Sakura awoke to the light beeping of the alarm clock she hadn't set. Her guess was that Genma had set it before he left, but there was no way he was that considerate. Was he?

She grasped at the folder set beside her and stared blankly at the information packet inside, mindlessly thumbing over the top corner of the page in silence. She'll never know what came over her the night before, but she knew the guilt and embarrassment would eat at her insides for the rest of her life. How could she do that? She was so much stronger than that!

"What did you do?" she moaned aloud, and let her back fall into the comfort of her bed.

The memory was so fresh and left a tingling sensation on her lips. She kissed Genma. And she liked it a lot more than she thought she would. She brought her fingers to her lips, gently tracing the sensation along the bottom of her lip, and closed her eyes. She shouldn't be thinking about this sort of stuff. She should be focusing on the Chunin Exams. She should be focusing on her next plan of attack. She needed to fortify her mentality against the sickening game her father was playing.

She had to—a flash of silver hair invaded her thoughts and quickly disappeared. Sakura was immediately hit with a wave of guilt.

Kakashi… She thought, and rolled onto her side. The last time she saw him was the morning of the exam. She left his room without a word. She didn't bother waking him, but a part of her felt that he knew she was already leaving.

Yamato was kind enough to cook breakfast for her while she gathered her things and took her to the main gates that morning. Genma had even placed a "good luck" sticky note on her door. Maybe letting her sleep in his room was his way of sending her off... Sakura didn't know. All she knew was that in her moment of weakness, she turned to the person closest to her and pushed herself onto them.

What would Kakashi think of her taking advantage of Genma? Another wave of guilt washed over her gut.

Wait, why did she care? Why should she? She was still angry with him for not letting her know sooner that she was sneaking into his room at night. It didn't matter that they weren't doing anything. It didn't matter that he never touched her. She had lost her trust in the one person she felt most close to. But it didn't stop her from insisting on sleeping in his room the night before the exam.

"What is wrong with you?!" She groaned and rolled onto the other side.

She heard the papers of her information packet drop to the floor but she didn't care. Her mind was swirling with the confusing thoughts and feelings she had, jumbled together with the fear and uncertainty of the exam that she wasn't ready to process. It was too early to give up but Sakura already wanted to go home. She wanted to sleep in her bed away from everything. She felt stupid that she couldn't compose herself as much as she wanted to considering how dire her situation was.

This wasn't the time to be thinking about unnecessary things.

She looked to the alarm clock on the bedside table and groaned an ugly sound. She missed breakfast down in the mess hall of her hotel and lunch wasn't for another two hours. She supposed she could go to a restaurant outside, but she wasn't sure if leaving was the best idea. She had no idea what was going on and wasn't sure if her safety was guaranteed or not.

Her best bet was to get a snack from the vending machine in the lobby and wait until Genma came back to take her to the city arena where she would be registered for the second part of the exam. There was no telling what was in store for her.

.

.

Three granola bars, a bottle of water, and a shower later, Sakura found herself pacing the floor of her room, nervously waiting for Genma to arrive. She had managed to keep herself distracted by reading through the information packet thoroughly—four times—and repacked her belongings neatly into her ruck sack.

With a quick, light knock against her door, Sakura jumped in her spot before clearing her throat and headed towards the door.

"Hey." Genma greeted, and smiled sheepishly with his hands burried in his pockets.

"Hey." Sakura managed, feeling uneasy and shy. They stood there in silence for a moment before she continued. "So… we should—"

"Oh, yeah! Sure! The sooner we get you registered the better..." he continued.

Sakura awkwardly grabbed her things and headed out with Genma leading the way. He led her to a small black taxi and they rode in silence for what felt like the longest fifteen minutes of her life.

Sakura didn't know what to say, let alone know how to approach the Genma situation and it seemed he felt the same. They glanced at one another and tried to muster some form of conversation, but it was just too awkward for either of them to speak at all; resulting in the endless silence of the car ride.

As they arrived at the arena, Sakura marveled at the large, imposing building before her. It seemed like an impenetrable fortress with its ash colored walls and desperate need for windows. It stood about seven stories high and curved before her as if the entire arena was shaped like a large circle. If Sakura didn't know any better, she would have assumed this was as prison, but that certainly wasn't the case.

Genma helped her out of the taxi and led her to the main gates, flashing a red pass to security guards stationed along the way. After a series of security checks down a long corridor Sakura found herself entering into a wide circular clearing littered with lines of people, desks, and deep blue tents labeled with letters and numbers.

Sakura flashed Genma a nervous glance who only smiled and motioned for her to follow along.

They snaked their way through groups of participants and Sakura had to wonder just how many people passed the first part to get here today. There had to have been at least a hundred people down here in the arena and everywhere Sakura looked there seemed to be more people exiting from the tents.

How many people did she have to go up against during this exam?

Sakura felt a soft tug on her wrist from Genma, guiding her through a large group of people to a table just off to the far-left corner of the arena.

He flashed his pass to a woman with long orange hair, thick glasses, and a no-nonsense expression on her face who seemed to be in her forties. Something about her felt imposing and there was an immense pressure radiating from her that left Sakura feeling small under her gaze.

"Name and city of origin" she stated, pushing a clipboard towards him.

"Sakura, from the City of Konoha." Genma answered, as he filled Sakura's name onto the clipboard. The woman pulled a box from the side of the table and sifted through a stack of files before slapping a few documents onto the table.

"Any injuries acquired before or after arriving in Tanigakure?" she lowered her glasses and looked Sakura over.

"A few scratches here and there but nothing impeding mobility." He answered, not giving Sakura a chance to answer for herself.

The woman eyed Genma and Sakura carefully before pulling out another sheet of paper and stamping it harshly with a large red circle filled with three lines. The woman then scribbled a few things down before beckoning Sakura over.

"Wrist please." She ordered, as she peeled a red, rectangular sticker from a small white sheet.

Sakura did as she was instructed and held out her hand; shivering at the woman's icy touch. She placed the sticker just under her wrist and performed a quick hand seal before handing Genma the stamped papers. Confused, Sakura looked over where the sticker had been and noticed a black bar code tattooed along her wrist with her name and birthday neatly printed above the code.

"Bring that number to the G-12 medical tent. They'll scan you into the system and perform a quick physical before you can finish your registration.

Sakura nodded quickly and followed after Genma who already began to lead the way.

The two continued in awkward silence until they reached the designated medical tent.

"I'll wait here until you get out." He stated, handing her the stamped papers he had received from the orange haired woman. "If there's a problem just call for me."

Sakura remained silent, but nodded again as she turned and entered the tent.

The inside was a lot larger than it appeared and was filled with bright lights. There were three desks with computers and line of folding chairs against the entire left side of the tent. Behind the desks was a large white sheet stretched and tied to the roof of the tent and to the ground to act as a room divider and provide privacy for those being examined.

Sakura grimaced at the thought of a stranger examining her. Her last physical was with Tsunade when Kakashi and the rest found her and that was an experience in itself. It didn't matter how close she had gotten with her mentor over time; Sakura was never truly comfortable in her own skin after everything that had happened and it felt even more weird having someone else look her over.

"Excuse me…" Sakura called, seeing no on in the tent.

"Just a minute." A female voice sang from behind the curtain. The sounds of medical equipment dropping onto a metal tray made Sakura cringe at the possible sloppiness of whoever the examiner might have been. After a few more clinks and clanks and what sounded like a large crash, Sakura was greeted by the last person she ever wanted to see during the exam; Ino Yamanaka.

"Oh great… What are you doing here?" Sakura grumbled, as she passed Ino her stamped papers.

The young blond smiled through gritted teeth and read over the documents before she tossed them onto the desk closest to her.

"I was selected to oversee the medical treatment for the Chunin exams this year. What are you doing here?" Ino scoffed.

"Are you dumb or something? Don't you remember Tsunade saying I was entering the exam? Or were your ears so full of wax you didn't hear her?"

"I did. I just didn't think you'd pass the first part." She shrugged. "What I meant was, what are you doing in my tent? There are other medical tents here. Or do you just get a kick out of bugging me?"

"Oh yes, because I'm such an incapable person." Sakura droned sarcastically. "But if we're talking about being incapable, I recall it was you who ignored a certain civilian during a certain stabbing event not too long ago. Also, I didn't choose this tent. I was assigned to it."

Both women stared each other down before the young blond threw her hands up with a loud huff.

"We're not getting into this Forehead. Not here." Ino growled as she pulled a handheld scanner from the desk drawer closest to her. "Wrist. Now."

"You could at least treat me like a patient." Sakura grumbled as she held out her wrist. "Oh wait, you already are."

"If you're trying to start something Forehead, this isn't the place or the time. Besides, you should be nice to me. I can easily say you're in no condition to continue with the exam and then you'll be forced to do it again next year." Ino snipped.

Sakura opened her mouth to retort but she didn't. She couldn't. Even if Ino didn't pass her, next year wasn't an option. Sakura wouldn't be able to stay in Konoha after this. After everything Genma briefed her on, this was her only shot to finally be free. Even if it meant kissing up to the one person she strongly disliked.

"What? Cat got your tongue?" Ino pressed. She scanned Sakrua's wrist and typed a few things into the computer while Sakura quietly waited for Ino's next instruction. "Seriously Forehead? Nothing?"

"Could we please get on with the examination?" Sakura asked quietly, careful not to bite back at Ino's annoying tone.

Ino raised a brow at Sakura's sudden change in demeanor and motioned for Sakura to follow her behind the curtain. Sakura noted an exam table, a chair, a metal tray, and large cabinet which must have been filled with medical supplies. There were three other sanctioned sheets that lined the other side of her exam space with courtesy curtains for privacy. On the exam table looked like a hospital gown folded neatly; waiting for Sakura to change into.

"Put your clothes on the chair and change into that gown. Call me when you're ready." Ino ordered, and walked around the curtain.

.

.

It took a few moments for Sakura to mentally prepare herself. She had managed to get into the gown but she wasn't ready to call for Ino. She was too uncomfortable but it had to be done.

"Forehead, are you ready?" Ino impatiently called from the other side of the curtain. "Its not like there are other people here but my break is scheduled to start soon and I'd like to get some food. I'm running out of stamina here."

Sakura didn't answer. Her mind was too preoccupied with the anxiety of removing the genjutsu from her back. She had been constantly using it since Tsunade taught her how to hide it, and it was almost crazy to think anything close to letting her bare skin show.

"Forehead?" Ino called, this time sounding a little concerned.

"I.. I'm ready." Sakura called as she brought her hands together and released her genjutsu.

.

.

.

During the exam Ino covered a lot of ground and asked a lot of questions. They were standardized questions Sakura often asked her patients. She felt vulnerable under Ino's scrutinizing gaze and Sakura wondered if her patients felt the same with her. She thought about how she acted around her own patients. She had been nice enough and made her patients feel at ease. But it probably wasn't enough. Sakura didn't think her mannerisms mattered at this point, because regardless of her approach, answering these questions were just nerve-wracking and embarrassing all together.

The physical portion of the exam was worse. Starting from head to toe, Ino used her chakra to examine every tiny bit of cell that created Sakura. She was so accustomed to inspecting herself but feeling the chakra of another person invading her body made her skin crawl. Despite how warm and comforting it actually was, it didn't make Sakura feel any less uncomfortable than before. It was like her interrogation all over again, and all her personal details were out in the open for scrutiny.

Sakura didn't think this exam could get any worse until Ino helped her sit up and asked Sakura about the only thing she didn't want to talk about: her back.

"You have severe scaring all along your back with additional keloid scars which have formed on top of older scars. Is there any pain when you stretch your arms? Any tightness?"

"No…"

Ino placed her hands-on Sakura's back and infused a bit of chakra into them as she inspected the damage.

"Your muscles are quite thin in a few spaces because they've healed awkwardly. There's strip of muscle that's underdeveloped just under your left shoulder blade too. You've also got some subdermal scaring and a slight curve in your spine. Do you feel any pain while you're active? Any stiffness during the day?"

"…No…I don't know… Its been that way forever… I guess... I'm just used to it." She answered quietly.

Ino remained quiet as she continued down the middle of Sakura's back.

"You surprisingly have a lot of scar tissue along the spine, but you also have these strange lines that are perfectly untouched in between layers of scarring. Just what happened here?"

Ino pressed at few spots which Sakura mentally noted were indeed tight. She could never reach certain areas when she was younger and had no choice but to get used to the sensation and work with it.

"…can only reach so far…" She whispered.

"What was that?" Ino asked, distracted by the examination.

Sakura pushed herself forward and hopped from the exam table just before Ino could finish her inspection and reached behind her back with chakra infused hands; demonstrating from different directions how far she could reach.

"I can only reach so far…" she explained, as she traced along the uninjured spots Ino mentioned. "When you're a kid, and constantly getting pelted, you can't reach very far."

A moment of silence had passed before Sakura turned to meet Ino's gaze. The woman was actually silent for the first time since Sakura met her. Ino was deep in thought but her eyes looked as if she couldn't believe what she had heard.

Sakura stretched her arms and her back once more the shake the feeling of Ino's chakra from her skin.

"If there's nothing else, I'd like to finish my registration please."

Ino shook her head and cleared her throat as she passed by Sakura, just stopping at the edge of the curtain.

Sakura paid her no mind as she stripped her gown and put her clothes back on. It wasn't until she was finally slipping her shirt over her head that Ino said something Sakura never thought she'd hear the blond woman say.

"I can fix that you know…" Ino stated softly, before exiting the exam space.


Author's note:
LOl... long time no see? Its not my best chapter but I'm hoping to continue this. A lot has happened and my life just genuinely sucks lol. Graduated from college, couldn't find work in my field. Worked in retail forever. Sure I got a few raises and a promotion but no one wants to be in customer service/retail forever. Got married. Got cheated on. Got divorced. Now I'm just getting back into the swing of the life I loved before I got married.

Thank you to all the loyal fans and followers who have waited patiently for this fanfiction's return. I'm sorry it took so long.

-Rusala