Author's note: Merry Christmas everyone. Please consider this chapter my gift to all of you! (seriously hoping you're getting something better.)

Hinata saw Naruto waitng for her by the fireplace. "Hello Naruto-kun, why did you want me to come over?"

He smiled happily. "Hinata-chan, it's December 25th today!"

She looked at him blankly. "So?"

"It's Christmas!" he said excitedly

She smiled and gigled a bit. "Oh silly! This is a fictional world, we don't celebrate Christmas here."

"We don't?" He looked crest fallen. "So I guess you don't want my present?"

"You got me a present?" Hinata said excitedly. Nodding a bit embarrassed he handed her a little chibi fox with nine tails. "Kawai!! Oh I love it! Thank you Naruto-kun!" She hugged him and he gladly hugged her back.

As he hugged his girlfriend in front of the roaring fireplace he noticed his mom with her head in the room smiling at the two of them mischievously. "Mom stop spying on us!"

She laughed. "It's called protective surveillance son, and the two of you really are just too cute! I'll have some cookies ready in a minute."

He shook his head. Then he smiled at the 'other' girl he loved. "Merry Christmas Hinata-chan."

Giggling she leaned forward and gave him a kiss. "Merry Chrsitmas Naruto-kun."

XXXXXXXXXX

Twenty teams were gathered before a thirty foot high metal fence. Behind that fence was a wooded terrain that seemed gloomy and twisted. The landscape seemed completely alien to any he had seen in Konoha before. Funny how mom and niisan never mentioned this place to me. Naruto thought. As the teams waited Anko started to explain what was in store for them.

"All right! Now listen up you maggots because I'm not going to explain this twice. The very first thing we'll need to do is have each and every one of you sign one of these consent forms." She smiled at them in a slightly blood thirsty manner. "They clear us of any liability should you be killed or terribly maimed. I mean you wouldn't want me getting in trouble now would you?" She laughed. No one else there seemed to think it funny. "Now I'll explain what the second phase entails and then you can sign your forms and turn them in to the little hut behind me. To put it simply the second phase will be a no holds barred survival test. Within this training ground is a tower located roughly fifteen miles from all of the gates. The training ground also contains forest, a river, and all sorts of wild animals. Within this training ground you're going to go through a survival test. You are free to use any weapons, jutsus or tactics at your disposal. The test is a fight to the death version of, 'capture the flag' or in this case, 'capture the scroll.'" From out of her pockets she produced two scrolls. "There is a, 'scroll of heaven' and a, 'scroll of earth.' Your goal is to acquire both. There are twenty teams here. Half of you will receive the earth scroll to begin with and half will get the heaven scroll. So your goal is to hold on to your own scroll, capture the other from an opposing team, and bring both to the tower in the center."

"So no more than ten teams can possibly pass this test?" Sakura spoke up.

Anko nodded. "That's right. Now there are some conditions. First there's a time limit. You have exactly one hundred and twenty hour to accomplish your goal and reach the tower with both scrolls."

"That's five days!" Chouji shouted. "What are we supposed to do for food?"

"That's your problem. The forest is filled with nature's bounty. Of course it's also filled with poisonous plants, man eating monsters, and enemies. Sleep tight. Second only a full three man squad can complete the assignment. Any squad with a member killed or rendered incapacitated fails. And third you may not open the scrolls until you have reached the tower. As Chunin you will often be trusted with top secret documents. Consider this a test of your reliability."

"What happens if we open them before we get to the tower?" Kiba asked.

She smiled. "That's for those who open them to know. All right, that's all the explanation you get. Now turn in your consent forms at the hut there. We'll exchange a heaven or earth scroll for three consent forms. Then we will take each squad to a different gate. You will all begin at the same time and at the same distance from the tower. Oh, and one final piece of advice." She looked them all over. "Just don't die!"

"Charming." Naruto muttered.

XXXXXXXXXX

Ino looked at her two boys and tried to encourage them. "All right this is it team ten! This is going to a brutal desperate fight where everyone we run into will be an enemy out to attack us. Now what are we going to do?!" She waited for them to shout, 'fight' loudly and in unison.

"Hide?" Chouji suggested.

"Quit." Shikamaru offered.

Ino buried her head in her hands and screamed.

XXXXXXXXXX

"We will set up a base camp and acquire food and water." Neji said. "We will then go on the offensive after dark when the other teams are likely to be resting."

"Roger!" Lee confirmed.

"Right!" Tenten agreed.

Neji nodded. His team would do well.

XXXXXXXXXX

Kabuto and his two, 'teammates' waited by their gate in silence.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Shino I'm counting on you and your little friends to be our eyes."

"Of course." Shino said with his usual lack of feeling.

"Sakura I want you to stay by my side at all times."

She nodded eagerly. "Of course Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke felt as excited as he had fighting those bandits in his first real combat. He had a little bit of a smile as he anticipated a real challenge.

XXXXXXXXXX

Dosu looked to Kin and Zaku. "You understand what the mission goal is right?" He said quietly.

Kin nodded and Zaku smirked. "This is going to be so much fun." Zaku said eagerly.

XXXXXXXXXX

Naruto looked at his teammates. "All right the longer we stay in this place the more beaten up we're going to get. We need an earth scroll. Let's find someone who has what we need, get it from them, and get to the tower. Kiba, with your sense of smell you can pick up teams in the area. Hinata-chan with your byakugan we can spot anything coming for a two mile radius. You can also check to make sure whoever we attack has what we need. There's no point fighting any useless battles." He looked where the sun was. "All right there are maybe two hours of sunlight left in the day. Let's try and get done before night."

Kiba nodded. "Sounds good to me. We can get first dibs on the rooms in the tower."

"If we do this right we can probably surprise whoever we run up against." Hinata pointed out.

Naruto nodded. "Let's make this as quick and easy as we can."

XXXXXXXXXX

The signal was given and twenty three man teams raced into the battle zone.

Thirty minutes after entering Kiba picked up a scent. Hinata quickly focused in on the team. "They have an earth scroll!" Hinata said excitedly. "They're on the ground about a mile and a half north of us."

"All right team time to get a full set." He gave them a rough idea of what he had in mind and they moved.

XXXXXXXXXX

"That was too easy!" Zaku complained.

Dosu chuckled "It was wasn't it?" Around them were the dead bodies of three adult Leaf nins.

"Do you want to go picking through their corpses to get their scroll?" Kin asked.

"Why bother?" Dosu asked. "We're not even close to being done with our mission yet. Our Lord wants us to eliminate as many Leaf nins as possible under the guise of this exam. These three won't fight in the upcoming battle. But there are plenty more to be picked off."

Zaku frowned. "The other Leaf teams are all made of children. As pathetic as the adults were killing the brats won't even be much fun. It'll be way too easy."

"That hardly matters." Dosu replied. "The important thing is that we fulfill our Lord's command as best we can."

They were soon moving in search of another Leaf squad.

XXXXXXXXXX

The three Rain ninjas suddenly came alert. They all had on respirators and had pulled out their kunai. A boy ninja dropped in among them. He had blonde hair and was wearing a black and red body suit. "Hi there!" The boy said happily.

"Who are you and where are your teammates?" One of the Rain nins asked.

"Well my name's Naruto and my teammates are sneaking up behind you."

The three Rain nins laughed. "You expect us to turn around for such a lame trick?"

Naruto smiled. "I wasn't talking about you three bushins. I was talking about your three real selves hiding in those bushes." He pointed to their hiding spot.

"What?!" One of the Rain nins cried out. Before they could move all three were slammed in the back of their heads.

Naruto, Kiba, and Hinata were standing over their unconscious opponents. Naruto smiled at his girlfriend. "Hinata-chan I ever tell you I love your kekkei genkai?"

She laughed. "Once or twice Naruto-kun." She bent over one of the ninjas and went through his coat. She quickly produced their prize. "Got it!" Hinata handed the earth scroll to Naruto who secured it to one of his pouches.

"All right! Now we go straight to the tower."

"Hey Naruto," Kiba spoke up. "Why don't we wait a little bit before we go to the tower?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean why don't we stay out here a couple more days and get some more scrolls?" Kiba smiled eagerly. "That way more teams will fail and our chances will improve!"

Naruto thought about it a moment but shook his head. "No, I think it's best that we go to the tower. I don't want to risk us getting hurt out here or worse."

"What are you talking about? We've already won a fight and we barely had to do anything!"

"Right, this time." Naruto pointed out. "Next time might be a different story. We've got what we need. We've accomplished the mission objective now we just need to finish up the mission and get to the tower."

"What are you worried about? We're the best!" Kiba exclaimed.

Naruto nodded. "I agree team seven is the best. But that doesn't mean we should go looking for trouble when we don't have to. Even if we get some more scrolls how much does it really help? Some other teams are bound to get through no matter what we do. This phase is going to last five days. But nothing says the next phase won't happen right after. The way this one started right after the first phase ended. I don't want us going into the next round beaten up and hurting. Let's take the next five days to just relax and get ready."

Kiba shrugged giving up. "Fine."

XXXXXXXXXX

"All right," Neji spoke. "We've set up a base camp and acquired food and water. Let's split up and scout the area. But whatever you find be back here in one hour." He tossed kunai into the earth.

"Yes Neji!" Lee said.

"Got it!" Tenten said excitedly.

Neji grinned a bit. "Go!" The three of them disappeared.

XXXXXXXXXX

Kiba picked something up and held up a fist. Team seven came to a halt. "What is it?" Naruto asked.

"There are six scents coming from up ahead." Kiba informed him.

"Hinata-chan?"

Hinata nodded. "Byakugan." She scanned the way for a bit. "I see them, two teams. It looks like they're going to fight. Naruto, one of them are the group we met in the alleyway with Konohamaru."

"So the red haired kid, Gaara is there?"

"Yes." She nodded.

Naruto paused to think about it. "All right, let's go take a look."

"What?" Hinata turned to him. "I thought you wanted to avoid any more fights."

"I do." He said seriously. "We're going there to scout not fight. I want to see what this Gaara can do."

"How come?" Kiba asked.

"I don't know." Naruto admitted. "But I have this nasty little feeling that I'll be seeing him again and I want to find out as much as I can about him."

XXXXXXXXXX

They landed in some thick bushes about a hundred yards away. As soon as they landed Akamaru began to whine and swiftly crawled into Kiba's jacket.

"What's wrong with him?" Naruto whispered.

Kiba frowned and looked a bit concerned. "He can sense an opponent's chakra. The fact he's this scared is a bad sign." He looked out onto the field. "That Rain ninja there must be pretty powerful."

"No," Naruto spoke with certainty. "It's the red haired kid, he's the one."

Kiba frowned. "You sure? He doesn't look like much."

Naruto grinned a bit. "Looks can be deceiving. I don't look that tough."

Kiba chuckled. "You've got a point."

From their well covered vantage point they watched the battle proceed. Saw the lead rain ninja launch an attack with thousands of needles only to be completely stopped by a dome of sand. They saw the frustrated nin foolishly try to rush in only to be trapped in the sand and lifted up off the ground. Gaara casually picked up a discarded parasol.

"What is he doing?" Hinata asked nervously.

"He's going to kill him." Naruto said. He'd seen Gaara's expression, he knew.

"Kill him? But the guy's helpless." Kiba argued.

"Yeah." Naruto agreed.

Gaara made a fist and the rain nin was crushed. His blood showered down onto the ground. They then watched as the two remaining rain ninjas surrendered their scroll and asked to be allowed to leave. They were killed as quickly and as brutally as their friends had been.

"What the hell?" Kiba gasped.

"He didn't have to do that." Hinata whispered.

Naruto simply continued to watch. As the guy in the black pajamas picked up the scroll Gaara turned in the direction where they were hiding.

"He knows we're here." Naruto said calmly.

"What?!" Hinata said.

"Oh hell!" Kiba spoke in near panic.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Gaara!"

He turned and looked with annoyance at his so called brother. "What?"

"Didn't you hear what I said? We have the heaven scroll we needed. Now we can go straight to the tower. The sooner we're out of here the better." Kankuro noticed that Gaara was staring into the woods. Gaara was never the most stable of people and Kankuro was wondering what was going on. "Something wrong Gaara?"

"Gaara," Temari spoke carefully and gently. "We're done here. We should get going."

Gaara smiled a bit. They were both relieved to see it wasn't one of his blood thirsty smiles. They were even more relieved to see the sand returning to its gourd. He was looking back at the woods when he spoke. "I'll save you for later."

"What?' Temari asked.

Gaara turned to his siblings as he put the cork into the gourd's opening. "Let's go."

XXXXXXXXXX

As they watched the blonde girl and the other boy leapt away. Still looking in their direction Gaara gave a slight bow before leaping away as well.

"Oh man he really knew!" Kiba let out a relieved breath.

Hinata's heart was pounding. "Naruto-kun what's wrong?" He was just sitting there looking blankly into the clearing.

He turned and gave her a weak smile. "I'm o.k. Hinata-chan. We'll wait here for thirty minutes before we continue to the tower. No reason to risk running into them on the way there."

His teammates both nodded eagerly. "I don't know what that guy's story is." Kiba said. "But he's deadly."

Naruto said nothing but sat there and thought.

XXXXXXXXXX

As the Sound ninjas landed in the clearing the children faced them. Dosu laughed as one of them tried to look fierce, their leader obviously. "Didn't your mother ever warn you about going to dangerous places?" As Dosu watched the boys eyes turned red.

"Didn't yours?" Sasuke readied his kunai and signaled Sakura and Shino.

Zaku stepped forward. "Enough chit chat." He raised his arms. "Super Sonic Air Slice." And fired off a wave of destructive power. The ground where the three had been standing was torn apart. When the dust cleared there was nothing left.

"Hah! Too easy! Blew those wimps away!"

Dosu eyed the scene. There was nothing left. Not even any blood or remains. "Wait a minute!"

A fireball leapt out of a tree. It hit right in the middle of their group and each sound ninja was forced to leap in a different direction. Sasuke quickly turned to his teammates. "I'll get the mummy, Sakura tackle the girl, Shino take the other guy, move!" The three members of team eight leapt out of the tree and into battle.

Dosu was on his feet as Sasuke came flying in. He quickly got his right arm to block a kick aimed at his head. "How did you know we were coming?" Dosu asked.

Sasuke smirked at him. "My teammate had his little friends keeping watch."

"Little friends?" But Sasuke's only answer was a stream of fire that forced Dosu to run.

Shino landed a single punch on his opponent. He then quickly leapt back away from him and into the underbrush.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Zaku fired off a blast from one arm. It toppled a tree but missed his enemy.

"You're aim leaves much to be desired." Shino said calmly. And leapt back further into the woods.

"You're not getting away!" Zaku followed him into the woods.

Kin threw some needles as Sakura closed in on her. She managed to avoid them and created four bushins as she rushed on. Kin backed up and fired more needles. The bushin were all eliminated but the real Sakura landed a solid punch on her chin knocking her down.

"Surrender!" Sakura shouted as she stood over the older girl with a drawn kunai.

"Stupid girl!" With a sweep of her legs she knocked Sakura over. Grabbing a kunai she leapt on top of Sakura and tried to drive the blade into her chest. "You think this is a game?" Kin shouted at her. "I'm going to kill you!"

Sakura caught Kin's right hand by the wrist. But Kin was sitting on her chest and had the advantage of leverage. She leaned forward and put both hands into driving her kunai down. Sakura had both her hands trying to stop it but the kunai was slowly being driven towards her heart. This is really bad! Sakura thought in panic.

Sasuke went straight in. Dosu took a wild swing at him. Being able to read his movements with the sharingan Sasuke had no problem at all avoiding the punch.

"You're too slow to hit me." Sasuke informed him.

"I don't deed to hit you." Dosu replied.

And as Dosu's gauntleted fist swung past he felt a small tremor go through him. He suddenly began to vomit. He also lost his sense of balance and was only just able to stay on his feet.

"You're mine now!" Dosu clocked him on the jaw and sent him flying back.

Zaku came to a halt and looked desperately about. How could he have let that other ninja get away from him? He noticed more damn bugs on his sleeves and brushed them off again. For some reason this part of the forest seemed to be infested with bugs. They didn't bite so they were just a nuisance, but still…

His opponent with the high collar jacket and shades stepped out from behind a tree and began coming towards him. "You are beaten." He said stoically.

Zaku laughed. "What world do you live in?" With the idiot coming straight at him he had him lined up perfectly. He lifted both arms to fire his waves… only to have nothing happen. "What the?!"

Shino caught him with a kick to the side of the head which sent him down. "I am a bug master. While you have been chasing me I have had my insects planted in you draining you of your chakra. So you see that…" Shino noticed his opponent was now unconscious so further explanation was superfluous. He got out some rope to tie him up so he could return to his teammates.

Despite all she could do the tip of the kunai was now pressing into her skin. Sakura was about to scream out when she saw a flash of green and the girl was suddenly off her. "What?"

"Sakura-san are you all right?"

She stared up at the oh so strange boy she had only met a few hours ago. "Lee?! What are you doing here?"

He smiled at her and held up a thumb. "Sakura-san I swore I would give my life to protect you! Fate has brought me here to aid you in your time of need!"

He was strange and bizarre and actually claimed to be in love with her. But she couldn't deny he really had saved her life. "Thank you Lee! Truly thank you!"

He seemed to blush a bit and gave her an actual bow. "Sakura-san I am only glad I was here to be of assistance."

She saw that Sasuke was in trouble. "Lee can you help Sasuke please?"

He frowned on hearing that, but quickly nodded. "Since you ask it Sakura-san then of course I will." He swiftly loosened the bandages around his arms.

It was all Sasuke could do to avoid being hit again. His sharingan showed him where the punches were coming but his lack of balance was making him seriously clumsy and slow.

Suddenly there was a green blur circling Dosu.

"Please stand back Sasuke and I will deal with your enemy." He wasn't sure what was going on but he never the less backed away.

Lee caught Dosu with a perfect kick to his chin and sent him into the air. Leaping up after him he came up behind and wrapped him tight in his bandages.

"What are you doing?" A panicked Dosu asked.

"I am ending this fight." He began to spiral downward. "Forward Lotus Technique."

Sasuke and Sakura both watched as the sound nin was slammed into the earth with Lee leaping away at the last possible moment. It was certainly an impressive way to end the fight.

XXXXXXXXXX

Sasuke found that the mummy had the earth scroll they needed. Shino had returned and they could now make their way to the tower. That is once Lee got done bothering Sakura.

Sakura gave him a happy smile. "Thank you again Lee-kun! I know you didn't owe us anything but your help made the difference. You're an amazing ninja!" With that she leaned in and gave him a quick kiss on his cheek.

The boy blushed like a virgin girl. "Sakura-san I will always be there to protect you when you need me!" He smiled and held out his thumb. "It's a promise!"

"Thank you Lee-kun, and I think you can call me Sakura-chan."

He let out a sigh of pure delight. "Thank you Sakura-chan! But now I must return to my team! I am sure I will see you at the tower." He gave her a bow and leapt away.

Sasuke approached her. "What was that?"

"Huh?" She looked at him in surprise. Sasuke was definitely looking the worse for wear. He still had a large bruise on his face from earlier, his clothes were torn, and he was dirty and sweaty. But most unusual of all he actually seemed to be upset. "What do you mean?"

He frowned at her. "What was the idea of letting him call you chan and kissing him?"

"He saved my life Sasuke." She answered calmly. "I think that deserves a kiss on the cheek and my letting him call me chan."

"Well I don't like him! I would have done fine against the mummy without any help and I don't like seeing him near you!" He sounded hot.

Sakura stared at him. She couldn't remember ever seeing him so upset. "I kissed his cheek Sasuke, Lee is no more than a friend. You are my boyfriend." A slow grin began to stretch across her face. "Are you jealous Sasuke?"

"Don't be ridiculous!" Sasuke snapped. "I have nothing to be jealous of!"

She laughed. "You are! You are jealous!" She sounded quite happy.

"O.k. we've got the scrolls we need let's get going." He leapt away and his teammates were forced to follow him.

As they leapt through the trees Sasuke tried to figure just what the hell it was he was feeling. When he'd seen Sakura kiss that thick browed freak he'd been surprised to actually be bothered by it. It wasn't jealousy of course. That was just not possible. No definitely not possible.

As they hurried towards the tower Sakura couldn't help but keep a smile on her face.