Akatsuki's Blood Blossom

Chapter 6

Thank you to all of you who reviewed followed and favored! It gives me inspiration to write! So keep it up and please vote on my poll, the couple will not be decided for a while but it's good to have an idea you know? :) Also I am very sorry for the short chapter, I will try to make a longer chapter next time, promise :)

Re-cap

I shrugged my shoulders and watched Ino with mild interest, a grin formed on my face when she looked pissed that I never wrote anything and dispelled her jutsu. Hm, a Yamanaka, interesting. This may be more fun that what I thought.

End re-cap

The written exam part II

Sakura's P.O.V

I took my time to check all the people who were still taking the exam. About thirty minutes has passed since the exam started and so far about seven teams have been disqualified for cheating. I take a moment to observe the jounin in the room; I recognize one of them as Genma Shiranui, the man who was at the gate. He must have felt my stare because he looked my way and winked before changing his line of sight. About three minutes later Kankuro had asked to use the bathroom, I shook my head, silently muttering 'idiot' under my breath. After about another ten minutes Ibiki spoke up again.

"Alright, now listen up. This last question can't be answered until I add another rule." Okay seriously! What's up with all these rules? Just then Kankuro walked back in with the 'jounin' who escorted him, "Ah welcome back, you're just in time. Now let me explain, this rule is absolute, first you must choose, to either answer or reject this question." The hell?

"What if we choose not to answer the question!?"

"Then you will fail along with your teammates."

"Then why would any of us reject the question in the first place!?"

"Because of the other rule," What? More rules? What more could he add? "If you choose to answer the question and get it wrong, then you will never be permitted to take the chunin selection exams again and remain a genin for the rest of your ninja career." A series of protests were heard, well i guess he could add that rule... "You can't be serious! There are ninja who have taken the chunin exam more than once already, and they're here now!" Ibiki started to chuckle, and I'll admit it, it was kind of unnerving. "Well it's just your luck that I'm the one who made the rules for the exam this year. You can fail now and take the exam next year or the year after that. Now, I suggest that if you're afraid or have any doubts, you should leave. Now, who wants out?" I looked around the room and within seconds a hand goes up.

"Sorry guys, but I can't do this."

"Yeah me either.

"Same here."

"Yeah, let's go."

And so on and so forth, about five other hands went up after that and one by one they left. I suddenly saw Naruto's hand go up which rather surprised me but as soon as Ibiki was gonna call his number he slammed his hand down "Don't underestimate me! I won't quit or run! I'll accept the stupid question; I don't care if I have to remain a genin for the rest of my life! I'll still become Hokage one day, even if it's only by pure stubbornness! I will become Hokage!" After his little speech, it seemed to have made everyone else in the room more confident. And after Ibiki realized no one else was going to raise their hand he spoke again. "For the rest of you who are still here, you've just passed the first exam! Meaning all seventy-eight of you can move on to the second part of the exam."

"What do you mean we passed, what happened to the tenth question?"

"That was the tenth question, beyond the 'accept or reject' thing."

"So what, the other nine questions were just a waste of time?"

"No, the goal was to test your skills in spying, remember the rules at the beginning? You pass or fail as a team? With that rule I pressured you into thinking that if you did anything wrong you would bring you're teammates down with you. Most of these questions were difficult for even jounin to handle. Some of you reached that conclusion, and the only way to keep the points you had was to cheat." (I'm gonna skip all of this explanation thingy, too much to write.)

After Ibiki had covered his scars once again he opened his mouth to speak but was cut off when a person crashed through the window and yelled; "Alright, listen up you maggots! My name is Anko Mitarashi, and I'm the proctor for the next part of the exam. So enough celebrating and get moving, times a-wastin' people, let's go." Everyone sweat dropped at her sudden appearance and behavior. Anko took a moment to look at everyone in the room, her eyes widen as she looked over to Ibiki in astonishment, "Ibiki! You passed 26 teams! My, you've gotten soft." Ibiki twitched, "Or maybe there are just an exceptionally amount talented genin this year."

"Yeah whatever, it doesn't matter. By the time I'm finished with them they'll be reduced by half." 'half?' I thought. Well this ought to be interesting.

The Forest of Death Part I

She lead us all to a place called the forest of death, settling isn't it? Once we got there she explained how this was a survival of the fittest kind of test. Each team either received a Heaven or Earth scroll. We needed both to pass this part of the test, we could use anything to receive the scroll, even resort to killing if we had wanted to. 'I guess that's what she meant by cutting us in half, we need both scrolls.' After we receive both scrolls we have to head to the tower in the center of the forest where the final part of the exams will be held. After she explained everything she handed out some forms.

"What are these for?" asked Karin, Anko sighed, and I decided to answer for her.

"They are consent forms. As she had mentioned earlier we are allowed to kill in this test and someone will most likely die. We sign these so no one will be held responsible for any of our deaths except ourselves." By the time I was done everyone was looking at me, Anko threw me a grateful look at not having to explain anything, however Karin began to mumble some things about me being a know-it-all and a show off, I just ignored her. People began to murmur and sign the papers; my team and I went to the sand siblings after we had signed everything and got our scroll. I sat down next to Gaara and put my head on his shoulder.

Now normally, anyone who gets within two feet of Gaara they're sopped by a sand barrier. It used to be the same with me too. I remembered how I broke that same barrier too.

Flashback

Two kids were sitting on a swing, one pushing the other, they both laughed, as happy as they can be. Both were unaware of the pair of eyes that showed malice and hatred in them. Suddenly a ball was thrown at them; one of the kids on the swings walked over and grabbed the ball. He looked over and saw kids who were obviously the ones playing with it when some kid kicked it too far. He took the ball over to them and asked if him and his friend could play, but before her could finish his sentence the kids who were playing yelled at him, calling him a monster and ran away. His friend walked up to him, "Its okay Panda, I know you're no monster, those kids are just ignorant, they don't know anything."

"Sigh, your right Saki, but it doesn't stop me from hurting inside."

"I know, but what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. You'll get through it."

Both children began to walk around the village, but because it was so late all the lights were off in the village. The wind suddenly blew and the two felt a sinister presence lingering in the distance. Both children tensed, turning around the children got into a defensive stance as there was now a man before them. Both children charged at the man, no idea who he was for there was a mask covering his face, obviously an assassin. Gaara stood in front of his friend protectively and commanded his sand to his side. Instantaneously the sand surrounded him and Sakura in a circle. Gaara raised his hand and the sand followed his movement, rising and encircling the man. Gaara clenched his fist and the sand soon followed, enclosing itself around the man, suffocating him.

Releasing his hold on the sand both children gasped at the sight before them. After the sand let the man go his mask fell off, revealing who the man truly was, Gaara's uncle, and visiting there so often he was basically an uncle to Sakura too. Neither of the children could express all the hurt and betrayal they were feeling that very moment.

"Wh-why?" stuttered Gaara.

"Because, it was your entire fault. You're the one who killed my sister. She would still be alive if it wasn't for you." Gaara was stunned. Not moving, he stood silently still as he saw the light leave his beloved uncle's eye. Ones that used to show him love and affection. He cried, his mother had died giving birth to him so he never really knew what it meant to have loved and lost until that very moment. He was too caught up in his thoughts that he didn't even realize that Sakura had run up to him and hugged him, or that his automatic defense never even came up when he felt arms wrap around him. Looking up from his crouched position he looked into Sakura's eyes that held unshed tears, realizing that he wasn't the only one who had lost someone he hugged her back. They stood like so for a few minutes, never realizing that they fell asleep on the cold floor until the next day when they woke up in their own beds the next day. No one else may have noticed but Sakura did, Gaara had actually fallen asleep with out loosing control of the demon within him, she also noticed how when she walked by him, his sand never reacted, therefore able to be as close to Gaara as she wanted, successfully, accidentally breaking his barrier.

End Flashback

Sakura smiled at the memory, sighing, she stood up when Anko had called all ninja to get to their gates and prepare to enter. Of course entering on their own accord, but whether they were in their gate or not the gate would close automatically after the first five minutes, they were open.

Everyone reached the gates and waited for the count down.

"Okay Hime, what's the plan?"

"First we need to find the scroll we need which should only take about five minutes, then that's when we start looking for Hatake's team. Orochimaru will be after Sasuke and his bloodline limit. Once we get to them we stay back, let them fight their own battles and let them do what they need to do, even fighting against the snake on their own. We'll only interfere when Orochimaru goes in for the kill."

"Are you sure about that Saki? It seems a bit… out there. I don't know if the little guys can handle it."

"Relax, they'll be fine. Never judge a book be its cover."

"Right, a lot of people made that mistake by judging you huh?" I smirked and looked over at them.

"You have no idea." I bit my finger and summoned back Bandit, Shadow and Sho. They mounted the dogs and waited for the doors to open as the count down began. 'Five days huh? I wonder if Gaara will last that long without having that urge to maim and kill.' I thought just as the gates opened and we sprang forward.

Orochimaru Again
Normal P.O.V

As team 13 of Ame was running through the trees they came to a sudden stop in a clearing with a stream. Already knowing what happened to Jirou and Kyo earlier that day on the way to the first exam when they ran into Orochimaru and Kabuto. Silently growling she slipped on her Akatsuki ring and called her father using the Magic Lantern Body Technique. Her two teammates know what she was doing knew it had to be quiet for her to concentrate so they kept quiet and guarded her.

"Sakura, how's the mission going? Everything going well?" asked Pein who was currently in his colorful spiritual form in some room where the Demonic Statue lay.

"Yes Father, but it seems as though our suspicions were correct, the snake is here. Kyo and Jirou confirmed it."

"Alright, be careful Sakura, do you need Kisame or Sasori to go Konoha?"

"I'll be fine, no thank you to over protective family members. We'll just watch after everyone who captures his attention."

"Alright, find out his motives, we know he wants the Uchiha for the Sharingan but we don't know why he wants it, try to figure it out."

"Will do, I'll keep you posted."

"Okay, use the rain jutsu if you have to, it'll be a good way to watch after everyone there."

"Got it." Said Sakura, as she left the conversation and came back to the real world. When she looked up she saw her two teammates smirking holding up their other scroll that they needed. Now they had both the heaven and earth scrolls. Confused on how they got it she interrogated them on it. Apparently another team from Ame gave them the scroll they needed saying that it was no big deal and would take the next exams six months from now when the exams started up again. Sighing she nodded and took off into the trees with her teammates to find the Uchiha and his teammates. After about ten minutes of not being able to find them Sakura suddenly stopped on a tree branch and performed the Rain Tiger at Will technique and made it rain infusing her chakra with it to sense everyone and anyone. After about five minutes she finally found and located them the worst part was, they were already in battle with Orochimaru.