WHAT I HAVE DONE!"

Tears began to overwhelm Gai and Lee once more.

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

Tenten sighed and then gave Sakura a weary smile "Well then, I'll see you in the hall, Sakura-san. Good luck later on" she gave her a wave before disappearing in the next step, along with her teammates.

"What interesting people" Sakura laughed lightly. Sasuke and Naruto shuddered "Eyebrows…."

Suddenly they heard rapid footsteps and a high pitched female voice "SAAASUKE-KUN~"

Sasuke turned and a light blonde female glomped onto him, his expression immediately fell and his eye twitched as the girl squealed into his ear "I missed you so much! Sasuke-kun~" the girl squealed. "Get off, Ino" Sasuke deadpanned. Ino pouted before she noticed someone staring at her. Ino looked over and scowled at Sakura "What are you looking at?" she snapped rudely.

Sakura had a faint tint of red brushed across her cheeks as she blinked a few times when Ino snapped at her. "Oh I'm sorry. It's just that I didn't know Sasuke had a girlfriend" she said, sound a little nervous. "She's not my girlfriend"

"So what if I'm his girlfriend" Ino snapped again, as if trying scare Sakura off.

"You're very pretty" Sakura smiled with a little tilt of her head. Ino blushed and a wide smile immediately crossed her face "My, Sasuke-kun. Who is this adorably honest and polite girl?" she said as she clasped her hands together and fawned over Sakura.

Naruto and Sasuke twitched 'Honest...?'

"I'm Yamanaka Ino, you must be squadron 7's new member. I didn't know there was already a graduate batch, did you skip grades?" asked Ino.

"Ah, I'm not from Konohagakure. I'm Haruno Sakura. I met Team Kakashi outside the village" Sakura replied. "Oh, that would explain why I have never seen you before" said Ino.

Soon two other guys caught up with Ino "Geez, Ino don't just disappear off like" an irritated and lazy voice said followed by the crunching sounds of chips. Ino turned to face her teammates "Oh, what took your guys so long, we're going to be late for the exam" said Ino she looked at Sakura then at her teammates "These are my teammates, that spiky haired prick is Nara Shikamaru and the one eating is Akimichi Chouji" she introduced them to Sakura

Sakura bowed her head slightly "I'm team kakashi's new member, Haruno Sakura" she said. "Sakura is new in the village" said Ino. "That would explain it" said Shikamaru. "It's nyh tu meht yu (It's nice to meet you)" Chouji said with his mouth full. "Since we're all candidates, let's walk together" Ino said but mainly to Sasuke but he was already walking.

"Ah! No fair, Sasuke! A head start!" Naruto shouted and chased after Sasuke. Once they reached the room, due to Naruto's overexcitement he accidentally used to much strength to open the door and causing a low slam and gaining them some unwanted attention.

A few of them turned their heads to inspect the new incoming candidates with grouchy looks on their faces. Ino swallowed and looked around nervously. "There has to be at least shinobi from 5 different villages gathered here" muttered Shikamaru. "They seem... tough" she said.

And that's when a loud voice sounded in the mumbling.

"Listen here you punks, I, Uzumaki Naruto am gonna kick all your asses in this exam" Naruto

Sasuke smacked his palm on his forehead while Ino, Shikamaru and Chouji stared at him unbelievingly. Sakura just laughed a little.

"That idiot" said Sasuke.

Every head in the room turned to them and danger began to arouse in the atmosphere. Way up on the third row was a very nervous Hinata fiddling with her fingers as she blushed, trying to 'steal' glances of Naruto when it was clear that she was staring at him.

As they scattered around the class, looking for their respective seats. Sakura felt a chill down her spine as she caught someone staring directly at her before he whistled and offered her a wink. Sakura felt her breathing hitch as she stumbled a step backwards nervously.

Then she felt someone take hold of her hand "Your seat is just a seat behind my right." Sasuke said as he brought her to her seat. Sakura immediately forgot about the discomfort and thanked Sasuke for showing her to her seat.

Sasuke glanced over at the Kusa-nin that tried to court Sakura who clicked his tongue and turned away in annoyance. Sasuke felt a satisfactory smirk on his face as he sat down.

Sakura looked to see if Naruto had any troubles finding his seat only to see sitting next to Hinata, ironically. He seemed to be comfortably around her as he spoke with her.

A few moments later an intimidating man with scars on his face walked in and the chuunin examiners began handing out papers.

"I am Morino Ibiki your first examiner, Okay, you will all complete this written test in within 50 minutes, and anyone caught cheating 5 times, or if you don't answer at least half of the paper, you and your teammates will be sent out with a fail, and there are ten questions, but there are only 9 written in the paper, the tenth question will be given afterwards." said Ibiki.

'A written test?! No way, I wasn't prepared for this' thought Naruto. 'That loser definitely isn't prepared for this' Sasuke thought. 'So I just have to answer the questions on a piece of paper...?' Sakura thought.

"You may begin now…." Said Ibiki, the genins turned over their paper and froze.

On the back of the paper were advanced questions that was nearly impossible for a genin to answer were written on the paper. Sasuke's eyes scanned the question one by one 'There is no way they are asking genins to answer this' he thought as he realized that he didn't know the answer to any of the questions, how would Naruto be able to do it. He glanced around to see that a few of the genins have already started cheating. Sasuke scowled 'Naruto, you have to cheat' he thought.

'Oh I'm so screwed…..' thought Naruto as he held his head between his hands as he panicked.

Meanwhile, Sakura was in the middle of reading one of the questions.

If a kunai is thrown from a tree branch approximate 78 meters away at a speed of 245 meters per second and then deflected with a katana of 0.4 meters in length and a swing of 7.7 mach. State the angle of its deflection and the approximate distance of its landing from the deflector. Explain your answer.

'It seems like all these questions are common sense, I was worried for nothing' thought Sakura as she easily wrote down the answer and her explanation and then moved on to the next question.

Sasuke was already halfway through the paper with his sharingan activated eyes locked on to the guy in front of him, syncing his movements with him.

'What am I gonna do, Sakura-chan and Sasuke will be kicked out with me if I can't answer this' thought Naruto, clutching is head in his hands and sweating like a wet dog.

"Pss… Naruto-kun"

Naruto's ear perks when he heard a voice. Mechanically he turned towards his neighbor, Hinata had a serious look on her face as she said "Copy my answers"

Naruto felt like boulders were lifted off of him. "You sure?" Hinata gave him a very slight but firm nod. He leaned a little closer to take a look, suddenly an examiner called out "Number 23 and team, exit the examination hall"

Naruto froze, after that a few more numbers were called. In that few moments nearly half the shinobi in the hall had left. He frowned, if they were to get caught he'd be dragging Hinata down with him along with his teammates and hers. "What are you waiting for?" whispered Hinata, snapping the blond out of his thoughts.

"I don't need to copy your answers" he whispered back. Hinata shot him a questioned look. "Besides, I'm the number one ninja, something like this is a piece of cake, and I don't want you getting into trouble because of me" he said with a grin.

Hinata's cheeks flushed, then she turned back to her paper "O-Okay then, if you say so"

Naruto kept his grin, till he turned back to the paper, his face turned blue-ish.

'Why did I say that?!' he thought forcefully.

Sasuke noticed Naruto's trembling figure realized that can't be a good sign. 'Come on, just cheat, Naruto!' he mentally yelled at him, hoping that if he thought hard enough, Naruto would get the message.

Naruto, was banging his brain and hoped that the answers will magically appear.

But they didn't and soon his time was up

"Place your pencils down" Ibiki said. Naruto panicked 'I haven't even written a freaking thing on my paper'

Ibiki nodded as he finished counting the number of those left "We've got too many people, ok, time for the last question, you have a choice, to choose whether you want to take the question or you don't, but if you do and you can't answer it, you will remain a genin for the rest of your life, if you don't and give up now, your teammates will have to leave the examination room" said Ibiki.

There were whispers across the room and teammates signaling each other. However Team Kakashi didn't need to say anything to one another, their resolve was fixed. At least most of them were.

Many got off and walked out and soon the room was left with half of what it was.

There was a hand raising at the front of the class and Sakura and Sasuke recognized it as their teammate's. 'Naruto, you idiot. I'm going to slice off your arm!' Sasuke thought desperately. Sakura began to feel nervous as she never thought that Naruto was the time of person to give up.

Then he suddenly the hand was slammed back down on the table which made everyone jump. "I'm not backing down now, c'mon old man, give me that question, I'll answer it" he declared proudly. Shocked by his sudden outburst, Sasuke smirked and Sakura muffled a giggle. 'As expected of Naruto'

Ibiki raised his eyebrows "Very well, is that all? Anyone else wants to leave?" No one moved. Ibiki nodded "Fine, you have all passed and will be moving on to the next exam"

Naruto thrust his fist into the air, yelling in victory along with some of the other genins. Sasuke had to admit that his stoic self was relieved when Ibiki told them that they passed. He glanced back at Sakura to see how she was doing and she returned it with a smile.

And then someone crashed through the window. Shattering the glass and standing proudly on the debris and a banner rolled down from the ceiling as well as the multiple pops of the confetti.

"Celebration's over you little amateur freaks, I'm Mitarashi Anko your next examiner, follow me to the forest of death" she declared at disappeared out the window with the genins following.

"Does she always have to make such a flashy entrance" Ibiki sighed then looked at one of the chuunin invigilators. The middle nin merely shrugged with a wry smile. "You may leave, I'll collect the papers"

"Yes sir"

As Ibiki went through all of the papers, he finally picked up Naruto's paper and snorted "Hmp, someone actually passed with an empty paper…" He looked at the name written on the paper. "Uzumaki… Naruto huh" he mumbled.

At the Forest of Death…

As soon as they reached the next exam site, they were left to anticipate for their next task as the examiners prepare.

Sakura sat on a large boulder as her teammates leaned against it. "I wonder what kind of test is this" the kunoichi sounded like she was having fun.

"I hope we get to fight" said Naruto, enthusiastically as he pushed off the boulder and thrusted a fist to the air. "Oh you definitely will" Naruto's eyes widened as a kunai shot past his face. Naruto turned around as Sasuke and Sakura looked up to see Anko standing there with sarcastic yet somewhat sadistic smile on her face.

"W-What are you trying to do?!" said Naruto as Anko walked over to pull the kunai off the ground, licking Naruto's blood off the side "You are Team Kakashi right?" said Anko "So what if we are" said Naruto as he wiped the blood from the small cut on his face. "How's Kakashi doing?" ask Anko, closing her eyes in a smile though it still didn't quite look sincere.

"He's doing great" Sakura said with a smile. Sasuke snorted "Too great"

"I heard that you are the only ones who passed his test" said Anko. "Test?" Sakura asked as she looked down at her teammates.

"Oh yea, before you came, Kakashi-sensei gave us a test, we had to steal these bells from him" said Naruto. Sasuke's mood immediately fell. This did not go unnoticed by his blond teammate. Naruto burst out in fits of laughter "This bastard over here got himself buried to the neck by Kakashi-sensei" said Naruto. Sasuke glared at him and turned his head away in a huff "At least I'm not the one that got caught in a deer trap, loser deer"

"Ah! You saw nothing!" Naruto shouted.

But before Naruto could go on, Anko looked over at the tent where her colleague was waving a hand at her "It's time to start, try not to die, you three" she gave them another empty smile before jumping off.

A few moments later they heard a voice near the gate of the forest and all the genin gather around to listen.

"Okay, listen up, there are 12 groups of you, and 6 of you will be getting the earth scroll and the other 6 will get the heaven scroll and you will need both to be able to pass, so you need to fight for it, if you open the scroll, you'll fail, your purpose is to attain the opposite scroll and head towards the center of the forest, there will be an arena there, enter it and wait there, the time limit is 5 days, if you can't bring both scrolls to the arena in 5 days, you fail, do I make myself clear?" said Anko.

The genins nodded.

"Very well, we will call you up to the stall over there to sign some papers, claiming that we will not be responsible for your death" She could visibly see some of the genins tense up, nervously. Anko smirked "This forest isn't called the forest of death without a reason you know if you can't handle it then you may leave but once you're in there, there is no turning back." said Anko she paused and rubbed the back of her head "Oh and one more thing, Don't die" she said firmly.

"Hearing that excites me" said Naruto.

"Don't waste your energy in the first few days" said Sasuke.

"I know that!"

One by one the genin teams went up to the stall and left for their assigned gate. Then finally it was Team Kakashi's turn.

"Finally it's our turn!" Naruto said as he pushed off the wall and proceeded to the stall with his team.

The two boys followed her into the stall, they closed it with curtains so that the other genins won't know which scroll they got, they signed some papers and the examiner gave them the heaven scroll, They silently decided to let Sasuke kept hold of the scroll.

Squadron 7 was assigned to gate 6.

Anko looked at her watch, when it struck 5, the gates were opened and the genins dashed inside. Team Kakashi wandered around for awhile to familiar themselves with the forest however they found it rather hard, the trees were at least over a hundred years old, and couldn't really see sunlight the trees were blocking out most of it. Not long after they ran in from the gate, an eerie scream echoed through the forest and made team Kakashi stop in a complete standstill. "T-That was a scream wasn't it?" said Naruto.

"It hasn't even been ten minutes yet" said Sasuke with a frown then he looked towards Sakura, her emerald eyes had no trace of fear, or any other kind of emotion in fact. Something in her eyes sent a chill up Sasuke's spine and soon he realized it to be fear. He shook off that feeling and continued on, leading the team through the forest.

Soon they came across a lake and Naruto announced that he had to go relieve himself

"I gotta go pee" Naruto stated bluntly as he rubbed the back of his head meekly. Sasuke ran his palm over his face as he sighed "Make it quick, we can't risk staying at one spot for too long" he said. "Geez it's just a pee" said Naruto as he ran off to the trees.

Sakura walked towards the middle of the lake were a few speckles of sunlight were reflecting off the water. Sasuke watched as she crouched underneath the sunlight as she drew circles in the water with a carefree smile on her face. A small smile appeared on his lips without him knowing till he heard the rustling of leaves as Naruto returned.

"Ahh… much better" said Naruto.

Sasuke's eyes suddenly narrowed and then he disappeared before appeared next to Naruto and landing a sharp kick to the side of Naruto's head, sending him tumbling to the root of the tree. Sakura's head looked up and she stood. 'That doesn't feel like Naruto's chakra' Sakura thought.

"What did you do with Naruto" Sasuke snapped, armed and very dangerous. "What are you doing all of the sudden, Sasuke" Naruto picked himself up, wiping the side of his mouth. "Spill it, where is the real Naruto" Sasuke glared at him. "I don't know what are you talking about!" Naruto shouted.

Sasuke scowled then 'Naruto' flying once again, following up with a punch in midair that send him back to the ground.

"Naruto is right handed, so he wears his pouch on his right leg, but you're wearing it on your left. Your transformation is even worst than Naruto's. You impostor" said Sasuke. A sudden wry smile appeared on Naruto's face as he chuckled darkly, arms swaying as he got up. "I guess you got me, how unlucky" he said.

"I am going to ask you again, what did you do to the real Naruto" Sasuke snapped. Naruto exploded in a dust of smoke and the impostor stood in his real form. "Which one of you have the scroll, You?" the impostor looked at Sasuke before glancing at Sakura who was still standing on the lake "Or that girl over there" he said, completely ignoring Sasuke's question.

Sasuke held up his kunai. When the enemy got no reply from either of them, he took a shot at Sakura, immediately dashing after her. Sasuke flung a kunai at him to try and stop him but it was easily dodge. 'I'll go after his teammate and force the scroll out of him'

That was his first mistake.

Sakura didn't flinch, in fact she didn't move at all. "What's the matter little girl? Too scared to move?" the ame-nin said as he thrusted a hand at her, attempting to grab her by the neck 'She… disappeared?'

His pupils rolled down and saw pink before a rib crushing kick was delivered to his gut, sending him flying backwards. The ame nin recovered and pulled his head back, flipping on the water and skidding to a stop on his hands and feet. It wasn't long before another attack was shot at him. He looked up and saw Sasuke overhead "Katon, Housenka no jutsu!" Sasuke called, fireballs continuously rained down on him. One by one he was able to dodge the fireballs then shot up to cross kunais with Sasuke. As they shot past one another, the ame-nin decided to flee. Sasuke gave chase.

As he pursuit the ame-nin through the trees, he caught sight of Naruto, trying to wriggle free from the ropes. "OOOOIII! SASUKE!" He shouted. Sasuke clicked his tongue and stopped himself on a branch with an hand and his feet on the branch then flinging a kunai at Naruto "You loser" he cursed.

Naruto paused as the kunai stabbed into the ground just next to his ropes. He gave the ropes a little push and then it snapped free. "Yes!"

"I see a weak spot! Lucky!" the ame-nin said as he turned and flung a few kunais at Sasuke. Sasuke's eyes widened before swinging down to shield himself under the branch before he heard a clang of metal. "Sasuke, get down! It's an explosive tag!" he heard Sakura call out to him. He looked to see a kunai that had been knocked out of the way, but it was still within his range of damage. Immediately Sasuke pushed off the branch, being slightly pushed by the force of the blast.

Swiftly, he landed on his feet and knee. His eyes widened when he felt the tip of a kunai pressed onto his back. "If you make a move, I'll kill you. Had over the scroll" he heard the ame-nin's voice say. Sasuke merely smirked.

A kunai was thrown at his back. Clicking his tongue, the ame-nin decided to leave Sasuke and dodge it. The kunai landed next to his feet as Naruto landed behind him. Immediately as the ame-nin ran, Sakura threw a kunai at him, catching his side.

And then before he knew it. Sasuke at bashed into him with a kunai sunk deep into his shoulder. Sasuke had instinctively activated his sharingan. The ame-nin looked shocked before he pulled away "How unlucky, it was unfavorable for me to come alone afterall" he said as he fled. Sasuke panted as his sharingan faded. "He decided to run, huh"

"Bastard… I'm going to seriously mess up his face the next time I see him" Naruto shouted. Sakura and Sasuke landed next to Naruto. "When we're separated we need a way to confirm our identities" said Sasuke. "Then how about a password?" asked Sakura. "That'll do"

They sat down in a circle but before Sasuke could start, Sakura cut him off when she reached out to him. "What are you trying to do, Sakura" he said, looking weirded out. "Just hold still for a moment, Sasuke" Sakura said.

"What? No-" before Sasuke knew it, he was a handkerchief pressed to his face. Naruto pointed and laughed at Sasuke "Teme has to get his face wiped by Sakura-chan"

When Sakura lowered the handkerchief, Sasuke was partially red. "Don't do things so suddenly like that" Sasuke mumbled. "AHAHAHA! Teme is embarrassed! He's blushing!" Naruto laughed and then he paused 'Sasuke… is blushing…?'

"Well you had blood on your face, if you leave it on. It's going to become harder to remove" said Sakura, not realizing what she's really done. Sasuke glared at Naruto then cleared his throat "Anyway, I've got an idea for the password" he said. "The ninja song 'Ninki' will be the question. I'll only say it once so listen well"

It is a good chance when a large amount of enemies are making a scene. There are no hideouts even in a quiet place. It is important for a shinobi to know the right time. The time when the enemy is tired and has his guard down.

Sakura nodded then looked at Naruto "Did you get that? Naruto?" she asked. Naruto just stared at the ground with a frown on my face "C-Could you repeat that?" he asked. "You didn't get it?" Sakura asked. "Of course I got it! I-I just wanted to make sure, that's all" he said. "Right, I'll hold on to the scroll" said Sasuke as he stood up.

"Wait a minute, Sasuk-" Naruto paused and winced "Ow…." A cut appeared on his cheek as blood dripped down in a line. Instantly, everyone was at alert. "What… was that?" asked Naruto. Sakura scowled "It's coming"

And then they were hit with a strong blast of wind.

"Another enemy?" Sasuke said as he struggled to stay on his feet, trying to cover the wind with his hands but not completely blocking his view from the opponent.

They decided to separate to get away from the wind, Sasuke hid under a bush as he waited for the enemy to show up when he felt a presence, he leapt out of the bush, ready to throw his kunai. Just barely managing to stop himself when he saw Sakura. "Sasuke, it's me"

"Sakura?"

Sakura sighed in relief "You're really Sasuke" she smiled. Sasuke frowned "The ninja song 'Ninki'" he said. "E-Eh? Ah right"

Sakura recited the password without a word out of place, only then did Sasuke lower his weapon. "Hey guys!" they heard Naruto's voice call out to them. Sasuke's weapon was up again. Sakura's body instinctively tensed up, this didn't go unnoticed by Sasuke. "Naruto, The ninja song 'Ninki'" he demanded.

Naruto paused "I get it I get it" he said. And when recited the code perfectly. Sasuke threw the kunai at him. Naruto threw himself to the side. "What's the big deal, Sasuke! I recited the code perfectly, didn't I?" Naruto shouted. "It's because you recited it perfectly, that loser would probably go 'Sorry, I forgot'" said Sasuke.

Once again, the fake Naruto transformed back to his real self, and in this case. Her self. "What did you do with Naruto" said Sasuke. "You're not a genin, who are you" Sakura snapped. This was the first time, Sasuke heard Sakura so intimidated. He gave her a worried glance with his eyes.

The woman chuckled "Wonderful, wonderful. You can sense chakra now, can you? Haruno child"

Sakura clenched on her kunai, ready for anything. "Who are you?" Sasuke demanded. "Do you really want to know?" the woman chuckled again. "I'm not going to ask again" Sasuke snapped. "Impatient little brat, aren't you" the woman said as she adjusted her hat and lowered her face, however her eyes glanced up and Sakura and Sasuke were hit with a blinding black fear.

It was like they saw hell in her eyes. Everything became suffocating and dark, they could see their own deaths as well as many others, the haunting and rotting bodies of those that passed before them. They found themselves on the ground, panting and shaking.

Sasuke was on one knee, struggling to get back on his feet. He glanced at Sakura to see how she was doing. Sakura was holding her head, crying "I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I'm sorry!" She screamed as she covered her ears.

The woman chuckled "What a sight" she licked her lips. "S-Sakura…" Sasuke gritted his teeth "What did you do to her?" he snapped. The woman looked from Sakura to Sasuke "I didn't do anything, it's what she did. I'm just showing it to her" another chuckle "You didn't think she was just a stray Iwa-nin. Did you?" she said.

Sasuke panted "What do you mean by that" he said. "She's murdered countless numbers of people in cold blood. She's nothing but a weapon of assassination. And now the souls that she have severed from this earth are reflecting back to her"

'So that's why her eyes were-'

Sakura kept on apologizing as her head bowed lower and lower and her voice became faded. Sasuke needed to do something soon, but his body was paralyzed with fear. That's when he noticed the kunai that was still gripped tightly in his hands.

The woman began approaching them, step by step with two kunais in her hand. 'Does she intend to kill us both…?'

"How pathetic" the woman spat.

Sasuke mentally cursed himself as he saw the woman drew back her hand, ready to throw her kunai. 'Move… move… MOVE!'

He smashed his hand down onto his legs with the kunai's tip stabbing into his thigh just before the woman threw the kunai and disappeared off into the forest with Sakura.

The woman stared at the blood of pool from where Sasuke stood and licked her lips. "Choosing pain over fear, huh. Interesting kid" Orochimaru licked his lips.

Sasuke managed to get far enough from Orochimaru before his strength faded, he set Sakura down on the branch before he collapsed in pants in front of her. Eyes still wild with adrenaline as his chest continued to heave. He could heard Sakura still mumbling as her tears stopped falling and her eyes looked tired. The kunoichi still had her ears covered as she began to sway slightly. Sasuke reached out to her and wrapped his fingers around her wrist and gently removed them from her ears.

Sakura looked up slowly, but before she could meet Sasuke's eyes. She had her head pressed onto his chest, she turned her head and listened to his racing heartbeats. "It's okay now" he muttered softly to her. Sakura's breathing began to calm down as they stayed in that position for some time.

Sakura blinked a few times as she wriggled out of Sasuke's hold to see the kunai stabbed into his leg. "S-Sasuke, your leg" she gasped. "It's not that serious" said Sasuke but before Sasuke could reach for it, Sakura had already removed it with one swift motion. He hadn't even felt it.

Sakura reached into her pouch and pulled out a bandage and making quick work of Sasuke's leg and effectively stopping the bleeding. "We'll need to get it proper treatment once this is over" she said. "Thanks" Sasuke muttered.

Suddenly they felt a presence, Sakura's eyes widened at the figure standing over at the branch across from them, Sasuke turned back, teeth gritting as he got up once again and standing protectively in front of Sakura.

"Move out of the way, brat. You're not the one I want" the woman said. Sasuke's scowl deepened, eyes glaring directly at the woman. Sasuke lunged at her, shooting across the branch and crossing kunais with the woman. She licked her lips and easily pushed back on him. "You've already lost all of your strength. Just give up" said the woman.

Sasuke stumbled back on a branch, his vision was blurring. However he could make out a blur of pink charging at Orochimaru, Sasuke gritted his teeth when he realized that he could barely see, much less move. Sakura too had lost pretty much all her strength but she was holding out better than Sasuke at the moment. She flung a few kunais back at the woman when she was pushed back by Orochimaru's kunai. The explosive tags that were attached to them went off, successfully catching Orochimaru in it.

But to Sakura's surprise, Orochimaru's head extended and shot out of the smoke, coming after her. Sakura panicked and quickly tried to jump back in retreat only to find her back slammed against a tree. She winced at the hard contact but before she had time to recover Orochimaru had her fingers firmly wrapped around her shoulders and forbidding any movement.

She felt his fangs brush across her skin. Every nerve in her body was in chaos, she shut her eyes and waited for the pain.

Then she felt her opponent come to a stop and retreat to deflect a bunch of incoming kunais. Orochimaru scowled at Sasuke who stood panting and his eyes glaring with the sharingan. "Get away from her" he snarled.

And from the moment, Orochimaru's eyes glowed with even more lust than before. "Sharingan…" she licked her lips and it seemed like he had no interest in Sakura anymore. Orochimaru leapt after Sasuke, the latter stood his ground and held up his kunai before a bomb was thrown in front of Orochimaru and once again engulfing him in the blast.

Sasuke looked to the side, up in a higher branch stood a very bold looking Naruto. "Sorry Sasuke, I forgot the code" he said with a grin on his face. "Naruto!" Sakura called out to him, relief in her voice. Sasuke smirked and sighed "You're late, loser" he said.

And then his attention was immediately back to the opponent. Before Orochimaru could make a comeback, he decided to strike. "Katon, Goukakyuu no jutsu"

A fireball replaced the lingering cloud of smoke and a figure shot out of it and landing right next to Sasuke. The latter's eyes widened, immediately Sasuke turned his body to face Orochimaru only to have his blood run cold. Orochimaru's face was half torn and revealing his real face.

Orochimaru reached out to Sasuke only to have Naruto lunge at him and effectively chase him off. "Get lost" he snarled. "Tch, kyuubi brat" Orochimaru spat, Naruto shot at him again but he was immediately caught. Naruto kicked and struggled as Orochimaru's fingertips lit up with chakra before he plunged them into Naruto's stomach "Fuen Jutsu!"

Naruto lost consciousness then Orochimaru threw him off to the side. "Naruto!" Sakura screamed, knowing that she wouldn't be able to reach him on time, she threw a kunai at him it caught on to his clothes and pinned him to the tree and effectively stopping him from falling.

Her attention was turned back to Sasuke but it was already too late when Sasuke let out a painful shriek and Orochimaru disappeared. Sakura arrived just in time to catch Sasuke before he fell. Sasuke's breathing became heavy and his face held a pained look. Sakura frantically tried to look for something wrong with him and then noticed an angry bite mark at the side of his neck and a mark that resembled the tomoe of his sharingan. Sakura decided not to think so much about it for now.

She needed to get the away from the open, if someone were to attack them here, they wouldn't stand a chance. She hauled her two teammates through the forest, finally finding a hollow root of a tree.

First she proceeded to perform first aid to them. She unzipped Naruto's jacket to keep his body temperature stable then checked Sasuke's body temperature 'Seems like he has a slight fever'

Sakura left the hiding spot to go look for the lake so that she could wet the towels. She came back and realized that there was a presence lingering around the area where she hid Naruto and Sasuke. Her eyes widened as she tried to hide herself while trying to think of a plan. 'Please don't find them…' she prayed then noticed that the enemy was Lee.

She tried not to let her hopes go up just because the enemy was someone she knew. Although they know each other, as long as they are both participants in the test, they will have to see everyone as the enemy.

'What should I do?'

Her heart stopped when Lee looked like he had discovered Naruto and Sasuke as he began walking to the hollow root. She leapt down from the branch and landed swiftly in front of Lee. Opening her arms and her eyes firm, protecting Naruto and Sasuke.

"S-Sakura-san?" said Lee. Sakura eyes pleaded with Lee "Please…. Just go. If it's our scroll you want then I'll give it to you" said Sakura. Lee looked surprised "Were Sasuke and Naruto taken out?" asked Lee. Sakura glanced back at her unconscious teammate then looked down "They're just unconscious, but they are really going to die if I don't give them medical attention" said Sakura.

Lee sniffed, suddenly tears in her eyes "Sakura-san! I respect your loyalty to your teammates! It is truly a sight of youth!" he sobbed into his arm. Sakura smiled at him "I know you'll do the same to your teammates as well, Lee-san" she said.

Lee looked up from his sobbing "Just now, you just called me by my name. Didn't you?" he said. "Yes I did, Oh I'm sorry if you are offended by it" said Sakura. Lee grabbed her hand "NOT AT ALL! SAKURA-SAN I WILL HELP YOU PROTECT YOUR TEAMMATES!" he said.

Sakura looked surprised "But… we're supposed to be opponents" said Sakura. "I have sworn to protect you, I will not break that promise" said Lee, then he gave her a thumbs up and a pearly white grin. 'Gai-sensei… You must be proud of me, are you not?'

Relief rushed over Sakura but then she paused "But aren't you after the scroll?" asked Sakura, Lee rubbed the back of his head "Actually my team has already gotten both scrolls, I wandered off from my team to look for decent opponents to spar with me" he said.

"Is that so? Then good luck with the next exam" said Sakura, normally this would be the part where she becomes jealous and tries to persuade Lee to give up his scroll for her but Sakura show no ill intentions what so ever. "I'm very grateful that you have decided to help me" said Sakura, her head bowing down as she thanked him.

Lee waved his hands in front of him "There's no need for that, Sakura-san. We're already friends aren't me" he said. Sakura looked up and smiled "Thank you"

After that, Lee patrolled around the area, on the lookout for any approaching enemies as Sakura tried her best to lower Sasuke's fever and stabilize Naruto's body temperature.

She was about to go wash the handkerchiefs before she felt a chakra signature approaching and she quickly ducked back down into the tree. Scowling as she watched the outside silently, praying that they won't be found.

She bit back a gasp when they landed right in front of the entrance, Sakura armed herself but never had the chance to attack as a familiar voice sounded. "Konoha senpuu!"

She tried to make out the battle between them just by listening to the sounds but soon realized that everyone had stopped moving. Sakura snuck a peek before a hand reached into the tree and dragged her out by the hair then thrown to the ground, tumbling till her back bumped into Lee. She winced as she pushed herself up to sit then her eyes widened when they fell on Lee's beaten up body, his eyes were hazel as he looked up at her.

"S-Sakura-san… You shouldn't have come out" he whispered hoarsely. "I'm sorry… I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have let you do this" she said in a wavering voice. She reached out to help him before she was wrenched back by her hair she jerked back and instinctively reached to her hair to try and pull free.

"Mm…. I love your hair. It's so soft and silky" the girl said in a rather sweet voice before her eyes became murderous and she tightened her grip "Makes me want to cut it all off" the girl said through gritted teeth. She gave Sakura's hair another tug and the latter yelped in pain.

The one with the sunglasses called Dosu approached her and entered her range of view. He inspected her features at first then concluded with a nod "Pink hair and green eyes, she's the freak Orochimaru told us to kill" he said.

"Heh, that's no fun. She's practically dead already" said Zaku. "Why not we kill her friends over there in front of her" said Kin. Zaku looked at her, surprised then he smirked "You're a sick girl, Kin. But totally awesome" he said. Sakura's blood ran cold she caught a glimpse of Zaku walking towards Lee. Her heart began to race and her breathing sped up. Her hands gripped Kin's wrist, crushing it. Kin winced "What's with her strength…?" she muttered.

Dosu looked at her "What's wrong, Kin" he asked. "She-" but she was cut off when Sakura flung her overhead, causing her to crash into Zaku. Dosu attacked only to be stabbed in the leg by Sakura then she landed a sharp upward kick to his jaw, sending him flying backwards. Her neck was suddenly clipped between Zaku's bicep and forearm and then pulled back.

She pulled her head forward then send it back, ramming the back of her head into Zaku's face, causing him to loosen up, she flipped back and threw Zaku over, twisting his arm in an awkward position and locking him into place. She looked up to see Kin lung at her with a kunai, she released Zaku and jumped back.

"You little bitch, how dare you" Kin snapped. Sakura formed seals "Katon, Karyuu Endan! (Fire Style, Fire Dragon Flame Bullet)"

Kin gasped and just barely managed to escape being scorched. Sakura cut her technique short to dodge a blast of wind that Zaku blasted from his hands. The wind brushed past her hair and ear, her left eye's vision blurred, causing a misstep and that was all they needed to make their comeback. She was sent flying back, her back was slammed against the tree before falling on all fours. Quickly dodging Kin's kunais.

Her eyes trailed to Dosu as the guy made his way towards her teammates. Acting quickly, she immediately lunged herself at Dosu, kicking him out of the way before she hit with Zaku's wind. She stood her ground by pumping chakra to her feet. Naruto and Sasuke would've been affected if she had jumped away.

Her eyes were ringing as she swayed, vision blurring. At that moment she knew that she was going to die. In the darkness that was beginning to surround her, there was a presence. She could feel it. "Sa-" she cut herself off when she felt a hand on her eyes and an arm around her waist. Gently pulling her back. She allowed herself to rest her legs and sit on the ground. "You can rest now, Sakura" a smooth, deep voice told her "Keep your eyes closed"

The pair of warm hands slid away from her skin and she could feel footsteps on the dirt, approaching the enemy. With her eyes closed she waited patiently, she couldn't hear much as Zaku's last attack had messed up her cochlea.

She felt so calm, she didn't even know why. She shouldn't as she had just allowed Sasuke to go up against 3 highly skilled opponents on his own and here she is, just sitting on the ground with her eyes closed. There was something in Sasuke's voice when he told her to keep her eyes closed that she couldn't disobey.

However curiosity had gotten the best of her and she decided that a little peek won't hurt. It would be safer if she checked on how he was doing. Her eyes slowly fluttered open, just in time to witness Sasuke's monstrous state as he held Zaku by his arms as he had a leg pressed against the latter's back. Sasuke had black marks covering his entire body, his sharingan activated as he glared down at the panicking Zaku. Her eyes widened. Who is he?

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, P-Please spare m-me" Zaku begged. Sakura looked around to see Kin and Dosu on the floor, all beaten up and unmoving then looked back to Sasuke. "Sas-" Sakura was cut off by Zaku's ear piercing scream in pain, accompanied by the cracking of bones being severed from their ligaments.

Sakura gasped, but not at the sudden outburst of sound but by Sasuke's bloodthirsty expression that held no remorse or emotion for his actions that so vaguely reminded her of herself. "Sasuke!" Sakura screamed, it seemed to have gotten through to him as emotion returned to his eyes and he dropped Zaku, his chest heaving as he took a step back. "No more…" Sakura told him as she began to take wobbly steps towards him.

Zaku's unconscious body had suddenly disappeared and two of them looked to their side and found Dosu, carrying two bodies with him. "P-Please… Take this scroll in exchange for out escape" he said nervously as he left the said scroll on the ground and jumped off. Sakura turned her attention back to Sasuke and the latter suddenly collapsed to the ground, groaning and yelling in pain as he clutched the side of his neck.

Sakura didn't know what to do as she watched her teammate in pain. She pulled him to her as she engulfed herself in chakra, trying to see if she could insert her chakra into him and try to sooth his pain. Sasuke laid on her chest, his pain fading along with his consciousness. His eyes blinked sleepily as his world went dark. Her heartbeats…

Naruto was the first to wake up and find himself sleeping in the hollows of a tree, panicking about how long he was asleep, he shouted

"AHH!"

"Naruto? What's wrong?"

Naruto's ears perked up at the soft spoken and worried voice his teammate. "Sakura-chan?" he said excitedly getting up on his feet only to have smash his head on the top. Followed by a loud thud came a Naruto, crawling painfully out from the tree hollow.

As soon as he laid eyes on Sakura, he was crestfallen to see Sasuke lying on Sakura's lap. "What is that bastard doing?! T-That's sexual harassment!" He shouted with his right eye twitching. "What are you shouting at, dope" Sasuke winced open an eye and look up at Naruto, grouchily. "I have all the rights to shout right now! You're a pervert! I can't even bare to look at you" Naruto said in a huff.

"What are you talking abo-" Sasuke paused when he realized that his 'pillow' was warm. He scrambled to his feet, the sudden rush of adrenaline made him lightheaded and he stumbled a little before he managed to catch himself.

Sasuke realized that he had probably been lying on Sakura's lap for the whole time he was unconscious. "H-How long has it been since we were unconscious" Sasuke demanded, hoping that Sakura wouldn't mention anything about him lying on her lap or Naruto is going to pester him for the rest of his life.

Sakura yawned and blinked away the tears in her sleepy eyes "Not too long, only about a day or so" she said. Naruto threw a hand into his hair, clenching it "Then that means we've only got 2 days left to get to the arena, and we haven't even gotten the other scroll yet!" Naruto panicked. "Ah, about that-" Sakura pulled out two scrolls from her pack and held it up with a smile.

"Sasuke had already taken care of that" said Sakura. "The teme did? When!? I missed something again, didn't I!" Naruto shouted again. "You would've just gotten in the way" said Sasuke. "I so would not!"

Sasuke noticed Sakura rubbing her eyes, and then under her eyes were a pair of very dark circles. "Sakura, did you stay up this whole time?" Sasuke asked, his brow furrowing and his mouth in a frown. Sakura yawned again and nodded "Sorta" she drawled "I had to make sure we weren't jumped, Tenten-san was so kind to tell me the route to the arena too" Sakura blinked tiredly.

"Tenten? You mean that girl in Team Gai?" asked Sasuke. "Bushy-brow's team? He was here? I wanted to beat the snot out of him!" Naruto shouted. "What were they doing here?" Sasuke's frown deepened. "You didn't see him when you were fighting the-" Sakura cut herself short when she saw the questioned look on Sasuke's face.

He doesn't remember?

"Lee-san got knocked unconscious when he was defending us, Tenten-san and Neji-san came to get him a few hours before you guys woke up" said Sakura. "Wait, we were attacked?" Naruto asked, alarmed. Sasuke had a very hazy memory of what he had done but decided to keep it seemed to be a very sensitive subject, he didn't have time to worry about that seal now.

He looked up at the sky "It's nearly evening, we should start moving otherwise we are going to fall behind and the other teams are going to try to ambush us" Sasuke said. "Right" Sakura reached into her pack and pulled out a pill and popped it into her mouth before crunching it. "Let's go"

Next Chapter

"Let's get that sealed"

"She's caught!"

"Lee!"

"I've got a big surprised for ya"

"Chidori!"

---

So how was it? I did NOT enjoy rewriting this, my grammar and descriptions in the pre-revised version were so horrible, I couldn't even bare reading it. Hopefully there were at least some improvement-I really hope so.

I love your reviews, where were a few constructive criticisms as well! I'm not complaining or anything, I really appreciate you guys pointing out my flaws, it's good experience for me. Keep it up please! And I do apologize for my amateur writing skills, I'm still very young afterall :D YOOOOUTTTTH!

For the question on last chapter, I think the best looking female character is Kushina! I'm surprised none of you make a call on her! Quite a few of you said Hinata and Tsunade! Anyway here's the next question.

Which character do you hate most in the series?