The next day she woke up to another present on her pillow. She had no idea how she slept through their intrusions into her apartment, and it disturbed her a little. She would have thought that her skill had improved at least enough to be able to detect a presence of a stranger in some place as intimate as her own home. Unfortunately, she didn't take into account how tired and exhausted she returned home from working out and only ended up mentally reprimanding herself as she lifted the letter. It was folded in half, the top portion was obviously written by Shisui.

"You neeeeeeded a cute outfit! So, tada! It's custom made! Looks cute and kick ass! Make sure you smile after you win! We're going to be cheering you on! Be good! And practice! But don't practice a day before the exam. Then you'll need to get plenty of rest and drink lots of fluid and don't stay out to late partying and make sure to eat healthy and sleep lots and meditate before your name's called so you can clear your head. You'll be fine! Make sure to win! And don't forget to wear the outfit; it'll make all the boys drop! I'll be really sad if you don't wear it. Oh and if you want to make us some hot chocolate for when we come back…I wouldn't refuse. P.S: I stole your seaweed crackers – you bought the last box from the grocery store!"

Sakura chuckled softly as she lifted her knees up to her chest, Shisui was wonderfully ridiculous. She glanced at the items on her pillow before letting her eyes travel down to Itachi's too-perfect penmanship.

"You'll pass."

Short…Simple. So Itachi. But Itachi never lied.

.

.

May

The night before the exam was a rough one. It was difficult to keep her mind from racing and no matter how hard she tried to instill Itachi's meditation techniques; a billion thoughts plagued her all at once. The worst part of it was that she had started to lose confidence in herself. The distance between Sakura and the ANBU Uchiha's was great, hell, even the distance between her and Sasuke was immense.

She felt so far away and alone, and all she wanted was to be a thirteen year old girl in the arms of her mother crying endlessly about it. Instead she tossed and turned, kicked off her sheets and threw her pillow across the room.

She was trying to be a ninja! A ninja for crying out loud!

She suppressed a yell and muffled it into her extra pillow. The night was a motif of restlessness, and when it was finally time to get up, Sakura bolted up into her bathroom to prepare.

The pink haired girl wasn't even sure if she had actually slept, the day before just blended into the new one.

.

.

Sakura quadruple checked her canteen to make sure it was filled to the brim with her chakra laced water. It was perfect. She was feeling uneasy about everything as she clipped it into position, restraining herself from checking it…again. The young teen glanced in the mirror….someone she barely recognized stared back at her.

She wore the outfit Shisui got for her, and he wasn't lying when he said it was custom made. She had never felt such rich fabric before, much less seen something so beautiful.

The top was a bright red fitted spaghetti-strap tank top; when she first saw it; she was shocked to discover that it was an open back, with one red with white trim buckle connecting both sides between her shoulder blades and another one on the lower of her back. After more careful examination of the back, she found needle slots for senbons hidden in the two back straps; unfortunately she didn't have the spare cash to purchase a set since she had just paid for rent and her mother's medical fees. When she first put it on, the buckles felt strange against her skin so she had tried to loosen them, but then realized that there were two pinches of condensed ninja powder behind them. Shisui was full of surprises.

In the, less dangers, front of the tank top, a thin stream of sakura petals flowed from the top of her left breast expanding diagonally down to the strip of white silk hemming. It was the type of shirt Sakura would have saved for a very special date or event, she almost felt bad wearing it but it just hugged her body so perfectly and that small girly part of her really wanted to show it off. Shisui also got her small matching red short shorts with her family symbol stitched in the right hand corner; the only problem was that they were too short for Sakura to feel comfortable in. Her thighs had gotten so big from all her working out that she was still adjusting to not being able to wear Girls clothes and having to move into the Miss section of department stores.

When she first tried on the outfit, she had at first worn her black spandex capri pants underneath, but it felt like she was carrying a piece of her old self. It was the reminder of the dress she'd wear…which in hindsight was stupid and very inappropriate for a ninja who was not attempting to seduce. She nearly ripped the black skin tight leggings off, but then when she looked at herself with naked legs again, she wanted them back.

She was going to go reach back into her drawer for them when her finger had accidently looped in her white mesh stockings that she had bought a year ago a size too big, but they were on sale so she figured they'd fit eventually. This time, not only did they fit, and they were perfect, and after skipping three meals last week she used the money to exchange her blue ninja boots for red ones, paying for the difference between the two.

She smiled at herself in the mirror as she carefully tied her leather whip to her left side too tightly. She cursed under her breath and attempted to unknot it and try again. Her nerves were running high and it was causing her to fumble.

After a deep breath, she tied her weapons pouch on her right thigh and her medical equipment on the back loop of her shorts. It was honestly tailored to hold everything she'd need. She moved to her nightstand and grabbed her red ninjaband and tied it over her bangs, then as an afterthought, she reached for the rubberband she used to put her hair up for runs and tied her hair down into a low pony tail – the way Itachi wore it. Plus it would modestly cover up her back and keep the wind from pushing it all about.

She quickly checked, whip – left, medical pouch – back, weapons pouch – right, canteen – right.

"Okay," she exhaled…checking the contents of her canteen again. She had to be sure.

.

.

When Sakura came to the meeting place in the academy, an inner part of herself was really happy to see familiar and friendly faces. Not that she minded Itachi and Shisui…it was nice to see people her own age and not ANBU level powerful. It put her mind at ease that maybe she wasn't too far off. The young girl did her best to avoid eye contact or looking too closely at anyone, she didn't want to be remembered this early. As she walked through the field of clustered of young teenagers, a chill caused her to freeze. It felt like a dagger in the back.

She glanced over to her side to meet the eyes of sea green from a blank faced red head. All her fears came rushing in; he was too similar to Itachi and definitely not on the same level as her. Before her mind could go into overdrive, a friendly voice broke her from nearly peeing on herself in fear.

"Sakura!" Naruto screamed and a few nearby people turned to look at her, even the strangers in the group.

She didn't flush as deep of a red as she normally would have under such pressure, with all of Shisui's inappropriate jokes her cheeks became more and more immunized to embarrassment. She made a mental note to thank the elder Uchiha as she approached the blue eyed boy.

"Hey Naruto," she greeted her team, "Sasuke."

"Hn."

"Sasuke," Ino appeared from the side, "looking gorgeous as usual."

He narrowed his eyes, wishing her away. Then, thank the heavens; the platinum haired girl turned her attention to his female teammate. "Woah, forehead! Is that you?"

"In the flesh," Sakura said with confidence, most of it fake. The white mesh was starting to feel sluty which caused her to keep her legs tightly together – poor stance for balance.

"What have you done with my Sakura?" Ino teased, putting a rivalry arm around her.

Sakura smiled diplomatically, she felt almost at a loss for words before quickly spitting out, "abducted and abandoned," then quickly added, "so you ready for this?" She could feel her palms starting to clamp up.

This was it. This was where she'd show everyone. God, she hoped she wouldn't mess up.

"You bet – no life for a month…I better ace it," Ino grinned from cheek to cheek as she leaned in to whisper, "what do you think of all the other people? Check out that blonde over there, isn't he a cutie. Though I got to say, maybe a hair cut wouldn't be so bad...seesh."

Sakura glanced around at the sea of unfamiliar faces, trying to find said blonde, "fine, I suppose." She lied; she didn't see anyone 'cute.' They all looked weird.

"Oh! Look there's Shikamaru! SHIKAMARU!" Ino ran off with a huge smile on her face to meet up with her other teammate, giving her sometimes-best-friend a polite pat on the back before leaving.

"How has your training been?" Naruto asked and she could tell by his eyes that he was silently telling her that he hadn't told a soul. She cocked her head, scrutinizing him silently before replying.

"Good, thanks for asking, Naruto….hey do you know that redhead is?" Sakura whispered the second part.

"You noticed him?" Sasuke asked, his voice giving away surprise.

"Yeah, he gives me the chills," the pink haired girl replied honestly.

"His name is Gaara of the desert. Those two next to him were messing with some kids from the village," Sasuke replied, internally shocked at how calm Sakura was…so close to him. She used to turn into mush being within meters of him.

But how long has it been since she turned and squealed in his direction?

When was the last time she even smiled all ga-ga eyed at him?

Everything before her stabbing herself in her thigh seemed like a haze of annoying. Now…he had already checked for genjutsu…it was really Sakura….she was just different. He wasn't sure how he felt about that.

"Did you kick their asses?" She asked, pivoting herself on the balls of her feet so the person passing wouldn't do so directly behind her. Sasuke noticed. Naruto only thought she wanted to get closer to him, which made him grin inappropriately at the Uchiha.

"I was going to but –," Naruto started, only to get interrupted by someone bumping into him. "HEY! Watch it!" The blonde yelled.

Sakura slapped Naruto upside the head; she had forgotten how loud he could be. Everyone's eyes were on them. Everyone's.

"Is that a threat?"

"No," Sakura spoke for Naruto, her hand placed tightly over his mouth, "he thinks it was just an accident."

But apparently the blonde had a different opinion, Naruto's wiggling eventually got him free of Sakura's whimsical hold of him and he yelled, for the whole area to hear, "BRING IT ON! I can kick all your bastards' asses!"

"Oh god," Sakura face palmed herself. This was not what they needed.

"Oh really?" A man a few meters east of them asked, but then a fight at the corner of the room broke out and everyone had already forgotten the loud mouthed blonde who was still going off.

Before anyone could even assess the situation of who started it or over what, a miniature army of instructors appeared out of thin air, demanding everyone to settle down with a tall imposing figure in front of them all. His broad shoulders and ruthless presence demanded attention and absolute obedience. He was to be leading the first part of the exam and Sakura did her best to keep her opinion of him to a minimum, especially since he was only a proctor. She knew in the big scheme of things - what mattered most was what she knew, and how she implemented that knowledge.

.

.

The first phase – the writing exam went off without a hitch. Sakura knew all the answers, Sasuke did what he had to, and Naruto pulled through. On the tenth question, she could almost fell the tension between her team, but the blonde was determined and no matter what…they had to be a team, even if the pieces didn't fit right. So she made sure her butt stayed glued to the seat as she watched Sasuke send Naruto death glares. She was positive that it wouldn't have been beneath Sasuke to somehow send him telepathical threats and insults.

.

.

If Sakura thought Ibiki was bad, Anko was ten times worse. Standing at barely half a foot taller than herself, Anko was filled with character, the nicest way Sakura could describe the purple haired woman. She talked mostly in slang and breezed through everything quickly, she seemed too excited for the fighting to start. She was the definition of a freaky unmannered female, and Sakura had to keep herself from vomiting last night's dinner when the woman cut and then licked Naruto's blood off his cheek. After the nasty lady passed around the release forums which wouldn't hold her liable for anyone's deaths, she informed everyone about the rules. Sakura was glad to hear that Anko wouldn't be entering with them. That was the last thing she wanted.

Sakura tried to keep an expressionless face like Sasuke, but she was failing and biting her lip out of nervousness. The people here were terrifying. If this exam only included Konoha shinobi, the girl thought that she would definitely impress. But all the strangers with foreign abilities, foreign accents, and foreign fighting styles brought a mixture of insecurity right back into Sakura's mind. It didn't feel right. It was more than an exam; it was turning into a competition.

After scribbling away her name and life away, the rules were, at least, pretty simple. Half the people get the Heaven scroll, half get the Earth scroll. To win, you need to have both to make the kanji strength. They got the Heaven Scroll.

.

.

Inside the Death Forrest:

A human scream resonated through the forest and Sakura glanced in that direction.

"It seems it's started," Sasuke said, catching his female comrade's eye. She nodded.

"I have to pee!" Naruto whined, he had been doing the pee-pee dance since they were placed in their gate for preparations.

"You're disgusting," she muttered as she folded her arms. She was barely keeping it together and watching Naruto be so simple minded about everything made her furious.

"I didn't want to say it in front of EVERYONE! Come on! Please, wait for me!" Naruto squealed out as he rushed for the bushes.

"Hn," Sasuke muttered with his hands in his pocket as he looked out into the wilderness.

Sakura sighed as she leaned against a nearby tree, inhaling deeply – a male scream resonated this time. People were actually dying. Inside Konoha. Meters near her. It could be her own friends for all she knew. She shivered the thought away.

"Scared?" Sasuke asked disinterestedly.

"Yes," Sakura answered truthfully but added a second part that left the Uchiha speechless, "we don't work well as a team."

An eerily silence filled the air. The black haired boy almost wished for the annoying Sakura who forced his hand in hers and looked ahead with a smile. This Sakura was looking at the present and saying the ugly truth. He wouldn't admit it, but he didn't want to hear it.

"Man! So much came out! I feel great now!" Naruto came from behind a nearby bushy area.

Sakura narrowed her eyes, her fingers reaching discreetly towards her whip but Sasuke beat her to it with a great hook punch at the fake Naruto's face.

"What the hell are you doing?" The fake Naruto asked, wiping his bloody lip as he tried to stand back up on his feet.

"Where's the real Naruto?" Sakura asked, her leather whip unhooked in her hand, prepared.

"What…are you saying all of a sudden?"

"Your shuriken holster is on your left side, he's right handed, and the cut on his cheek is missing," Sakura answered.

"You're a fake loser who's worse than Naruto at transforming," Sasuke insulted.

With a puff, the truth appeared in the form of a ninja in goggles and a gas mask. Sakura would never understand foreign fashion.

"How unlucky!" The man shouted, "You figured it out, so then," he spoke in a hoarse half-muffled voice, "Which one of you has the scroll?" The two Konoha ninja's narrowed their eyes - they weren't that stupid, "I'll just take it by force then!" he shouted, running to attack.

Sakura planned on waiting for him to come to her, Itachi warned her against meeting an opponent in the middle of battle with her current speed.

"If you run towards him, you turn into a race horse; your vision is concentrated only ahead…you miss any action from the sides. Excellent way to get killed."

Sasuke vanished from her side and appeared above her, casting fire jutsu. Then he used the mass of flames as a distraction to jump onto a nearby tree and look for Naruto.

While the Uchiha's back was turned, the ninja reappeared meters away from him, ready to attack the seemingly unsuspecting boy. Sakura shout out three shurikens at him, causing him to stutter and flip away, giving Sasuke the time he needed to grab the half unconscious blonde off the ground.

"You brat!" The man yelled, "do you have the scroll?" he snarled, turning his attention to Sakura.

"Sakura!" Sasuke shouted, still holding a deadbeat Naruto up, but to his absolute shock and relief, she held her own.

The Kunoichi dodged his first three attacks flawlessly, and then delivered a set of her own with her whip. The Uchiha had never witnessed anyone wielding a weapon like that before. Her attacks caused the enemy to stutter backwards, he obviously didn't expect her to be that good either.

Once he settled Naruto down nearby, the black haired boy went straight for the enemy's blind spot; attempting to be the one to catch him off guard this time.

Sasuke, with kunai in hand, attacked at close range, aiming to slice the ninja's head right off. He dodged it, but Sakura's whip came straight down so fast that he couldn't avoid it too and ended up getting sliced by it across his arm.

The unexpected pain made him unable to block Sasuke's spinning reverse kick which sent his back straight into a tree.

Then the ninja vanished in a puff of smoke.

"Damnit," Sasuke cursed under his breath as Sakura approached their blonde teammate, her weapon re-holstered back at her hip.

"Who taught you to use that thing?" the Uchiha asked watching her hands glow blue at their comrade's forehead.

Thankfully Naruto shot up before she had to answer, "Wha-what happened! What the hell? Sakura? Hi, Sakura," the short one smiled stupidly.

"Ugh, come on," Sakura muttered standing up, "we don't have time to be lazy."

Sasuke's eye shot to the left momentarily and Sakura nodded. They were being watched.

"Wha-what happened?" Naruto asked, getting up and rubbing the back of his head.

"We're about to fight again," Sakura said grinning. She hadn't expected it to be this action packed.

"Maybe you were wrong," Sasuke said, discreetly grabbing an explosion note from his pocket.

"About?"

"Us making a poor team," the Uchiha said, his right hand shooting straight to the left, echoing a loud explosion as a female-looking ninja jumped from the bushes to avoid the impact.

"Heh," Sakura smirked back, "that'd be nice if I was," she added, her whip ready for battle.

Naruto attempted to find his footing, he felt like he was totally out of the loop of something.

"And here…I misjudged you," the ninja with the freakishly long tongue began, "What do you say…you just hand me the Heaven Scroll and I'll spare you're lives." She was the same one they saw get riled up when Anko cut Naruto's cheek.

"Fat chance!" Naruto shouted.

"Really? Well, then," she cocked her head up and inserted the thick scroll into her mouth – swallowing it whole like a snake. "Let's begin," she gulped, her voice became more masculine and Sakura wasn't sure of the sex of...it anymore, "the battle for eachother's scrolls with eachother's lives on the line."

Then, as soon as she said that – Sakura saw kunais coming so quickly that all she could feel was complete pain.

Just as suddenly as the pain came, it was gone. Only Sasuke was in front of her with a bleeding thigh.

"Sa-sasuke?" She asked, wide eyed and confused. She looked around, their surroundings changed.

"Genjutsu," he whispered as he removed the kunai he used to break the spell. She leaned forward to heal him, hating herself for not getting out of it. It just came too fast, too perfectly; she thought it was real.

'Damnit.'

Then, at the same moment, they jumped in opposite directions; a giant snake came from seemingly nowhere and attacked with a loud chomp in the branch they had rested in.

Sakura landed a few meters away from Sasuke, "where's Naruto?"

"Don't know!" Sasuke growled shooting a set of kunai's at the reptilian.

"Shit," Sakura cursed between clenched teeth as she dodged the monster's tail attack towards her. This couldn't be a part of the test! It was supposed to be team against team! She read the fine print!

She had to jump out of the way again, but instead of landing on the ground, she was engulfed in a world of painful darkness. This time she knew that it shouldn't have been logically possible. With some struggle, she broke out of the genjutsu but it wasn't fast enough. When her senses came to again, she found herself in a new area of the forest. Completely alone.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," she cursed in a low growl, she was separated from her team. Slowly the Kunoichi rose to her feet and looked around, trying to pick the right direction to run. But while contemplating, she ended up staying too long in such an open clearing and was found.

"Oh, lookie here," three strange, unknown, ninjas approached her from behind the darkness of the cowering trees. Sakura berated herself for not sensing or hearing them, but she was still disoriented and her ears were buzzing.

She did not have time for them!

"What are you doing…all alone, here?" The tallest male asked, approaching her with an air of confidence. His accent made her cringe and his entire outfit looked like patchwork, completely random, and very uncoordinated. But, she assumed that there were hundreds of hidden compartments inside his clothes.

Sakura took a short step back, positioning herself into a fighting stance. She didn't want to risk running and being caught. She didn't know how fast they could go, and the last thing she wanted to do was lead them to her unsuspecting team.

"Scared?" the second tallest male asked with a grin. His outfit was much simpler, with shirt, brown pants with a ninja belt and katana strapped in. But Sakura knew better than to make any assumptions. She wished she could take in every detail of their faces - the curves of their neck, the length of their legs, but her heart was pumping in her throat and she only took the most obvious portions of them to identify them by.

The female, walking a few steps behind them didn't say anything; she only looked at Sakura sadly with regret. She was obviously not thrilled at this. The long black Arabian dress, she wore, looked difficult to walk or run in and not the best choice for a ninja. Again, Sakura knew not to underestimate, too many times it'd been done to her...but what the girl was wearing was completely impractical.

The Konoha girl tried to calm her breathing as they continued to approach. She didn't know their abilities, or their skills, strengths, or weaknesses. They were not from this village. Damnit! She was fighting blind.

'But so are they,' her inner self reminded her.

"How about you just hand us your scroll, and we can spare your life," the taller one said lifting his arm up in the universal sign of, "give me."

"Nice offer," Sakura answered, doing the hand signs as quickly as she could to call on her dragon. She needed good defense. "But, I'll have to pass."

The foreign girl didn't seem to even care as one of the guys took out a katana to prepare for battle. She remained in the background, looking completely out of place and out of touch. The taller man laughed at Sakura's display.

"Cute…hahaha, I was not expecting that."

Sakura narrowed her eyes and tightened her lips into a line, reminding herself not to attack him first. She needed to keep her temper in check.

"Let me," the taller one began, "show you something." He said while doing the all too familiar jutsu for the fire element.

The Kunoichi wasn't fast enough to dodge, and it connected. To her absolute, utter, complete, shock….the fire turned into smoke and her dragon remained in tack. That could only mean…

She was more skilled than him.

This foreigner's elemental ability was beneath her.

She was stronger than him.

"Oh," Sakura asked, cocking her head to the side as she attempted to seem as cool as possible, "can I show you something, now?"

She was squealing like a love struck teenager inside. She couldn't believe it.

Sakura's concentrated an outline of enemy chakra on the taller one, and had her dragon attack him ferociously while she called her liquid whip to attack the katana wielder.

He was nowhere as fast or precise as Itachi…she knew it wouldn't have been a proper comparison, but it felt like this stranger was going at the same speed Itachi went with her during their first day of training. It was like he was just SCREAMING what he was going to do next, it was so predictable!

"UGH!" The older man shouted as the dragon's mouth solidified and took a large bit out of his shoulder. "FUCK!"

The weapon wielder turned around to look at his partner and Sakura took that opportunity to use her whip to sweep him from under his knees and cause him to fall backwards.

"Here!" the boy on the ground shouted, tossing an Earth scroll at her as he shuffled his feet away when he saw the leader of group try to outrun her dragon. He didn't want to get left behind…not with her!

She recalled her jutsu back in defense and looked at the girl who was slowly walking after the two cowards.

"Erhm…hey, you….you know, you don't have to follow them," the water affiliated ninja said as she put the foreign scroll away into her medical pouch.

She looked at the female ninja, with the same sad eyes as before, this time, though, the young girl lifted up her sleeve and showed the seal implanted on it.

"Oh…oh," Sakura whispered.

The girl nodded as she prepared to leave again.

Sakura was about to recall her dragon back into the canteen, to stop the chakra drain when she noticed the piece of flesh on the ground.

"Wa-wait!" The pink haired ninja yelled before she could stop herself. She didn't have time to waste here; she needed to find her team but she could never leave anyone suffering. It wasn't in the code of medics. She'd use anesthesia against a nameless enemy if she could.

"What?" the girl asked pitifully, annoyed at the Konoha shinobi. Her long greasy brown hair fluttered with a nearby gust of wind.

"Do…do you have a ninja scroll? A blank one, I mean…seal scroll."

"Excuse me?"

"That's a yes or no question," Sakura said, annoyed. She shouldn't be helping her – she knew that.

"Yes, why?"

"I can break the seal….theoretically."

"Wha – what? Why? Why would you do that?"

"Open it," Sakura instructed as she called off her dragon, "over there," she pointed in the wilderness congested area. The place where they were standing was too dangerous and too visible. She had to trust that Sasuke and Naruto could hold their own for a little bit longer. The girl couldn't have possibly been a ninja, and yet why she was kept on that team of losers was beyond her.

"Are…are you being serious?"

"Whose life is on the line?"

"My mother," the girl answered solemnly as she walked towards the area the female ninja told her to go to. She had felt like a slave for so long, that the master made no difference…she wouldn't be surprised if this girl reversed the seal to become the controller of it. But…at least Konoha was closer to home.

"Then, I'm serious," she yelled sternly, lifting up the piece of flesh and with her back turned to the girl; she inhaled deeply, attempting to clear her mind.

Blood was liquid….it was like water….it was mostly water….this should work.

'Please,' Sakura begged herself as she opened her eyes and with the girl's mother and her own in the back of her mind, she watched the blood rise up in a soft stream in front of her.

It worked.

Sakura carefully continued to drain the muscle of all its blood as she walked over to the girl, barely as old as herself.

"Wha…what is that?"

"His blood, that's what you needed, right? Blood and chakra."

"Ye..yes but, the seal won't break," the girl spoke carefully, she was not going to believe in her…just yet.

"If you do it…it should work if I do it."

"But –,"

"Shut up, and close your eyes," she really didn't mean to be as demanding as Itachi, but talking was a complete waste of time right now. She just wanted to do the right thing and leave. Even if she was a foreigner, no one should have to be enslaved like that.

"It unanimous across the board to not to trust an enemy who asks of that."

"You're not my enemy, you didn't attack me," Sakura replied calmly, placing the chunk of flesh to the side and cradled a condensed ball of blood in her palm, "please."

The girl sighed under her breath, and closed her honey colored eyes. She had obviously lost the ability to hope and believe.

Sakura infused her chakra in the blood, to keep it alive and began to write the signs Tsunade had taught her to dispelling blood related seals. Related ninjas often had them to make sure the other was okay, but during surgery or checkups they interfered too much so Tsunade taught her how to dispel the easier and harder ones, which then led to another lesson, the negative ways to use it. Unfortunately, the same style of seals could be used for terrible measures like threatening a relative with death or pain.

She finished the third seal-breaking figure, hoping she had enough blood for the last two. After she finished, she pressed her palms together and clapped loudly once, breaking the seal. The blood ink on the paper vanished.

When the Kunoichi looked up, bright brown eyes were staring at her own, completely shocked. Three quarters of her seal was completely gone, all was left was the friendly relative seal.

"You…you…did…that? Oh..my god…"

"I have to go," Sakura said getting up, "get out of this forest as soon as you can."

"Wa-wait!"

But the pink haired girl was already half a kilometer away, running at top speed.

.

.

Sakura finally arrived where she sensed the rest of her team. It was over eight kilometers away from where the enemy had discarded her. She still had no idea how he teleported her so easily.

There was an unconscious beaten up Naruto a few meters away from Sasuke who was sitting up on a thick tree branch with a look of unimaginable fear across his face.

"SASUKE!" Sakura screamed running towards him and then freezing in her own steps.

The woman, who looked more like a man now….with long black hair and with the most terrifying monstrous little yellow eyes glanced at her. She felt his evil, his chakra, his desire to hurt and kill. She felt like a prey in the domain of a predator.

Without thinking, breathing, or understanding what occurred. A large, fast, and powerful attack of water went straight from her canteen towards that man. More water than she could have possibly kept in there shot out and went straight at him with such force that the snake-man's body went through eleven sets of trees before stopping.

Sakura gasped, she felt a strain in her eyes and more than half her chakra was gone – vanished, just like that. She didn't know how, and was about to attribute it to dojutsu when more pressing matters became clear. The Uchiha was still dazed.

"Sasuke! Sasuke!" She screamed, her entire body felt completely swollen and sore and her movements towards him were slow and pathetic. "MOVE!"

The Uchiha blinked twice and gasped hungrily for air, his eyes traveled to Sakura and then Naruto. He was vulnerable and pathetic in front of them.

"Let's go! We need to get out of here!"

"No," a semi-conscious Naruto groaned out, trying to get up, "we have to get the scroll," he fell over and started coughing up blood. It looked like definitely took a beating, and not a sympathetic one either. Sakura turned to approach him, hoping Sasuke could get down on his own.

She tried to say something as she took another step, but stumbled down instead – she momentarily blacking out.

"Sakura?" Sasuke asked, half wobbling, half walking towards them.

Before she could answer five jounin and Anko appeared in front of them.

She looked down at them.

"They smell like him," she said before jumping towards where the water had shot the enemy. Three ninjas followed her.

"It doesn't look like," one of the long haired ninjas with an eye patch began as he helped lift Naruto up, the other assisted Sakura, "that you guys are going to be able to continue. We're going to have to disqualify your team."

"Wha? No! No!" Naruto tried to deny it, pushing the Jounin aside weakly.

"No," she whispered, "We have the scrolls…"

"Huh?" The blonde stopped struggling and let the older man keep him up.

"Sasuke has Heaven, I have Earth," Sakura said reaching into her medical pouch and proving it.

Sasuke took out his scroll as well. He didn't have a clue how they got the Earth Scroll and at that moment, he didn't care very much either.

"Woulda look at that," one said as he picked up Sakura bridal style and then turned to Sasuke, squatting down, "hop on," he instructed the Uchiha, "you don't have the strength to run on your own."

"Hn."


A/N: The Chunin exams that I had written was a chapter long...and just wasn't deep enough, plus I had turned it into something too friendly and PG. So I revamped it this morning and hopefully made it better...I followed pretty closely to the real Chunin exams.

Cheers! Don't forget to leave a review :)

P.S: Edited, fixed some mistakes (thank you TalaTati19), and changed around some things...I got a few reviews stating that this didn't feel the same as the other chapters - I was writing this while reading the manga which means certain things are straight from it, though there will be more straying from it because I didn't enjoy doing it like that as much.