Team Four stands in front of training ground 44, blatantly ignoring their proctor who is just physching out the competition. Anko notices, and smiles maniacally before appearing just behind the team, expecting them to jump out of their skins.

Gaara stared expressionlessly ahead as he had before. 'Hn. Stupid woman, clearly she's not too involved with Suna if she thinks that some stupid trick like that will scare me.' he thinks.

Naruko just turned to look at her bored. 'Really? Did she think that was fast? I can move way faster than that ttebayo!' She thinks.

Matsuki just raises her eyebrows at the woman, and decides she will be the first to speak.

"What are you doing? You're just wasting our time by running around like some overexcited academy student." She says.

Naruko laughs loudly. "Alright 'Suki!" She cheers. It's rare that Matsuki gets snappish with someone, but Naruko knows she is just impatient. So if they were doing something as important as the Chuunin Exams, she isn't very patient with people, and this woman that's flitting around was definitely getting on her nerves.

Anko takes on a deadly expression. "Listen you little brats! I could kill you in a second if I wanted to! However, you haven't signed the waivers yet and-" She is cut off as sand surrounds her neck and Gaara turns to her, expressionless still.

"Would you just get on with the test? I'm getting bored, and you won't like me when I'm bored." He drawls out.

Anko freezes, her eyes wide. 'Just what is this kid? I didn't even feel any chakra get used!' She thinks.

"Well!" She says, flashing back up on stage. "I suppose that now that you understand the exams are no joke, you can sign your waivers and get your scroll. You have one hour to think about it and drop out if you'd like."

Naruko picks up a waiver at the front and starts to read over it. Apparently they are allowed to kill, which makes this part of the exam a hell of a lot easier. She doesn't worry too much about her own team sustaining injuries though. They have a perfect team dynamic. With Gaara's sand, her swordsmanship, and Matsuki's prominent medic skills, they have all the bases covered for unusual components on a genin team. Plus, they are all relatively strong with taijutsu and ninjutsu, and she is the only one who completely and utterly sucks at genjutsu. But she makes up for it with her even weirder ability of sealing, which her mom had started teaching her a couple years back. Not to mention the fact that they have not one, but two demon containers on their team. Yeah, nothing to worry about there.

She walks over and drops down against a massive rock, her back to it as she starts scribbling down her information on the waiver. Someone drops down next to her and she assumes it was Gaara, but when a flash of raven hair makes it's appearance, she looks up from her paper.

"What do you want Uchiha?" She asks, sighing exasperatedly.

"What, can I not sit where I want anymore?" He asks.

"No, it's not that you can't sit where you want. It's why you want to sit next to me." Naruko asks.

"Why not? You seem like better company than my loudmouth teammate or the fangirl on my team." He says.

Naruko cringes. Alright, she can give him a little sympathy for that. Fangirls are the worst. "So you thought another loudmouth from a different village would be better?"

"Well, I can appreciate the loud mouth in you." He says. "For you, it's a fiery attitude, for him, it's plain annoying."

"Yeah, well I've been told I'm annoying plenty of times." Naruko says.

"I don't think you're annoying." Sasuke says. "I think you're strong and determined, which are attractive traits in a girl."

Naruko raises an eyebrow. Did he just call her attractive? Uchihas were supposed to be stone cold, but here this one was, complimenting her.

"Uchiha, move before I decide that your time on this Earth has ended." A cold voice states.

They both look up to see Gaara standing in front of them, a glare set on his face.

"You think you can take me, Sabaku?" Sasuke says, before bringing himself to a stand.

"I think I could kill you in less than a second if I wanted to." Gaara says.

"If you're so confident, do it. Just try to take me down." Sasuke says.

"Alright, alright, you two can stop your stupid bickering." Naruko says, standing and pushing the two away from each other. "There will be plenty of time during the exams for you two to pick a fight, so just wait until then, alright?"

Sasuke grudgingly walks away from the pair and Naruko can't help but worry for the boy. It seemed that Gaara was really pissed off at him, and people who make Gaara get angry do not live. Not just run of the mill angry, that he didn't care too much about, but Naruko knew this was because of Sasuke's constant interest in her.

"What did the Uchiha want?" Gaara asks, looking after him with narrowed eyes.

"Nothing," she says, "just making conversation."

"Yeah, well he better not try and do that again." Gaara says, before turning to her, his expression softening. "Are you okay? You seemed stressed out earlier, I was worried."

"I was fine." She lies. "You know, I just started to freak a bit because I couldn't find one of the answers."

"Alright, if that was it." Gaara says, looking doubtful. "You done with your form?"

"Yeah, it's all filled out!" Naruko says.

The pair finds their other teammate and go to the check-in line. They turn in their forms after waiting in line for about 10 minutes. They're given an Earth scroll from one of the assistants.

Naruko holds it and looks up to her two teammates, who just look back at her. Naruko shrugs and stuffs it in her bra, making Gaara blush and look away which causes Matsuki to double over in laughter.

Naruko crosses her arms and scowls. "What?! It's not like anyone is gonna check there!"

After Matsuki's laughter dies down, the team leaves the check-in area and makes their way over to a gate. On the way over, they walk by the only other team they have met so far in the exam, even though they have only met one of them. It doesn't matter much though, they aren't there to make friends.

As soon as Naruko is within 50 yards of them, she immediately knows why Sasuke had thought she was better company than the rest of his team.

"Heh heh! Just you wait Sasuke, I'll show you how a real man fights during this exam! I'll wipe the floor with them and teach you how it's done!"

"Shut up Kiba! Sasuke-kun's the best! He's way better than you!"

"Hah! Yeah right! I could take him anytime, any day!"

"You wanna accept that challenge, dead last?"

"Bring it on!"

"Kiba stop being so stupid! All that's gonna happen is Sasuke-kun's gonna knock you out and then we'll have to carry around your knocked out, sorry ass!"

Naruko growls under her breath, before taking out a kunai in a flash and throwing it in between the group. It hits a tree that is next to them and they all look at her.

"What? You were annoying the hell out of me!" She says, walking by them.

She sees Gaara grin out of the corner of her eye before he turns his head the other way, not wanting to really show the other team he has emotions. Matsuki giggles before leaning over to Naruko.

"Ne, I know you don't need the help, but can I be part of the whole beating-up-the-pink-fangirl plot I know you have?" She whispers.

Naruko giggle and nods. "Yeah! You can heal her after we beat her up, and then we can do it again!"

They both laugh loudly as they come up to their gate and stand there.

"So, what should our plan be?" Matsuki asks.

"I say we just find the nearest team, beat them, take their scroll, and make our way to the tower." Naruko says. "The nearest team would be the Leaf team with the Uchiha on it, which makes me a little nervous. While his teammates are clearly not going to be hard to deal with, Uchihas are prodigies and are highly regarded in even Suna."

"I'll take care of him." Gaara says. "You two can get the others and leave him to me."

"Hey! Just because he's hard to beat doesn't mean I don't want a crack at him!" Naruko complains. "I wanna see if I'm strong enough to beat even an Uchiha."

"Believe me, you're strong enough." Gaara says. "I just don't want him touching you. He makes me on edge, like he's going to do something I'm not going to like."

"Whatever!" Naruko exasperates. "I guess me and Matsuki can take the other two, but after we're done with them, I'm so joining your fight!"

The gate flings open and they rush in, going in a diagonal so they will be able to catch up with Team Seven. As they run, they discuss the plan in hushed tones, and eventually, they find themselves in the trees above where Team Seven has stopped.

Naruko looks up to where Matsuki waits in the tree across from her, making eye contact. She nods and they both turn to Gaara who nods as well.

Sand pools out of his gourd and once he has a substantial amount, he slams it down into the ground, right in between where the group was fighting about who knows what.

They all jump away from the sand, and they start looking around wildly, all three having already pulled out kunai.

"What was that?" The pink-haired fangirl asks.

Naruko smirks and drops down, landing in a crouch before straightening up in front of them. Matsuki and Gaara still wait in the trees above, for it will be more beneficial if the team thought she was the only one who had gone after them.

"You!" She yells.

"Me." Naruko says calmly.

"You didn't bring your teammates? Damn, that means there's less ass I get to kick." The boy says- if she remembers correctly, his name is Kiba- grinning wildly.

"You shouldn't be foolish enough to believe that you could really beat me and my teammates." Naruko said, sliding out her sabre. "Now, you can either surrender your scroll now, or I can kill you and take it. Your pick."

The fangirl's eyes widen. "How can you act so nonchalantly about killing!?"

She shrugs. "It's just the way things are in Suna. We don't tolerate weakness, unlike Konoha."

Kiba's eyes narrow. "We are not weak, and no way in hell are we giving you our scroll!"

"Fine." Naruko says, "I guess you picked option two then."

Lightning chakra crackles loudly in her sword and she rushes towards Kiba. His eyes widen before he drops his dog out of his coat and starts making hand signs.

Before he can finish, Naruko swipes her sword at his head, and he ducks underneath it. He tries to sweep her feet out from under her, but she jumps into the air and does a back flip before jumping back a few steps.

Naruko senses a presence behind her, and as she turns her head, she makes out Sasuke running towards her, a kunai in hand. She is trying to decide whether to turn to him or keep her focus on Kiba when Gaara drops down a few feet from her and runs to meet Sasuke in a fight.

Then the fangirl runs towards her, kunai tightly gripped in hand, and Naruko rolls her eyes. She thrusts her sword out and grazes Sakura's arm that's holding the kunai. A shock immediately goes through her arm and the cut starts bleeding down her arm.

She stumbles back a few steps, and Naruko turns her attention back to Kiba, who has made a clone of himself while she wasn't looking. Not that it matters, clones are simply holograms.

She runs at the one that's in front of her and, feinting a left hook, simply swivels backwards on her foot and slams her right elbow into his stomach. He falls backwards, his back colliding with the ground and sliding back several feet.

She turns around to fight him once he gets back up, when she feels a foot connect with the bottom side of her jaw. She flies through the air and into a tree that was roughly 15 feet away. She slides down in, holding her right arm tightly to help the pain ease out of it. Thankfully, it was just her arm that took the brunt of the collision; if it was her ribs, she'd be in much bigger trouble.

'It's solid! So what is it? The only type of clone they have in Konoha is the Shadow Clone, and that's a kinjutsu!' Naruko thinks. 'What could he have possibly done to make it solid?'

The clone helps his alter ego of the ground, and they both look at her, smirking.

"I have to say, you do pack quite a punch." Kiba says. "However, I won't be beat on my own home turf by a foreign ninja."

Naruko narrows her eyes and stands, sheathing her sword. "I don't want to hurt you, but you've given me no choice."

She let's out a breath before she starts running through hand signs. As her hands fall into the last one, she takes in a deep breath and compresses the air in her lungs. "Futon: Air Bullet!" She shoots out the attack, creating highly compacted and chakra-rich bullets of air that fly at the duo.

Their eyes widen and one of them-presumably the clone-grabs the other and throws him out of range. He skates across the ground, slowing himself down with his own hands, while the other gets hit by the bullets.

Rather than disappearing, as she thought it would, the clone has the white residue from the jutsu cloud around it, before a dog is left in its place.

Naruko blinks owlishly while Kiba gets up and runs over to the dog.

"Akamaru!" He yells, sliding onto his knees. He touches the dog's side before turning to her with squinted eyes. "You! This is all your fault!"

She crosses her arms and glowers, though her heart aches for the now hurt puppy. "I warned you."

He growls which slowly turns into a yell. "Fang over fang!"

He propels himself upwards and spins so fast that it makes him seem as if he's a drill. Naruko jumps backwards as he drills towards her, tearing through the ground. As she jumps back, she doesn't pay much attention to what's behind her, focusing more on the boy in front of her; so it's a surprise when she feels rough bark scrape her shoulders.

She turns her head to the side and sees she's backed against a very large tree, with the boy in front of her. She knows she doesn't have much time, so she has to make this count.

She pushes forward off the tree, starting to run towards Kiba who is still moving quickly towards her using his own technique. She takes all of her will and forces the chains out of her back, directing them straight towards Kiba. They wrap around his spinning form and constrict his movement, forcibly stopping the attack.

Naruko's lucky she made it, there was only two feet of space left in between them. One second later and she would have been toast. She twists the chains and slams Kiba into the tree headfirst, surely making the boy black out. She retracts her chains and let's the boy slump to the ground.

She takes in a breath of relief and assesses her arm, which still stings. Other than scratches made from the bark, there's only one bad injury, which is unfortunately really adrenaline pumping through her veins must have made her not feel as much pain during the battle, but now that it's slowly draining out of her system, she feels it full force. A puncture wound stands out amongst her pale white skin, one inch wide, long, and even deep. Her arm's not shattered, thank god, but it's not exactly in the best shape, which sucks especially since it's her dominant arm.

Should this team not have the scroll they need, she'll be practically useless for anything other than ninjutsu and taijutsu. She sucks at genjutsu, and fuinjutsu requires a steady arm which she doesn't have at the moment. Her right arm was her throwing arm and swordsman arm, so she can wield neither now. She can only fight through the pain for the first two, and should they be out here for the full five days, she'll most likely get infected, which can only lead to trouble.

She rifles through her bag before digging out the bandages she had packed and taking one end of it in her mouth. She drags the bandage out so there is a good three feet of it free, and then she starts wrapping it around the wound.

Matsuki drops down next to Naruko, her eyes wide. "Naruko! What happened?"

"I got a little too acquainted with a tree I'm afraid. That kid was actually pretty good, made my right arm a dud for the next week or two, and that's if I get medical attention." Naruko says.

"Oh my gosh Naruko! This is serious! Should we just forfeit?"

"You're blowing this way out of proportions! I don't need a doctor that immediately. It's not worth dropping out of these exams, you know why we have to get to the finals." Naruko says, looking at her seriously.

Matsuki drops her gaze to the ground. "I know, but it won't be worth it if you get hurt even worse, and you know Gaara would agree with me."

Naruko rolls her eyes. "If he even tries to make us forfeit, I will beat the crap out of him to make him shut up. We are not forfeiting, I don't care how bad this injury gets. Besides, it's not that bad right now."

"Not bad!? It's bleeding profusely! If it were anyone but you, they would die in a couple from hours blood loss!"

"Well it's a good thing it happened to me then, isn't it." She said, walking away from Matsuki to search Kiba for a scroll.

Matsuki huffs before looking away. "I don't see why you can't just accept help when it's offered. Why do you always have to do things yourself? Why do you feel like we have to go through with everything, even when it threatens your life?"

"Because Matsuki, I could never live with myself if I was the reason for a failure. Gaara never gets hurt, and you're not hurt right now, are you? The reason we would drop out would be because of my ignorance, and I can't let that happen."

"Naruko, we're not going to blame you for a mistake. People get hurt in battles, it happens all the time. Why should you be the only one who always has to get back up and go on?"

"Matsuki, I-... just, drop it. Please." Naruko says, closing her eyes tightly.

"Fine." Matsuki says. "But why do you even heal so quickly anyways? I've never understood that."

"It's a part of my bloodline." Naruko lies. "From my mother; Uzumaki can withstand a lot more than most and they live a lot longer."

The last part was true, but she healed faster because of her tenant. While she trusted Matsuki, she knew the girl still held distrust in Gaara because of his tailed beast. As much as she wanted to get it off her chest, she was terrified that one of her closest friends would turn on her. Not that she would blame her, even she was disgusted with herself sometimes. She hated that she couldn't just be a normal girl. She wasn't confident, her red hair stuck out like a sore thumb against the pale browns in Suna, she didn't find herself very pretty, she couldn't do the easiest skills well, and then just to add on to it, she had to have a tailed beast inside of her! If there was one thing she craved, it was to live a normal, average life.

She stands up from the unconscious body of Kiba, not finding a scroll. "You find the scroll on the fangirl?"

Matsuki shakes her head. "Must mean that the Uchiha has it."

"How's Gaara doing against him?"

"Looked like he had it under control, the Uchiha was beat up pretty bad. Gaara sent me to check on you, which it is clear that it should have been done before this. If only I was a bit better with my medic skills. I can heal cuts, but not puncture wounds. I can only knit the skin together so far, not replace it and recreate it." Matsuki says, glaring at the ground.

"Hey, look, I'll be fine, okay? We just need to finish this damn test, and then you and Gaara can stop acting like mother hens around me."

"We have the right to act like mother hens!" Matsuki says. "You could die if we don't finish soon!"

"I won't die, I promise. There, that good enough for you?" Naruko asks, jumping into the trees to make her way over to where Gaara was fighting. Her and Kiba's fight had taken the opposite direction from his, so they were quite far away.

Matsuki rolls her eyes but simply follows after her teammate.

Gaara smirks as they come into view, tossing the scroll into the air and catching it again. "The Uchiha are all talk. He wasn't hard to beat whatsoever, no challenge. Plus, they had the Heaven scroll. Naruko, you taking it since you have the other one?"

Naruko nods and he tosses her the scroll. Out of reflex, she immediately lifts her right arm. She hisses and falls to her knees, gripping her arm tightly.

Gaara's eyes widen and he jumps over to her while Matsuki catches the scroll and drops down next to her, cradling Naruko's arm.

"Goddammit Naruko! Are you just trying to make it worse?" She asks.

"Make what worse!?" Gaara questions hurriedly. "What happened!?"

"I slammed into a tree, one of the small broken branches at the end must have made its way into my arm. I got a wound there, but it's not that bad." Naruko says.

"Not bad!? Naruko, you have to stop this whole thing about sacrificing yourself! It's clearly a horrible injury!"

Naruko scowls at her. "Look, they had the right scroll. We can make our way to the tower and I can get medical help there. We're not dropping out now, it'll be a stupid move if we do!"

While the two girls were bickering, Gaara was not only listening closely, but unwrapping the bandages around Naruko's arm. His jaw clenches as he sees the deep puncture that bleeds down her arm.

"Naruko, are you crazy?! Why would you try to pass this off as nothing? This is serious!" Gaara scolds.

"I don't want to turn back, it doesn't matter! I'll heal soon enough! We can make our way to the tower today and be there by nightfall!" Naruko defends. "Look, the longer we stay out here, the worse it'll get, so, it's your choice. Do you want to argue out here, or help me get some medical attention sooner?"

Gaara and Matsuki looked at each other before sighing. Technically, she was right. The longer they stayed out here, the more risk it posed to her. And if they tried to take her to forfeit, she would fight back, which would make her arm even worse. There was no other choice, they had to go to the tower.

"Fine, we'll go to the tower, but, I'm wrapping your arm first." Matsuki says, pulling out her med kit.

There isn't much she can do, so she soaks up most of the blood on Naruko's arm with gauze, before pouring some antibacterial serum over it, since she can't rub cream on. She cleans around the wound and then puts a wad of gauze over the wound itself. She wraps that to her arm with bandages and then secures it with medical tape before she clears Naruko to stand up.

They then start to tree hop to the tower, going slower than normal to make sure Naruko doesn't jar her arm, to which the girl grudgingly agrees needs to be done.

Once they arrive, they quickly deduce that they have to pull out the scrolls and open them to complete the exam. One they have been opened, white smoke starts to fume out of them, which makes the teens drop them to the ground.

A chunin from Konoha pops out of the scroll and describes the inscription that is carved into the wall behind them. He then tells them they have the next four days to do as they wish, as long as they stay inside of the tower. He then leaves them to their own devices, poofing off to who knows where.

"Now," Gaara says, taking Naruko's left hand in his own. "we're going to find you medical attention. Don't even try to refuse, I've already put up with one of your demands, that's it."