If you feel like knowing why I've been gone for so long, read this. If not, skip it. It has no value to the story.

AN: Before we begin this chapter, I would just like to say a huge apology. This is my first story and I'm not exactly building a good reputation on here, having been gone for so long, without a reason. Faithful readers, reviewers, or anyone that just clicked on, know that you've made me so happy with all the attention and I'm sorry for disappearing for so long. I feel like I should explain. This isn't an excuse, just for those of you who would like to know.

It's been a rough time. I go to a very rigorous school. I wont say where or what grade I'm in. It's very expensive and very, very, difficult; many of our courses are classified as second year university level. In fact, we have the option to skip some first year uni courses if we want to. But I digress. Its a very stressful environment, and I'm there on a scholarship. I'm eternally grateful, but it's still a lot of pressure. Nonetheless, thats wasn't the problem.

On top of my school life stress, I play many sports competitively, some at the international level. Balancing out school and sports is tough, which is why I usually churn out a ton of chapters at once and post them one by one, so I have some time to write more. Again, not really the problem, I can usually deal.

The problem came when on top of all the stress, my family decided to add to it. Now I come from what most people call "a broken home" though I don't like that term. My parents are divorced and all they do is fight. Again, not unusual. But they like to drag us kids into it, my brother and I. They often fight and ask us to tell them what we think, essentially asking us to pick sides. And when we don't want to do it, they scream and hit us. Obviously a lot for a pair of teens to cope with. I've been called useless, fat, a waste of space, amongst other things. I've had a concussion from when they hit us a tad too hard. My brother has had to deal with a lot too. Despite all this, I still love my parents, and my brother even more so. He's protected me and I, him.

I should say that this stuff only happens when our parents meet. Alone, they're fine, like any other normal parent. But when they meet, tensions run high and I guess they have to be let out somewhere. Anyways, my brother and I have gotten quite good at predicting when these arguments happen, and we usually leave the house, staying at our respective friend's places. I thought everything was fine.

But it wasn't. I didn't know, but while I threw myself into my studies, writing and sports (I have a lot of penalty minutes. It's the only time I'm not nice.) to cope, my brother used something else. He got into cigarettes, drugs, alcohol, you name it. But he always came home clean. I knew he drank, but what teen doesn't at a party? I did. So I wasn't really worried. But recently he was hospitalized for a drug overdose and nearly died. They say he'll be fine, but my world is literally exploding around me.

How did I miss the signs? He couldn't have hid it that well, I must not have been looking hard enough. I was supposed to be his support, but I obviously wasn't good enough. I cried for days, knowing I almost lost him. I tried to talk him out of it, and he agreed, but I've caught him smoking and still doing drugs. He says he's trying, but its hard. I get that. But it's so easily to overdose on unregulated drugs. You don't know what you're getting in those, and its different from manufacturer to manufacturer. When things are illegal, there's no board of people telling you what in each pill and how much to take.

I can't lose him. It sounds selfish, but if I do, I may as well just off myself. He checked into rehab, but my brother is smart and strong. If he doesn't want to quit, he wont. And rehab won't make him. I've been overwhelmed with guilt and let me tell you. When your most important person is lying on a hospital bed, seeing demons and on the brink of death, you can't breathe. Everything goes numb and you just think, "Where did I go wrong?"

I'm an atheist, but I prayed to whatever god existed to just help him. I couldn't sleep, I lost weight, I couldn't eat without throwing up. My grades fell and I had to take a break from my sports. Every second, I just kept seeing him on the bed, trashing in the restraints as the drugs fucked with his head. I couldn't concentrate on anything. Please kids, adults, anyone. Don't ever do drugs. Don't smoke. Don't do anything that hurts the people around you. It's not worth it.

So my dad noticed how fucked I was, and took me out of school for a week. He told me to get back into writing. He thinks that if I have an outlet, I won't bottle everything up inside and it'll be good for me to let it out. He and my mom agreed to not meet until we were all better. They are going to deal with things privately. I'm sorry, but after this, I'm finding it hard to look them in the eye. Perhaps I'm just projecting my guilt onto them by blaming them, but they're the reason we even needed a reason to cope. Why did they have to finally pick their game up at the expense of my brother's life(almost, thank god)?

Anyways. That's my life so far. Maybe I'm selfish, only thinking about my life, but again, I'm just venting. Sorry about the essay. I guess my dad was right, it did feel good to get that all out. I'll let my brother know. Maybe he can use writing as a method to cope as well.


Without further adieu, enjoy

Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto blah blah blah.

"Thoughts"

"Speaking"

"Sarutobi-sama. We have reports that Orochimaru is in the village." An Anbu with a pig's mask said, "…also, Haruno Sakura has the curse seal."

The old man nodded, deep in thought.

"Do not alert the villagers. We will continue with the chunin exams. Summon Anko." He commanded.

Shortly after, a poof was heard as Anko Mitarashi appeared before the desk of the elderly Hokage.

"You summoned me Hokage-sama?" she said politely, a stark contrast to her usual demeanor.

"Yes. Orochimaru is in the village. You know what consequences that could have. We will proceed with the chunin exams, but be on guard. Alert the other jounin. Oh and Anko, I thought you should know, but a genin has been cursed with the seal." He said authoritatively, watching as Anko disappeared, her hand on her neck.

It was times like these that Anko remembered why Sarutobi made a great leader. He always seemed to know what to do, even in the direst of time. He never panicked, and always led with wisdom.

Reaching the room where all Konoha jounin team leaders were, Anko quickly briefed them on the situation, advising them to keep their eyes open.

The tense silence held out for all of four seconds until Gai erupted with a loud bellow of, "Never fear Anko-san! The power of youth will prevail! Orochimaru, as un-youthful as he is will never triumph!"

The rest of the occupants in the room sweat-dropped as Kakashi sighed, flipping his book back open, "Mah, it was almost a serious moment too."


With a triumphant yell, Naruto bounded ahead, reaching the doors of the large tower. Rushing inside, he was followed by his equally pleased teammates. Inside, a large board with a message etched into it greeted them.

"Only when a shinobi has trained their mind and body until they can train no more, only then has their full potential been met. Without mind, the body fails. Without body, the mind cannot hold out. The two are required for a successful shinobi." Sakura read, her brows furrowed in thought.

"What does it mean?" asked Naruto.

"…I think we need to open the scrolls together…" she replied, thinking, "You need both, huh?"

Pulling out the scrolls, Naruto and Sasuke opened them, following their female teammate's advice, said teammate standing farther back to observe and analyze. Seeing smoke start to rise and the beginning of a summoning, her eyes widened.

"Naruto! Sasuke! Drop the scrolls!" she cried, backing up and pulling out a kunai. She watched the boys throw the scrolls down and leap away pulling out their own kunai as, sure enough, a poof was heard followed by a large cloud of smoke.

As the smoke cleared the genin stood up, surprised. They put their kunai away as Naruto voiced what they were all thinking, "Iruka-sensei? What are you doing here?"

The man smiled, "The chunins get to greet the teams that make it, so I was assigned to your team. So, congratulations on passing the second exam! I would treat you to ramen, bu-" he said, being cut off as Naruto lunged himself at the man.

"THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!" he yelled as Sakura giggled and Sasuke smirked.

Iruka scratched the back of his head as the boy clung to him. He took a good look at the team, seeing the usual; bruises, scratches, nothing severe. The worst thing looked like Sakura's leg, but that was bandaged, so he couldn't see the severity of it.

Looking at Sakura, he was surprised to see a strong kunochi staring back at him, instead of the weak, obsessed, girl she used to be. He didn't know what changed, but it appeared to be a good one and for that, he was pleased.

Iruka pried Naruto off him as he grinned, "Alright, well you guys should get going, you finished pretty early, a whole 4 days in fact! Kakashi will want to see you and then you should go get treated and rest up for the rest of the exams. I'll see you later." He said, ushering them through a set of doors.


Chatting quietly with Naruto and Sasuke as they walked to the med-nin tents, Sakura scratched at the back of her neck. Pausing mid-step she thought, "Why didn't I look at this before? This pain obviously isn't natural. Geez Sakura, you're such an idiot. I guess the adrenaline made me kind of forget about it."

"Speak for yourself." Said Inner Sakura, her voice strained as she bore the brunt of the pain.

Feeling guilt well up in her stomach, she looked up at her teammate's questioning eyes.

"Something wrong, Sakura-chan?" asked Naruto.

"Uh, yeah, is there something on my neck where that Orochimaru guy bit me?"

The boys tensed, tipping Sakura off as she took a deep breath, trying not to panic.

"Guys…what is it?" she asked.

Sasuke stepped forward, pulling off his reflective forehead protector. Pulling down the collar of her shirt, he angled the protector, showing her the strange markings covering the back of her clavicle.

Sakura sucked a breath, her eyes wide as she stuttered, "W-what is that?"

"It's Orochimaru's curse seal."

All eyes turned to the newcomer, seeing their sensei leaning against the wall with his trusty book. He smiled at them, settling the tension as he approached them, patting them all on the head.

"Good job guys, but you were very lucky you only ran into a few teams. Naruto, Sasuke, go to the med-nin tents and get treated. I need to take care of Sakura. We'll be back soon, and we'll fill you in then." He said, silencing their protests.

Shooing them off, Kakashi beckoned to the girl, walking down a dimly lit hallway.

Sakura followed him inquiring quietly, "Kakashi-sensei? What is Orochimaru's cursed seal?"

"It is a seal that allows you to increase your power by borrowing from another person, namely Orochimaru himself. However, it is a dark technique that can change a person and drive them mad. It is also incredibly difficult to control, incredibly painful initially, and people often cannot survive the activation stage. That's why I'm going to seal it before it has a chance to activate. I don't know why it hasn't already activated for you, but that's actually a good thing." He replied, scratching his head.

Sakura thought deeply.

"Hm…strange. I know it was intended for Sasuke, but why is it not really affecting us other than the pain?"

"Well, Orochimaru probably never planned on two of us being here. I doubt the curse seal knows which one of us to activate on. Plus I'm drawing a lot of its power away already." Inner said, her voice pained.

"That's true. Don't worry Inner, Kakashi will seal it, and then tonight we'll figure out what to do with it. We have 4 days until the second exam is over, so we can deal with it later. Hm…I guess I should get some scrolls about fuinjutsu then." Sakura thought absentmindedly.

Noticing Kakashi stop and open a door, she walked after him, seeing a room covered in strange writings. There was a design drawn on the ground with plenty of candles lighting the room.

"Sheesh, could this get any more cliché?"

Sakura looked at Kakashi, seeing him prepare a small bowl of ink and grab a brush. He turned to face her.

"Okay Sakura, I need you to show me the curse seal and relax. This will hurt and you will likely fall unconscious, but that's okay. Don't fight it." He said, watching her pull down the collar of her top, just as a blinding pain erupted from her neck making her cry out.

She saw black soon after, feeling herself crumple to the ground as she was caught and placed gently on the ground.


Sakura groaned, opening her eyes as she rubbed at her neck, trying to sate the itch. She opened her eyes only to be greeted with an empty room.

"Great. The hospital."

"Well, I guess we sort of needed it. That seal was rough. We need to talk to Kakashi-sensei. It would be good to know more about the seals that Orochimaru and Kakashi-sensei put on us."

"Alright, I sense him and the boys coming to see us anyways. I'll talk to him then. He probably sensed my awakening."

Sakura smiled, seeing the door of her room open and her teammates walk in. She was immediately glomped by Naruto, groaning as he squeezed the life out of her.

"N-Naruto! Air!" she wheezed. Seeing how that didn't work she gasped out, "Crushing the ramen!"

Naruto sprung back, eyes darting around, likely in search of his favourite food. Sakura chuckled as he turned betrayed eyes to her. She stared back, unfazed as he pouted.

"Glad to see you're doing alright Sakura-chan." Kakashi said, smiling at his female student, "We just signed your release form, you can leave now. You were only out for a couple hours. By the way, you guys can have the rest of the day off today. You'll want to rest up as much as you can after finishing that exam. We'll get back to training tomorrow."

Sasuke and Naruto nodded, walking out of the room after seeing Sakura wave them away. Turning to her sensei she asked, "Kakashi-sensei? Can you explain this seal thing?"

"Well I already explained Orochimaru's cursed seal, or at least, what we know of it. I essentially sealed that seal. You need to be careful though; my seal is dependent on your willpower to resist the curse. It can break if you severely deplete your chakra and need to use the curse seal." Kakashi replied seriously.

"But how do we get rid of Orochimaru's seal?" Sakura questioned.

"As of right now, we're not sure. It's never been done before. But don't worry Sakura; as long as you're careful, the seal shouldn't bother you. Just let me know if anything feels odd, alright?" he reassured.

Sakura nodded, climbing out of the bed. She grabbed her clothes and changed in the bathroom, accompanying Kakashi as they walked out of the hospital. Saying goodbye, she quickly ran to Hokage tower.

Being quickly admitted in, she happened upon Sarutobi, in deep thought as he read a scroll.

"Sarutobi-sama?" Sakura asked, drawing his attention. He smiled at her, though not as widely as he used to. This time, his smile seemed somewhat sad.

"Ah, hello Sakura-chan, congratulations on passing the second exam! Is there anything you need?" the old man asked.

Sakura nodded, "I know you said you would open the other vaults for me if I passed the chunin exams, but I really need some scrolls on fuinjutsu. Is it possible to get access to just those scrolls?" she asked in a pleading tone.

The old man leaned back in his chair, stroking his beard. After a long pause, he hummed, "Hmm…I suppose so…"

He grabbed a slip of paper, writing some characters down for her to bring to the scroll keeper at the vaults. Handing the paper to her he spoke, "Do your best Sakura. If anyone can figure this out, it's you."

Sakura stared back, surprised at this blunt statement. Lips turning up in a bright smile, she darted off through the doors, calling out, "Thank you Sarutobi-sama!" as she left.


Hearing a small rumbling sound, Sakura looked up from her scroll. She furrowed her brow, listening for the sound again. She heard it again, but louder, and realized it was coming from her stomach. Blushing, she mumbled to herself, "Guess I've been reading for a while, I should grab a bite to eat."

Standing up, Sakura hummed as she prepared a quick meal for herself.

"Hmm…the only fuinjutsu I know how to do reliably are the seals to store items on scrolls. I've never seen a seal on a person, let alone one this complex. From what the texts say about the design of the seal, it looks like this seal allows me to form a connection with Orochimaru. Which makes sense, all that extra power that comes from the seal does come from him after all."

"Is it possible to get rid of a seal anyways?"

"Hmm…I don't think so…even with the sealing scrolls, the only way to remove the seal is the destroy the scroll, or the seal-caster. Dying would be sort of counter-productive, and I have a feeling Orochimaru won't be keeling over anytime soon."

"Well, what about altering the seal? We could change its characteristics, like how you can change the seal on a scroll to hold more items." Inner Sakura suggested.

Sakura paused, her bite of rice halfway to her mouth.

"Hmm…that may have some potential…I'll have to talk to Kakashi-sensei about it. Doesn't Lee-kun's teammate also have some kind of seal on him? I wonder if he'd let us study it."

"Like I always say, no harm in asking." Inner Sakura replied.

"I'll go tomorrow to morning training, see if Lee's there and ask him about his teammate then." She thought, washing her dishes and cleaning up her study area.

Placing the scrolls she finished tonight in a pile, she grabbed one to read in bed, eventually falling asleep.


Yawning, Sakura wiped the sleep from her eyes, rolling out of bed. Seeing the sun just about to make its way over the horizon, she packed her bag for the day, taking a quick shower. She grabbed an apple as she walked out the door, taking off to Team Gai's training ground, via the rooftops.

"Okay, 3 days until the second exam is over. Time to get some work done." Sakura thought, arriving at the training grounds.

Seeing a familiar green-clad boy, she smiled, "Hi Lee-kun!" sidestepping him as he appeared before her, attempting to grasp one of her hands.

Unfazed he grinned at her, "Loveliest Sakura-san! What a pleasure to see you! I take it the second exam was no trouble for you then?"

Sakura smiled nervously, "Well…sort of. But that's unimportant. Shall we spar?"

With a loud shout of delight, the boy leapt away from her as she shed her pack, readjusting her weights to make sure they wouldn't shift. Dropping into her taijutsu stance she smirked at the boy, the familiar challenge bringing a rush to her system.

She dropped low, ducking the first of many punches as she countered with a low sweep of her leg. Predictably, Lee easily leapt over it, but that wasn't her goal. As he was in the air, Sakura continued her rotation, letting the momentum from her leg sweep power her though her quick turn as she rose from the ground, slamming an elbow into Lee's solar plexus as she spun.

As Lee went flying across the field, Sakura paused.

"What the…how the hell did I do that? That would have never worked normally." She thought, watching her friend stand up, uninjured.

She signaled for a time out, walking over to a tree wordlessly. She sat down and closed her eyes, assuming her meditation position as she mulled this new development over. Seeing her state, Lee decided to leave her alone to her thoughts as he continued his training.

"Inner? You saw what happened, any thoughts?"

"Don't get so worked up about it, you have been getting stronger you know. Plus Lee could have just let his guard down. Maybe he didn't expect your speed to have gotten so much better in his absence?"

"Maybe. But this strength feels odd. Like it's not mine. I think it's from the seal, to be honest. That's the only thing that seems to make sense."

"Why do you say that?" Inner Sakura asked.

"Well, Kakashi-sensei sealed it, but we don't know what seal he used or how strong it is. For all we know, it could just be strong enough to prevent the curse from taking over. And he did say that the curse seal lends us Orocimaru's power."

"Ah. So it could still be leaking though a little?"

"Does it sound that crazy?" Sakura questioned.

"As if anything could sound crazy at this point. But it's worth looking into. We'll consult Kakashi-sensei soon. Until then, enjoy the newfound strength."

"I can't."

"Why's that?" Inner Sakura said.

"It's not my strength. I want to be strong, but all that strength to come from me. This feels like cheating."

"Well I guess Kakashi-sensei doesn't have to worry about you letting the curse take over. He just has to worry about you overexerting yourself."

Sakura chuckled mentally, "As if he would even worry. He'd probably just throw me to a pack of missing-nin, thinking I'd run away and cry."

"Hey now, he's been a bit better now that you've shown you can handle yourself."

"Only marginally. Even after I showed I was equal with Sasuke-kun, he still barely paid me any attention. Maybe he's sexist."

With a snort, Inner Sakura kicked her outer self out of her trance, snapping her meditative concentration. Sakura opened her eyes slowly, drawing her vast stores of chakra back into her as she surveyed the area.

Seeing the sun much higher than before, she gasped, "Oh shit, Lee! I just called a timeout; he was probably waiting for me. Dammit, I didn't realize that much time had passed! Ugh I'm such a terrible person!"

As she beat herself up over her rudeness, she noticed a small movement in the breeze. Looking up she saw a spall scrap of paper pinned to a nearby tree. Walking over to it, she picked it up, chuckling at the note left behind by her friend.

~Loveliest Sakura-san!

You appear to have something weighing on your mind, so I decided it would be un-youthful of me to disturb you! That being said, I'm afraid I must leave to meet with my team, so we will be unable to continue our spar for the time being! But not to worry! We shall continue upon our next meeting!

I sincerely hope that whatever is troubling you vacates your mind and you should know that I will always be here to listen or just to spar with! By the way, that was an incredibly executed strike to my solar plexus! You have improved at an incredible rate! You should be proud!

Until next time,

Lee

Tucking the note away, Sakura smiled, some of her worries put at ease. Glancing up at the sky, she decided to walk to the bridge at an easy pace. Hopefully the easy walk around the training grounds would settle her mind. Pausing mid-stride, she smacked herself upside the head.

'Dammit! I forgot to talk to Lee about his teammate's seal!"

Thanks for reading. Feel free to review.