They got to the tower a couple of hours later. On the way they had been attacked by a team of sound shinobi but they had been able to kill them. Sasuke experienced his first kill by killing the genin in the fur cape. He had killed the other two starting with the genin who shot chakra out of his arms. Sakura had distracted the female genin by cutting her hair while she declared dramatically that she would work hard to get stronger. It wasn't that he didn't believe her it was simply that he wasn't sure she had enough chakra to be able to get much stronger than she was. But the distraction had worked and now there was one less team that they had to compete against once he had saved Sakura from the other kunoichi.

They had started the exam at noon, so it had taken them about five hours to complete the second exam. The tower was a large cylindrical structure that had been painted red. Around the base were evenly spaced red double doors mirroring the number of gates at the entrance to the training grounds. They picked the first set of doors they saw then went inside. He was curious about what the scrolls said. He also wanted to know what the consequences would have been had they opened them before getting to the tower. He hadn't tried to open them of course but he had needed to talk Sakura out of opening the spare scroll they got off the sound genin.

Inside the doors was an empty room aside from a large scroll hanging open on the far wall. Written on the scroll were the words: If you do not possess Heaven, gain knowledge and be prepared. If you do not possess Earth, run through the fields and seek strength. If you open both Heaven and Earth scrolls, dangerous paths will turn into safe paths. This is the secret of (missing word). It shall lead you on your way.

It referred to the heaven and earth scrolls he was sure. It was finally time to see what was inside them. He smiled as he removed them from his weapons pouch.

"Here, Sakura, Sasuke, you should both open them," he said handing Sakura the white scroll and Sasuke the black scroll.

They each opened the scrolls simultaneously.

"It just says person," Sasuke said confused.

They had to throw the scrolls onto the ground almost immediately after Sasuke had spoken as smoke began pouring out of them. With a popping sound the smoke began to clear. Once the smoke had thinned, Iruka-sensei stood in front of them with his arms crossed. He smiled at the only teacher who had actually tried to teach him anything at the academy, not that he had made it easy for him.

"Long time no see," Iruka said smiling.

"What's going on?" Sakura asked probably concerned they would need to fight him.

If that happened they would win. He had seen Iruka fight Mizuki. Even if he hadn't been fighting at his best in the woods. He was still nothing they would need to worry about. If they worked together they could beat him easily.

"Looks like you three got through with little trouble," Iruka said proudly.

Iruka was absolutely wrong about having little trouble. They went through a rough time, they just happened to deal with the obstacles quickly. He had lost his companion while at the same time almost getting stuck with nine tails and fox ears. Sasuke was almost bitten by an evil missing nin which he had no doubt would have been horrible for Sasuke. Sakura seemed to come out fine aside from a new haircut that actually looked better on her. He was jealous of her weakness allowing her to not register as a threat to enemies but only for a moment. Even if it gave him trouble he preferred to be strong. One day he planned to be the strongest shinobi the world had ever seen.

He just smiled at Iruka without correcting him though. No need to have him get suspicious and tell the Hokage about them. The last thing he needed was attention directed his way from the village council, even the Hokage had a hard time overruling them on some occasions.

"Why did you appear from a summoning technique, Iruka-sensei?" he asked.

"We chūnins are welcoming the examinees at the end of the second exam. I was given the duty to pass the three of you a message by chance," iruka told them proudly.

"A message?" Sasuke asked likely to hurry him along.

He looked down and saw that some red was beginning to bleed through the white material of Sasuke's shorts. It was concerning that it was still bleeding so much through the bandage they had put on. It must have been a deeper wound than they thought or it had nicked something critical. They definitely needed to get him to someone who knew medical ninjutsu quickly if they didn't want him to lose too much blood.

"Everyone, congratulations on passing the second exam," he said with a fond expression, "My second mission is to explain to you what the message on the scroll means. It is the principle written by the Hokage for all chūnin to keep in mind. Heaven refers to the mind and earth to the body. If your mind is weak seek knowledge and prepare ahead before your missions. If your body is weak you should train it everyday. Having both a strong mind and body even a dangerous mission will become safe and easy."

"Then what is the missing word?" Sakura asked.

"Chūnin," Iruka said, "Once you have balanced mind and body you are ready to be a chūnin."

"I see," he said thinking it over.

Chūnin were squad leaders. Their teams had to be able to trust them knowing that they could be relied on in the event that trouble occurred on the mission. If a chūnin was stupid, as their subordinate you would not trust their judgement. If they were physically weak you could not trust them to be able to help you if a fight was more difficult than anticipated. It made perfect sense and he knew that he had both attributes in balance. He knew that he could make a great chūnin as long as no one interfered to get him held back.

"That's all I was ordered to tell you," Iruka finished.

"Iruka-sensei, during the exam Sasuke was injured. Are we going back to the village?" Sakura asked.

Iruka's eyes narrowed on the red staining Sasuke's shorts. Before he turned his attention back to Sakura.

"There is a room further inside the tower with staff on loan from the village hospital. They can look at Sasuke's wound and heal it. There are also rooms prepared for the teams that pass before the end of the 120 hours. There is already a team from the hidden sand village here," he said lifting the scroll to reveal a door behind it.

"How do we find the medical room?" he asked standing close so Sasuke could lean on him if he needed to.

Sasuke wrapped his arm around his shoulders before leaning half his weight on him. His injured leg was between them so he didn't have to put any weight on it at all. That should help with the bleeding until they found the room the medical shinobi were in.

"There are maps posted throughout the tower," Iruka told them before unhelpfully disappearing in a puff of smoke.

They had gotten Sasuke healed first before following the maps to the section marked for team accommodations set aside for the teams that arrived at the tower early. Unless another team had gotten here while they were getting Sasuke healed then it was only team 7 and he assumed Gaara's team. He had left their room after telling the others he wanted to explore for a bit. Sasuke had tried to go with him but Sakura had made a fuss bout it being too soon. She told him to rest because he had to be tired from losing so much blood. He agreed with her which was rare enough that it convinced Sasuke to rest which he was grateful for.

He decided to start from the top of the building and work his way down. Hopefully he would be able to casually run into Gaara at some point assuming he wasn't hiding in the rooms his team had chosen. He made his way up several flights of stairs and opened the small door to the roof. He looked out at the forest. It seemed so large and wild even from such a high vantage point. It was really beautiful when you weren't inside it.

He sensed an attack coming from behind him. Without consciously thinking about it he used the substitution jutsu just as sand enveloped the place he had just been standing. He was lucky to meet Gaara so soon but would have preferred a more friendly greeting.

He made eye contact with the other boy and smiled at him.

The sand stopped, "It's you, what do you want?"

"Just to talk to you," he said walking closer.

He made sure he moved slowly so he would appear as non threatening as possible.

"You and I have more in common than you realize," he told Gaara, "You present a unique opportunity for me, one I may never get again."

"I am nothing like you," Gaara stated dismissively.

"Really? How can you say that when you don't know me. I was a jinchūriki just like you, until a couple of hours ago. That's one thing in common. I imagine your village, like mine, isn't overly fond of jinchūriki. That's two things. I'm sure I could think of more but I see I've already caught your interest," he said with another smile.

He was almost right next to Gaara when the sand suddenly surged around him. It wrapped around them both quickly until they were encased inside of a hollow sphere of hard packed sand. Given his previous statement he had to assume Gaara's interest wasn't the only interest he had captured.

"Should I assume I am now speaking with Shukaku?" he asked raising his eyebrow.

Gaara's normally pale teal eyes had turned black with little yellow diamonds inside them. Shukaku narrowed Gaara's eyes at him clearly upset that he was managing to remain so calm.

"I sensed my brother in you the first time we met. Now I only sense his chakra. How?" Shukaku asked.

"The tailed beasts can be sealed because their bodies are made of chakra which allows them to be immortal. But the consciousness or soul is still separate from their bodies. Kurama willingly pushed all of his chakra into my chakra network, including the chakra that formed his body, so that my network would completely fuse with it. He is not here and my chakra is now a combination of my own chakra and his chakra," to prove what he had said was true he pulled some of the stored chakra from the cage so his ears and tails would show.

He saw Shukaku's eyes widen in surprise as he muttered something too low for him to hear even with his fox ears. He did think he might have heard the word easy but couldn't be entirely sure.

"Kurama has moved on to a different place. I hope he is happy there, but I do know wherever he is, he is free," he said sadly.

Kurama was his friend almost family. He would miss having someone to talk to when he needed it. He felt his chest constrict and took a deep breath. Then he took another trying to keep the sadness from overwhelming him. He was distracted a few moments later by Gaara's pained whimper. He looked at Gaara who was curling in on himself inside the sand sphere. It would seem he had accidentally given Shukaku the method to commit suicide by fusion. He had thought that both sides needed to be willing but apparently he had been wrong. The whimpers were getting closer together and slowly morphed into a whine then into a chilling scream.

He pushed the extra chakra back into the cage before placing his palms on his oversensitive ears trying to block out the sound of screaming. Is that what he had sounded like? He had probably scared away any other teams that had been in the area. He had been wondering why no one had used the opportunity to try to attack them while they were weak apart from the hidden sound genin.

After about a minute Gaara had a deep forest green glow around him. The was also a very fluffy raccoon tail protruding from his lower back along with little racoon ears, claws, and teeth. His eyes were black with little turquoise diamonds. To be honest it was interesting to see the situation from Sakura's point of view. He understood how if you weren't the one who was part animal it could be seen as a little bit cute.

Suddenly, Gaara's glare moved to focus intensely on him. He felt that if he weren't also in a similar situation he would have just been killed. He could tell that Gaara was agitated by the fact that his tail was twice the size it had first been. All the hair on his tail was straight up making it seem even bushier. It was like Tora's tail when the horrible cat was being smothered by its owner. He smiled but quickly stopped when he heard the growl.

"Fix it," Gaara told him very angry.

"Do you know where to find the space Shukaku was sealed? Just put the extra chakra in there and the tail goes away, promise," he said quickly.

Without breaking eye contact while looking very suspicious about his willingness to help him Gaara seemed to turn some of his focus inward. He watched as Gaara's tail disappeared. He released the air he had been holding in relief. He decided the best thing he could do was try to move Gaara's focus away from what he had just done.

"As I mentioned earlier, you present a unique opportunity for me to speak with another jinchūriki," he said smiling, "Could you tell me about yourself? Who are your teammates? They seem very scared of you."

Gaara stared at him for a moment like he was a new type of animal he hadn't seen before and wasn't quite sure what to do with. He decided that it couldn't hurt to try to make Gaara happy. He wasn't sure he had ever tried so hard for someone or talked so much on his own.

"You know Kurama told me that Shukaku liked to torture his jinchūriki by keeping them awake. Now that he is gone you can probably sleep. If you want to try I'll stay with you in case anything happens," he offered.

Gaara's eyes widened like he had just been told all his dreams had come true. He immediately leaned back against the wall of the sphere and closed his eyes. His breathing evened out within seconds of his eyes closing. He hadn't meant that he should fall asleep right away. He was now trapped in an orb of sand with nothing to do but watch the other boy sleep. Given how little he had slept in his life he could be there for the next three days for all he knew. Figuring there wasn't much else to do he copied Gaara and tried to fall asleep.

He was woken a few hours later by the orb shaking a little. He couldn't hear anything from outside as their space was insulated by the sand. Glancing over he saw that Gaara was dead to the world. Glancing at his watch he saw that it was about 10am so he had been gone all night. He wondered if his teammates were worried about him or not. He figured they might try looking for him though they wouldn't have any way to tell that he was inside the orb.

He felt his stomach rumble in discomfort. He hadn't eaten since breakfast the day before. He felt like waking Gaara up would be a bad idea so he just pulled out a ball of rice. He could already see some of the shadows beneath Gaara's eyes lightening beneath the Kohl. The shaking of the orb died off a few minutes later. He decided to meditate instead of sleep.

After meditating for a few more hours he checked the time again and realized that Gaara had been sleeping for almost two days. They still had about two and a half days before the second exam would end but he was really bored. It was time to try waking up Gaara so they could at least get something to drink and maybe eat.

He shook Gaara's shoulder softly. Gaara grunted but didn't wake up. He decided to shake him a little harder hoping that would make a difference. Gaara made a slow swatting motion with his hand but didn't open his eyes.

"Gaara," he said firmly shaking him a little bit harder again.

Gaara woke with a start and pushed him so hard he fell into the wall on the other side of the orb.

"No need to be violent, you've slept for two days," he grumbled, "you're welcome."

Gaara blinked at him, "Temari and Kankuro are my older siblings and teammates. They are the only ones who will work with me and only because our father, the Kazekage, told them they had to."

Gaara decided to answer his questions from two days ago instead of releasing his sand sphere. He was tempted to tell him that it could wait but he might not get the opportunity to speak to him again. He also now knew the name of the blond girl on Gaara's team. He also liked the subtle name dropping. He had wanted to be friends with Gaara due to his status as a jinchūriki but it looked like he had other connections as well. He may have made a valuable ally.

"If you have two older siblings, I'm curious about why you were chosen to be the jinchūriki," he said.

"My mother was a sensor type shinobi. She said that my chakra network was dormant and thought I was in danger of dying so she and my father decided to make me a jinchūriki to restart my chakra but she died giving birth. I was blamed because I was a jinchūriki," Gaara seemed to feel some pain at the story and he wondered just how far his family had gone to convince him he was at fault.

"But it was their choice to make you a jinchūriki not yours," he said angry, "This is why I hate the villagers, it isn't my fault or even Kurama's fault that he was sealed inside me but it is me they blame for every misfortune that befalls them regardless of whether I was anywhere near them at the time."

"I feel the same," Gaara told him, "That is why I kill them. To prove that I exist and that I have power over them."

He looked at Gaara, "I smiled at them and decided to be Hokage one day so I could make them see the error of their ways and prevent future jinchūrikis from going through what I did in a safe and legal way."

Gaara seemed to consider his method but it was clear he felt his method of indiscriminate killing was better. He also had killed people and he hadn't felt bad about it but they had all been people who could fight back. He wasn't sure how he would feel about taking an innocent life. No he was sure that he couldn't take the life of someone who had not hurt him first. But then most of the village had hurt him more times than he could count. He felt like he needed some time and distance to think about his future course of action.

"So I haven't eaten in two days. Do you want to come with me to get lunch?" he asked.

"I'll go," he said attempting a smile as the orb crumbled around them.

Gaara was not very good at smiling. They would definitely work on it however he was confident that with time he would be able to teach Gaara what a smile should look like.

Two and a half days later he stood with his teammates. Five other teams had managed to get to the tower with their scrolls in addition to team 7 making the total number of people entering the third exam eighteen. He and Gaara had apparently caused a big scene with the sand sphere. The shaking had been Sasuke and his sister Temari trying to break in to it to save him from the evil Gaara. When they had shown up in the dining hall everyone seemed to be shocked that he was alive, their shock got even deeper when he declared that Gaara and him were friends. Though as his first friend, Sasuke was told about their conversation and that Gaara was now like him. He had decided to call them evolved jinchūrikis.

He had a suspicion that Sasuke might not like Gaara very much. He figured Temari had poisoned him with tales of evil that were mostly true but probably exaggerated for emphasis. She kept blushing when she looked at Sasuke but at least she wasn't a fangirl like Sakura and Ino were.

"First off, congratulations on passing the Second Exam," Anko said to the gathered genin teams.

He shifted his attention back to the front of the room. The Hokage along with all of their jounin instructors stood with Anko on a stage built into the wall.

"We will now have an explanation of the third exam from the Hokage, everyone listen well," Anko reminded them.

"Before the explanation, there's one thing I want to make clear to all of you. The true purpose of this exam is a simulation of war between the allied nations. The third exam is held publicly. It is attended by feudal lords along with famous and wealthy individuals from other countries. All of them are potential clients invited here as guests to view each village's strongest prospects in battle. They often use this when deciding which village to approach with their missions. The country's power is the village's power, the village's power is the shinobi's power," the Hokage stated.

He felt that it made sense. Shinobi were not good people. Manipulation and deceit were only a couple of the traits the villages nurtured but because it was in service to the feudal lords and the wealthy, the civilians didn't care how bad they were inside as long as their missions were completed. The civilians within the village also benefited from increased traffic to their shops. The wealthier the missions the more local shinobi would purchase from them as well and the lower the taxes they would need to pay would be.

A shinobi who seemed to have a bit of a cold appeared in front of the Hokage, " I, Hayate Gekkou the third examiner, will explain."

"Please do," the Hokage gave his permission for Hayate to continue.

"Before the third exam there is one last thing to do, due to the number of passing students it has been decided that we will need to have a preliminary exam. The winners of the preliminary exam will go on to represent their villages before the invited guests. You will be having one on one matches from here on, so please withdraw if you wish," Hayate explained between coughing fits.

The silver haired genin who had approached the rookies before the first exam stepped forward, "I'll quit."

"You are the Hidden Leaf's Kanuto Yakushi, correct?" the examiner asked, Kabuto nodded, "You may leave, then."

Kabuto walked from the room after a quiet conversation with his teammates. He felt that to make it so far only to quit was a waste of time and effort. Even Hinata and Shikamaru were continuing on in the exam. He hadn't personally spoken to Kabuto so he couldn't guess if there was a legitimate reason for his withdrawal but he did not like the weakness that it showed. He hoped not to see Kabuto again.

"May I assume there are no more people who wish to retire?" Hayate glanced around after a few moments of silence.

The third examiner turned toward the Hokage. Along with the other jounin instructors, they had a conference in voices too low for him to be able to hear what they were saying. He assumed it had something to do with Kabuto causing an odd number of genin to fight in the one on one matches.

"The computer will randomly pair names for the matches. Due to the odd number of participants remaining the one whose name is not matched by the end of the preliminary exam will continue on to the third exam. Luck is also a good trait for a shinobi to have," Hayate explained, "You will all be asked to go through that door into a sitting room. When your names appear on the screen you will come back here for your match the winners will go back into the room to wait while the others will receive medical attention before being allowed to observe the remaining matches."

"Why aren't we allowed to watch all the matches?" Kiba asked.

"One of you will be lucky enough to not need to fight in a preliminary match. If you are all able to watch every match that person will know all of your techniques but you will not know their's. It is with this in mind that we have decided that all those going on to the third exam will not be able to view the other matches," the examiner explained.

He nodded his acceptance along with the others. Though everyone wanted to have such an advantage no one wanted anyone else to have that kind of advantage over them. So there was nothing else for them to do except agree with the examiner's decision. They filed out through the door to the left of the viewing platform to find themselves in a comfortable looking sitting room. In front of the couches was a large black screen. Random letters flit across the screen before settling onto two names.

First Match: Shikamaru Nara vs. Sakura Haruno

He smiled at Sakura, "Do your best."

He figured she could use the encouragement. He elbowed Sasuke subtly to get him to say something too.

"Good luck," Sasuke told her.

Her entire face brightened, "I'll win, Sasuke-kun."

He really doubted she would but he didn't say anything as she and Shikamaru left the room.

About ten minutes later Shikamaru walked back in. He had predictably won his match against Sakura.

The other matches were as follows:

Second Match: Gaara vs. Yoroi Akado /Winner: Gaara

Thrid Match: Sasuke Uchiha vs. Choji Akimichi /Winner: Sasuke

Fourth Match: Shino Aburame vs. Misumi Tsurugi /Winner: Shino

Fifth Match: TenTen vs. Hinata Hyuuga /Winner: TenTen

Sixth Match: Neji Hyuuga vs. Ino /Winner: Neji

Seventh Match: Temari vs. Kiba Inuzuka /Winner: Temari

Eigth Match: Rock Lee vs. Kankuro /Winner: Lee

He had smiled when the last pair of names settled on the screen. He could feel the glares of everyone in the room on his back. He had gotten the free pass. Given how horrible his luck always seemed to be, he felt it was about time he got to take advantage of some good luck for a change. He felt like it couldn't last though.

They were called back into the main room by Hayate once the match had ended. They went in together standing in line in front of the viewing platform.

"That concludes the Third Exam's preliminary matches," Hayate began, "congratulations on making it to the main matches."

"I will now explain the details of the third exam," the Hokage took over, "The main matches will begin in one month. The one month is a time to conduct appropriate preparations for the arrival of our invited guests."

Anko entered the room carrying a small cardboard box in her hands.

"All of you will now take a tag out of the box except for Hadrian. Hadrian, because you did not fight in the preliminary matches you will need to fight in one extra match at the start of the third exam," the Hokage told him.

He sighed. He knew his luck wouldn't last. That meant he would need to fight twice in the first two matches of the exam. Which meant he would be more fatigued than the other participants right from the start. It was also to his advantage however because he would be in more matches and therefore have more chances to prove to the Hokage and other judges that he was ready to be a chūnin.

"I will come to you," Anko said walking up to Lee first, "Take just one."

She walked down the line of participants skipping over him because his place was predetermined. He glanced at Sasuke's card since he was standing next to him and saw that it had a number printed on it.

"Now, tell me what number you got, starting from the left," Ibiki said.

"Four," Shino.

"Two," Shikamaru.

"You are nine," Ibiki advised him.

"Five," Sasuke.

"Seven," Neji.

"Six," TenTen.

"Eight," Lee.

"One," Temari.

"Three," Gaara.

"We will now tell you the match ups for the tournament," the Hokage advised.

Ibiki turned the paper he had been writing on around so they could all see it. Match one would be Harry and Lee then the winner would be facing Neji in round two, Tenten would face Sasuke next followed by Shino against Gaara in round four with the final opening match being Temari against Shikamaru.

"I have a question, if it's a tournament, that means there's only one winner, right? Does that mean that only one person can become a chūnin?" Shikamaru asked.

He intended to win the tournament either way but this would let him know if he had to win it or not.

"The main matches will have multiple judges to decide based on how you perform in the matches who should be promoted to chūnin. The benefit to being in more matches is to show more of your skill to the judges. You can win the tournament but still not become a chūnin, similarly you can lose in the first round and become a chūnin. All of you now have the chance to become a chūnin," the Hokage answered, "Do you understand now, Shikamaru-kun?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Shikamaru answered, the how troublesome was implied.

"That is all. We are adjourned until next month," The Hokage told them.