Lauren's POV

"Alright, why don't we rest here for the night?" I said stepping up to inspect a small cave we'd found in the middle of the dessert. The three of us had all be running for hours at this point and were completely exhausted. Not only that, but the sun was nearly hidden behind the horizon, night approaching, and without light the dessert would be a lot more dangerous to travel through.

"Yeah," Tess agreed and stepped onto the hard cavern floor, "this'll be a good spot."

All three of us set our small backpacks down and pulled out blankets, preparing ourselves for sleep.

"We'll get up at the crack of dawn and keep going," I said, spreading my thick blanket out of the floor. "That way we won't fall behind."

"Agreed," Naruto yawned groggily and flipped his blanket around his body. As soon as his head hit his backpack, which was sufficing for a pillow, he was out.

While I snickered to myself Tess rolled her eyes at the blonde. There were some things about Naruto that would just never change.

"Anyway," I said and heaved myself up, glancing back out to the dimly illuminated Suna desert. "I'll take first shift."

"I'll kick Naruto away when you come back," Tess replied, snuggling into her makeshift bed. "I get last shift."

"Kay," I said and then grabbed my katana from the wall beside me, dragging it out into the sandy wasteland with me just in case.

Sighing, I hopped on top of the small cave we'd managed to find and perched myself there, legs crossed as I looked out at the never ending sea of sand before me. When the proctor earlier had said we'd have 24 hours to get there and back I thought he was being modest by giving us so much time. But we hadn't even seen the scrolls yet, and there was no telling how big this dessert was.

Sighing again, I started to doubt the probability of our success at this task. The desert, from what I knew, was covered more in darkness than in daytime in a 24 span, so with that being said we probably wouldn't be able to wait till sun rise to start traveling again.

"If its 7:00 now and there's three of us to take shifts but the sun doesn't rise till - what? – 6:00, then…," I mumbled, trying to figure out the calculations in my head. "We could each take two and a half hour shifts and leave at 4:30…"

"The sun doesn't happen to rise till 6:30 at this time of year—"

Snapping my eyes open at the sound of the deep male voice I glanced to my side and immediately tried to scramble away, but before I could get anywhere the man shifted his masked face towards me, Sharingan eye shining in the darkness.

"—so you'd end up being in the dark for two hours while running," he finished, leaning back leisurely while his eye still trailed on me.

"Oh relax," he said at seeing I wasn't planning to sit back down and have a friendly chat with him, my body still tense and ready to defend myself if needed. "I'm not here with any evil intent – I'm simply bored of stepping around in the shadows."

I only kept my eyes trailed on Tobi, not trusting his words at all, and the man soon sighed in annoyance.

"Honestly, I only came to view the Chuunin exams, but if you'd prefer me to cause some kind of ruckus I'd be willing to."

"Oh, shut up," I finally spoke and finally sat back down on the rough sand, a foot farther away from him then I'd previously been. "Why the hell are you here?"

"I already told you," he said and angled his head up towards the moon, the light from the white sphere illuminating his orange mask. "I'm only here to observe the exams. Thought I will admit that I'm surprised – I didn't expect to see you with the Kyuubi boy."

Tobi glanced towards me, his red eye locking with mine yet again as he continued. "Where's Taylor?"

Internally I debated whether to tell him the truth about Taylor's situation, but realized that lying to a man who had almost murder me in the past probably wasn't the best idea either.

"Uhh, she's pregnant," I responded hesitantly and the males eyes widened in shock.

"Really?" he exclaimed, voice sounding shocked as well, and to my own surprise started to chuckle.

"Well, I guess Itachi truly is following through with his wish to repopulate the clan," he said, and I tried to hold back a smile at hearing one of the many stereotypical Uchiha jokes. "Though this is a twist I believe I will enjoy."

At hearing that the smile I'd been trying to hold back disappeared instantly and I narrowed my eyes at him.

"What the hell does that mean?" I questioned harshly, and the man rolled his eyes.

"Calm down. I'm simply saying this because I'm nowhere near being ready to follow through with my plan, and by the time I am it's likely that your children—assuming both you and Tess decide to bare some—will have already become trained ninja."

Eyes still narrowed at him I opened my mouth again. "Well you certainly sound like you're not in any rush…"

Tobi chuckled, folding his arms. "Well, I guess you could see it that way. Anyhow—"

The man pushed himself up to his feet and then held a hand out to me. Even if I didn't want to I took it, and he pulled me up, not letting go once I was on my feet.

"Good luck during the exams," he said and tugged me closer, which I scowled at, but didn't resist. He only chuckled again and let go, beginning to walk away. I watched him closely as he went, just in case he had some type of plan at the last moment, but he only glanced back at me once he was a few feet away and snapped his fingers.

"Oh," he said, and in that moment his body started to swirl out of existence. "And I hope you realize that if you tell anyone you saw me here I will come and kill you."

"Got it," I simply replied with a roll of my eyes, my hand still poised on the hilt of my sword, and a moment later he was gone. As the desert quietness engulfed me once again I sat back onto the sand under my feet and sighed, running a hand through my hair.

I was kind of glad that Tobi wasn't anywhere near completing his preparation for the Juubi arrival, yet at the same time it still sucked that we had let him get away. If we had managed to capture him or even Kabuto then there would've been a huge dent in his plans that may not have been fixable.

Sighing again, I looked up at the moon above. What's done was done though, and at the moment the villages were still on the lookout for both of them. There was nothing more we could do but that.

I laughed at myself. I could've easily sent a messenger to Tsunade right now saying that I'd seen Tobi out here, but I had no doubt that if I did I'd be dead. Even if it wasn't instantaneous death Tobi would find me and he would kill me one way or another.

"Asshole," I whispered. Oh, I really wish he was dead.

Plus, besides threatening to kill me, there was what he'd been saying about if we all had kids… "A twist I will believe I'll enjoy." I scowled at just the thought. Tobi truly was heartless if he had no regret in killing our children— not us.

At this point I almost wished his plan wouldn't take so long to be carried through. If we were going to have another war I wouldn't want any of our kids to be a part of it…

"Oi."

Blinking in surprise I glanced up to find Tess walking toward me. She waved a hand in greeting and offered her other when she stepped up to my side. Unlike with Tobi, I took her hand happily and she helped me up.

"You looked like you were thinking pretty hard there," she said, raising an eyebrow in question. "Something on your mind?"

"Nah," I said immediately, stretching out my limbs as the thought of getting some sleep started to sound like a really good idea. "I'm just thinking that we'll probably have to leave before sun rise tomorrow if we want to have enough time…"

"I was thinking the same," the red head agreed and lowered herself down onto the sand in the spot where I had been sitting. "That's why I came up here in Naruto's place to get you early. Go and get some sleep – I'll tell Naruto the plan when I wake him up."

"Thanks," I said with a smile and then hopped down to the cave below, immediately snuggling into my make-shift bed and having no problem forgetting about the masked-man that filled my thoughts.

The next morning I was woken by Naruto, who gently rocked me awake. I was entirely grateful for his gentleness and even made sure to thank him as we packed up camp. Naruto merely smiled widely in return, his normal, happy attitude already bringing a positive light to the remainder of the day.

But we still had a scroll to find.

Together the three of us took off into the morning darkness, heading in the direction we had been traveling yesterday.

Even if the sun wasn't out, the moon followed its path throughout the sky and proved able as a compass as we ran.

For the first time since the beginning of the exams I activated my Sharingan, red eyes scanning the desert around us constantly in search of the scrolls. The last thing we wanted to do was run right past them because of the darkness.

However, nearly an hour later, just as the sun was beginning to peak over the horizon, I caught something in the distance. Thanks to the Kekkei Genkai I had inherited I was easily able to focus in on it, and quickly realized that it was a table, multiple scrolls still sitting atop of it.

"There!" I said, pointing up ahead. Naruto and Tess both blinked at my exclamation and looked to where I was leading them, own eyes lighting up as the table came into view.

"Woo!" Naruto cheered and bounded ahead of Tess and I, running to the table jubilantly. Within a couple seconds he was standing in front of it, hand whipping out to grab one of a few remaining scrolls. As we caught up the blonde twirled around happily, but Tess quickly snatched it from him.

"I don't trust you with this," she told him, emerald eyes meeting his cerulean ones as she placed the scroll into the pouch on her hip. Naruto pouted briefly and I laughed at him, stepping up to the table. Multiple scrolls had already been taken—four to be exact—meaning that four teams had already been here.

"Tch," Tess said, eyes narrowing as she stepped up beside me. "We're not the first ones."

"All the more reason to hurry back," I responded, patting her shoulder. And with that the three of us took off running back into the desert, this time opting to run straight through the middle. Taking the side route would've cost us too much time – we wanted to play it safe, but not that safe.

However, by not playing it safe that meant taking the route with possible monsters in the way. We'd been fortunate enough not to have encountered any foes on our journey yet, but after running for nearly two hours through the dead center of the desert I was beginning to feel a little suspicious.

While I had hoped we wouldn't encounter any monsters it was almost too quiet… Surely the other teams weren't capable of taking down a giant monster like the proctor had described yesterday…or was I undermining them?

Narrowing my eyes at the seemingly endless desert in front of me, I started to doubt the competition again. Perhaps the contestants this year were stronger than I assumed them to be—but at the same time Naruto, Tess and I were all older and more experienced than them, so unless they had some outrageous technique they had leaned I highly doubted that they—

"Lauren!"

Blinking out of my thoughts at Tess's shout I came back to reality, only to find a stupidly large scorpion resting a mere hundred feet ahead of us. And while Tess's yelling had saved me from running straight into the beast it had also alerted him, and the monster was now charging directly at us, claws and tail poised dangerously.

"Shit!" Naruto cursed and hopped out of the way, Tess and I following his example just as the scorpion barged through were we had previously been standing.

Pissed, Tess decided to make the first move and jumped at it as the scorpion swung around to come at us again. With her signature battle cry she smashed her fist into the head of the beast, jumping back immediately afterwards. The scorpion fell to the ground after a moment, stunned by the impact to its skull.

Seeing the opportune chance I quickly drew my katana and sprinted to the beast. Propelling off its head I launched myself at the stinger and effectively slashed it, the venomous weapon soon disabled as it hung limply from the scorpion's tail. However, the pain from the loss of its prime weapon seemed to snap the monster out of its confused state and just as my feet touched the ground it swung around, claw landing directly on my side, and soon I had a face full of sand as I tumbled into the desert a couple yards away.

When I managed to pull myself up the first thing I saw was Tess running at me, concerned look painted onto her features, and Naruto behind her, multiple clones at his side as he leapt at the scorpion with a barrage of giant rasengan's.

The battle was soon over, the blonde's last attack managing to permanently keep the beast down, and Tess kneeled at my side.

"Lauren, are you alright?!"

"Fine," I responded, trying to brush some sand off of my tongue. "I'm just a bit sore."

Sighing with relief the red head helped me up, Naruto running to us soon after. At seeing I was alright he breathed his own sigh of relief and I thanked them both for the concern, but suggested that we continued on, and they agreed.

Thankfully, we were never approached by any other monsters, and before the sun even had a chance to near the center of the sky the starting gate came into sight. All three of us chorused a sigh of both victory and relief as we approached.

Slowing to a walk, the three of us calmly padded up to the open gate, and the guard seemed surprised to see us, but grinned all the same.

With a triumphant grin of her own Tess took the scroll from her hip pouch and handed it to the man.

"Congratulations on being the first group back," he said, taking it from her, and I blinked in surprise.

"But when we arrived at the table four scrolls had already been taken…"

He shrugged. "The desert is kinder to some than others." Sighing, he turned away slightly, looking back the village. "You're free to return to your hotel room for the rest of the day. The elimination round won't commence till tomorrow."

Nodding at his words the three of us immediately started towards the hotel we were staying at. It didn't take any longer than two minutes after entering the room for us all to have fallen asleep.

Running through the desert for nearly twelve hours was a lot more tiring than one would imagine, even for a ninja.

The next morning I woke up, feeling very refreshed having received at least 12, if not more, hours of sleep. Across the room Naruto sat awake, fiddling with a couple strands of hair, and Tess was on the floor below us, flexing the gloves on her hands as if to test them.

I smiled at the two, but the moment was interrupted when a moment later an announcement sounded over the loud speakers.

"Will all contestants who passed round two please report to the lobby. The elimination round will now begin."

Exhaling lightly, I looked over at the two who evenly met my gaze, and the three of us readied ourselves, immediately heading to the lobby once ready to depart.

At arriving in the grand lobby of the hotel we were immediately escorted by one of the many sand shinobi littered about. The nice looking woman led us to an indoor arena, nearly 15 minutes away from our lodgings. The arena was very large, and similar to that of the one in Konoha, but was made entirely out of hardened mud and sand.

Taking her leave, the women who had escorted us bowed politely, allowing the three of us to trail up the stairs to the balcony/observation area. Many other teams were scattered on the thin walk-way which looped around the entirety of the battle ground below, chatting as they waited for the elimination round to commence.

"Ahh, this brings back memories!" Naruto sighed, happily swinging his arms over the railing in front of us. I smiled at him briefly.

"Still gonna kick ass this time?"

"Of course!" He responded jubilantly, jumping around to face me while simultaneously punching his fist into the air. At this Tess cracked a smirk, I myself laughing slightly, but the three of us soon quieted down as a new proctor entered the arena, calling us all to attention.

"The elimination round will now begin!" He shouted. "Those of you who pass this round will move onto the final one tomorrow. If you do not pass, well, then…"

Leaving it at that, the two electrical bars attached to the wall above the enterance of the indoor training grounds suddenly began to flash, names of the contestants flying across them. After a moment they stopped on two names – one of which read Uzumaki Naruto.

"Yosh!" he cheered happily and I patted him on the back.

"Good luck!"

Grinning back at me the blonde hopped over the bar and skillfully landed on the hard floor below, approaching the center of the ring. As he did so a male looking to be a few years younger than us, the age at which most people participated in the exams, hopped over the railing on the other side of the arena. As he approached the Uzumaki it was easy to tell that he was nearly scared shitless of the blonde.

Despite the fact that Naruto had never fought Pein to save the leaf village – the way his reputation had originally spread around to all the lands – it was no hidden secret to those of the sand village that Naruto was a close friend of Gaara's and also the one who had saved him from the Akatsuki after the Kazekage had been captured.

"Let's both fight our hardest," the blonde smiled to the smaller male in front of him, and the boy weakly nodded in return. With that – the match begun.

It didn't take more than two minutes for Naruto to have knocked the kid unconscious.

Content, the blonde triumphantly jumped back up to where Tess and I were still standing. We both briefly congratulated him on his victory, pausing to listen as the next match names were selected. Two unknown names appeared on the screen and two females jumped down into the arena. We all stood watch as the females proceeded to fight each other, one remaining victorious after having broken the others leg with a powerful attack.

The next round was between two males. Both were average in power, and it almost ended up being a stalemate. However, one of the boys was able to get a good punch in at the last moment, rendering his opponent unconscious.

Steadily the matches continued, one by one, and Tess and I stood there beside a still joyous Naruto, waiting for our names to appear on one of the two screens. However, just as we were both beginning to worry, Tess's name was called and with a small smirk she briefly punched me on the shoulder before hopping down into the arena.

I sighed with relief, watching as both she and another female approached the center to begin their match. The last thing Tess and I wanted was to face off against each other. Besides being friends we were both strong ninja—if we had been fated to battle than I doubted it would easy for either of us to defeat the other.

Turning my attention back to the battle at hand I blinked in surprise to find Tess angrily scowling at the girl as the both got into a defensive stance.

Apparently the girl had already managed to anger my female friend…that wasn't a good sign.

With a loud "Start!" from the proctor the match began. Surprisingly, the two did nothing but charge straight for each other, starting a fist fight. Tess managed to avoid all the blows the girl threw, managing to get a few light punches on her abdomen in the meantime.

It was clear to me that Tess wasn't going to obliterate the girl. She wasn't that harsh. And besides that, before coming to Suna Tess had told me "Why put on a show when there's no one around to watch it?"

I rolled my eyes at remembering her comment. If Tess had no reason to go all out, she wouldn't—especially in front of potential candidates she'd be facing off against in the final round.

Blinking again, I widened my eyes in surprise as the girl Tess was facing off against suddenly drew a kunai from her pouch, venomously slicing at the red head. Tess seemed to be caught off guard too, her emerald eyes widening considerately, but dodged the weapon, back-flipping out of the way to safety.

I breathed a sigh of relief, glad to see that the red head had managed to avoid what could've potentially been a fatal blow, but paused when Tess's face morphed into that of complete anger. Following her heated gaze, I looked over to where she'd previous been standing, watching as a particularly long lock of her scarlet hair floated to the ground.

Together, Naruto and I both shared a look of terror. Haruno's did not like to have their hair messed with.

With an audible growl Tess charged at the girl, finally putting some effort into the fight. Applying chakra to her feet, the Haruno was in front of her female opponent within seconds, and the girl looked absolutely stunned.

For a moment I feared that Tess would simply crush her skull and be done with it, but was proven wrong when she simply lifted her hand and rapped her knuckles against the girl's forehead, as if strumming on a door. For a split second the entire arena stood in silence, wondering what Tess's moved had accomplished, but was soon shown when the younger teen girl keeled onto the ground, eyes rolling back into her head as she hit the cold dirt.

Nearly everyone look terrified, Naruto included, but I simply smirked as Tess started to pad back to where we were standing, twirling her strand of cut hair with a frown. The Haruno had not seriously injured the girl at all. She simply had applied enough of her destructive chakra in one spot, effectively knocking the girl out.

Hopping back up to our spot behind the railing, I grinned back at Tess and she smirked slightly in her victory. However, not a moment later did the sound of names randomly being chosen catch our attention, and I looked up just in time to find my own name of the bright screen.

"Good luck!" Naruto shouted, slapping me on the back. I stumbled in surprise but laughed all the same, quietly thanking him before hopping over the bar. My feet hit the ground at the same time as my opponent, and I looked over to see a teen male approaching the center of the floor, a smug grin on his face.

"I hope you know that a girl could never beat me," he stated, grin widening when I blinked in shock.

Secretly fuming on the inside, I simply shrugged, taking a few steps back as the proctor moved to signal the start of the match.

"Maybe you're right."

The two of us now in our positions, the proctor looked over at both of us and then raised his hand into the hair.

"Start!"

Instantly the boy across from me disappeared from sight. My eyes widened in surprise.

"Haha," he laughed, wind suddenly ruffling behind me. "Told you I would win."

Cursing, I instantly hopped up into the air, looking back down to find that he was standing directly behind where I previously was, cocky grin still in place.

"Gotcha!" he winked and slipped a kunai from his hip pouch. "You can't dodge in the middle of the air!"

I bit my tongue in annoyance at seeing that I'd done just what he had hoped I would. I felt like a little bit of a fool—but that still didn't change the fact that I was stronger than him.

In that instant the boy threw his kunai directly at me, but I countered, activating my Sharingan. The next second his kunai was in my own palm. He looked positively stunned, and I grinned to myself at finally seeing that I'd managed to erase his own.

Knowing he was now in danger, the male disappeared once again, but this time I predicted it.

"Gotcha," I imitated and shot the kunai down at the ground while falling back to it myself. Not a second later was there the sound of metal hitting metal and I smirked once again as the teen staggered back in shock, ass hitting the ground roughly as the kunai I'd so gratefully returned to him deflected off the metal of the headband on his forehead, stabbing itself into the ground nearby.

Feet touching the ground, I instantly placed a hand on my hip smartly, watching as the boy struggled to regain his words, glancing up at me with a gaping mouth.

"Your taijutsu caught me off guard," I told him honestly. "But you're not going to beat me."

"You…," he said after a moment, staring directly into my eyes as I let the Sharingan fade away, normal green irises returning. "You're that Uchiha I heard about…! The one rumored to have been missing…the sister of Itachi and Sasuke Uchiha!"

I nodded, confirming his words. "I am."

For a moment the teen continued to stare at me, as if taking in everything, and then chuckled slightly.

"Alright," he said and pushed himself off the ground. "Proctor," he continued, catching the man's attention. "I forfeit."

I blinked in surprise. "What…?"

He turned back to me, grinning once again, but this time with a less cocky attitude.

"If we continued to battle then I'll only get injured and loose the match. There's no way I could beat you from the rumors I've heard. I'd rather just return to my village unharmed so I can do what I can with the power I have now, and train to be better for next year."

Blinking again, I wadded back to where Tess and Naruto were, still processing his words as the final match of the elimination round began.

I'd won by default.

"You made it!" Naruto said happily, smacking me on the back once again as I hopped up beside them. Tess clicked her tongue, hitting him on the shoulder lightly.

"Idiot, stop hitting her so hard," she said half jokingly and then turned to me, lips curving up in understanding.

"I know this isn't how you wanted to win, but there's nothing to do about it. That was his choice and it was smart—you would've kicked his ass."

"Yeah," I finally agreed with a sigh, leaning back onto the rail. Despite the win not having been "right" in my opinion, I'd won all the same and was one step closer to becoming a Chuunin. That thought alone pumped my attitude back up, and Naruto and Tess seemed glad at the change.

Ten minutes later the three of us were walking back to our hotel, the elimination round having ended and all three of us having made it.

"I say we get ramen to celebrate!" Naruto cheered, and I laughed at him.

"Sounds good!"

With a smile of my own I looked over the Tess who seemed to be mulling something over quite seriously, her face wrinkled into a frown.

"I'm gonna head back to the hotel," she said and I raised my eyebrows up in surprise, to which she rolled eyes at. "I'm not that hungry. You guys have a nice treat. I'll see you back there."

"Alright," I agreed reluctantly, knowing it would be pointless to argue with her.

Cheerfully smiling, Naruto grabbed hold of my wrist and instantly dragged me away from the red head who, as we turned away, grabbed the piece of her hair that had been cut earlier that day.

"Let's get some ramen!" He said, and I finally turned to look at him, instantly beaming with a smile of my own.

"Aa!"

Normal POV

The next day a pack of hardly unnoticeable ninja filed into the grand stadium for the Chuunin exams.

"Oh, I can't wait!" Taylor exclaimed and jumped up and down jubilantly as she marvelously looked around at all the sights before her. At the blondes side Itachi sighed a laugh at her apparent happiness, squeezing her hand which was in his lightly.

"Yes, I look forward to seeing the fighting between the Genin who have made it this far."

"Should be interesting," Kisame agreed with a grin, the blue man towering over Taylor who was at least a foot shorter than him. "After all, Naruto, Tess and Lauren all made it – so that means at least three of the battles will be worth watching."

Behind the shark man Sasuke rolled his eyes, arms crossed. "I wouldn't consider Naruto's battle one worth watching. He's made many mistakes in the past and I'm sure he won't fail to make one today."

"Hey!" Taylor responded defensively, trying to stick up for her brother. Sasuke only cracked a smirk.

"Though, maybe it will be worth watching even if he does mess up—for the humor I will get, that is."

Taylor rolled her eyes at the younger Uchiha male, smiling to herself as she continued to walk along beside Itachi, who was heading the pack. It'd been nearly a week since she'd last seen Tess and Lauren, and she was eager to see how they'd faired over the week. Clearly well, considering that the two had been announced as two of the final contestants along with Naruto.

Smile widening at her happiness for them Taylor took a second to glance back at Deidara and Hidan, both who were trailing behind everyone. They both held the same expression, one of coolness yet anticipation. They had really been missing their girlfriends over the last week—but that just showed how much they really cared for the females.

Giggling, Taylor turned her head back forward only to be stopped a moment later when Itachi's grip on her hand pulled her back as he stopped midstride. Furrowing her eyebrows in confusion she glanced over to the male only to see him bend into a bow, a small smirk on his lips.

"It's been a while, Pein-sama."

Eyes widening in surprise, Taylor whipped her head back forward, meeting the gaze of both the orange haired leader and his blue haired companion. The former Akatsuki leader smirked ever so briefly, meeting Taylor's stare as he nodded back to Itachi in acknowledgement.

"It has."

"Pein! Konan!" Taylor then exclaimed, letting go of Itachi in preference of running to the two, immediately wrapping her arms around them both in a tight hug. Neither of them rejected it, having expected the hug from the forever happy blonde.

"It's been so long!" Konan exclaimed, the two females once again embracing as Pein stepped to the side, briefly nodding to the rest of his former subordinates. "And you're pregnant! Oh my god!"

Taylor beamed at the female happily, consciously placing a hand on her stomach. She was two months in at this point, and a very unnoticeable bump had begun to poke out of her abdomen.

"Yes, it was bit of a surprise, but was welcomed fully," she responded happily, and Konan couldn't help but hug her again.

"I'm so happy for you," she said sincerely, and folded her arms in front of her a small smile coming to her face. "And I look forward to attending your wedding next week."

At hearing this Taylor blinked in surprise, glancing over to Pein to see if he would confirm it. And he did with a small smile and the dip of his head.

"Both Konan and I will be attending the wedding. I apologize not having responded to your invite, I was quite busy preparing the Rain Village for substitute of Konan and my absence."

"It's fine! Completely fine!" Taylor hurriedly responded, bright smile lighting up her face once again. Pein could no longer resist and smiled back at her. He was glad she had forgiven his forgetfulness, but was also pleased he'd been able to make her so happy with simply saying he and Konan would be in attendance.

Pein glanced over to Itachi who was now staring at Taylor lovingly as she exclaimed her excitement both towards the wedding and then the Chuunin exams. The Uchiha was utterly in love wither her, and he was happy for them both.

"The battle roster will be posted in one minute. Spectators please begin to head to your seats, for the matches will soon begin."

"We will be off then," Pein said and he and Konan swiftly turned, heading toward their seats which were in a more reserved area of the stadium. A few of the former Akatsuki briefly said goodbye in response before hurrying to find their own seats.

"There!" Taylor exclaimed at finding the row reserved for their large crowd of ninja, and they all quickly shuffled down the aisle, seating themselves just as the electronic roster board in the middle of the arena flashed to life.

"This should be interesting, yeah," Deidara grinned as he reclined in his chair, the Jashinist behind him doing the same as they both stared at the large board, intently waiting for the names of their girlfriends to pop up.

Beside the blonde male Sasori leaned forward, resting his head in his palm with amusement as the names on the board started to fly past at the speed of light, shuffling around. He couldn't wait to see the opponent that Lauren would be up against.

Soon enough the names on the screen instantly stopped, all 18 contestants' names in a bracket versing the one on the opposing side. However, the Akatsuki all froze, staring in surprise. Least to say, what they saw was completely unexpected.

Lauren's POV

"I can't believe you did that," I hissed at Tess, not really angry at all, but still a bit taken aback. The red head simply smirked in return.

"I still don't understand why you're mad?"

Sighing, I ran a hand over my hair, glancing over at the female beside me wearily.

"When Naruto got back to the room last night we found half your hair scattered on the floor! We thought something had happened!"

Tess grinned, clearly amused by my concern for her. "Something did happen—I gave myself a haircut."

Puffing my cheeks out I crossed my arms, glancing up at her new style dew.

Naruto and I had both arrived at our hotel room after eating dinner last night only to find Tess's red locks scattered across the carpet. We were both scared to death that something had happened before the Haruno stepped out from the bathroom, blinking in surprise at seeing our faces. Naturally we both looked to her head.

Tess had changed her hair up considerably. After coming to this world she'd let her straight shoulder-length hair grow longer, and at the start of the exams it'd reached her mid-back. If Tess had let her hair down a day ago she would've looked like a priestess, long flowing straight hair and evenly cut bangs, ending just above her eyebrow. Now, while her hair was still quite long, she'd cut all the ends a few inches, and her bangs which had been even now flew out in every which direction. She looked like some type of punk-rocker yet still managed to hold the beauty of a priestess all the same. She just didn't look as holy—but considering Hidan's religion I'm sure he wouldn't mind.

"Well, whatever," I scoffed, a small smirk making its way to my lips as I looked back down to her eyes. The haircut really did look good on her.

"Aa," she spoke and reached her hand forward, punching me in the shoulder with a grin of her own. She could tell that I liked it.

However, suddenly the two of us were broken up by a large amount of chattering coming from the stadium. Naruto, who had been over by a table of food provide for the exam participants, curiously jogged over to us, swallowing the item he'd been chewing on.

"What's going on?" he questioned, and I thought for a moment.

"…they may have just posted the battle roster," I realized, looking at the two. The three of us instantly ran down the short corridor and emerged on a low balcony, only reserved for those participating in the final round. And sure enough, up above on the large screen the pairings stood illuminated.

I immediately scanned down the list, looking for my name, but first coming across Naruto's. The blonde's eyes were wide in surprise, his name posted next to none other than Konohamaru's. I almost laughed, realizing that this was what had happened during the newest Naruto OVA, but didn't get the chance, instead pausing when Tess tugged on the short cuff of my sleeve.

I glanced over, surprised to see her own face in such a shocked state, and followed her finger as she pointed it up at the board to the last bracket. At finally realizing why she was so surprised I widened my eyes, glancing over at her. She met my stare evenly.

The final match: Uchiha Niji vs Haruno Bara.

Wow, this one is long. Just over 6,500 words...

Originally it was planned to be two chapters, but I made it into one long one to suffice for my absence. I apologize to anyone who had been awaiting an update :P However, I remember mention last time that I was going to devote myself to studying in the times of finals, and that's what I did. It ended up paying off (thank Christ) because I managed to keep all five of my A's :D

Anyway, I can't really think of anything else that's happening in life right now...

Hmm...

I went to a Medium yesterday (person who communicates with dead people) and was thoroughly surprised - in a good way. I truthfully believe that she connected with my father and other passed on relatives - it was a wonderful experience and I feel more light now, knowing that my dad is always watching over me :P

Anywho, that's about it. I'm gonna try to start working on a chapter of Shinobi High this weekend, but I promise nothing. Despite my own want to write the next chapter (cuz it gun' be good) my AP Lang class continues to give monstrous amounts of work. I have a Op-ed due Thursday (which honestly won't be too bad to write), and also need to write a small essay on current events. We also have an imagery assignment due, but not till after Holiday Break I think...

So yeah, AP Lang = lots of work for lady author. But on the bright side, that class and Pre-Calc are the only classes I have homework in. My World History and Family Sociology teachers straight up said we would never have homework, and I don't have homework in Orchestra either, so that means only two classes with homework yet again - lucky me.

Sigh. I'm also glad that AP Lang and Pre-Calc are only two trimesters long - meaning that after this one I'll be rid of them. Third trimester I also have my Sensei for two classes during the day, which I will definitely enjoy. And without my knowledge I was also put in an elective class worth 4 college credits if passed with a B or higher, so that's certainly a positive as well :D

I'll stop rambling now. See you guys when I see you!

Love you~

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