All rights to Naruto belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

The morning was sunny, yet a bitter chill overtook the village of Konoha. The birds did not sing their usual greeting to the sun, and if they did, Sakura did not hear them. She just stared into the darkness of the gated forest before her, feeling her soul being pulled into the void. She felt an eerie presence around the location she was in, and she realized that any hopes she had about the rest of the exam going as smoothly as she wanted was just her fooling herself.

"Sakura." Sasuke said from beside her, snapping her out of her reverie. Her body gave a slight jolt at the sound of his voice, but she quickly calmed down and turned to him casually. His brow arched questioningly, as if implicitly asking what she was thinking about. However, to this, she gave no answer.

"What is it Sasuke?" She asked. Sasuke breathed a heavy sigh, but repeated his question.

"Do you know when the dobe and Kakashi are going to be back?" Sakura shook her head quickly in embarrassment, as if to make up for the time she stalled during her passive state. Sasuke nodded curtly and looked around at all the teams they had to face.

"Are you looking for someone, Sasuke?" Sakura asked. Sasuke shook his head slowly.

"I just have a bad feeling, as if something is snaking up the back of my neck." He cautiously rubbed the back of his head and slowly trailed down towards the side of his neck with his hand. Sakura shot him a worried glance and looked around furtively. Her eyes finally came upon what might be causing Sasuke's premonition.

"Sasuke…" Sakura said softly as she looked him in the eyes. "Don't look now, but four-eyes with a know-it-all look over there is staring at you." She told him. Sasuke did not turn around, but his eyes narrowed and moved to his peripheral vision, even though he could not get a glance. "Oh gosh, he's coming over." Sakura said as her eyes immediately shot towards the ground. This time, Sasuke turned his whole body around to face the coercer.

"No need to be on guard." The man said in a sickly smooth voice as he affixed his circular glasses upon his face. His eyes were the same shade of onyx as Sasuke's, but they held a devious tinge within them that sent a shiver up Sakura's spine. Luckily, he was not looking at her, but her nerves were screaming out of danger from his attention to Sasuke. "I have heard much about you, Sasuke Uchiha." He said with a slight smile, although it did not lighten the mood at all.

"And who might you be?" Sasuke asked with crossed arms and an aloof expression. The white-haired boy's smile widened in response, and he did not seem to feel the antagonistic aura that literally radiated off the Uchiha.

"My apologies for not introducing myself. I am Kabuto Yakushi. I, too, am from this village." He said as he pointed to the Konoha symbol engraved in the metal of his Hitai-ate. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance." He said. His eyes then turned towards Sakura, and her immediate response was to jump back, but she kept her feet grounded. "And you are Sakura Haruno, from the civilian family. I must say, I am quite impressed to see someone who came from no shinobi background get this far."

Sakura felt uncomfortable by the way he described her family. She did not like her relations to be brought up, especially when it concerned the civilian sphere. Steeling her courage, Sakura stepped forward so that her elbow was touching Sasuke's. "How do you know that?" She asked, defensiveness evident in her tone. Sasuke's hands clenched his biceps.

"Oh, I am very knowledgeable about almost everyone here. Please do not take offense. I just wanted you to know that if there was anything you wanted to know about anyone here, I would be more than willing to help you." He said with a slight bow.

"What's the catch? The teams are competing against each other, and not everyone is going to make Chūnin, you know." Sasuke stated monotonously.

"Think of it as an alliance. I don't know if you've realized, but the outburst of your little blonde teammate has caused a lot of people to talk about you. In the shinobi world, that is never a good thing." He said matter-of-factly as he, once again, pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

Damn, that guy needs to get those things tightened. Inner commented smartly.

Can you leave me alone for a day? Please? Sakura implored. Inner stuck her tongue out at her Outer, and Sakura had to prevent herself from rolling her eyes on the outside.

"Hn," was Sasuke's short reply. Kabuto did not seem to want any more from him, so he turned his eyes towards her. Sakura's fists clenched and unclenched at her sides as they started to become moist with her own nervous sweat.

"U-um…we'll keep that in mind, then." Sakura said unsurely. This seemed to be enough for Kabuto.

"Thank you, I'll take my leave then." He said as he started to make his way back to his team. Before he did however, he turned around. "Oh, and Sasuke?" He asked. Sasuke looked at him blankly. "Don't stray too far." He said before he left them for good.

Sakura allowed another shiver to rivet through her spin, causing her thoughts to become tangled and distorted. She moved her gaze to Sasuke, who was glaring holes into Kabuto's back as if he would be able to start a fire with just a gaze.

"Sasuke?" Sakura asked tentatively, trying to put a hand on his shoulder. Sasuke moved his shoulder out of the way, and Sakura quickly settled her hand at her side once more. Sasuke stole a glance at her and breathed a deep sigh. He then started to walk the other way, but not before he softly flicked the side of Sakura's head as he passed her. It was such a faint touch that she barely felt it, and she would have doubted that he'd done anything at all if she did not see him raise his hand.

"Let's find the idiot." He said pointedly as he began walking away from her. Sakura walked after him, but kept her distance. It seemed to her that Sasuke did not want to talk, and she did not see the need to be next to him constantly anymore.

It seemed that their search did not extend for long, due to the force that slammed into Sakura's side and tackled her to the ground. Sasuke turned around, releasing an exasperated sigh at the scene Sakura groaned at the heavy weight that pushed her into the ground, and for a second thought that she was hit by a boulder.

"Sakura-chan! Did you miss me?" The assailant asked with a face-splitting grin.

But alas, she was just hit by someone with the head of a boulder.

"What the heck did you do that for?" Sakura said as she pushed him to the side. She sat up and pulled her knees into her chest, rubbing her lower legs that seemed to retain a few scratches from the impact.

"I missed you!" He replied as he swung an arm around her shoulder. She made no move shrug him off or move away. Instead, she gave him a weak punch to his stomach; one that made him laugh.

"You saw me, like, a day ago. You need to leave from the nest eventually." Sakura joked with a motherly tone. Naruto just rolled his eyes and sat up. He extended his hand towards Sakura for her to take, but before she could, he retracted it quickly and ran it through his hair. Sakura gawked at him and prepared to stand up herself and deal him a not-so-weak punch to the stomach.

"Stop playing around, you two." Sasuke said irritably as he made his way over to them. He grabbed Sakura's forearm and yanked her up, making her stumble a little. Once she caught her balance, Sasuke's hand no longer lingered on her arm. Sakura rubbed her arm, which stung a little from his vice grip.

"You two are abusive, you know that?" She muttered. Naruto grin only grew wider and Sasuke just replied with a scoff. Her attention turned directly to Naruto. "So Naruto, learn any Hokage-level techniques with Kakashi-sensei?" She asked. Sasuke looked over at him in curiosity, although it did not show on his face.

Naruto scratched his cheek. "Maybe not like that, but I'm sure it'll be super useful, believe it!" He replied. Sasuke scoffed.

"How much can you learn in a day, especially with your lack of brain power?" Sasuke inquired mockingly.

"Teme!" Naruto yelled as he charged at him. Sasuke was ready to receive him with a kick to his whiskered face. However, Sakura intercepted him and, this time, tackled him to the ground.

"Ugh, you two are embarrassing." She said as she got off of Naruto.

"That's my line." Sasuke said as he walked away from them.

Sakura just sighed at his retreating figure and shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. She then extended her hand out to Naruto, who took it thankfully. However, as Sakura was pulling him up, she swept her leg underneath her and made Naruto land on his back once again. Sakura chuckled at his stupefied form when he first hit the ground. Naruto looked up in her in shock before his grin returned to his face.

"Sakura-chan! You're learning!" He cried out in glee. He stood up and gave Sakura a crushing side hug. Sakura just sighed and pat him lightly on the head.

"Only from having the best knuckle-head teacher." She replied.

"Listen up, you maggots!" A purple-haired woman with piercing wooded eyes ordered. She stood in front of a large metal gate with her hands on her hips, glaring at every single Genin in front of her as if she were disgusted by the sight of them, which she most likely was. "I'm you proctor for the second exam, Mitarashi Anko. If you don't remember it, that's your problem."

There was a certain fearful respect that Sakura felt resonate within her. Anko immediately called the attention of everyone with just one sentence, and Sakura could already tell that she was a powerful woman. Sakura wished that one day, she could do that. Maybe not with the fear aspect, but she wanted to be respected and listened to. She rechecked everything on her body to make sure she was not missing anything she packed for that day.

"Anyway, the rules for the second exam are easy." Anko started, reaching into her long beige coat and pulling out two scrolls. There seemed to be something written on them, but Sakura and her team were standing too far back to see it. "There are two scrolls, one labeled 'heaven' and the other labeled 'earth'. You have to attain both scrolls before making your way to the center of the forest."

"Where's that?" One of the Genin cried out. Anko let out an irritated sigh.

"Figure it out yourself. You aren't always going to have a map with you on a mission, you know!" She criticized. She rolled her eyes at the ignorance of the younger generation. "Okay, since that's settled, go to the booth to the side of you to get your scroll." She said, pointing to the shinobi at the side of all the teams at a wooden table. "If you have any questions… you better figure them out." She said before walking away, shaking her head and laughing at her own joke.

"Damn, that woman's weird, believe it." Naruto muttered next to Sakura. Sakura was too entranced in her admiration to either nod or shake her head.

A few minutes later, a curtain was drawn in front of the reception booth whilst all the other teams stared at it in anticipation. Sasuke narrowed his eyes on it, already contemplating its purpose. Sakura looked from him to Naruto, who was scoping his competition with a proud look on his face. Her green orbs darted back and forth between both of them before she closed her eyes and sighed.

Teams walked up cautiously towards the booth, emerging with a scroll in their hands and a contemplative look on their face. Sakura waited patiently for her team to be called while going over the rules of the second exam. She stood along the boundary of the wire fence, looking from her paper to the trees, and then back again. There was an eerie feeling to the forest; it was if it was trying to intrigue the cat before it snatched it by the throat. However, nothing else was to be expected by the name "Forest of Death". Regardless, she felt as though she had to be extra careful, for reasons she could not completely explain.

"Well, well, well, look who it is." A high-pitched voice interrupted her train of thought. Already knowing who it is, Sakura just rolled her eyes and tried to continue her thoughts. "Don't ignore me, Forehead!" The blonde screamed from beside her. This made Sakura unconsciously clench her fists. Her fuchsia strands shaded the top of her face.

Outer, calm down. We're above this. Inner tried to reason, quite contrary to her character.

I know, I know. It's an old insecurity, I guess. Sakura thought back.

"Do you think you're so high and mighty because you're on the same team as Sasuke-kun that you can avoid me? Let me remind you that Sasuke-kun would choose me over you any day." Ino stated smugly. Sakura took a deep breath and let out an audible sigh. She knew she should just turn around and walk away, but an unexplainable force was keeping her in her place. It was an old monster that was taking over her mind again. One of envy.

However, she couldn't let herself be drawn into a conflict with her once-best friend. Not at such an important time when her teammates were relying on her to not do anything rash. Fighting outside of the exam, after all, was prohibited.

"Look, Ino-pig, I really don't care if you think Sasuke would choose you over me or whatever. He can do whatever he wants to do, and quite honestly, I'm totally fine if he doesn't pick me. As long he is my friend and teammate, I am happy." Sakura said, her eyes conveying her aloofness towards the topic.

Ino sputtered for a few seconds before she regained her composure. "Are you saying you're completely over Sasuke-kun or something? And what's with dropping the honorific?" Ino asked, her periwinkle eyes narrowing.

Sakura let out another exasperated sigh. She truly did not want to answer her question, knowing that she would have to come to terms with her feelings. She would have had to anyway, but she was just evading her thought as much as possible. She wanted to believe that she was completely over Sasuke, but an old love is hard to get rid of, and Sakura was not ready to admit that she just wanted him as a friend instead.

"I…never said I was over him." Sakura mumbled, but Ino could hear her. This made Ino raise an eyebrow, tacitly questioning the pink-haired girl about her behavior once more. "But I have decided to take his feelings into account. Don't you see how annoyed he is by us? If we truly loved him, then we shouldn't force ourselves on him. Asking Sasuke to show affection towards us would be out of his character, and it would be as if he wasn't Sasuke at all. So now, I want to try to consider him my comrade instead of a love interest. It's better that way. If you want to keep pursuing him, I'm in no position to stop you. Just remember what I said." Sakura said as she began to walk off.

"H-Hey Forehead!" Ino called out again. Sakura stopped and turned around completely, staring at the blonde curiously and patiently waiting for her to continue. Ino's face turned a bit pink and her gaze shifted towards the ground. Ino just felt that she had to call out to Sakura and tell her something witty so they would start the banter they always had. However, she had no idea what to say. Unbeknownst to her, Sakura smiled – a true, genuine smile. She then turned around again.

"I'm sorry about what happened between us. Even though you're a little irritating and you have a big mouth," Ino snapped back to Sakura, biting her lip in anger, "I hope we can move passed this, for the sake of our own conscience." Sakura finished. She then turned her head around and looked at Ino from her peripheral vision. Ino caught sight of her one emerald green eye, which was as green as the leaves of a cherry blossom tree in the summer. "Good luck in the exam…Ino." Sakura said before running towards Naruto, who was jumping up and down and waving his arms for her to join him.

Ino stared at the place the pink-haired girl had once been in. A mixture of anger, sadness, and confusion overwhelmed her, and she could not help but wipe the small traces of tears from her eyes. She put her left hand to her forehead and grasped her temples, trying to rid herself of the headache that was ensuing.

Shikamaru and Chouji looked at each other, not wanting to get involved. Luckily for them, Ino turned around with an angered look on her face, seemingly to have turned back to normal. "Ha! I don't need the luck, she does!" She said mockingly, but the two boys could tell that she did not really have heart in what she said. She then stomped between the two and headed towards the opening of the gate where they would start the exam.

Shikamaru sighed and silently complained about how troublesome she was and Chouji simply ate his chips and worried about if he would have to suffer Ino's irate attitude throughout the entire exam.

"What was that about, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked when she reached him. Sakura took one look back and then shrugged with a shake of her head and a melancholy smile. "Was Ino giving you trouble?" Naruto asked, his eyes igniting with an immature fury.

Sakura sighed and smacked her forehead. "No, she wasn't. Even if she was, what are you going to do? Beat her up?" Sakura asked with her hands on her hips.

Naruto grinned proudly. "I wouldn't word it like that, but nobody messes with my friends. I'm not afraid of no woman, believe it!" Naruto exclaimed.

"LISTEN UP, MAGGOTS!" A loud yell interrupted the ambience and made Naruto jump and cower behind Sakura. Even she had to take a step back out of fright. Sasuke looked at his two teammates and rolled his eyes, unwilling to admit that the hairs on the back of his neck were standing up as well.

"Okay…maybe I'm a little afraid of her." Naruto said as he peeked at the violet-haired woman from behind Sakura's shoulder. Sakura just nodded in accord.

"Now that all of you have gotten your scrolls, it's time to start the second exam. Make your way to your designated entrances." She instructed authoritatively. Everyone scurried off to their destination, not wanting to face the wrath of the proctor if they did not act immediately. "Oh, but one more thing." Anko added ominously. A few of the teams had already left the area, but the ones who stayed tuned their ears to head her. "You kids better watch your back. It's not called the Forest of Death for no reason." Anko said. "Well, good luck!"

Sakura took a gulp as she once more stared into the dark abyss of the forest. She felt a foreboding feeling overtake her, and she had the premonition that something was going to happen. She was so caught up in her apprehension that she could only faintly feel Naruto drag her along with him to their destination. She even missed the slightly curious look that Sasuke gave her as she continued to stare blankly into the mass of trees.

Now the only thing they had to do now was survive the second exam. And, if Sakura hypothesized correctly, that was going to be a lot harder than she expected it to be.

Hi everyone! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! I'm sorry that I've been gone for so long, but I recently just lost someone very important to me due to a driver that was high. She was very young, only in her twenties, and was one of the most important people in my life. I've spent a lot of time grieving, but I know that ultimately, she would want me to move on.

Anyway, please review and tell me what you thought of this chapter. I know things have been going a little slow, but I intend to pick up the pace from now going forward. Also, I won't be covering every single part of the story, and there will be a few parts that will not be canon and will just fit in with the story line that I have set up.

As always, I hope that you are all having a fantastic day wherever you are. If you have also suffered a tragic loss, due to car accidents or any other reason, please accept my condolences and wishes for a better tomorrow. If any of you guys need to talk, I'm always here.

See you guys next time!