Disclaimer- I don't own Naruto

This Time Around

By Crimson Skies

Chapter 21 - Gears

It had taken fifteen minutes for Sakura to calm down after her conversation with her teammates. That had been all the time Neji needed to beat down Kankurou. On one of his better days, Kankurou might have been able to push Neji to the limit. This was, however, not one of his better days. The byakugan gave Neji an automatic advantage against the puppeteer. Not only could he see through all the puppets tricks, but he could also see the chakra strings used to control it. For a jyuken user it was a relatively simple matter to sever those strings. Not only that, but the puppet was still badly damaged from Naruto's rasengan. Kankurou had only been able to make minor repairs. Naruto had no doubt that the sand genin would blame Naruto for his loss.

Once Neji had gotten within hands reach of his opponent it was all over. Naruto would admit that he found the outcome to be rather satisfying. Never mind that Neji was still the worst kind of asshole at this point in time. Kankurou just annoyed him. Right now he was in on a plot to destroy Konoha. That was never a way to get on Naruto's good side. Also, though this Naruto would not admit, it was fun to watch Neji in action. Having greater experience this time, Naruto was able to appreciate the Hyuuga prodigy's skill. Naruto marveled at the fact that he had been able to beat the guy. Kankurou was good, very good. And he was vicious. But he was unlucky to have been matched up against a natural enemy, and a particularly skilled one at that.

So, Neji moved on to the main exam. No surprises there. Naruto figured the only way he wouldn't would have been if he'd gotten Gaara instead. It was only by gaining skill himself that he was able to see the gaping difference in strength between his former self and the opponent he'd had. By all rights, Neji should have beaten him, as well as Zabuza, Haku, and countless others. It was like standing at the bottom of a mountain. It wasn't until he'd started climbing that he appreciated how high it was.

After that Shikamaru had to go up against TenTen, the poor guy. It seemed in every universe he got matched up against the girls. Knowing what Naruto did about him now, it wasn't surprising when he won, especially since TenTen was not aware of his shadow manipulation abilities. It was actually kind of stupid. Naruto had the feeling that along with Shikamaru, TenTen was more qualified to be chuunin than most of the current Leaf participants. Anyone who could put up with both Neji and Lee, along with their crazy sensei, was a freakin' saint in Naruto's humble opinion.

In the match between Kiba and Lee it was easy to see who was superior. They were both taijutsu type fighters, though Kiba also focused on beast fighting. Ultimately Lee had both more experience and superior training. Okay, so it was a ridiculously, freakishly, teeth grindingly hard superior training at that. Kiba was an amateur in comparison. However, it was a brilliant display of taijutsu abilites on both their parts.

There was only one match left now. Kabuto was disqualified since his teammates were dead, courtesy of Gaara's sand in the second exam, so only two genin remained. Even now Sakura and Kin were making their way to the floor.

Well shit, Naruto thought to himself. There was a match that was unanticipated. With Haku as Kin there was really no possibility of Sakura getting seriously injured or killed. However, it did mean that she was going to lose. It was important that Haku win. Orochimaru wasn't the type to tolerated failures and would be more likely to leave a successful tool be. Failures often ended up as experiments. That, and it assured that Haku would be in the final.

While Naruto would love to cheer Sakura to victory, it just wasn't possible. Also, it was better she not be in the finals. It's not like there was much chance of being promoted during this exam anyway. The fact that Sakura and Sasuke had been eliminated so far was good. Naruto was just unhappy that he was still in the exam. He and Sasuke had both planned on losing in the preliminaries.

Naruto was aware of how much that would shock the others if they knew. The facts were simple. Knowing the invasion was coming, it would be simpler for them if they didn't have to worry about the exam. Making chuunin at this point was not important. Most genin didn't even take the exam as rookies anyway. When he and Sasuke were matched up it ruined their plans. It was a lot harder to fake and exact tie for a double elimination after all.

He chewed his lip as he silently watched Sakura face off with Haku, posing as Kin. Sakura didn't know who it was of course. She seemed nervous. Naruto could see her fists clench. He should cheer for her, he knew. It was just hard to make himself do so knowing that he and Sasuke had given Haku absolute instructions to win this match. He'd made his teammate lose before she ever got to try.

"Calm down Sakura. Remember everything we've done up to now," Sasuke called down to the pink haired girl. Naruto shot him a surprised glance, and then grinned.

"That's right Sakura-chan! Show them what you can do!" Naruto yelled, punching the air with a fist. He tried to make console himself with the knowledge that he hadn't actually told her to win.

Sakura didn't see it of course, since she was wisely keeping her eyes on the opponent. Naruto's action was more for the benefit of those who could see him, like Kakashi.

Down on the floor, Sakura's mind raced through her options while she waited for the examiner to begin the match. Unlike in the forest, the current surroundings wouldn't work for her camouflage jutsu. That left basic equipment and jutsu at her disposal. She also had a pair of exploding tags, a noxious smoke bomb courtesy of Naruto, and twenty feet of ninja wire courtesy of Sasuke.

She was going to have to be creative in a way Naruto could be proud of.

The moment the match began, a handful of senbon came flying her way. Sakura leapt backward, blocking them with a kunai as she went. She wasted no time tossing the smoke bomb out between them. Until the remnants of the smoke completely cleared, her modified henge would be enough to keep her form obscured. If she was silent enough, it should buy her some time.

She didn't know that her opponent had a mentor who excelled at silent killing. She also didn't know that though Haku could have easily attacked her then, he didn't for fear of accidentally striking a killing blow without the precision that a clear view would have afforded. It was for that reason that Sakura had time to make her preparation.

When the smoke cleared there were four of Sakura standing where one had been before. Between the three bunshin, her henge, and the preparations she'd made she was feeling the drain on her chakra. All four Sakuras hefted a kunai and threw it at her opponent. Three were illusion, one was real. Not just anyone could make their bunshin throw illusionary weapons. It showed how much talent Sakura had for genjutsu.

Haku dodged them with relative ease. The real kunai flew past him to lodge in the behind him. It was only because of a particular shine of the light that he saw the wire attached to it. Unlike TenTen, Sakura was using the wire for a different purpose. She channeled her chakra down the wire, activation the exploding tags wrapped around the handle. Haku hadn't noticed because she'd used henge to make the tag blend with the kunai's handle. It was an unorthodox application of the technique and had drained a lot of chakra. She was breathing hard at this point.

Haku was caught mid leap. He managed to avoid the full blast, but still found himself propelled through the air to the far wall. It was hard to change one's course while flying through the air, but managed to twist around enough to minimize the damage. He was impressed. Haku knew that Sasuke and Naruto were skilled, but apparently their teammate was no slouch either. He felt bad about what he was going to do, but it couldn't be helped.

The unplanned flight had temporarily taking him out of her range of vision. Since he'd seen the wire, Haku knew which was the real Sakura. A pair of senbon flew silently through the air, aimed to disable. The girl, still recovering from the chakra drain, never saw it coming. She collapsed on the floor in a heap, the needles protruding from the side of her neck. The two boys and their sensei was at her side immediately.

Haku was a little concerned the Copy-nin would recognize the attack. To Sakura's credit, she'd pushed him into using the attack when he hadn't intended to. In truth, he was fairly limited in his attacks while playing the role of the sound kunoichi. He faked a haughty sort of huff when the examiner pronounced 'Kin' as the winner. As much as he wanted to stick around and make sure the girl was okay, he could not.

When the Konoha medics removed the needles and proclaimed Sakura to be well enough, Haku began wondering whether or not he should return to the balconies. The preliminary matches were over after all. The Hokage saved him from making a decision when the aging shinobi took the floor himself to congratulate the winners and explain the third exam.

Haku steeled himself as he drew his number for the match-ups. There was a great deal to be done in the month's grace period before the final and just barely enough time to do it. As much as he had to do, he was sure that Naruto and Sasuke had it worse than he. Things were about to get very, very difficult.

Five hours later found a weary Hokage waiting for Kakashi to appear in his office for an increasingly important discussion. The jounin probably suspected just how tired the Hokage was, for he appeared at the door only ten minutes after their agreed upon time. The Hokage was squeezing in this meeting. There was a great deal to be done due to the exams. He'd spent the hours after the preliminary on official duties. By all rights he should be in bed sleeping, like any sane man his age would be.

But Sarutobi was the Hokage. He would work himself into the grave before neglecting his duties to Konoha. He only wished there was someone he trusted to take his place. As it was, he was becoming increasingly nervous that he did not have a worthy successor ready to take the position.

"Hokage-sama," Kakashi began. "Thank you for meeting with me on such short notice. I'm actually surprised you were able to fit me in."

"I actually needed to speak to you about something as well, Kakashi. With things as they are now, it's better to kill two nin with one jutsu."

Kakashi's visible eye widened at Sandaime's unusually morbid tone. In truth, the jounin hadn't thought he'd be able to speak to the Hokage so soon. Sure his students were important, but it shouldn't have warranted an immediate meeting. He'd wondered what the Hokage would otherwise need to speak with him about. Apparently it was nothing good.

"I've been receiving disturbing reports lately. They happen to relate to something that happened to your team on its mission to the Wave Country. It appears that Momochi Zabuza has been spotted in Fire Country, near the border. He was pursued to the border by the team of Anbu who spotted him. They did not follow past the border, but did observe him joining up with a group of what seemed to be Sound ninja. The Anbu were fairly certain that Zabuza and the Sound ninja did not know they were still being observed." Sarutobi waited a minute for Kakashi to digest the information.

"So Zabuza is alive, as I suspected. I don't understand why he would be in Fire Country however, or in the company of the Sound," Kakashi admitted, hand on his chin.

"It made me wonder as well, so I secretly dispatched a team to Sound to check things out. I had a few others look into things as well. It seems that a great many missing nin are being recruited into the Sound as legitimate ninja at a disturbing rate. Sound's numbers have been greatly bolstered, far beyond what their estimated strength was. In addition, their activity near our borders is suspicious. Also, the team recognized a Sand ninja in civilian garb conversing with Sound shinobi within their borders. The Sand nin would not have been recognized as such if one of my team's members had not recognized him. The sand nin, I will note, is not a missing nin."

The Hokage's face was gray with concern. Kakashi thought that in the dim light, with that serious expression, it was easy to see the man's age. Still, the jounin wouldn't worry too much. There was steel in the old man's gaze. He wasn't a Kage for nothing. It said a lot that the man had lived to such an age. Not many ninja did.

"You suspect something underhanded?" Kakashi prompted.

"Don't hedge, Kakashi. You know well that ninja are always underhanded. I'm afraid these years of peace have made me soft, however," Sarutobi admitted.

"Will there be an attack?" Kakashi privately thought that the elder shinobi was anything but soft. Just because he favored peaceful solutions did not mean he was not a hardened veteran. The man had survived two wars after all.

"Maybe. I prefer to think there will not, but that is foolish optimism."

Kakashi saw as the transformation came over the man. With that one statement he went from village leader to shinobi commander. It was a side of the man Kakashi hadn't seen in years.

"Hokage-sama! What is it you need me to do?" Kakashi had unconsciously straightened in response to the transformation. The Hokage had his full attention.

"You can begin by going over the details of your encounter with Zabuza once more. Afterwards I describe in detail the tasks that will need to be accomplished with utmost secrecy. Kakashi, you are one of the ninja I trust implicitly, not just to follow orders but also to make judgments and take action in a manner I would approve of."

"I try," Kakashi replied, a crooked grin showing from under his mask.

It was going to be a long night.

END CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

So, I'm back. Ha! Go figure, right? You can all thank Kuroi Fushichou for leaving the review that got me off my ass and writing this again. To tell the truth, I skimped out on writing most of those fight scenes. I just didn't have it in me. Fights are hard to write. This chapter was short, I can't deny. I started writing again though, so it counts for something I guess. I hope you all enjoyed it and will forgive my long hiatus. And sorry about the mistakes. I'm gonna try and go through this story and edit it at some point. I'm lazy like that.