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Almost done uploading all the parts, hope you're all enjoying! :)

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Sasuke fries the eggs on the stove in a tired manner. He watches the white stuff bubble and glaze over. In a hunched over state he grabs two plates and pours the soggy mixture out of the pan and onto the dishes. They land with a flop.

Naruto bangs his fork and knife on the table like a child, a quick glare from the Uchiha shuts him up. Sasuke was not a morning person. He tosses the plate to Naruto and falls into his chair, staring at nothing but blankness as he mindlessly shovels the egg into his mouth, the odd texture playing with his stomach.

"Hey Sasuke... what's today's date?" Naruto asks, scooping up some of the gooey mixture.

Sasuke blinks a few times at the sound of his name, his eyes drift over to the calender in front of him, he looks at the date. There are large red X's on most of the days already, the month must be over. He gets up and turns to the next page, seeing a bright red circle on the day that apparently was today. Sasuke mulls this over in his waking brain.

Large circle. New Month. Sasuke bolts out of the room. Shit, today was the final Chunin Exam!

"Naruto! We're going to be late!" Sasuke yells, stuffing his head into one of his high-collared shirts. He zips it up about an inch and figures that's good enough. Naruto rolls his eyes at the Uchiha's zipped down shirt and throws on a bright orange one, in a quick manner.

"I had an idea, but didn't know for sure! We'll be fine though," he laughs, "Last time you were a few hours late, remember, and they waited for you!"

Sasuke spits out the minty mixture in his mouth and grabs his sword and Naruto's hand, as he drags both of them out of the house. Today was the day.

The final exam to become a Chuunin. One on One fights till only one stands. Of course, winning doesn't guarantee you a spot, but it helps your chances. Tsunade fidgets in her chair, high above the arena. Lots of people are watching her, making sure she doesn't let the fights get out of control.

Naruto and Sasuke lean over the railing, looking down at the fight below, missing the first fight already. Two young boys are battling it out, spewing insults, while sneaking around their opponent with shuriken.

"The Water ninja will win," Sasuke says walking away from the railing. He sits in one of the chairs. Karin puts her head on his shoulder.

"Good luck today, Sasuke." She says, blushing and fluttering her lashes at him from behind her glasses.

They watch a puddle slither over to them and form a man, "Yes, good luck Sasuke-kun!" Sigestu flutters his lashes in an over-dramatic way trying to be like Karin. He pulls his lip down a bit and makes a provocative pose involving lots of leg.

Karin closes her eyes and then jumps up and screams at him, "Fuck off Sigestu!"

"I thought that's what only you did with Sasuke-kun?" He giggles, "I live right underneath you, need I remind you!" Karin takes her raging fist and slams it into the pool of water. Sigestu laughs as he slithers away. Karin fixes her glasses and returns to her seat.

"You're too loud Karin," Sasuke states simply. He doesn't realize it, but the words are sharp, and they cut through Karin. She feels her scar on her chest. That scar is from Sasuke, when he sacrificed her to kill the enemy. She forgave him, but his words make the closed wound sting.

"Sasuke, watch your mouth, be nice," Naruto turns around and looks at Sasuke. His eyes mean more to Sasuke then his words.

Sasuke turns away from everyone, "Sorry Karin." His attitude was off today.

The sound of a loud gong livens the audience. The Water Ninja won the match. Naruto grins happily as he hops down from the railing.

"Good luck," Sasuke smiles to Naruto as he flies into the arena. Everyone watches Naruto's opponent walk out, a very scared boy. He's not too young, but nonetheless, everyone knows who the boy in the orange is.

"Naruto Uzumaki versus Tiki Shumo. Right, you two know the rules," he looks intently at Naruto, "clean fight... and GO!"

The announcer hops back and Naruto prepares his stance, letting the little boy take the first move. From even their distance, Naruto can see Tiki's lip quiver. Tiki reaches into his pouch and pulls out a shuriken. Naruto easily dodges it and heads closer to the boy.

Tiki's eyes light up and he let's out a wave of wind from his mouth. Little shurkien hiding inside. Naruto jumps up and dodges the attack. There is a loud roar from the crowd. Naruto looks and sees they're all cheering for the little boy.

Tiki looks at the crowd cheering his name. Something seems to pass through his mind, he has to at least get a hit on Naruto. He carefully watches Naruto move towards him across the field.

Naruto gets ready to move into a Taijutsu attack, preparing his chakra. The little boy quickly throws down a smoke bomb, causing Naruto to stop.

Naruto looks rapidly around through the haze, but the boy has moved upwards and uses his wind technique to blow the smoke around, creating a larger and darker haze. He prepares a few clones, and sends them into the haze.

The clones swim around, looking for Naruto. They manifest themselves in the fumes and hide a moment. They finally catch the orange boy, as he is coughing and covering his eyes. They gather in and strike him flying into his lungs.

Naruto coughs rapidly, his throat is burning. Was this poison? Naruto looks around, feeling weak from the odd smell. He spawns a few clones that work to throw him out of the cloud.

"One, two, three!" He yells as the clones fling him to the sky. The scent of fresh air relieves him. He turns and finds a shurkien whipping past him. "Ack!" He yells as he frantically attempts to miss them, he's now flying in the air. He plants himself on the outer ring of the arena, focusing his chakra in his feet.

The young boy smiles, as he tries his wind attack once more with the hidden weapons.

Everyone watches the fight intently. Sakura has a line of sweat beating down her brow, "Why isn't he using his jutsus?"

"We're not allowed to... if we do, we're disqualified." Sasuke walks up slowly to Sakura by the railing. She looks at him, at his eyes. It's the first time they've spoken directly in a while. Sasuke's face, so pure and gentle – she's seen it when it was the complete opposite as well. If only she could touch it and stroke him... but she can't.

Kakashi joins them, looking down at the fight, "That explains it. I thought you and Naruto would have taken us out a lot quicker. Of course you only fought clones of us, but I was still expecting more... especially with what you two did to defeat, you know who."

Sasuke stares at Kakashi. The man he once thought unbeatable, and the best. But now he is one of the strongest. No, Itachi is the strongest ninja. Sasuke shakes his head, and the others look at him with worried faces.

Kakashi puts his hand on Sasuke's back, "It's alright. You're away from the darkness Sasuke."

That's not true, he's never been more close. He doesn't feel like talking though, he moves away from the hand angrily.

"It's not weakness to show affection, Sasuke." Kakashi doesn't turn to look at Sasuke. He continues to watch the fight. The crowd is cheering wildly for the Tiki. He doesn't stand a chance, but anyone who can hit a boy like Naruto should have some hope. Of course, Naruto isn't technically using any of his jutsus.

Naruto stands on the wall, dodging the shurkien. Tiki grins widely, "Watch out for this one!" A large Fumma shuriken whips through the air, Naruto jumps up only to get struck with Kunai.

He loses his balance and falls back to the ground, the Kunai stuck to his chest. The arena is silent. Will Naruto go nine-tails with revenge? No, Naruto is too kind.

"Nice hit kid! But this fight is over," Naruto summons his clones, as they overwhelm the surroundings. Tiki looks around, knowing what's coming. "You're a good fighter," Naruto compliments, "But I am going to be Hokage!"

He charges at the young boy as the clones overwhelm him. Tiki gets hit in the jaw, then a kick places him in the ribs. He blocks a few, but there's just too many. He looks up for a split moment, and fear paralyzes him to the finishing blow.

Naruto lands down on the boy's head, thrashing him into the ground. The fight is over. Naruto whips his face and smiles, picking the unconscious boy off the ground. The crowd claps politely as Naruto is claimed the winner.

"Next fight!" The announcer calls, everyone feels chills as the names are called, "Hanabi Hyuga versus Sasuke Uchiha!"

The arena is silent once more. Naruto passes by his friend taking his place, "Good luck..."

Sasuke's presence stands ominously in front of everyone. The last Uchiha. The young pale white girl walks out to greet her opponent. Her blank eyes staring at the Uchiha's.

"I will step in on this fight if it gets out of control," the announcer says it plainly and directly to Sasuke. Sasuke's eyes don't move from the little girl's.

"My Bayakugan is the best in the clan, Sasuke." She states it crisply and confidently.

"GO!"

Sasuke closes his eyes and stands still, taking in the arena, the crowd, everything. He feels the girl's feet move and takes action. He jumps high into the air, avoiding her first crater sized blow. From here he could easily kill her with a Chidori... he stops, no not kill... defeat. Not kill.

His head has been questioning him today. He throws the thoughts aside and heads back down, dodging the girl's "Gentle Fists."

"Come on! Let's see your Sharingan against my Bayakugan!" She grins out.

"I'm not allowed to, sorry." Sasuke says, taking the moment to strike her under the armpit and taking her by surprise. She flies back into the wall. Her head flings forward and she coughs. She is no match for him.

But she's a Hyuga. She opens her eyes widely and runs up the wall to where the Hokages are sitting. She stands in front of them and prepares her next jutsu. If her predictions are right, she has ten seconds before Sasuke comes behind her.

Too bad her predictions were wrong, "How did you?!" Sasuke takes the girl at the waste, giving an intimidating look to Tsunade. He didn't mean for it to come off so cold, he only meant to show her there was no Sharingan usage.

Hanabi struggles to break Sasuke's grip. He only holds her tighter. He flips her in the air, so both their heads are going face first into the ground. Hanabi takes her chakra hand and tries to hit a chakra point on Sasuke. Just one hit, one hit before he gets her.

But he's too fast.

Sasuke slams the young girl's head into the ground and stands over her body. Hanabi shakes from pain, but her mind has stopped working. She's unconscious.

The announcer runs over to assess the damage. Hanabi is in immense pain from the final blow. Hinata and Naruto jump down to check it out.

"Sasuke! What kind of hit was that?" He asks holding the young girl.

"She's in so much pain!" Hinata cries out.

Sasuke looks at them both, he sighs and opens the young girl's eyes. To the girl the world is black, but Sasuke stares into them placing her under a relaxing Genjutsu. Her body stops struggling and Sasuke takes his leave, before he is even announced as the winner.

Naruto watches after him as he disappears through the entry of the arena. The whispers from the crowd are filling the proximity. It all begins to annoy Naruto.

"Can you take care of her?" Naruto asks Hinata. Hinata blushes and nods, picking up her younger sister. Naruto plants a gentle kiss on her forehead and heads off to confront Sasuke.

Sasuke holds the handrail as he slowly climbs up the stairs. He isn't sure where he's going yet. His mind is filling with thoughts, horrible ones. You are a monster. You are full of hate. Itachi would be disappointed.

Was Naruto really upset with him as well? His hand grips the iron tighter as he scowls at himself. If there's one thing in this world the Uchiha hated, it was when his mind was free to wander.

"Sasuke!" Naruto yells up through the stairs. He tries to catch his breath while scaling towards Sasuke. He approaches him.

Sasuke lowers his eyebrows, "What? Naruto..." He can feel the evil thoughts seeping into him. Naruto is going to accuse him, going to hate him. He'll say it. He'll say how horrible you are.

Naruto shakes his head, "Are you alright Sasuke?"

Sasuke steps back, a little surprised. Sometimes his thoughts become so real he can't imagine anything else happening. Sasuke closes his eyes tightly, trying to find the true reality again.

Naruto puts his hand on his friend's shoulder, "Your fight was good. You just scared me that's all. I... I want to make sure your head stays here." Naruto looks down, at the ground beneath him.

"Would Itachi be mad at me..." Sasuke's voice sounds so innocent it's almost like that of a child's.

A smile creeps on Naruto's face, "Of course not. I'm not mad either, Sasuke. Just be careful okay?"

Sasuke nods meaningfully and begins to walk again, only to be stopped by Naruto, "Sasuke, if you're not feeling good today you should be around friends." He turns to face Naruto, a large frown on his face. Naruto smirks a bit, "And smiling might help too."

Sasuke opens his mouth to reply, but the privacy of the two boys is ruined when the announcer runs in to retrieve Naruto. His second fight will begin.

The Uchiha allows a smile to slip on his face, he forces himself to change his mood. "Right, see you for the finals, Uzumaki."

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-Missbexiee