Konohamaru, Sasuke and Sakura entered the Academy. They arrived in a crowded room. Genin were all over the place, chatting with each other. Team 7 situated themselves at a table, and waited for the proctor to arrive. They did not have to wait long. A loud bang was heard, and silence fell around the room.

"Yo."

Team 7 all shared similar thoughts. 'Kakashi-sensei?!'

"My name is Hatake Kakashi and I will be your proctor for this exam. To begin, the Chunin will walk around and hand your team a slip of paper. They will have a number printed on them. You will then wait for your team to be called. Then, you will enter the door to my left, and then you will take your exam. Understand? Good." Kakashi then propped himself up against a wall and opened up an all-too familiar book. The Chunin looked at each other, and walked around, handing the slips of paper to the Genin. A young Chunin cleared his throat, grabbing Kakashi's attention. "We have finished, sir."

"Hm? Oh, very good. Now, each team will go in, one member at a time, in numerical order. You may begin."

Team 7 looked at their paper and groaned.

78

"Well, we are gonna be here for a bit, so wake me up when it is our turn." Konohamaru stated and walked over towards their table.

"Che… this is pointless." Droned Sasuke, as he walked over to a wall and propped himself up against it.

Team 1 finally emerged, looking badly shaken. A Chunin shunshined in. "Team 1… FAIL!"

This went on in the same manner.

"Team 15… PASS!"

"Team 32… FAIL!"

"Team 43… FAIL!"

"Team 54… PASS!"

"Team 63… PASS!"

"Team 65… FAIL!"

"Team 70… PASS!"

"Team 75… PASS!"

"Team 76… FAIL!"

"Team 77… FAIL!"

The wait was finally over. It was now Team 7's turn. Sakura nudged Konohamaru, who in turn, fell out of his chair. Sakura muttered, "Stupid Bastard…", and picked him up by his collar and threw him into the wall, yelling, "WAKE UP!"

Konohamaru jolted up and ran up to stand behind Sasuke. Sakura walked over and stood behind Konohamaru. Sasuke turned to his teammates. "Well, see you on the other side."

The other two nodded and Sasuke walked into a dark room.

Sasuke stepped into the room, becoming obscured in darkness. He scanned the room, looking for any sort of threat. His body stiffened when he heard a voice he had not heard in years.

"Hello… little brother."

Sasuke turned to face the owner of the voice, and found Uchiha Itachi walking slowly towards him, Sharingan blazing.

"Itachi! What are you doing here you bastard?!"

Itachi said nothing, just continued to walk toward Sasuke.

Sasuke gritted his teeth and activated his Sharingan. He raised his hands in a defensive position, waiting for Itachi's first strike.

Quick as lightning, Itachi ran at Sasuke, fist cocked. Sasuke side-stepped, only to be pushed on the ground.

When he looked up, Sasuke noted that he was in the Uchiha District. He could hear screams from all around him, pleading for their lives.

"Itachi…" Sasuke growled as he tore off in pursuit of his brother. He ran through the many streets, following the screams. The noise eventually led him to his home, where the front door was thrown open.

'Maybe I can save them!' Sasuke tore off towards his parent's bedroom and threw the door open, just to find Itachi standing there, blood dripping from his blade.

"You bastard! I will fucking kill you!" Sasuke roared as he threw several kunai at his treacherous brother.

Itachi smirked as he dispersed into a cloud of black crows. He reappeared behind Sasuke and threw a shuriken at his back. His smirk disappeared as Sasuke turned into a log.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" screamed Sasuke as he let loose a giant fireball, directly impacting Itachi.

Sasuke walked towards his motionless brother and his eyes widened as he saw his brother smiling up at him.

"Good job, Sasuke. I hope you are finally at peace." With those final words, Itachi and the entire room faded to black.

Sasuke dropped to his knees and struggled to catch his breath. Two Chunin appeared next to Sasuke and led him over to the room where he would wait for his teammates. It was a simple room: several chairs surrounding a table, and a couch pushed against a wall. They set him down, and he rested on the couch. He closed his eyes as he heard the door close. After five minutes of rest, the door opened again, revealing a sleeping Konohamaru and Namikaze Minato.

"Are you alright, Uchiha Sasuke?"

Sasuke opened his eyes and found him face to face with the Yondaime Hokage. "Hai, Yondaime-sama. If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing here?"

"I was curious as to how your test went. I feared that making you relive that night would affect you." The Yondaime hung his head in an apologetic manner.

Sasuke smirked. "Well, having me fight Uchiha Itachi was a bit over the top, but other than that, the test was fine."

Minato's head snapped up. "What do you mean you fought Uchiha Itachi?!"

"Exactly as I said, Yondaime-sama. A copy of Uchiha Itachi came up to me, and I defeated him."

"Y-you were not supposed to fight anybody! It was just a genjutsu to test your mental strength! You were just to relive your worst nightmare!"

Sasuke froze in shock. "What are you trying to say, Hokage-sama?"

"I am saying that Uchiha Itachi had a desire to fight you, Sasuke. I must go and inspect this." Minato fled the room, his Hokage cloak billowing behind him.

Sasuke sat on the couch in silence. 'Why would Itachi wish to fight me? Even more, why did he wish for me to be at peace…"

"Ughhh…" groaned Konohamaru. He groggily sat up, and blinked his eyes to adjust them to the light. "Holy shit… what the hell happened to me?" He looked over to Sasuke, who was still lost in his thoughts. "Yo, teme!" "TEME!" "SASUKE-TEME!"

"Leave me alone, dobe…"

Konohamaru sweat-dropped. "What the hell happened to him in there? His experience was as bad as mine, but it looked like it affected him worse…

(FLASHBACK)

A young Konohamaru was walking along a path. He was admiring the birds and the animals of the forest. Suddenly, a piercing scream tore through the forest.

'Kaa-san?!' Konohamaru ran towards his house as quickly as his young legs could carry him. He smelled smoke and burning flesh. He ran up to his house to find it ablaze, with several ANBU and the Yondaime Hokage standing at the scene.

"Hokage-sama! What's happening? Are my mommy and daddy OK?!"

A lone tear rolled down the Hokage's face. "I am sorry, Konohamaru-kun, but they did not make it."

Konohamaru shook his head in denial and tore off into the woods. He ran for what seemed like hours. The sun was setting off in the distance. 'No! They can't be dead! They just can't be! How could-!' Preoccupied with his thoughts, Konohamaru ran straight into a group of nuke-nins. The leader of the four smiled evilly.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the Sarutobi brat! We were looking for you, but that bitch of a mother of yours got in our way! Well, we had our fun with her, didn't we boys?!" The group all laughed. Konohamaru could feel the rage boiling in his veins. He looked to their foreheads. 'Why are there Sound nins here? And what do they want with me?!' Konohamaru began to sweat profusely. He attempted to run away, only to get caught on a tree root. The leader made his way over towards Konohamaru. "Time to die brat!"

He raised his arm, kunai glinting in the setting sun, only to stumble backwards, blood spraying from his chest. A flash of yellow appeared in front of Konohamaru.

"Nobody lays a finger on this boy!"

Minato stood in a defensive position in front of Konohamaru.

"The Yellow Flash?! No way!"

"Leave or die!" commanded Minato in a stern voice. His eyes flashed dangerously.

"Let's get out of here! We aren't being paid enough for this!"

"Are you OK, Konohamaru…"

'Yeah, that was hard to recover from… Sasuke had it even worse than I do, come to think of it!'

The sound of a door opening and shutting shook Konohamaru from his thoughts.

"Hm? Oh Sakura-chan! How did you do?"

"It went…well."

"So? Did we pass?"

"Yes, you all passed." A poof of smoke appeared in the room, and in the midst of it stood Naruto. "How are you all feeling? You three have equally traumatic pasts, so I knew this would be a challenge for you."

Konohamaru spoke for the three. "We did well, sensei. When do we start the second stage?"

"Right now!"

A/N: Well there you all have it! How did you like this one? As always review, leave questions, comments, or constructive criticism in the reviews. I am still looking for a nickname for Naruto, so hit me with some ideas people!