AN- Thank you Thank you THANK YOU for all the reviews! (also if you want, this fic is also up on AO3. I know some prefer their format)

Chapter 14

There was one strawberry flavored ration bar left and Sasuke couldn't even feign shock that Naruto gave it up to Sakura.

They'd managed to get the far left corner balcony of the large open room and set up 'camp' with Sakura in the middle and the boys on either side, a dozen ration bars and a couple bottles of water between them.

There were five teams currently sharing the large space and they all were keeping to themselves, still too in the forest mindset to mingle, even among friends. The three Leaf teams were camped out on one balcony while the Sand and the Rain team each hugged a corner of the other balcony.

Sasuke's memory of the preliminaries was hazy at best, but he knew things were already different. The Rain team didn't make it through the Forest last time and Kabuto's team wasn't in the Tower yet. Neither was Team 8. The large screen on the wall was showing a countdown with three hours and thirty two minutes remaining, so there was time for other teams to make it to the Tower before time ran out.

He idly wondered what the cutoff number was to cause preliminaries. Fifteen seemed like too many to push through to the third test, and it was an odd number…he could step aside when they called for a volunteer. He was injured; nobody would find it odd or object, except maybe Naruto, but well…

He only got to nurse that thought for another hour, then Kabuto's team came through the doors and the number changed to an even eighteen. He could feel eyes on him but he carefully kept himself turned away from where Kabuto's team settled on the opposite balcony. There was no reason to let Kabuto know he didn't have the curse seal. It was doubtful that Orochimaru dropped by to let Kabuto know the seal didn't take and the Sound team was in no position to report to Kabuto, if that had ever been in the plans to begin with.

So Sasuke kept his shoulders pulled up to his ears as he leaned back against the wall and watched Sakura pick knots out of her tangled hair. She had been at it for nearly half an hour before Naruto spoke up.

"Why do you keep it long? Doesn't it bug you? It would drive me crazy always getting in my face and you gotta brush it every day…"

She shot Sasuke a look that genuinely baffled him before going back to a particularly tangled piece and muttering, "It's worth it." Oh. Well then.

Naruto made a face and Sasuke made a decision. He palmed a kunai that he lifted off the Sound Team with one hand and shifted Sakura so that she was facing away from him with the other.

"Sasuke…what?"

But Sasuke didn't answer, he just ran his fingers through her hair and then gathered the tangled and matted tail in his hand before slicing it off quickly with the kunai. It was a little jagged, and fell just above her shoulders.

When she turned to look at him, eyes wide with shock and a hand coming up to grab at her now shorter hair, he looked her dead in the eye, the hand with the kunai steady on her shoulder.

"It looks good short."

Sakura just stared at him and blinked a few times before running a hand through her hair. "You think so?"

Luckily for Sasuke, as he really didn't want to continue this conversation, Naruto interjected with, "Of course it looks good. You'd be pretty bald."

Naruto's earnest face crumpled a bit when Sakura turned on him with a glare. "I am not shaving my head…and you better not try it as a prank either if you like your nose where it is…"

"I didn't mean…I'd never…" Naruto sighed. "I just meant that you'd be pretty anyway…you'll always be pretty."

Sakura's face softened at that, her hand still running through her hair. "Thanks."

Her eyes shifted to the floor below. "Oh, look. Hinata's team made it."

True enough, with only thirty three minutes to spare, Team 8 walked in the door and bumped their number up to an odd twenty one. Five Leaf teams, a Rain team and a Sand team. It seemed a bit unbalanced in favor of the hosting village and Sasuke wondered what the other Kages would have to say about that or if it was just expected.

Soon enough, proctors are herding them down from the balconies and lining them up in the center of the room. Sasuke carefully kept a few people between his team and Kabuto or the Sand Siblings.

Sasuke fought the yawn that threatens when the Hokage starts to drone on about how proud they should be to have made it this far and explaining the preliminaries. He just wants to fall gracefully, he really hopes he pulls an opponent that will make that easy, and then go home and sleep for as long as his body will let him. He's given up on the hope that Kabuto won't volunteer to step down and he can take that way out. It's probably too risky of a move in any case. Too far out of character.

So he's not surprised, when the proctor asks if anybody wants to give up now, to make it an even number, that Kabuto makes his excuses. He just wants to get this over with. The next time Naruto tries to convince him to do something he knows is going to end badly, he's going to break his nose.

Finally, the proctor gestured up at the large screen that dominates the one wall and explains about the random way their opponents are selected. An undercurrent of anticipation runs through the room as the screen lights up, flashing through the possibilities, before landing on the first match-up.

There's voices talking but Sasuke can't hear any of the words. He feels the adrenaline flash through his body as he stares at the two faces splashed across the screen in larger than life color. He can't seem to get a full breath in and he's just on this side of panicking but tries to keep it off his face as he turns to Sakura.

She gives him a weak smile and says, "Guess I'm first." Her smile turns to alarm as he grabs her upper arms in a death grip.

"Forfeit."

"What? I can't…" Her eyes narrow as he shakes her a bit. "Sasuke, I can't just give up without even trying."

Sasuke searches her face, trying to find a crack to exploit, when he realizes he doesn't have the time. The proctor is headed their way, most likely wondering why he hasn't left the floor.

He leans forward so that their foreheads are almost touching and whispers, "Forgive me." He watches a flash of confusion cross her face before it contorts in pain, his fist in her injured side the cause. He moves quickly, knocking her unconscious even as he feels the proctor wrench one of his arms behind his back.

There's noise and people moving and him being wrestled away from the fallen Sakura but he only has eyes for her would be opponent.

Gaara just tips his head to the side and watches, more interested than warned off by the fact that Sasuke is practically snarling at him as he's being dragged from the room.

XXX

When asked, most people would describe Kakashi as easy going, unflappable and late. Ask those who served with him and you might get words like loyal, highly intelligent and crafty. Ask anyone's who's ever had the misfortune to see him angry and you might get a variety of words but they would all boil down to one…terrifying.

Kakashi wasn't happy and he wasn't really concerned who knew it. He stalked down the corridors of I&T and shinobi of various rank all scurried to get out of his way trying to stay out of his radar. Well, except one.

Ibiki just hands over a stack of files to a wide eyed younger man when he spots Kakashi. "Tell Anko to file these. And I mean file them, not just shove them in a random file cabinet. If I come back and they're not where they're supposed to be, tell her I'll revoke her integration privileges."

The man shoots a wide eyed glance at Kakashi and a muttered, "Yes, sir." at Ibiki and nearly disappears he leaves so fast. Once he's gone, Ibiki turned to Kakashi with a smile.

"Ah, you're here to pick up the Uchiha. Come on, I'll walk with you."

Ibiki doesn't seem fazed at all by the black mood Kakashi's in and falls easily into step as they go further into the compound.

"You know, we do a psych eval on every Academy student after the first year and when they take the Exit Exams."

Kakashi makes a noncommittal noise and wonders where Ibiki is going with this. Ibiki is very good at his job and idle conversations with him are never idle.

"All things considered, Uchiha's evals came out the way we expected. The first showed a little boy who was very committed to making his father proud and thought his older brother was a god to be worshiped and emulated. His second…" Ibiki pauses and makes an offhand motion with his hand. "Well, we expected the change. He might not've worshipped his brother any more, but he was still hard pressed to be the best of the best and didn't seem to care who he stepped on to get to the top of the pile."

Kakashi stopped walking and leaned up against the hallway wall, giving Ibiki his full attention. "You've seen the tapes."

Ibiki leaned on the wall across from him. "You noticed the change. I was wondering if it was just your influence, though it seemed to happen to quickly. When did you notice?" When Kakashi didn't answer Ibiki just smiled and continued, "I threw every identifying test at him that I could think of." There was a deliberate pause, then, "He's Uchiha Sasuke."

Kakashi doesn't let out the breath he's holding but something must give his relief away because Ibiki just smiles wider. "His fight in the forest was impressive."

A little pissed at being read so easily, Kakashi chewed the inside of his mouth before reluctantly asking, "And the other fight?"

"Wasn't really much of a fight," he holds up a placating hand and rolls his eyes when Kakashi glares at him. "Have you ever seen a kid who would rather break his toy than let another kid play with it?"

When Kakashi just continues to glare at him, he just shrugs and turns to walk away, "Just think about it. I could tell you more if the Hokage would give me the go ahead…" He flashes a smile as Kakashi's glare ratchets up a few notches. "Uchiha's on level six. No need to break your toy, Kakashi, I won't touch him."

Kakashi grinds his teeth and continues on his way.