Chapter Twenty-Five

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Note: Someone expressed concern that Sasuke mentioned people from Kumo being after him at one point since he's not supposed to have been there, but since he was on the Wave mission for two months there's really no reason he couldn't have met them either in Wave or on the way as he never said he met them IN Kumo and ninja do travel quite a bit.

"Yo," Kakashi greeted as he appeared beside Sasuke in a whirl of leaves.

"Couldn't you just walk here like a normal person?" Sasuke demanded. "Now there are leaves everywhere."

"If they bother you that much just ask Temari to blow them away for you," Kakashi said dismissively. "And to answer your question: no, I can't."

Sasuke waited for some elaboration but it seemed like Kakashi wasn't willing to offer any. "No you can't because…?" he prompted.

"Because I'm not a normal person," Kakashi replied promptly.

"I hear that," Sasuke muttered.

"And because walking would have wasted valuable talking to my minions time or reading Ichi Ichi time," Kakashi added. "Speaking of, where are Sakura and Naruto?"

"They went to go visit Neji in the medical area," Sasuke answered. "Or at least that's what they said they were doing. Who even knows if that's where they really are."

"So, haunting his bedside, huh?" Kakashi mused, rubbing his chin. "I have taught them well."

"…Sure," Sasuke said. "And you have no idea just how surreal it is to hear people genuinely believe that."

"Well when the students are amazing, the teacher looks incredible by default," Kakashi explained.

"Yeah, except you're the kind of teacher who thought we were good to go against people like Lee, Neji, Temari, and GAARA after having only ever taught us one thing," Sasuke pointed out.

"I had complete faith in you," Kakashi insisted.

"The only skills we had that we didn't have when we graduated – well, except for Naruto having the ability to use Chakra properly which he really should have had when he graduated – was the ability to climb trees. How did that make you think 'oh, they're ready to be Chuunins'?" Sasuke wondered.

"The second stage did take place in a forest," Kakashi noted.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again: there is a reason I left," Sasuke said, shaking his head in annoyance.

"I know," Kakashi agreed pleasantly. " I just thought that reason was Naruto's status as 'competent' was giving you an inferiority complex."

"Okay, I feel sufficiently talked to, why don't you go bother Naruto and Sakura now?" Sasuke suggested.

"I couldn't possibly do that!" Kakashi sounded shocked at the very idea. "They're visiting a friend in his time of need and to interrupt would just be rude!" He paused. "Not to mention Gai will probably be there. But tell me: why didn't you go with them?"

"Because I don't really care about Neji's minor probably-healed-by-Tsunade-by-now injuries," Sasuke replied.

"I figured that," Kakashi said, rolling his eyes. "But why didn't Naruto and Sakura drag you along?"

Sasuke shrugged. "Probably because Naruto was too busy dragging Sakura."

"SAKURA didn't want to go?" Kakashi asked, surprised. "That doesn't sound like her. Besides, she'll want to tell Tsunade that she won. Against all odds."

"Apparently Sakura's mad at me," Sasuke revealed. "And Naruto wanted to give her a chance to cool down or something like that."

"Why in the world is Sakura mad at you?" Kakashi questioned. "I mean, it's not like you're still on her about being useless, right?"

Sasuke said nothing.

"…Seriously?" Kakashi asked. "You know she beat Neji."

"Hearsay," Sasuke claimed. "All I heard was that she's my next opponent and Neji got medical attention."

"You KNOW she's not," Kakashi pointed out. "So why are you saying otherwise?"

"I may know that," Sasuke allowed, "but fighting people when they're all worked up tends to make the fight more interesting. Besides, something tells me that once I actually do see her in action I'll have to drop the pretending to think she sucks thing and so I'm trying to milk it for all its worth while I can."

Kakashi snorted. "That you did. And then you went out, fed it a soldier pill, and started the process all over again."

Sasuke smirked. "Details, details…"

"You know, I appreciate your attempts to keep the peace until the match but I don't think it will do much good," Sakura told Naruto as they made their way towards Tsunade's domain.

"And why's that? An hour from now you'll either be fighting or your match will be over," Naruto predicted.

"True, but with Kakashi up in the Hokage box Sasuke and I will be alone together while you're fighting Temari," Sakura informed him.

"You won't be alone," Naruto assured her. "I don't think Shikamaru is planning on leaving seeing as how he appeared to be taking a nap when we left, Shino should still be there, Kiba might be there if he feels Akamaru is up to facing Sasuke, and Gaara will definitely be there as he's still in the Exam."

"As you said, Shikamaru is asleep but even if he weren't, would he bother to try and step in and break us up if he wasn't already touching our shadows?" Sakura shot back. "Or would Shino or Gaara do anything, period? Kiba might, but then he'd be more likely to break up our fight but provoking Sasuke into attacking him than anything else."

"You two are big kids now and one of these days you're going to have to learn how to deal with people who go out of their way to piss you off," Naruto mock-lectured as he opened the door to the medical area and stepped inside.

"I do know how to deal with them," Sakura replied, the very essence of wide-eyed innocence. "It's accomplishing such a thing non-violently that's giving me pause."

"Being drunk helps," Tsunade suggested, looking up from Akamaru. Kiba was watching anxiously a few feet back.

"I'm a bit young for that, though, aren't I?" Sakura asked, a little nervously. The last thing she wanted was to be on her mentor's list of potential drinking buddies.

"Konoha's policy is to allow anyone who is legally an adult – which you became once you made genin – to have full access to alcohol," Tsunade explained. "Civilians might have to show ID, but for shinobi just sporting a headband is enough."

"Drinking laws are in place for a reason and I really don't feel that I'm physically ready for-" Sakura began to protest.

"Oh, get over it. Ero-Sennin and Gamabunta made me get drunk when I was signing with them and nothing happened to me," Naruto announced.

"And you cleared it from your system in a matter of hours!" Sakura objected. "You're a Jinchuriki and have insane healing abilities; drinking doesn't work like that for me."

"Well, you could always drink less," Naruto suggested. "Just don't come to me for sympathy when you're hung-over because apparently I'm immune."

"Some people have all the luck," Tsunade muttered. "Although my method of drinking until the hangover goes away is surprisingly effective."

"Besides, remember all the problems Kakashi had to deal with and why he, Sasuke, definitely you, and I aren't supposed to drink?" Sakura hinted.

"Oh, right," Naruto nodded once realization had dawned. "You'd better stick to drinking with Shizune or Ero-Sennin, Baa-chan, because Sakura's a total lightweight and would probably pass out after the first drink or die of alcohol poisoning or something like that."

"What have I told you about calling me 'Baa-chan'?" Tsunade demanded.

Naruto shrugged. "I have no idea but I'm sure you're about to tell me. Not that I know why you even bother considering that I'm not liable to pay any more attention than the last fifty million times you told me…whatever it is that you said about it."

"Nice save," Sakura approved.

"Don't call me 'Baa-chan'!" Tsunade shouted.

"Then don't be old!" Naruto hollered back.

Whatever Tsunade was going to say next was preempted by Kiba's happy cry of, "Akamaru! You're okay!"

"I told you he would be," Tsunade reminded him.

"I know and I didn't doubt you I just…I was so worried!" Kiba gently picked Akamaru up and inspected him. Akamaru's eyes were wide and it looked terrified. "What's wrong with him? Sasuke said he just sent him off to chase cats. If I found out he lied to me…"

"He probably didn't," Sakura informed him. "But since most of Sasuke's experiences with cats was Tora, well…"

"Right," Kiba nodded. "I'm going to kill him."

"Okay, so I'm going to be moving Kiba out of the 'will stop fight by focusing attention on self' category and into the 'will join in' category," Naruto decided. "I wonder if I could convince Gaara to play peacemaker?"

"That would be one of the most ironic things I have ever seen," Sakura remarked.

"Although the two of you trying to kill a friend of yours might set a bad example," Naruto continued.

"We already addressed that possibility earlier today, remember?" Sakura reminded him. "We made sure to stress that following our example as far as that went wasn't really the way to go."

"What's a team without a little attempted homicide?" Tsunade interjected. "God knows it happened often enough on my team."

"Didn't your team have Orochimaru of all people?" Kiba asked, a little put-off at the thought of either trying to kill Hinata or Shino or them trying to kill him or each other.

"Yes, why?" Tsunade asked.

"And didn't it also have Jiraiya on it?" Kiba pressed.

"I don't see your point," Tsunade replied.

"If you can't I doubt my explaining it will do any good," Kiba decided.

"By the way, Tsunade-sama? I beat Neji," Sakura said proudly. "I had to take advantage of the fact he refused to take me seriously, but I did it."

"In the real world, people will often refuse to take you seriously, especially with your pink hair," Tsunade told her. "Honestly, there's just something about a shinobi with pink hair that makes it difficult to be taken seriously…exploiting that is an excellent strategy. After all – wait," the slug sannin cut herself off. "Are you saying that I just won a bet?"

The three genin froze.

"Y-you bet on me, Tsunade-sama?" Sakura asked once she found her voice.

Tsunade looked surprised at the question. "Of course I did; what kind of teacher would I be if I didn't have faith in my own student?"

"You know what? I think Akamaru's fine now so I'm going to go check in with my teammates. Thanks for waking him up," Kiba said hurriedly as he ran for the door. "Bye!"

"Coward," Naruto muttered.

"I swear to God, if there's an invasion because of this…" Tsunade shook her head. "But never mind that, I'm glad that my faith in you was not misplaced."

"Me too," Sakura managed to say, secretly wondering if it really would have been that bad to let Neji beat her and leave Naruto to deal with his issues.

"So, where did you say Neji was?" Naruto asked, eager to escape the situation as well.

"Right back there," Tsunade pointed towards his bed. "Be careful what you say; he's awake but he seems to be suffering from some sort of existential crisis."

"That's probably just a side-effect of Sakura's Therapy Jutsu," Naruto declared.

Tsunade peered curiously at her student. "You can do Therapy Jutsu? Since when?"

Sakura shrugged uncomfortably. "Well, you know me. Tragically large forehead and whatnot."

"If you say so," Tsunade said dubiously.

Quickly, the pair made their way over to Neji.

As Naruto had predicted, the minute Neji saw them – or, more accurately, her – he immediately stiffened and his eyes widened in alarm. Clearly he wasn't feeling up to listening to Sakura tell him all the reasons he should have won but didn't because he failed as a person.

"Oh, relax, Neji," Naruto urged. "We save causing mental breakdowns for the people we don't like."

"And you both like me?" Neji asked.

"Have you ever tried to kill Hinata?" Naruto returned.

Neji eyed him strangely. "Of course not."

"Then we have no problem with you," Naruto assured him cheerfully.

"I have a slight problem with all the monologuing," Sakura confessed. "I'm sure I'll get over it soon."

"I still can't believe I lost," Neji said, shaking his head in bemusement. "I should have won."

Sakura shrugged. "What can I say? Your overconfidence is your weakness. Well, that and your tendency to monologue. If you absolutely must, at least wait until you've beaten the opponent."

"That would be bad sportsmanship," Naruto objected.

"As much as I hate to say it, I think Sasuke might have had a point when he was talking about the 'Naruto' kind of ninja," Sakura said incredulously. "We're really not required to be sportsmanlike."

"But it's just an Exam," Naruto countered.

Sakura laughed. "JUST an Exam? People have died, you know."

"So what you're saying is that I should stop judging people prematurely because they may surprise me or even end up beating me and I'll be much happier if I stop trying to rely on fate instead of personal responsibility?" Neji cut in.

Sakura and Naruto exchanged a look.

"Sure, let's go with that," Naruto said finally.

"Feel better soon," Sakura told him. "We've really got to get back."

On their way out, they spotted Tsunade filling out a betting card.

"Not again…" Naruto groaned. "Isn't it bad enough you won once? Do you really want to risk such an event happening twice in one day?"

"No, I don't," Tsunade admitted. "Which is why I'm betting that the Exam will end with an invasion in the middle of one of the matches."

"Welcome to the second round of the Chuunin Exam finals," Obito announced. "The first match is a bye so would Gaara get down here, please?"

"Is he serious?" Gaara asked.

Sasuke shrugged."Who knows? You should probably just go."

Gaara nodded and jumped off the balcony.

"Okay, so let the first match commence," Obito said. He waited for a moment. "I see only one competitor able to continue so Gaara is the winner. Congratulations on making it to the semi-finals, Gaara. How do you feel?"

"Confused and slightly irritated," Gaara responded truthfully.

Obito blinked. "Strange. Most people are more excited. Ah well, to each his own. The second match is between Naruto and Temari. Would you two please get down here?"

"Well, I'm off," Naruto said. "Sasuke, try not to make anyone want to kill you while I'm gone, okay?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Sasuke claimed.

Naruto turned to the supposedly more rational member of his team. "Sakura, save it for the fight. It will come soon enough."

Heading towards the stairs, he saw two Kusa shinobi had cornered Temari.

"These low level tournaments like the Chuunin Exam are great for betting. Many of the ministers are here for that," one of them said conversationally.

The other smirked. "And so, this fight...could you lose it?"

"I suppose anything is possible," Temari said politely.

"I'm glad we understand each oth-" the first one started to say.

"That said, I'm not going to throw the fight and who the hell tries to convince someone to do so without offering up any incentive?" Temari demanded.

"Listen, girl, we're not giving you a choice here," the second growled, reaching for his pack.

"I get that you want whoever you're working for to win his bet but do you honestly think that the Kazekage's daughter managing to get injured on her way down the stairs is going to go over very well?" Naruto drawled. "And yes, I know that since this is Konoha the Hokage has the final say on what your punishment would be but since whoever you work for could have easily bet the other way and you decided to go after me…well, you probably wouldn't like the consequences. All that is inconsequential, though, because if you don't back off then Temari WILL make you."

The Kusa shinobi just glared at him before turning and leaving.

"I could have handled that myself, you know," Temari informed him, annoyed.

"You did handle that," Naruto replied. "I just pointed that out. And besides," he grinned, "they were blocking the stairs."

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