The examinees who had passed the first exam were led to a part of the village Sakura didn't know of.

After a quarter of an hour on the move, the proctor, a scantily clad woman, stopped walking. Glancing away from Sasuke-kun, Sakura realized that they had hit a dead end.

An old fence was the only thing separating the group from a gigantic tree – one unlike anything Sakura had ever seen before. Then she realized that there was an entire forest of those trees beyond the fence. It seemed almost ready to burst.

She gulped, gazing around nervously.

They wouldn't have to go in there, right…?

Sakura sighed with relief upon catching sight of a sign that read:

'RESTRICTED AREA.

KEEP OUT.'

But then the proctor went and ruined it:

"This is the location of the second exam," she barked at them. "It's Training Ground 44, most widely known as… the forest of death."

Several people shuddered. Sakura could see why.

"Hmp! The forest of death! Yada yada! Look how I'm shaking in my boots!" Naruto challenged, unimpressed.

"Idiot… get back here!" Sakura whispered nervously, though no one heard her.

Of course.

The proctor was too busy returning Naruto's provocation like some sort of wild banshee.

In less than a second, she was hovering behind him, dragging the tip of a kunai across his cheek. Sakura gasped. She had cut it open. Blood oozed out of Naruto's wound. Everything had gone still.

What's with this proctor? Inner nervously thought. She's a psycho!

"My, my, brat," the banshee proctor called brusquely. "Aren't you… jumpy?" There was a rather sadistic smile on her face as she drew blood from the knife. But suddenly – Sakura couldn't follow it very well – there was some strange grass kunoichi behind the proctor, licking blood off of another kunai.

She'd gotten past the banshee's guard… amazing! Sakura's eyes widened. When had she got there? How? Was this the level of the chunin exams? Even if it was, Sakura made the resolution to avoid this creepy woman at all costs.

"Looks like this year's batch is a bit hot blooded, huh?" The banshee continued, smirking at the strange grass-kunoichi, completely unruffled. "A word of advice though. Don't get behind me unless you want your eyes gouged out."

Sakura shivered involuntarily, though the kunoichi didn't look particularly impressed as she drew the licked kunai away.

Banshee frowned.

"You," she barked at Naruto. "Pass these around." She dumped a stack of papers in his hands.

"Huh? What's this permit for?" someone asked.

Banshee looked at him funny.

"Don't look so surprised kid, there will be corpses after all…" she chirped breezily. "I'm not getting roped with the responsibility if you die on me."

"Yeah, it's only natural." Shikamaru remarked under his breath.

Inner Sakura nearly had a giggling fit. Probably induced by the fear, Inner analyzed. We do tend to get hysterical at the worst times.

To tell the truth, Sakura was not exactly in a fine mood. She felt like someone had thrown a bucket of ice-cold water on her.

Now I understand, Mom… she thought. But I can't drop out! It's too late for that! She was panicking.

"Anyway. You have half an hour to sign these, then go behind the curtain to be given a scroll and a gate number. Now get to it!" Banshee ordered. "Ah, and one word of advice…" Sakura perked up. These kinds of things were usually helpful. But Banshee was just sadistic: "Try not to die."

TWISTED

Sakura drifted off towards the beaten path around the fence. She needed time alone right then.

"Ara, ara! Look who's there! If it isn't Bilboard-chan!"

Yeah, right. Time alone.

Sakura froze.

Like an unwanted pest, Ino and her team had popped up before her. Sakura had been too spaced out to see the trio, but now it was too late to avoid them. "I thought you went home a long time ago!" Ino continued, looking over Sakura critically. "I never imagined that you'd still be here." She frowned. "Seriously, go away! This is too big for you!"

Sakura pasted a saccharine smile on her face.

"Araa? Look who's there!" she mimicked, because she was bad at comebacks. "The ugly Ino-buta-san!" Sakura smirked. "Starting now, there's five days of survival with Sasuke-kun waiting for me. Why would I want to leave?"

"Billboard…!" Ino growled enviously.

"Ugly!" Sakura retorted, ever creative.

"Billboard!"

"Ugly!"

"Billboard!"

This strange name-calling continued until both were out of breath and Ino's teammates looked slightly freaked out.

Annoyed, Sakura lifted her consent permit and signed it without a second thought.

Showing it to Ino with bravado, she made a sweeping gesture with her wrist. "Sorry, Ino, but get lost." Proudly lifting her chin, Sakura smiled sweetly at the blond menace and strolled back to her team.

Like hell I'll let you best me, Pig.

TWISTED

Team seven walked behind the administration curtain. They had all signed the permit.

Two proctors waited for the three of them on a desk beyond it, and Sakura vaguely noted that they suspiciously resembled the two boys which had been blocking the fake door at the Academy.

"Alright, it's all in order," one said. "There you go." They were handed a 'heaven scroll'. "You've got five minutes tops to decide which of you carries the scroll and which gate number you want." The proctor on the left instructed.

Team 7 nodded and did a sort of huddle.

"So… who carries the scroll?" Sakura asked, hoping that it wouldn't be her.

Naruto grinned, pointing at himself eagerly.

Sasuke ignored him like usual: "I'll do it."

Sakura nodded, bobbing her head up and down nervously. "It's for the best, Naruto."

Innerly, she was completely freaking out.

Am I really gonna go in there? Ah!

"Hah? No way, Sakura-chan!" Naruto's outraged protests brought her back to her senses.

"Yes way, Baka!" she replied on autopilot.

Naruto crossed his arms. "With the way Sasuke acts like a bastard, anyone would know that he's carrying it!"

Sakura was about to refute his point and leave it at that, because Sasuke-kun was definitely not a bastard, when the masked face of their teacher appeared in her mind. She remembered everything that she had learned about traps and deception from Kakashi-sensei, she considered it, she thought a bit more on it, and…

"Naruto, maybe you're right…" she concluded hesitantly.

"Uh???" Recovering from shock, Naruto loudly yelled: "See, teme? The world doesn't turn around you! Ha!"

At Sasuke's glare, Sakura flailed her arms defensively.

"I didn't say Sasuke-kun shouldn't carry it, I just think… we don't need to limit ourselves, you know?" Both her teammates were frowning at her by then. Swallowing, Sakura explained: "Those scrolls are pretty average. It wouldn't be difficult to make a copy."

Naruto's, and even Sasuke's eyes, widened with appreciation.

"Nice going, Sakura-chan!" the blonde praised. "Wait here, I'm getting my back-pack!" Sakura nodded, shouting that he should hurry.

"Sakura." Oh gods, Sasuke-kun had spoken. "Naruto is very easy to read. An enemy could guess who has the scroll just by watching his body language."

It took a moment to process what he had said, but when she did, Sakura deflated. "You're right, Sasuke-kun…" she acknowledged defeatedly. Of course her plan would be ruled out before they could even try it.

But Sasuke just smirked. "Let's use that."

Wait. What?

"Wh-what do you mean?" Sakura stammered.

"It's simple really." Sasuke stuck his hands into his pockets. "We conceal the real scroll in the dobe's bag with a genjutsu and give him another fake. We'll tell him that I have the real one."

Sakura's eyes widened.

"That's genius, Sasuke-kun!"

Sasuke's smirk widened. "I'll distract him. You exchange the scrolls."

Sakura devilishly smirked back and gave him a thumbs-up.

Finally, she and Sasuke-kun were getting along! This was a victory!

Cha! Throw at me whatever you want, psycho Banshee! Love conquers it all!

TWISTED

"Begin!" The gates opened all at once, letting the examinees into their maybe-doom.

Sasuke and Naruto shot forwards towards the forest like two torpedoes, but Sakura stopped them mid-dash.

"Wait!" She was now more confident in her skills due to the earlier victory. Finally, she understood: Sasuke-kun isn't attracted to intelligence like I thought he was, what he likes are results to show for it!

"What is it?" Sasuke asked, irritated.

"Let's go that way!" Sakura pointed to their right. "Most examinees will be in the forest, where they can ambush us. As long as we stay outside, we're safe!"

Naruto frowned dubiously. "But the tower is inside the forest, Sakura-chan!"

Sakura smirked again.

"But the river is the other way, dummy. If we make it to the river, there won't be trees around to prepare an ambush either. And we'll have water at our disposal and a clear path to follow. Didn't you see earlier? It leads right to the tower."

Naruto's mouth dropped open.

"Good thinking, Sakura," Sasuke said. He had already changed course.

Sakura grinned, happier than she had been in years. All of the pent-up tension and stress were starting to dissolve.

Shanaro! Inner started ominously cracking her knuckles. This, she announced grinning, is the rebirth of Haruno Sakura! Get ready Sasuke-kun, Ino, Naruto, 'cause there will be results!

TWISTED

Wow, guys, so many reviews! I'm glad you like my take on Kurenai! And my story in general, anyways. And you better be ready for some action, because shit's hitting the fan next chapter. (Whether it'll be a pedofilic shit, that I'll let you guess.) I felt kind of bad when I read this, seeing how the chapter is so short, but they're getting progressively longer from this point in the story onwards. There isn't much to be said about chapter fourteen except that it sets up the general premises for one of the most important fases of the exam (character-growth wise the winner hands down) and that sort of thing. As you can see, Sakura is coming to some realizations about herself that strongly point towards something that starts with 'ma', isn't Madara, and ends in 'rity'. Guess the word? (Okay, ignore me.)

So… about Sakura's mom, some of you are happy that they kind of made up, while others are like: "have Sakura move out of her house ASAP!" I think the diversity of opinions is kind of funny, honestly. In case anyone was wondering, it'll be a while till Sakura begins living alone… only not quite. You'll see what I mean.

Anyways, have a nice week. In case anyone is as unlucky as I am, good luck with your exams!