A/N:- HOLY SHIT... I never thought I'd get this much reviews for a single chapter! Thank you my dear readers and reviewers, really. Though i am not worthy. Truly. I bow down before your awesomeness. Because if there hadn't been any of you, then this story might not have been out their. Your continuous support drives me to update even with the unintended hiatus of six (seven?) months.

So, THANK YOU TO EVERY READER OUT THERE WHO GAVE MY STORY A CHANCE!

P.S. A SPECIAL THANKS TO ALL THOSE WHO TAKE THE TIME OUT OF THEIR LIVES TO LEAVE A REVIEW ON MY STORY. I love you guys. Really.

Here's a new chapter for you all awesome people~

Time- T minus 22 hours before end of the Second Phase of Chunin Exams

Naruto glanced at Sasuke, who was carrying Sakura on his back while the girl was blissfully unconscious for the time being- a karate chop to her neck had been quite effective, though brutal, when Sakura got a little too violent when they suggested to carry her for the rest of the way to rest her injuries- and remembered the conversation they had a few hours ago….

.

.

.

"When I was eight, someone massacred the entire Uchiha Clan –including my parents- and left only me as the lone survivor." Sasuke said with gritted teeth as he clenched his fingers into a fist, digging his nails into his palm. He glanced up at them, and Naruto almost flinched when he saw Sasuke's sharingan flashing with barely repressed hatred and anger, "and that someone happens to be my big brother."

Naruto shrugged off a snide comment from the fox inside his head –the grumpy bastard thinks he actually needed his commentary to brighten his mood, the asshole- and asked Sasuke, "You said you wanted to kill someone during our first meeting with Kakashi-Sensei…. you meant you wanted to kill your brother, right?"

"Yes." Sasuke mumbled under his breath. His nails harshly dig into his palm, making him bleed. "He tortured me with his special Mangekyo ability by making me see how he killed our family again and again, and again. He said he left me alive only because I'm weak and not worth his time." Sasuke's eyes flashed red as he hissed under his breath. "I hate him. I hate him so, so much, and this hate will not be vanquished unless I kill that bastard with my very hands and avenge my family."

"Sasuke….." Sakura said hesitatingly, her green eyes flashed uncertainly, "Revenge isn't the answer for everything, you know. Maybe you should first find out why Itachi-"

"Don't say his name!" Sasuke snapped at Sakura angrily, making her flinch.

"Hey! Don't take out your anger on Sakura! She didn't do anything to you, dattebayo!" Naruto argued with Sasuke, making the Uchiha boy glower at him and huff indignantly. Naruto just rolled his eyes and mumbled under his breath, "Drama Queen."

"I heard you, dobe." Sasuke said with a glare.

"Good, I meant for you to hear it." Naruto quipped back.

Sasuke scoffed and turned his head away from them –though from the way his tensed shoulder relaxed, he could see that the Uchiha had finally calmed down enough to listen to them.

"Sasuke…" Saura mumbled quietly. "Don't do anything stupid alone, okay?" She asked as she squeezed his arm reassuringly. "After all, that's what friends are for, you know."

"Yeah, teme," Naruto nodded sagely. "Whatever you do, don't forget that we're with you every step of the way, okay? If you think you can just go on a revenge spree without us, then you have another thing coming. 'Coz we'll definitely chase you to the ends of the earth to knock some sense into your thick skull."

Sasuke's lips twitched upwards as he mocked Naruto, "I don't think anyone's skull could be as thick as yours."

"Hey!" Naruto exclaimed, offended.

Sakura smiled softly in the background and shared a look with Naruto.

'He'll be fine.' her eyes seemed to say.

'Yeah…' he thought. 'As long as we're with him, he'll be okay…..'

.

.

.

"Dobe, stop staring at me. It's creepy." Sasuke said dryly

"Well, not my fault you look so pretty today." Naruto retorted without missing a beat.

Sasuke shuddered and shot him a disgusted look as he mumbled, "Ugh, don't speak like that again or I'll suffer from nightmare for weeks."

Naruto snickered.

As they jumped from tree to tree, Sasuke spoke in warning, "Keep your eyes open. There might be some teams who think of ambushing us to take our scrolls."

Nauto scoffed. "Like hell I'd fall for something as stupid as an ambush just a few meters away from our destination."

And then, the very next second Naruto tripped over a wire and found himself stuck in a trap as camouflage ninja wire wrapped around him before he could flash-step away from the danger zone, tying him up tightly and hung him upside down on the very tree he had tripped on. He glared at the topsy-turvy image of a smirking Sasuke –with Sakura's bandaged form dozing on his back- and hissed, "Not. One. Word."

"Can I say three then?" Sasuke said smugly as he cocked an eyebrow. "Told you so."

After freeing Naruto from his bounds –but not before taunting the dobe and laughing his ass off at the blonde's stupidity- and dealing with the three Rain genins who had ambushed them –the poor idiots never stood a chance against Naruto's Multi-Shadow Clones Jutsu, how pathetic of them- they finally entered the tower. Ignoring the exhaustion creeping through their limbs, Sasuke let Sakura down from his back and tried to wake her up, while Naruto glanced around the empty room, and stared at the words written over the walls while scratching his head and wondered if he should start paying more attention to theoretical side of things, since he obviously didn't understand whatever the heck this thing meant.

"Is it a riddle…?" Naruto mumbled and tried to rack his –obviously unused- brain for answers, but nothing came up in his mind. He tugged his blonde hair and yelled out in frustration, "Ah, my head hurts doing all the thinking!"

"Then leave it to the experts, dobe." Sasuke said dryly as he shook Sakura awake, who groaned and her lone eye fluttered open.

She blinked and stared around her surroundings and mumbled groggily, "Where is it….. the tower?"

Sasuke nodded as Sakura rubbed her left eye and stumbled a bit as she stood up. Wincing at the pain shooting from her right eye-socket and the various wounds on her body, she took in a deep breath and smiled a bit darkly at her friends, who gulped and scooted away from her. "Now, which one of you rendered me unconscious when I was perfectly capable of walking on my own?"

Naruto pointed at Sasuke, who immediately pointed back at the blonde, and the both of them spoke in unison-

"It was him dattebayo!"/ "Dobe Karate-chopped you, Sakura!"

The dark aura in Sakura's eyes seemed to double as se purred, "Oh? So the both of you are willing to be my punching bag for today?" She cracked her knuckles threateningly and said sadistically, "How generous of you."

"Wait-"

"Sakura-"

The two of them tried to flee, but too bad for them that Sakura had already caught them by their collars.

Her lone green eye darkened as she hissed at them, "You little shits! What word of "I can walk on my own" can't you understand?! And then you even karate-chopped me to boot! Do you even know how much it hurt my neck?!"

Saying this she dragged them to the shadowy corner of the Hall to teach them a lesson –after all, it won't put a good impression before the invigilators by spilling blood on the pristine floor, right?- ignoring their miserable screams all along.

Sakura hmphed and cracked her knuckles after she was done torture- ahem, teaching a lesson to them, she left them there –twitching and moaning under their breaths about how Sakura was a demon who should definitely need to take anger management classes- ("Maybe I should pummel them to the ground once again for being cheeky?" "*sighs in exasperation* Sakura, No.") and after contemplating the riddle written on the wall and consulting it with Obito, she opened the both of them at the same time.

When the Heaven and Earth scrolls were opened simultaneously, a heavy smoke filled the room. When the smoke cleared, Iruka appeared before Team Seven with a grin.

"So you guys somehow made it here in one piece, huh? Congratulations on passing the Second Stage of the Chunin Exams!"

"Iruka-Sensei!" Naruto exclaimed happily as he jumped towards Iruka and hugged him. "It has been soooooooo long since I last saw you! When will you treat me to ramen?! If you do-"

Sakura and Sasuke shared an exasperated look and sat down on the floor, since they knew that Naruto –being the hyperactive idiot he is- will keep Iruka busy with his babble for quite a while now. It will take some time before Iruka remembers what he was supposed to do –especially with Naruto hogging all of his attention- so they should just take as much rest as they can get.

"-And then I used my awesome Shadow Clone jutsu to kick their ass! Serves those jerks right! How dare they ambush us-!" Naruto told Iruka in an exasperated manner about their experience in the Forest of Death –while omitting a few incidents, including Orochimaru's attack and the ambush of the Sound Team, among other things.

"Okay, okay! I get that you had a really interesting time in the Forest of Death!" Iruka said in exasperation as he flicked Naruto's nose, who scowled at him and whined about it hurting. He shook his head fondly at Naruto's antics, and then turned to Sasuke and Sakura. Eying their mostly bandaged self, he asked in sympathy, "You really had a hard time during the second Task, huh?"

The two of them shared a look before shrugging. "Not really." Sakura lied easily.

"It would've gone better if dobe wasn't being his moronic self, like usual." Sasuke shoved all the blame on Naruto, who snarled as he leaped towards the dark haired boy -

"Bastard, I'll kick your prickly ass!"

-only to be held back by Iruka by the collar of his orange jumpsuit.

"Alright, that's enough." Iruka sighed. Really, these two fought like cats and dogs. How did Kakashi deals with them? He then once again turned towards the other two and asked in concern as he eyed the bandages around Sasuke's neck, and the upper right half of Sakura's face. "But still, are you alright? Did anyone of you get severely injured?"

"Ah no, we're fine, Sensei." Sasuke grunted.

When Sakura saw Iruka eying the bandages over her right empty socket –that was still throbbing in pain which she ignored- she let her fingers slightly touch the bandages over her face and smiled reassuringly at her Academy teacher. "A stray kunai just scratched a bit near my right eye, and these two-" She pointed at her teammates, who scowled at her disapprovingly at her casual lie about her wound, and continued on. "-being the worrywarts they are, panicked like headless chickens and bandaged it like this. I promise that the wound just looks worse than it really is."

Iruka eyed them skeptically. "If you say so."

"Ne, ne, Iruka-Sensei," Naruto exclaimed cheerfully, swiftly diverting the flow of conversation with his words. "Now that we passed the exams, are you going to take us to Ichiraku ramen for a treat?"

"The exams aren't over yet." Iruka couldn't help but smile fondly when Naruto grumbled about it and continued on. "There's still a few hours before the Second Stage of the Chunin Exams ends. Why don't you guys rest for the time being in the lobby? The other teams that have passed are also there."

"Awesome!" Naruto cheered, while Sasuke and Sakura nodded as they got off the floor and patted off dust from their clothes.

"But first, maybe you should visit a medic first for your preliminary check-up." Iruka once again gave the three of them a worried look.

The three of them shared a look before Naruto answered for them with a bright grin "Alright! Lead the way, Iruka-sensei!"

"Are you sure you'll be fine on your own?" Iruka asked them in concern, "If you want, I can stay with you until Kakashi comes."

"It's alright, Iruka-sensei. I'm sure you must be needed somewhere else." Sakura said as she waved her hand dismissively and sat in the waiting room in the infirmary after they had registered for a check-up.

"But-"

"Don't worry Iruka-Sensei! We'll be fine!" Naruto cheered. "It's just a check-up!"

"What are you doing, worrying even more than the actual patients here?" Sasuke grumbled under his breath, and earned a smack to the back of his head from his two teammates, making him scowl.

"Be nice, Sasuke!" Sakura admonished him.

"Yeah, mind your words, teme! Iruka-sensei is not some stranger, he was our Academy Teacher!" Naruto argued.

Sasuke opened his mouth to tell a scathing retort, only to be interrupted by Iruka's chuckles.

"Ah no, it's fine, Naruto, Sakura. Sasuke is right. But well," Iruka mumbled as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "-even if you've graduated into fine genin, I can't help but worry about you. After all, even if you grow older, and stronger and become powerful jonin in future, in my heart you three would still be my students."

Naruto's eyes watered at his heart-warming words and he couldn't help but cry, "Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah~ Iruka-Sensei! You're too good for this world, I swear." He soon leaped towards Iruka and wrapped his arms around the older chunin and clung to him, dirtying the older man's chunin vest with snot and tears.

Sasuke didn't know whether to snort at the blonde's utter ridiculous behavior or to scoff in disgust at all the snot and tears Naruto was staining Iruka's vest with. He turned to Sakura to comment on dobe's disgusting behavior, only to stare speechless at the girl as she sniffled while watching the 'oh-so-youthful' embrace of teacher and student with a teary eye.

(Somewhere in the Tower, Gai and Lee sneezed.)

"That was beautiful." Sakura sniffed as she dabbed a handkerchief over her eye.

"Sakura," He said flatly. "What the hell?"

At Sasuke's judgmental stare directed at her, she couldn't help but blush and whine as she protested, "Hey, it's not my fault you're a cold block of ice who wouldn't understand sentiment even if it prostrates before you!"

"Are you done now?" He pursued his lips.

She pouted. "Party pooper."

After assuring Iruka-sensei that yes, they'll be fine and no, they did not need him there for their check-up, the three of them waved him goodbye as the mother-henning chunin ("Pfft-! That's hilarious!" "Obito, please, can you stop reacting to every stupid pun out there for at least once?" "HEY!") reluctantly made his way back to his work, leaving behind the three of them in the waiting room.

"So…" Naruto asked as he scratched the back of his neck. "Do you think we've fooled Iruka-sensei with our happy-go-lucky act?"

"Nope." Sakura replied.

Sasuke snorted. "Not a chance in hell."

"That means he's going to tell Kakashi-sensei something along the lines of 'something bad happened to the three of them in the Forest and they're hiding it', right?" Naruto asked with less enthusiasm than before.

The two of them shared a look. "Yep." They answered.

"He's gonna flip out." Naruto's shoulders slumped.

"Definitely." Sasuke agreed.

"So much that Bakakashi will even contemplate on locking us in a tower and never letting us out in fear that our stupid luck once again rears it's ugly head." Sakura pointed out.

The three of them sighed in unison and then Sakura moaned, "We're doomed, aren't we?"

"Yep." Naruto agreed.

Sasuke grunted. "No doubt about it."

Kakashi's lone eye glanced at the words on the pages of his lovely Icha Icha but the words didn't see to register in his mind. Kotetsu's parting words seemed to replay in his head like a broken tape recorder-

"Oi Kakashi, Shikamaru –you know Shikaku's brat right? The one who's in Asuma's genin team? Yup, that's the one- said to tell you that 'your team had gotten lost on the road of life, but they're fine now. Somewhat.' Whatever that means."

And now he's worried. Like, really, really worried. Kakashi knew his brats well –they were amazing and so cute and adorable –no one will be able to convince him otherwise- and they work hard and even if they bicker with each other about silliest of things and throw a tantrum when he forces them to do an 'unlucky' ranked mission, but they still do as they're told and don't question him –other than dissing him about his sadistic tendencies and his horrendous choice of reading material (which is, well, rude –because Icha Icha is a prime reading material, and those brats really don't appreciate quality literature). They were prodigies in their own right-with Sasuke's quick understanding of Jutsus, Sakura's smartness and Naruto's fascinating observation skills and diversion tactics, they weren't any lesser than real geniuses like Neji- and were definitely a lot stronger and even more skilled than the rest of the Rookie Nine, and Kakashi was proud of his team of little geniuses. And that is why he had been confident that his cute little genin would definitely pass the Chunin Exams with flying colors.

Except now he couldn't help but doubt if his decision had been right or not –because Kurenai's team had passed the Second Stage of Chunin Exams that very day –and even Asuma's team of slackers reached the tower the next day- so what is taking his team so long? Hypothetically, his cute little genin should've trounced the other competitors in the first few hours of the test and should have already reached the tower. But reality is far different from his expectations, because it has been four days since the start of the test and there was no news of his students –except for the one Kotetsu gave him two days ago. So how can he not be worried?

"Kakashi, will you stop trying to put a hole in that book with your glare alone?" Genma drawled out in exasperation. "'Coz dude, you're scaring us."

"Knock it off, Genma." Kurenai sighed. "He's just worried about his students."

"-which I still find unbelievable." Asuma said as he took a drag on his cigarette. "I never thought I'd see the day when Kakashi of the Sharingan worries for his students."

Anko snickered. "He's so whipped."

"Don't worry, my eternal rival! It is said that worrying for your youthful students is a mark of a good teacher!" Gai tried to comfort Kakash in his own –not that it worked.

Kakashi resisted the urge to shove his middle finger before his fellow colleagues and instead commented in a faux cheery tone, "None of you would understand. After all, your students aren't as cute as mine."

Kurenai glared at him, while Asuma's eye twitched, "Why, you-!"

Even Gai frowned at him as he chided, "That is un-youthful of you to say such words, Kakashi."

Kakashi just smirked smugly, not that they could see because of the mask. However, his smirk swiftly disappeared when Iruka walked into the Jonin Lounge with a serious expression on his face.

"Kakashi," he said as he pursued his lips. "We need to talk."

Kakashi quirked a silver brow at his words. "Oh?" he asked, "What is it about?"

"Your team has arrived at the Tower." Iruka informed him, and Kakashi's heart almost stopped at his next words. "They're heavily injured and likely even traumatized –though they tried to hide it with their usual banter- and are currently in the medic's office going through check-up. I think-"

Kakashi didn't stay to listen any more of Iruka's words. Instead, he immediately shunshined away towards the infirmary. Someone hurt his cute little genins enough that they actually need medical attention –even with having Sakura, and even Sasuke, as medics in their team- which means that someone had purposely targeted his students.

Someone's gonna pay for hurting his adorable brats. No one hurts his precious people and gets away with it unscathed.

The three of them were bickering about what to eat to treat themselves later for surviving the shit that is FOD –and all the mess that they had gone through- ("Let's eat Ramen after we're done with the check-up! Ichiraku's miso ramen is amazing~" "No way. Miso ramen is a disgrace, dobe."* Let's out a scandalous gasp* "Sasuke-teme, how dare you insult the awesomeness that is miso ramen!" "*snorts* I stand by my point." "*chuckles* Hey you two, what about candies?" *the two of them give her flat looks* "Sakura, no.") when a brunette opened the door of the waiting room –with a clipboard in her hands- and walked towards the three of them. "Team Seven, it's your turn for check-up."

Sakura recognized the brunette woman and beamed at her, "Hii, Tsuki-nee!"

Tsukihime smiled at the pink haired girl and said, "Hello Sakura," She then gestured towards the door and said, "We should quickly get your wounds checked over." She eyed the three of them as they got up and walked towards her and mumbled, "You look like you've had a tough time in the Forest. Even Team Ten didn't look this bad when they had arrived here two days ago."

"What about Team Eight?" Sakura asked.

"They were one of the first few teams to reach the tower by the first six hours mark." Tsukihime replied as she led them through the hallway of the infirmary.

"Aw man, even that idiot Kiba made it to the tower before us! I swear he'll never let us live it down." Naruto whined.

"I can live with being mocked for a lifetime and not being six feet under." Sasuke said dryly, and Tsukihime glanced back at him warily, wondering if he was just joking or was he being actually serious.

"So true." Sakura muttered under her breath.

The three of them followed her in tense silence as they followed Tsukihime. A few minutes later, Tsukihime led them into a room and announced to her superior, who happened to be one Sayuri Haruno. "Lady Sayuri, Team Seven is here for their check-up."

Sayuri spoke without even looking up from her paperwork, while a blue haired teenager stood next to her and was organizing her paperwork to make her work easier. "Oh, that's good. Sakura, didn't you say that you'd be one of the first ones to complete the test? How come you took this much time just to reach-" She finally glanced towards them, and couldn't help but screech when she saw the condition her granddaughter and her teammates were in. "oh my god WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO YOU?!"

Sayuri immediately shunshined towards Sakura and fussed over her granddaughter, her jade green eyes tearing up at the sight of the bandage tied over her the place where her right eye was supposed to be. Her hands glowed green as she used diagnostic jutsu on her granddaughter, and her temper flared as she hissed out, "Third degree chakra exhaustion, burns, concussion, internal bleeding, four cracked ribs, and a few bruised bones, and –fuck, which bastard ripped out your right eye?!"

"What?!" Tsukihime gasped and immediately turned towards Sakura. "Is that true?"

"Are you questioning my skills?" Sayuri snarled, and Tsukihime immediately shrunk her shoulders and shook her head warily, knowing better than to confront the Head medic when her temper flares. "Tch," She then turned towards her granddaughter, and spoke in a soft tone. "It'll be alright, sweetheart."

"Grandma, can you check over Sasuke and Naruto too? They've also hurt themselves quite badly." Sakura asked as she tried to point her Granny's fussing towards her two teammates, who frankly were looking away from her fussy grandmother awkwardly and were inching away as if they were uncomfortable.

"Of course, darling." She patted her adorable granddaughter's head softly, before turning back towards Tsukihime and snarled, "You heard the girl! Attend to her teammates, right now." Saying this, she turned towards the blue haired teenager gaping at them from across the office. "And that means you too, Kaito! Stop staring at her like an idiot and start making yourself useful around here!"

Tsukihime and Kaito immediately scrambled towards Naruto and Sasuke and led them towards the extra beds in the corner. Sayuri herself helped her granddaughter on one of the beds and started on healing her bruises and burns.

"Can you tell me what happened, my dear? I might be able to help you better if I knew what had happened to you in Forest of Death." She coaxed Sakura in a soft tone. "And tell me which asshole did this to you, okay? So I can kick his ass to the kingdom come."

"Uh," Sakura mumbled as she pointedly glanced towards Kaito and Tsukihime, who had busied themselves in healing Naruto and Sasuke –the former having chakra burned skin almost every part of his body, and for some reason his chakra was all wonky and wasn't following the usual pathway, while the latter had heavy bruises, and chakra burns littered over his body, he also had third degree chakra exhaustion along with a few bruised bones, but the worst of the damage done was actually to his eyes, and there was something that seemed to leech his chakra and taint it with some foreign chakra that is definitely not good for the Uchiha's body.

Sayuri, understanding her grandmother's apprehension, smiled reassuringly at Sakura and told her, "It's alright. They're trustworthy. They won't speak a single word to anyone of whatever is discussed in this room, I assure you that."

"Ah, no, that's not what I meant. Though it's nice that you trust them, Granny." Sakura said with a small smile on her face, but the smile was quickly wiped off from her face as she spoke, "But maybe you should get Lord Hokage and the Jonin Commander. And the ANBU Commander, maybe?" she glanced at Sasuke for confirmation, who nodded.

Naruto, however, piped in, "-and Kakashi-sensei too!"

"-yeah, and him too, I guess." Sakura grumbled.

Sayuri raised her brows at her granddaughter's words. "Your Jonin-sensei, I can understand, but why do you need the others to just apprehend some genin?" she asked, thinking that it was some genin team who had hurt Sakura and her teammates in such a brutal manner.

"Who said it was some genin who hurt us, Granny?" Sakura asked.

"Then who-?"

Sayuri was interrupted when Tsukihime suddenly gasped in alarm. "My Lady, you need to see this!" she exclaimed as she stared at the cursed seal on the back of Sasuke's neck, which she had just found out after trying to locate the source of the foreign chakra tainting the Uchiha's body and undoing the bandages around the neck. The older woman's eyes widened when she saw the cursed seal on Sasuke.

"No…" She let out a horrified whispered and turned towards Sakura and spoke in a begging tone, "Don't tell me he put a cursed seal on you too!"

Sakura shook her head, and the older woman let out a relieved sigh. Though her relief didn't last long when she realized what Sakura had meant earlier when she had said that she hadn't been attacked by some genin. "Wait, when you said it wasn't any genin who hurt you-"

"Um, sorta?" Sakura asked as she scratched the back of her head.

"Well, that Sound team did work for Orochimaru, so you aren't exactly wrong, Sakura!" Naruto piped in.

Sasuke, being the little shit he was, just commented dryly-and ignored Kaito who had somehow choked on his own saliva as well as the shell shocked Tsukihime. "I never thought I'd ever see the day when dobe would actually speak something legitimately smart."

"Teme," Naruto let out a suffering sigh, "Read the mood, please. I don't think anyone here appreciates your sass."

Sasuke snorted. "Pot. Kettle."

Before Naruto could retort, Tsukihime inserted herself in the conversation with a wheeze. "Um, I think I heard that wrong, but I think you said Orochimaru?" She said apprehensively, "You didn't mean Orochimaru of the Sanin, right? I mean, what are the chances-"

"Yep, just the one." Naruto said, interrupting Tsukihime from her ramblings.

"Um," Kaito asked weakly, and wow, he looked really pale there. "Lady Sayuri, Permission to pass out?" When the older woman shot him an unimpressed looks, he let out a whimper –maybe Team Seven's the judgmental stares were a bit too much for him?- as he spoke, "Please?"

"Permission granted." Sayuri grunted, and the teenager didn't even grace her with his gratitude before he passed out face first on the ground next to Naruto's bed.

Tsukihime too opened her mouth, but shut up immediately when Sayuri glared at her and said, "No, I'll not give you the easy way out. Kaito's young and new to this job, he can be excused. But you are an experienced medic, and I'm not dealing with this shit all on my own. Now, do your fucking job and go call the Hokage, the ANBU Commander, Shikaku, Inoichi, and the proctors for the Exam."

"-and Kakashi-sensei." Naruto once again added.

Sayuri rolled her eyes, "Yes, yes, grab the Hatake too while you're at it."

Tsukihime grimaced, but did as she was told, since she immediately shunshined away, leaving the three of them alone with Sayuri.

As soon as she disappeared in a puff of smoke, Sayuri immediately activated a small-ranged privacy seal around Sakura and herself, and asked her granddaughter in a stern tone, "Sakura," She pursued her lips, and grimaced. "I know this is not the time I should be asking about it, but –well, you know what's at stake, right? I mean does he know about-" she then gestured towards their eyes and asked hesitantly, "-well, you know…?"

Sakura let out a sad smile and she averted her eyes. "I'm sorry…. I didn't have any choice….." Her lone eye flashed with a bitter expression, "It was either that I use my sharingan to get at least a minute chance of surviving against the Sanin for the sake of my teammates, or get ourselves killed I the confrontation. I had no choice…"

The older woman exhaled sharply. "You mean-"

"Orochimaru knows that I have a sharingan." Sakura told her curtly, and didn't dare to look at her grandmother in fear that all she'd see was the disappointment in her eyes. "His minions even extracted my sharingan eye, though we dealt with them before they could hand it back to Orochimaru." Her eye glanced at her teammates, who were looking back at her curiously –with no small amount of confusion since they couldn't exactly hear what they were talking about thanks to the privacy seal- and smiled bitterly, "My teammates also know about my sharingan." She blinked her eye as another thought occurred to her, "and maybe the members of Team Ten knows about it too. They had been there when the Orochimaru's minions had attacked us and tried to extract my eye."

She bit her lip and glanced down at her lap nervously and spoke, "I'm sorry, Granny…. All these years you've done so much to hide your sharingan, and even protected me all this time, and I just disrupted all your well laid your plans in a single moment of impulse." A sob escaped her lips as tears rolled down her lone eye –alarming her friends who had been looking on from outside and had no idea what was actually going on- "I'm so, so sorry. I'm such an idiot! I always get you in trouble, don't I? First it had been all those years ago with big brother Shisui, and then the Massacre, and now this….. I'm really sorry Granny, please don't hate me…. I-"

"Oh dear…" Sayuri spoke softly as she engulfed her precious granddaughter in a hug and patted her back in a soothing manner, "How long have you been carrying this much sadness for? Have you been thinking about all this ridiculous stuff all this time you've been stranded in that horrible forest after losing your eye?" When Sakura's frame shuddered with even more sobs, Sayuri couldn't help but sigh as she kissed the back of her head and tried to calm her done, "You've suffered so much in the last few days, my little Sakura… Let it all out, okay? You'll feel better."

Sakura clutched her grandmother's robes tightly, as if she was trying to anchor herself to reality with her presence. "But it isn't fair!" she wailed. "He took my sharingan, Granny! He took away the only thing that connected me to Inner, and now I can't hear him that well, except for a few snippets every once in a while! I feel all alone, and so, so cold –and I don't want to feel cold!" She stared up at her grandmother and pleaded, "Bring him back Granny! Please, make it okay! Just like how it had been before! Please!"

"Oh Sakura…" She mumbled sadly and once again hugged her tightly. "I'll try my best, okay? So please don't cry? If you cry any longer, then I too will start crying… Do you want Hiruzen to see me in such a mess? He'll never let me live it down, you know….."

Sakura let out a watery chuckle at her words. The older woman let out a triumph smile when she saw that. "Now that's more like my adorable granddaughter." she ruffled Sakura's pink hair, and when Sakura's sobs somehow subsided down a bit, she told her, "And you shouldn't worry about exposing our secret, you know. One day, it was bound to come out. It was never meant to be a secret forever. Though it'd have been nice if we could have hidden it longer, until he woke up from his coma, that is." Sakura winced at her words and looked down guiltily, making the older woman sigh. "Now, now, there's no need to look so down. Maybe it's a good thing our secret came out like this. Just imagine if I had to breach the subject myself in a meeting. What'd have I said to Hiruzen, then? "Oh, Lord Hokage, you know I have sharingan, and my granddaughter too possesses them and we've been hiding it from you for years. I thought I'd let you know now, since the one we've been waiting for all these years have finally returned." He'd have been even more pissed then, Sakura and would've even kicked my ass!" Sakura couldn't help but giggle at her words. But it still didn't lessen her worries.

"Will he punish us, Granny?" Sakura asked as her lone eye flashed in worry.

"He will," She admitted, and quickly iterated her words when she saw her granddaughter's eye watering again, and frankly Sayuri did not want to deal with a crying Sakura again. "but I'm sure it won't be that bad, other than both of us –as well as your parents- being kept in observation for the next few months, they won't do anything much." Sakura opened her mouth to argue, but was silenced by Sayuri's next words. "Just trust me, okay?" She kissed her granddaughter's forehead, "I won't let anything happen to you, or to your parents. So believe in me, alright?"

Sakura nodded, trusting her grandmother with everything.

"Oh, by the way, I'm sure Obito will be fine, so just cheer up, okay?" Sayuri said cheekily as she pulled Sakura's cheeks a bit, and then undid the privacy seal and walked away, leaving behind a dumbfounded Sakura.

Sakura stared at her grandmother's retreating back with widened eyes –and she didn't even notice Naruto and Sasuke flanking her sides in worry and sitting on the bed on her either sides- as she mumbled, "How did she know about Obito? I don't recall ever calling him by his name in front of her….."

"Sakura?" Sasuke asked in concern as he bumped their shoulders.

"Did something happen?" Naruto asked worriedly as he narrowed his eyes towards the older woman's retreating back.

Sakura shook her head. "It's nothing." She mumbled under her breath.

Maybe she's just imagining things…. right?

A/N:-Another filler chapter. Damn I hate these ones! I really, really want to skip these meaningless ones and get to the exciting part! But well, fillers do make up most of the story, so yeah…. can't dodge this bullet even if I SO want to. Though, I had wanted to end this stuff right here, and start with the priliminaries in the next chappie, 'coz god knows this arc had gotten stretched because of all the angst, feels and cliffhanger, but well, what can you do when you reach your mental word count for the chapter and your inspiration just halts in the middle like a stubborn bull? You stop the chapter, that's what you do, and give your readers another sorta cliffhanger. (I'm so, so sorry PleaseDontHitMe-!)

So….. another late update, and that too by almost six- wait, it's seven months. Oopsie daisy. Though in my defense writing all this angtsy stuff is like pulling teeth, especially when it's not even in the exciting part.

The next update shouldn't take this long….I think?

(Don't hit me, okay? Even I don't know when muse will hit me the next time.)