10. Preparation for the Third Exam

As the exams continued they seemed to become worse and worse. The most brutal battle in Naruto and Yuki's opinion was the matchup between Rock Lee and Gaara. Rock Lee was able to open his most lethal inner gates and beat Gaara to a bloody pulp. However, Gaara mutilated the tai-jutsu student and crushed his right arm and leg with his Sand Coffin jutsu. Lee was almost destroyed but Guy-sensei intervened and ended the match. Gaara was claimed the victor. As Gaara stood up and left the arena silently, both Yuki and Naruto stared at him angrily. Yuki ran down the stairs, ignoring Kakashi's orders, to see to Lee. When she arrived she heard the last few words exchanged between Guy-sensei and the medical corps.

"So!" ordered Guy. "Just give it to me straight! Will Lee be able to train as a ninja again?"

"I'm sorry, Guy," said the medical ninja. "With these injuries, even if he recovers, further training will most likely put his body through even more stress. The worst case scenario would be his death."

No! Yuki thought. That…That's not fair!! He fought so hard and trained so diligently! Lee…

"Lee…" Guy's eyes began to fill with tears as he followed him out of the tower.

Anger began to fill in Yuki's heart and she turned her gaze to Gaara who stared back at her. Even with the sudden chill of fear that shot through her body, Yuki gave him the coldest stare she could muster. You'll pay for this you bastard! I swear on my own life! As Yuki walked back up the stairs Naruto ran up to Yuki and asked, "So? How is he?"

"They said that he has to stop training to be a shinobi." Yuki answered coldly. "Thanks to that sand rat, any further training might cause Lee to go into cardiac arrest and most likely, he'll die."

"Damn it!" cursed Naruto. "I'll make Gaara pay for doing this to Bushy-Brow!!"

"Naruto, calm down," said Kakashi. Kocha was kneeling next to him mending his wounds.

"But, Kakashi-sensei!" Complained Naruto.

"Listen to your sensei, Naruto." Said Kocha gently as she cut a bandage and wrapped it around Kakashi's arm. "I have faith in Lee that he will be able to pull through this. You should too. Besides, you've witnessed that boy's power with your own eyes. He will not be defeated just by a mere force like revenge. Pace yourself."

"Yes, ma'am." Said Naruto bowing his head. Damn it all!

As the preliminaries were drawn to a close the genin that were left to go into the third exams were Gaara, Neji, Naruto, Sasuke, Yuki, Dosu, Temari, Kankuro, Shino, and Shikamaru. With this new line-up, the Hokage reported to them that they had exactly one month to prepare for the final exam. Once the meeting concluded Kakashi, Kocha, Yuki, Sakura, and Naruto all decided to visit Sasuke in the hospital. When they entered the room Sasuke was still unconscious and hooked up to a life support system. Sakura and Yuki ran over to him to observe his well-being.

"He seems to be doing alright." Kakashi whispered to Kocha. "I just hope that seal was enough."

"I'm sure it was," Kocha assured. "I'm just concerned about his resolve. Will he accept the mark for power, or will he choose to ignore its call." Kocha moved Kakashi from the doorway and helped him down into a nearby chair. "I suppose we should tell them about what is to come."

"I guess you're right." Said Kakashi. Yuki, Sakura, and Naruto looked at them questioningly.

"What are you two talking about?" asked Yuki.

"The Hokage has told you that you have a month until the next exam, right?" said Kocha.

"Yeah." Said Naruto. "Your point?"

"Why do you think they gave you one full month free, Naruto?" asked Kakashi.

"How should I know?" said Naruto.

"Is it to train?" suggested Yuki.

"Correct." Kocha smiled. "Because you all saw each other's moves and techniques through these past two and a half exams, the judges want you all to create new abilities."

"That makes sense." Said Sakura. "Otherwise, they'd all know each other's moves before the exam even started and it wouldn't really be a test of skill."

"Exactly." Said Kakashi. "That's why it's our job to train you guys for the next exam."

"Alright!" cheered Naruto. "It'll be just like old times!"

"Not quite." Kocha waved a finger. "Kakashi will be training Yuki and Sasuke separately. I will have the honor of training you, Naruto."

"What?!" complained Naruto.

"Hey!" cried Sakura. "Sasuke's waking up!" Sasuke slowly opened his eyes and looked around the room. He laid eyes on everyone then began to sit up.

"Welcome back, Uchiha." Said Kocha.

"I heard what you all were talking about." Sasuke said. "So, when do we start?"

"You're in a hurry." Grumbled Yuki.

"As soon as you are fit to move." Said Kakashi. "Kocha, you can take Naruto now if you wish."

"Just take it easy." Kocha warned. "Sasuke's not the only one unfit to do any immediate training." Kakashi just waved his hand saying, "Have fun!"

"But-!" before Naruto could continue complaining, Kocha grabbed him by the collar and dragged him out of the room. As they walked away from the hospital Kocha explained the month's agenda.

"We need to focus on your chakra control, for the most part." Said Kocha counting on her fingers. "Although, you have a lot of chakra for a 12 year old boy, you don't really have much control of it."

"So what?" sulked Naruto. "That didn't seem to stop me earlier."

"No, but it almost drained you completely." Kocha hissed. "If you could learn to control you chakra, Naruto, you could learn to master almost any jutsu. Any jutsu you would use would be extremely powerful! You could even give the Hokage a run for his money if you really tried."

"Really?!" Naruto now at aspiration in his eyes. "When do we start?!"

"We're going now!" Kocha smiled. "I'm going to teach you how to walk on water."

"Cool!" Naruto cheered. The two arrived at the hot springs and Kocha booked the entire men's side for just the two of them. When they entered Kocha removed her long leather trench coat and threw it over a bench. She had a black leather tube top that had four belts wrapped all around it. "Let's get started." She winked. She stood at the water's edge and made a hand sign. With one breath she put down her arms and walked onto the water's surface. "It may look easy," she began. "But it takes a lot of control and practice. With the waters ever-changing surface, you need a large amount of control to keep yourself from falling in. Give it a try."

"Okay!" said Naruto. Okay, it's just like with the trees. First, I have to focus all of my chakra to the bottom of my feet. Then, I walk onto the water. This'll be easy! Naruto walked to the edge and focused his chakra to his feet. Then, he tried to walk onto the surface but fell in like a pebble. He jumped out of the water screaming from the water's heat. Kocha put her hands on her hips saying, "You can't focus all of your chakra in one spot like with a solid surface. You have to level your chakra so that the force of gravity and the buoyancy of the water are equal. Try again."

Naruto continued to try and each time Kocha could see that he was getting a little closer. She smiled when he finally was able to stay afloat for only two seconds. Finally, when he was able to stand on the water for five seconds, he jumped out of the water and cheered. "I almost got it that time!"

"Good!" Kocha smiled. "Try it one more time." This time, Naruto was able to stand up with only his ankles in the water. He was about to leap for joy when they heard a girlish giggle coming from their right. They turned their heads to see an old man on a large frog staring through a hole in the wooden wall. Kocha gave a disgusted sigh as Naruto looked puzzled. She walked out onto the stone walkway and made her way toward him.

"Excuse me," Kocha said with her hands on her hips. "What the hell are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" said the old man.

"Peeping." Said Naruto.

"Only to the untrained eye!" said the man waving a finger without turning his gaze. "I'm actually doing research for my book."

"Your book?" asked Naruto. The man held up a familiar book to the both of them while continuing to look through the hole. "Hey, that looks like…" Naruto remembered the book that Kakashi was always reading.

"Oh geez." Kocha sighed. "I'm gonna have a talk with Kakashi about this later."

"Ah," said the old man. "So you are both fans of my work!"

"Are you an idiot?" barked Kocha. "Who does this kind of work for a living?"

"I'll have you know-!" The old man whirled around and stopped in mid-sentence when he laid eyes on Kocha. "Wow!" he exclaimed. "You're the prettiest girl I've ever seen! Would you like to be in my novel?"

"Let me think, NO!" Kocha tried to kick him off of his toad but the man jumped and dodged her attack. "I guess you've been rejected before."

"More than once." The man crossed his arms triumphantly.

"Who are you?" asked Naruto.

"Me?" said the man pointing at himself. "I'm the most handsome and brilliant toad sage in the Land of Fire! You can call me Jiraiya!" He looked over at Kocha and gently grabbed her hand saying, "But you can call me available."

"That's funny," smiled Kocha pretending to look flattered. "Cause you can call me Taken." Naruto looked up at her confused. "By the way, you forgot weird in that introduction of yours."

"And purvey." Nodded Naruto.

"Hey!" Jiraiya barked. "I am a very distinguished writer!"

Kocha put her hand over her face in annoyance. She suddenly remembered that she heard his name somewhere before. She stared at him and asked, "Wait, aren't you Jiraiya, one of the legendary-."

"Shh!" Jiraiya quickly interrupted. "I don't want people to know that I'm here!"

"Fine." Kocha said. "But I will not allow any more interruptions during our training." She was suddenly struck with an idea and gave an evil glare at the sage. "Just to keep you out of mischief, you will help me train this boy here."

"No way!" Jiraiya denied. "I don't get along with kids."

"I'm no kid!" Naruto barked. "I'm a ninja pal! Believe it!"

"I'll believe it when I see it." Jiraiya said crossing his arms.

"Very well." Said Kocha putting her fists on her hips. "You will see with your own eyes then when we all train together."

"I said no!" roared the sage.

"If you don't," Kocha glared. "I'll have you know that I'm a member of the Anbu Black ops and I can easily have you arrested for disorderly conduct and indecent exposure."

"A-alright!" said Jiraiya. "F-fine I'll do it."

As they all walked out of the hot springs Kocha leaned over to Jiraiya and whispered, "You do know that this is the boy."

"The moment I laid eyes on him." He whispered back. "And you are?"

"Kocha." She answered. "I've been assigned to train Naruto for the third exam next month."

"Kocha, huh." Said Jiraiya. This is going to be very interesting.

* * * * * * * *

"Are you okay, Sasuke?"

"Yes, Yuki."

"Doesn't it hurt?"

"No, Yuki."

"Should you even be moving, Sasuke?"

"I'm fine, Yuki."

"Better let me handle all of your fighting, Sasuke."

"I'm fine, Yuki."

"Come on! I'm better than you anyway!"

"No you're not, Yuki!"

"Yes I am!"

"No you're not!"

"I'll prove it to you, Nancy Boy!"

"Wanna bet!?"

"Sasuke, Yuki! Shut it already!" Shouted Kakashi from ahead of the small group. "Geez, we're not even near the site and you two are already annoying me!"

"Wow," said Yuki. "You're not that easily annoyed, Dad. Mission accomplished!!"

"Oh, brother." Kakashi sulked. "And here I thought Naruto would be the end of me. Who knew it would be my own daughter? I don't think I'll ever be sane."

"Let's just get moving already." Said Sasuke. "I've been out of it for a while and need to train and get my strength up."

"Why?" said Yuki. "You can still kick Naruto's ass while you're asleep!"

"I wish I could say the same thing." Sasuke closed his eyes while Yuki gave him a confused look.

After a long while Yuki asked, "By the way, Kakashi-sensei, why did you chose the two of us instead of adding Naruto to the group?"

"I had lots of reasons." He smiled. "My main reason was that since you two seemed to have the closest bond, I thought it would be best to have you two face off."

"What does that mean?" asked Sasuke.

"In battle, you may wind up facing one or more of your friends," Kakashi answered. "Whether it is due to a gen-jutsu or reality is what you will have to be prepared for."

"Oh." Yuki looked down at the ground. I hope it never has to come to that.

"Alright you two." Said Kakashi. "We're here." The two genin found themselves in a barren wasteland surrounded by bare mountains. For a short while, Yuki thought that they were near the Village Hidden in the Sand. "Aren't we a little far from Konoha?" she asked.

"We have a month to get you two ready for the exam." Kakashi answered. "This is the best place to do so."

"How do you figure?" asked Sasuke.

"I'm going to teach both of you some very powerful skills." Kakashi smiled. "We don't want any casualties, do we?"

"No, sir." Said the two.

"Just one question, Kakashi-sensei!" said Yuki. "Are we going to practice now when it's almost nightfall?"

"No." Kakashi laughed. "We'll start in the morning. You two stay here while I'll go to get some firewood."

After a very long time and the moon was high in the night sky Yuki began to wonder where her father might be. They heard gravel crumble from behind them and a moaning sound. "What the hell?!" Yuki said readying her weapon.

"Wait, Yuki." Said Sasuke. He inched closer to the edge then waved Yuki to come over. She heeded his call but still held her weapon at the ready. She peered over the edge and her jaw dropped as she saw her father climbing up the mountain face with one hand tied behind his back. His backpack was filled with firewood adding more weight to his body.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" she called out. "Are you dumb or are you finally going insane?!"

"I'm fine, Yuki!" Kakashi called back up. "We're not out here for just you two, you know!"

"Is this about that stupid rivalry with Gai-sensei?" she said swinging her weapon so that she could toss it down to him. Sasuke put an arm in front of her stopping her actions.

"Leave him be." He told her. "Even jounin need to train every day."

"I still think this is stupid!" she huffed as she put her weapon away. She watched as Kakashi slowly made his way up the mountain. When he was almost to the top, his arm suddenly felt too tired to lift up the rest of his body. Kakashi huffed as he closed his eyes. He focused on his first inner gate and opened it. Immediately his body felt rejuvenated and he continued his way to the top. Once he reached it, Yuki helped him up and retrieved the firewood to make a fire. "You are the dumbest person ever!" she growled.

"Ouch." Kakashi said untying his arm. "I'm hurt, Yuki. I guess that means you don't want me to train you for the exam then."

"H-hey, I didn't say that!" Yuki laughed waving her arms. "I-I'm just saying that what you did was a bit of an extreme training method!"

"Extreme," said Sasuke. "But effective."

"Let's just get some sleep." Said Kakashi. "We have a busy day ahead of us."

"Yes, sir!" said the two. Yuki and Sasuke unrolled their sleeping bags and drifted off to sleep.

As the sky began to change into a pink hue, Sasuke and Yuki were deep into their training exercises. The training only consisted of using their tai-jutsu techniques but neither of them found any difficulty in it. Yuki, however, noticed something about Sasuke. With every bout he seemed to gain more and more speed. His fury of kicks and punches seemed to almost be missed by the naked eye but Yuki was very careful to keep track of his movements. If I'm going to counter his attack, She thought. I'm going to have to pick up my speed as well. Kakashi watched from the side lines and smiled when he noticed that they were getting the point of their training. For many weeks they focused on tai-jutsu alone but one week, Kakashi decided to change the tempo.

"Alright!" he began during the breakfast fire. "Now that you two have mastered the tai-jutsu training, we can move on to more important skills."

"What do you mean, Sensei?" asked Yuki.

"For the rest of the time here," Kakashi started, "we will focus on your special techniques."

"You mean my Sharingan and Yuki's Soshigan?" asked Sasuke.

"Exactly." Said Kakashi. "Sasuke, you seem to have a good grasp on your Sharingan but Yuki, you can only control 'easy' elements such as earth, water, and wind."

"You don't have to rub it in." she sulked. "Wait, what do you mean by 'easy?"

"These elements you can see with your own eyes." Kakashi answered crossing his arms. "What I want you to try and focus on is not only your continuing mastery of these elements, but also elements such as Light and Darkness. Can you do this?"

"I don't know." Yuki admitted. "I've never really thought about those."

"Today's the perfect day to start." Kakashi smiled. "Sasuke, you will use your Sharingan to read Yuki's moves and counter them while Yuki, you will try to master your old elemental abilities while trying to conjure up new ones. Got it?"

"Yes." Said the two. Once the fire was out, Kakashi took his place on a flat piece of stone and watched as the two walked to their opposite sides of the area. Yuki, Kakashi thought. Will you be able to handle controlling such strong elements?

The two charged at each other and Yuki blocked Sasuke's lower kick and tried to counter-attack him with a blow with her elbow but he bent his head back to dodge. Yuki used her right leg to trip Sasuke but he managed to leap into the air and with his free leg, kick Yuki across the face which sent her flying to the right. "Damn!" Yuki cursed. His speed is amazing! Sasuke did not take this chance to rest, however. He charged at Yuki and used a fury of punches again to disorient Yuki. The plan seemed to have been working but Yuki secretly managed to pull the air around them into her left palm and create a small orb. Before Sasuke managed to see her eyes, Yuki called out, "Aero-Style: Wind Tunnel Jutsu!" She pushed her palm out and sent Sasuke flying in the opposite direction.

Sasuke landed flat on his back and tried to get up but Yuki ran as fast as she could toward his side. She kicked him into the air and let loose a barrage of kicks that continued to bring them closer and closer to the sky. When they were at the right height, Yuki took her right elbow and slammed it into Sasuke's gut sending him rocketing toward the earth. Using her Soshigan, she managed to create a soft surface for Sasuke to land on even though she was a great distance from the ground.

When he landed Yuki used her powers again to gently glide down to the earth. Kakashi clapped his hands saying, "Well done, Yuki! If you keep your control on the wind like that, you could become the first Kunoichi to fly." Yuki smiled and helped Sasuke up from his pit of loose dirt.

"That was amazing, Yuki." He said rubbing his mouth. "Let's go again."

"You asked for it!" Yuki smiled back. The two continued to use their special abilities, and tried to create new ones, long after night fell. When Kakashi made the call to stop for the night, the two were bruised and scraped moderately. While Kakashi went hunting for the evening meal Yuki stared into the fire while Sasuke was on the cliff edge staring into the starry sky. After a long time, Yuki stood and took a seat next to him.

"It's a nice night, huh?" she stated.

"Yeah." Sasuke answered back. "Do you know who you will be facing I the exams?"

"No, not yet." Yuki rested her chin on her knees. "I really wish I did though. It would make things so much easier."

"Who do you want to fight?" Sasuke asked.

Yuki thought for a short while then answered, "The most terrifying genin I saw was Gaara of the Desert. Although I'm scared to fight such a merciless enemy, I want to make him pay for what he did to Lee."

"Yeah." Sasuke said in a some-what grudged tone. "I hear that Gaara mutilated him."

"More than that." Yuki gripped a clump of sand tightly. "Lee may never be able to be a shinobi. I hate him. I hate Gaara! Lee was the only ninja that I knew that couldn't use other techniques other than tai-jutsu. I really wanted him to succeed!"

"Why?" Sasuke asked. "A ninja who can't use nin-jutsu or gen-jutsu is pretty much useless."

"That's not true!" Yuki cried. "He proved that to you before the first exam, right?!" Sasuke looked angry but said nothing. "You know as much as I do, Sasuke, that Lee has every right to become a Leaf Village Shinobi! Look at Gai-sensei! He and Kakashi are square even in their stupid rivalry!"

"I'm sorry, Yuki." Sasuke said suddenly. "I didn't mean to speak so badly about Lee. I guess I'm still kind of frustrated that he beat me."

"Well," said Yuki. "I guess you can get back at him by trying to beat Gaara in the exams."

"But, you just said that you wanted to fight him." Sasuke said confused.

"I do." She admitted. "But I think that you will be more of a match for him anyway. Besides, he looked like he really wanted to fight you too."

The two sat in silence for what seemed like an hour. The moon was full and giving a silver light on the glittering sand. After a long silence, Yuki broke it asking, "So, what's on your mind, Sasuke?"

"Stuff." He answered.

"Wow, that was specific." She glared. "Anything else?"

"Nope."

"Tch! Fine. If that's how you're going to be then I'm going to bed. Wake me when Kakashi gets back." As she began to stand Sasuke grabbed her wrist and pulled her back down. "What is it?" she asked. "Ready to talk to me?"

"I was just thinking about the past." He answered. "My mother, father, my whole clan…all of them were killed by my older brother, Itachi."

"Itachi?" she asked. Wow, an older Sasuke. He must be really sexy! Yuki suddenly realized what she thought and rapidly shook her head.

"What's wrong?" Sasuke asked.

"Oh! Nothing!" Yuki blushed. "I was just thinking that it must have been terrible to lose your entire family in one night." Yuki suddenly remembered that she did not really know her own parents. Only fragments of a village burning and a young Kocha remained.

"Well," Sasuke continued. "I just can't get the pictures of the massacre out of my head. It's funny." He laughed emptily. "I mean he was my big brother. I looked up to him! How could he do that?!" Sasuke suddenly stood up in a rage and continued to shout, "I will avenge my clan! I will kill Itachi Uchiha!"

"Sasuke…"said Yuki. His aspiration and determination gave him a strong feeling. Yuki could feel her face blush so she looked up at the moon. "Sasuke, you know that your friends will always be willing to help you. You're not in this alone, you got that?" Yuki suddenly realized that the two of them were holding hands. The two looked at each other but neither removed their touch from the other. They continued to stare into each other's eyes for a long while. The two sat back down and continued to gaze up at the stars. After a few minutes Sasuke could here slow, even breathing coming from his shoulder. Yuki had fallen asleep and was leaning her head on his shoulder. Yuki. He thought. You're an extremely powerful ninja but, I can't let you get involved in this. This is too personal for you to understand. As fatigue overtook his body, he could feel Yuki begin to shiver. He slowly wrapped his arm around her and the two fell asleep in each other's embrace.

Kakashi managed to kill a small boar and carried it up the mountain on his shoulder. Before slamming it to the ground he noticed that his two students were at the edge of the cliff. He smiled and unrolled his own blanked and draped it over them. He returned to the kill and pulled out a kunai to cut the meat for his dinner and for the next day's meals. After a while of cooking over the fire, Kakashi stared at the two sleeping students and thought, Yuki and Sasuke. I gotta say, I never expected this would happen but I could pick no one else. Sasuke, you'd better guard her with your life. After his meal, Kakashi found a smooth rock face and sat on it reading his book long into the night.