This didn't feel right. Everything Sakura was told, everything she heard, made her fear for where she was going. Who were these people? What city was she in? What is going on? After a few minutes or over thinking Sakura came up with a plan and was ready to take action until the grip of Mr. Goatee's hand slid to gently cup her hand.

Confused as hell Sakura removed the sack with her free hand to see a grinning Genma leading her in a straight path.

"Genma?!" she shrieked in surprised.

"The one and only." He chirped.

Sakura couldn't wrap her mind around the situation. Why was Genma all the way out here? Where was "out here" anyways? What about the men she was just with? Who was Mr. Goatee? Was this whole situation just a farce?

"Well, you have to admit that was a pretty stupid alias…you should have figured that out." She lectured herself silently.

Genma continued to pull her gently by the hand and said nothing. His firm, warm grip felt sweaty against hers and threatened to slip away every so often. With a slight readjustment here and there Sakura was always attached to him, never arguing or questioning his hold.

The air was awkward; at least it was for Genma. He didn't exactly know what had come over him. He just took her hand without a second thought. But this weird turn of events had him feeling undeniably stupid and somewhat anxious for her reaction; completely different from why he was really there. Sakura's quiet demeanor, made him feel a bit guilty due to the nature of her unwavering trust towards him. She let him guide her without protest. She let him hold her hand without question. She, as he glanced back a few times, seemed confused beyond words but never let her trust in him waver.

Genma couldn't help but feel like a creeper.

"Genma?" she called questioningly, as she tried to look at his face.

Nervously he swallowed. The reality of her call was quiet and confused, but the delusion he held sounded sweet and shy which only made his heart squeeze in his chest. He avoided eye contact with her and continued to lead her.

He swallowed harder before responding.

"Yes Sakura?"

She was quiet again. Sakura bit her lower lip, unsure of how to start the conversation. There were too many questions running through her thoughts and Sakura wasn't sure if his presence was meant as a good sign or not.

Genma glanced to her for a moment and swallowed hard once more as he watched Sakura searching his face for answers. The light against her big green eyes glistened; sparkling almost.

"Whhhhhyyyyy?" He groaned to himself, as he grew more and more aware of his attraction to her.

Sakura opened her mouth to ask some of the annoying questions that burned in the back of her thoughts, but Genma was the first to break the silence.

"I know a guy, who knows a guy, who knows a guy, who turned out to know me personally and happened to owe me a huge favor." He said sheepishly.

Sakura blinked curiously and tilted her head slightly.

"What?" she asked.

"Aren't you wondering why I'm here?" he asked curiously.

"Um…yes but.." She said flatly. "It's not the first thing on my mind."

Genma felt a stab in his side and slumped his shoulders slightly. His best excuse got him absolutely nowhere seeing as she couldn't be bothered to wonder that first.

"But we can start there for now... Why are you here?"

"I'm actually here to escort you towards the second portion to the exam."

Sakura's face drained of color. "What do you mean?"

"Technically you passed the first portion of the exam."

Sakura's face told Genma how unhappy she was.

"If you want you can go back and voice your complaints but I doubt you'll get to continue." He joked; immediately regretting his decision.

Sakura was silent and the atmosphere seemed to grow cold.

"Genma… were you in that room during the interrogation?" she asked cautiously.

Genma looked towards her another moment, and sighed.

"I was."

Sakura pursed her lips hard. Her eyes flicked left and right as if she was looking for a way out. She looked up to him in fear for a moment before taking comfort in his calm, reassuring gaze.

"Please don't tell anyone my last name…" she begged.

Genma only nodded and the two continued forward. He remained quiet and Sakura remained as equally quiet. He simply waited for any questions she had which definitely didn't seem to come his way anytime soon. However he waited, patiently.

It was quiet for a while. Gemna had time to scold himself for jumping at the chance to escort Sakura to the second portion of the exam. His personal feelings weren't supposed to play a part in his decision making. But hearing about the situation from Tsunade only boiled the blood within him. The exam was already set to a ridiculously high level for the candidates alone. Taking Sakura's situation into account, she and five other candidates were given special exemptions with extra criteria that needed to be met; however, Sakura's were the most unfair.

He bit down on his tongue slightly, trying to come up with how to explain the situation to her in a way that wasn't going to ruin her concentration during the exam. One of his options was to keep quiet, and tell her when she passed in the end, but there was no guarantee that would happen either.

He grimaced at the thought of what it meant if she lost. He opened his mouth to start explaining why he was there, when Sakura finally spoke up.

"What's with the stupid alias?" Sakura asked skeptically.

Genma regained his composure and shrugged.

"I figured it was something useful to help take your mind off the situation at the time." He said with a shrug.

"Really?" she asked questioningly. "Are you sure you didn't just butcher the poor guy's name? I recall hearing "Tee Go". Are you sure you really knew the guy?" she teased.

"For the record his name is Ti-Go." He corrected.

"I don't know Genma, "Goatee" only made me more suspicious." She admitted.

"Ah… I see…" he sighed.

It was silent again. Sakura didn't know where to start. She had many questions that plagued her thoughts and she needed answers. Genma's presence struck her as suspicious and only added to the hundreds of things she wanted to know.

Her paced had slowed, prompting Genma to slow as well until they came to a stop. Sakura's troubled expression grew. Genma raised a brow and studied her face carefully.

"Sakura?" he called.

Suddenly her brows furrowed. Her green eyes struck him hard in anger and confusion.

"Genma what the hell is going on?! Who were those people!? Why am I being treated differently?! What is this half-breed shit?! I'm not a dog! Is there something about this exam that I need to be informed about?! It seems like everyone else knows something I don't!"

Genma saw this coming. Sakura stood before him shaking with rage. He didn't blame her. He knew very well how upsetting things could be when everyone knew something you didn't and talked about it around you as if you had already known.

He sighed and met her angry eyes with a pained yet soft expression. He had been dying to tell her everything he knew to make the playing ground even for her. She was probably the only special candidate who wasn't briefed out of spite. But he didn't know how to break it to her without Sakura fearing for her safety and her sanity. Instead, he chose to wait until he could get her to second part of the exam, where her location was safe and guarded.

"I can't tell you." He said calmly. "At least, not yet."

"What?! Why not!?" She shrieked in disapproval.

He took a step forward. His body was dangerously close to Sakura's. She never noticed how much taller he was until today. He towered over her slightly, prompting her to look up.

"You're just going to have to trust me. Just wait a little longer and I'll explain everything." He said sternly as he drove his gaze into those angry pools of green.

She wasn't satisfied with his answer. There was so much she wanted to know. So much she felt she deserved to know.

Sakura studied his face carefully before looking away and releasing the angry breath she had been holding. She didn't like being kept in the dark. The situation seemed very serious and Sakura had to wonder if she even had a chance of escaping her past and keeping it that way. It wasn't fair. It wasn't right for others to constantly toy with her. Sakura had no other options and just had to put her faith into Genma who stood before her, watching, wondering if she was going to be angry once more.

She took another moment and heaved her last, aggravated sigh, calming her nerves as best as she could. It was a sign to Genma that she had given in to his words on good faith, whether she wanted to or not. She slowly looked up and watched his expression carefully. He stood before her with a calming, confident aura radiating from hm. She felt at ease being with him.

She searched his face carefully once more, hoping he'd say something. She waited but he remained silent.

She never noticed how thin his eyebrows were. Sakura wondered, for a second, if they had always been so thin. In another second she wondered about Kakashi. His eyebrows were the same shape, but she never really saw much of them unless he removed his forehead protector.

She felt lonely for a moment at the thought of Kakashi. The last time she saw him was the morning she left for the exam. The same morning she awoke in his bed, because she wanted some sort of comfort the night before. Despite not telling her anything about her sleep induced excursions after so long, her only deduction was to settle the situation temporarily by consciously doing what she had been doing unconsciously.

But who was she fooling? It was a sad excuse she came up with, for seeking comfort in the person she felt most close to in the house. She couldn't see herself doing the same thing with Genma, let alone Yamato. Kakashi was special in a way she couldn't understand.

Her last memory of Kakashi, was of him sleeping soundly in his bed, shifting slightly over the pillow Sakura placed where her body had been. She couldn't afford to face him without going into some sort of intrusive conversation that would distract her from her exam. So she did what most single men were famous for doing. She left. Not without lingering in the doorway for a moment, feeling terrible and confused about her decision.

"How many days has it been?" she pondered, guessing it had been maybe three or four days.

"Sakura?" Genma called.

Breaking her from her thoughts, Sakura blankly stared at Genma for a moment.

Her face felt hot.

He stood before her in close proximity and she could feel the heat of his body invading her own personal space. Her mind had been preoccupied with Kakashi that she had not paid much attention to Genma.

He grinned brightly in her direction, quietly reassuring her that she had no need to worry. Sakura suddenly felt a flight of nervousness in front of him. She took a step back and felt the soft pull on her hand. She glanced down and back up to his face. His boyish grin looked somewhat confused as she continued to glance between their hands and his face.

Her face still felt hot.

"Sakura?" he asked curiously.

She looked away as if something better had caught her attention, but in actuality looked at nothing in particular. The warmth of his hand felt nice against her own. It was surprisingly soft; another feature she never noticed about Genma before.

She honestly never gave much thought about Genma aside from him being a close friend. She had always found her thoughts wandering more over Kakashi despite how annoying or frustrating he could be towards her or how natural his presence around her had become. But Genma wasn't Kakashi, and he was standing right here, holding her hand without a hint of awkwardness from what she could gather. His presence felt just as natural as Kakashi's and Sakura felt as if she were being drawn in. Her heart paced quickly and she felt herself shying away under his grin.

She quickly looked down to her hand.

"How much longer are you going to hold my hand?" she asked softly.

Genma felt chills from the back of his neck all the way down his spine.

The Jonin slowly released his hold, frowning at the cold breeze that struck his hand. His gaze never left Sakura's face as she finally looked back to him.

He remained quiet, but smiled inwardly towards her flustered behavior. He patted her head softly and turned on his heels.

"Well then, let's get you to your transport."

Yamato paced the room of Tsunade's office in thought. Kakashi had leaned himself against a spare desk and sighed every so often. Tsunade sat at her desk, tapping her manicured nails against it, scraping the wood intermittently.

"He should have contacted us by now." Yamato whispered hurriedly.

Kakashi's lone eye followed Yamato's pace. The man was impatient – so impatient he would rather pace and look distressed, than to do something productive. Though, it wasn't like Kakashi was doing anything productive. He too was impatient – so much he couldn't focus on the tattered, paperback copy of his Icha Icha series neatly tucked away in his vest.

Kakashi sighed. "Yamato, give him a little more time. Its not easy walking into that sort of facility."

Tsunade ceased her tapping and pressed her back into her seat, crossing her legs in tow.

"He knows to contact us once his situation is no longer unstable. We just have to trust him." She grunted.

No one knew where Genma was or how far he had gone to escorting Sakura to the next city. His main objective was to observe and ensure her treatment was fair, and act as her escort until she reached the test ground's lodging.

Tsunade pursed her lips. Kakashi lazily walked towards Tsunade's desk and spoke calmly.

"They can't fail her based on speculation."

Yamato stopped pacing and turned towards their direction. "Kakashi how can you be so sure?"

"I'm not." He sighed. "But unless they have viable proof, they can't touch her."

"Her situation is already delicate. You heard the emergency report. The body was found not too far from the path she took; a straight path no less. The coordinates logged onto her watch are more than enough to put her at the scene of the crime."

"Her and the intruder." Kakashi corrected. "Lets not forget there is a third party poking their business into this year's exam. Besides, once the tokei no jutsu has been activated, those watches can't log the time she arrived in that location. Its still a relatively new jutsu so its not as reliable as many people think it is. At best you can try to match her coordinates; give or take the inaccuracy. The sole purpose was to monitor the countdown to her destination and record the amount of time it took her to finish. Tweaking the jutsu would only work if there were less candidates to monitor"

Kakashi knew better than anyone that those watches, once modified by the jutsu, were bound to burn out and stop working if any other functions were added, especially if the user had brought a non digital watch from the beginning. The jutsu itself was a joke considering how limited its functions were. It was a jutsu someone created on a whim and it caught on to examiners, which floated to the elders, and thus led to one of the most ridiculous patents of a jutsu anyone could have imagined.

Yamato folded his arms and sighed heavily.

"I'm not doubting Sakura. But at the rate things are going the I.S.A. might be more than willing to pin the blame on her and send her away just as long as they don't get a lash out from the elders."

"This is why we sent Genma to escort her." Tsunade cut in.

Tsunade placed her face in her hands and held on for dear life. Sakura was stuck in the cross fires of objections from everyone including her "father", who sent a very expensive representative to speak on his behalf and negotiate the terms of the exam.

Tsunade had her suspicions the day she met Sakura. At the time, she was more fascinated with her abilities instead of concerned with who she really was or where she came from; however Tsunade regretted not paying closer attention from the start. The day Kakashi and the rest submitted the documents for Sakura's guardian, Tsunade never took a harder look at the young woman's name. It wasn't until after Sakura had declared her intentions to become a shinobi that Tsunade had discovered how dire Konoha's situation became. Sakura was more bound to her past than Tsunade had hoped and Konoha was in too much of debt to say otherwise.

"Haruno" wasn't a name you heard of in Konoha anymore; not even in hushed tones or whispers. What records had been left behind were hidden in a place that couldn't see the light of day. The family name had all been wiped out with the exception of four generations of no potential, let alone the ability to possess and utilize chakra. Not once could they leave behind a lineage which held their heads high from the powerhouse they once were. The family had all but dispersed and died off without anyone noticing, except for the few who lived with the prestigious blood line in comfort and riches, free from tarnishing by what they considered unnatural.

The Haruno clan were of pure blood, and were once a large financial contributor to Konoha. One that could rival the Uchiha and the Hyuga clan. Having gone through four generations,

Tsunade chewed her lip nervously.

"Kakashi… Yamato…" she quietly beckoned.

Kakashi raised a curious brow.

Yamato folded his arms.

Neither one said anything, waiting for their Hokage to continue.

"As you know, the situation regarding Sakura is… sensitive… Many of the rules had been changed to challenge and accommodate her particular training and entry into the exam."

Her voice seemed strained and her expression had grown grim; however that didn't stop her from continuing what was needed to be said.

"She is, of course, not the only participant who was granted special permission to partake in the exam."

Yamato and Kakashi waited anxiously to hear something new. Tsunade had already explained that upon making the exception that allowed Sakrua to take the exam, with the condition she will be officially recognized as a Konoha citizen and shinobi, other cities were allowed to do the same. It was an arrangement made through countless arguments and plea on Tsunade's side – a plea she had finally won with a vote of three – to – two.

"There is something else I haven't divulged to you." She admitted. "However, I have already briefed Genma."

Tsunade's eyes grew fierce yet her expression remained grim.

"Do you happen to know Sakura's last name?"

Yamato frowned in silence and Kakashi pondered Tsunade's question for a moment.

"Her application for the exam only said, "Sakura" if I remember correctly." Kakashi answered. "I didn't think twice considering there are participants who lack a last name."

Tsunade looked towards Yamato who only shook his head.

"So neither of you saw her birth certificate or even took a second look at her documents when filing for her legal guardian?" Tsunade grumbled.

"In our defense you kidnapped us that day. I filled out mine and Yamato's information but left Sakura's blank assuming you were going to fill it in." Kakashi admitted.

Yamato rubbed his chin slightly and spoke up.

"Naruto is the only person who might know. He went through her things the day we found her and told us her name."

Tsunade grumbled in annoyance and rubbed the temples of her head in slow, soothing circles.

"That boy wouldn't even understand even if he knew..."

The two men were bugged at this point. Tsunade had been beating around the bush too long.

"Tsunade – sama what are you trying to say?" Yamato asked.

"Her last name…." she started, and took a deep breath before continuing, "is Haruno…"

Kakashi raised a brow and folded his arms trying to hold back the uneasiness he felt brewing in his stomach. Yamato quickly placed his hands on his hips, and tapped his foot against the floor.

"That's certainly not a name you hear about anymore…" Kakashi mumbled.