Just as they'd all agreed upon, the final week before the Chunin Exams was filled with studying, training and scoping out the competition of the Exams some for the members of Team Seven until the day of the first round arrived.
"So it looks like the place we're going is to the academy" Sakura scanned the application form, since Kakashi had up and disappeared on them without telling them where they were supposed to go to her teammates chagrin.
Her admission prompted Sasuke to groan in annoyance "That bad huh, but we're glad nonetheless that we have actual escorts to this place because we know where nothing is in this village mostly" Karui smirked.
Readying her belongings because she didn't know what they would need for the first round of the Chunin Selection Exams, nor did the others of her team or even the members of Team Seven, since their sensei was contrary like that.
Sasuke scowled then took a deep breath "Nothing to it but to get it over with I guess" Sasuke sighed in the next moment, he'd hated the academy with all it's giggling girls and now after he'd done and graduated, he had to go back it sucked but he could be mature enough about it.
Beside him Naruto nodded "Okay lead on, because we don't want to be late, if we're late we could be exempt from taking the exams and then we could be demoted back to academy students for the rest of our lives" Omoi rambled.
Obviously nervous "Relax that won't happen, participating in the exams is our choice after all, yeah our sensei's might be a little disappointed but I think they'd understand you know" Naruto assured as they headed out the door.
The last remaining Cloud Genin Shunsui just as quiet as he had been when they'd arrived, for as the members of Team Seven had learned Shunsui couldn't talk, he was still a formidable opponent though and that's why he'd been put on Karui and Omoi's team for the duration of the Exams.
To soon for Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto's liking, they arrived at their old academy and it stood as imposing as ever, where Karui and her teammates headed in first because Team Seven spotted the Sunagakure genin.
And decided it was time to enact phase one of regain Gaara's sanity and separate his chakra from that of his tailed beasts, it was all the studying they'd done of various fuinjutsu books they could find in the Uchiha Clan Library.
Naruto was adept at recreating seals but the seal they'd come up with was unique and entirely their own "Do it now Dobe" the Uchiha hissed at Naruto when Gaara was within range and completely unaware.
"Got it" the blonde whispered back, gulped quietly, aimed as best he could and threw the tag which attached itself to Gaara thankfully, where it was quickly activated with a complicated set of hand signs Sakura had drilled into him.
Gaara froze as he was overcome with a strange sensation and the voice of mother faded some into the deep recesses of his mind, his pupil-less green eyes cleared slightly of the insanity but it wasn't enough and Sakura cursed.
On either side of her Sasuke and Naruto could understand her frustration "We'll just have to make the next one stronger and hit him with it when we have a chance, now lets go in and get this round over with" the pinkette sighed.
Putting her personal feelings aside as the three of them entered the academy building "Of course their trying to trick us right off the bat" Sakura snorted less than a second later, sensing the genjutsu in the air.
Her teammates frowned until Sasuke realized what she was on about himself "Genjutsu" Sasuke groaned as they headed up the stairs and found out the reason for the illusion, to see through deception but it didn't look like many could.
Seeing as they were only on the second floor and not the third floor like the genjutsu was trying to trick them into believing "Everyone's distracted by those two Chunin, lets sneak by and get to the exam room" Naruto whispered to his teammates.
Not wanting to draw much attention onto himself or them because he really didn't feel like putting on an act right now so early into the game, so they snuck through the crowd and disappeared up the stairs with no one else the wiser.
Except for the two Chunin in disguise, who shared a smirk with each other, and like that Team Seven had arrived before the exam room and who would they find waiting for them none other than their sensei Kakashi Hatake.
Who looked upon them with pride in his one visible ebony iris "Of course I knew you wouldn't pass up this chance to further yourselves Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura and I know your not going into this lightly, so good luck in there" Kakashi patted each of his students on the head.
Ruffling their hair fondly even if he didn't want to admit that he was fond of them and then pulled open the door "We'll do you proud Sensei" his lone kunoichi declared softly with glistening peridot orbs before she discreetly got rid of the tears.
One corner of his mouth quirked into a half smile bunching up his mask "Because if you don't I guarantee that your training will be like hell on earth if you fail this round" the Copy Ninja threatened.
Amused when Naruto panicked and rushed into the room ahead of his teammates "Way to go Kakashi" the Uchiha on the team shot him a scowl and hurried after the blonde, with Sakura on their heels and he shut the door behind them and body flickered.
Inside the exam room Naruto froze as he felt a ton of glares upon his person and felt a trickle of sweat slide down the back of his neck seeing how many genin were actually participating in the Chunin Exam.
Did that stop him from making a spectacle of himself oh no because he did by firstly shouting out his name "My name is Naruto Uzumaki" the blonde gesticulated in an annoying way that had many genin glaring at him even more, which was worsened by his declaration.
Until Sakura slapped a hand over his mouth "Ignore him, he doesn't know what he's saying" Sakura attempted to diffuse the tension that had risen from Naruto's acting, it was better that they were underestimated and thought of as naive and innocent genin who knew nothing after all.
Sasuke simply rolled his eyes playing it cool "You better not get us disqualified for that Dobe" Sasuke hissed after a moment when they managed to find a spot to stand as they were ignored by the older more intimidating genin in the room.
Naruto flushed sheepishly "Sorry just thought it was better to do something that would make people underestimate us you know" Naruto admitted quietly it was something both of his teammates could understand really.
Because now they could get away with scoping out the competition in the room, Sasuke immediately spotted the genin from the unknown village and pointed them out to Sakura, the trio was definitely strange.
Mere seconds after noticing them Team Seven were practically jumped by Team Ten, meaning Ino had basically launched herself with a squeal at Sakura and Naruto and hugged them "Oh my god I can't believe you guys are really here" Ino damn near shouted bursting their ear drums.
And anyone who happened to be standing near the rookie Leaf Genin "Of course their here Ino where else would you expect them to be" Shikamaru scoffed, looking about as lazy as he always was, but there was a glint of wariness in his dark irises that Sakura echoed with her own peridot ones.
Ino huffed at her teammate then turned to Sasuke and gave him a nod instead of throwing herself on him as she had when they were younger "So what do you think it is we'll be having to do anyway" Choji asked munching on a bag of chips.
Those around him shrugged because they didn't know either and a few minutes later Team Eight was stood among them as well "Guess we're all here it seems" Kiba frowned disliking that there were so many competitors for the Chunin Exams.
"Y..yes it does s..seem that way doesn't it K..Kiba-kun" Hinata stuttered, more nervous seeming than usual and Sakura sent the slightly taller girl a reassuring smile, though she doubted it was very assuring to Hinata it was one all the same.
Next to her was the ever quiet Shino with his huge jacket and black sunglasses, he was silent for the moment as they were approached by another genin who was older, it was a person Sakura instantly recognized and couldn't help but curl her lip in dislike.
As Kabuto came to a stop before them "I understand this is your first time here but could you quit making a scene, it's making the others uncomfortable" Kabuto informed, attempting to catch Sakura's gaze but she looked resolutely away from him.
Keeping her silence, in fact since that day in the room where he'd helped her develop her medical ninjutsu Sakura had avoided being alone with him and even speaking to him actually, no matter some day she'd be his, Orochimaru had promised.
"If anyone's making a scene it's you, why because your the one who came over here and drew attention onto us" Shino frowned at the older genin, feeling the tension rising in his former classmate, which irritated his kikaichu.
Seeing that all he was doing was getting angry glares Kabuto turned and headed back towards his teammates disappointed, not to mention he hadn't been able to gain the trust of the rookie genin like had been Orochimaru's plan.
Sakura breathed a sigh of relief now that Kabuto was gone "C..Creepy w..wasn't he Shino-kun" the blue haired heiress stuttered, having not liked the older genin herself, something had felt off to her at least.
"Yeah he's always trying to talk to us when we go in for lessons at the hospital" the blonde Uzumaki whispered at Hinata who looked like she was about to faint for him even talking to her in the first place.
Until one of the others besides his teammates understood what he said "Wait, lessons in the hospital" the Inuzuka heir laughed, like he thought Naruto was to dumb to even have any sort of lesson or that he would learn anything.
Naruto scowled knowing how his statement had been interpreted and was about to lay into Kiba when Sasuke a put a hand on his shoulder and shook his head "Yeah our Jonin made us learn basic first aide, it's just taking a little longer than usual" the Uchiha scoffed.
Pretending to be irritated that he had to do such a thing and lying all in the same breath, no one needed to know that he and Naruto could use medical ninjutsu after all, Ino however knew and grinned widely.
Followed by also changing the subject "Anyway listen to this…." the blonde heiress began drawing them into some story about a training session she'd had with her dad and how badly it had ended when she fell into the pond behind her house.
"Very interesting story Ino-chan" the rosette snickered, feeling for Inoichi, it couldn't be easy raising a daughter like Ino who could be extremely annoying, but she merely smiled, pleased that she'd managed to direct the conversation to something else.
Beside her Shikamaru rolled his eyes "That's nothing compared to what Asuma-sensei has made us do" the Nara heir scoffed, looking lazier by the minute with his ever slouching posture, it was a wonder how he didn't have back problems actually.
Choji nodded along in agreement "How about you guys what's your sensei like" the Akimichi heir asked of Team Eight, already knowing what Team Seven's sensei was like since they had gotten stuck with the man for two weeks.
"Strict, why because one of us needs it" the Aburame heir finally said after what seemed like several minutes, teasing his friend in his own unique creepy way that had Kiba flushing in embarrassment that he was being called out on his behavior.
They didn't have a chance to continue, as a plume of smoke filled the room and dissipated to reveal members of T&I, Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke instantly straightened when Ibiki Morino's gaze landed on them.
And they did their best to look their most serious and the best part of it all, only Ino understood why until Ibiki shifted his gaze onto someone else, the genin of Team Seven breathed a silent sigh of relief.
Just as the man began talking, "Pipe down and listen up you baby faced degenerates, the names Ibiki Morino and I'm your proctor for the first exam, this is the written portion and I'll be explaining the rules once your seated" Ibiki barked.
Intentionally letting out a little killing intent, just to see how the brats would react, someone reacted alright but not to his KI, it was the Uzumaki brat as he stared in realistic horror at Izumo who was holding a stack of test papers "Did he just say written" Naruto cried.
Prompting Izumo to smirk and wave the stack at him and if Ibiki didn't know the brat before hand he would say that the boy was genuinely afraid that he'd fail the test, but he knew the kid was smart, a lot smarter than anyone actually knew besides his teammates.
But soon enough all the genin were seated and he was explaining the rules to them, keeping up with the killing intent as they all got started to make them sweat and the first person Ibiki set his gaze upon was Sakura.
Who had her gaze focused directly upon her test, pencil in hand as she cranked off the answers like they were nothing, then she sat back in her seat once she was done, hands on top of the desk, test face down, face a mask of complete and utter boredom.
Then his attention was stolen by some idiot in the row across from hers, the moment she had been waiting for actually because it had been planned, Sakura flashed through the hand signs quick and easy before casting the camouflage jutsu upon herself.
Followed by casting a genjutsu illusion of herself and hurriedly leaving her desk to hand off the answers to Naruto since it was a team effort and even if Naruto could answer some of the questions he wouldn't be able to answer them all.
This whole thing took maybe five minutes tops and soon Sakura was back in her seat no one the wiser of what she'd done and Naruto with a full sheet of answered test questions, Sasuke smirked at her though and soon the first portion of the Chunin Exams was over.
With all of them, the entire rookie nine passing the round, Ibiki scowled at them all just as Anko busted her way into the classroom, "The names Anko Mitarashi you maggots and I'm your proctor for the second round" Anko smirked.
Looking deranged to many's horror, especially with the half eaten dango hanging out of her mouth, before she realized and turned to Ibiki "Hey Morino you let to many of them pass, hmmph no matter by the time I'm through with them there will be less than half of you left" the purple haired interrogator shrugged.
Sasuke and Naruto rolled their eyes at her antics as they were allowed to finally leave the classroom and the academy to head towards the destination of their second exam "Is that what I think it is" Sakura hissed suddenly standing between them.
How she managed this without them realizing it made both males jump to Ino's amusement since she had been stood right behind the trio of Team Seven "Okay thanks for the scare but what do you mean Sakura" Sasuke grimaced.
Eyeing the expansive forest as they came to a stop in front of it "Yeah I'd like to know to" the blonde haired Uzumaki sulked when Sakura grinned lightly in amusement, probably laughing at them for pulling a prank in the midst of something so serious.
"Training Grounds 44 or more commonly known as the Forest of Death, it has a bad reputation, people die or go missing in there all the time" the rosette crinkled her nose up in dislike, just as Anko explained that this was the location of their second exam for the Chunin Exams.
Naruto gulped quietly while Sasuke exhaled slowly "Great, looks like we're going to be in there for five days" the ebony haired teen grimaced clearly not enthused about going into the forest, seeing as they were trouble magnets and anything could happen.
Behind them Ino winced in sympathy as Anko finally dismissed them to go home until tomorrow where they would have to show up at 0700 hours otherwise they were disqualified "See you then" Ino waved watching her friends march off to their shared house.
Where halfway they were joined by Karui, Omoi and Shunsui "Man that Ibiki Morino guy sure was intense, I swear the entire time we were taking that exam he was unleashing KI on us" Karui commented wondering if Team Seven had noticed.
Apparently they had as they all nodded solemnly "That's just Ibiki-sensei for you though" Sakura said, use to the man since she worked directly under his command at T&I, Karui raised a brow but Sakura didn't elaborate as they reached the house at long last.
There was absolutely no one to greet them upon their return "Come on lets get ready" Sasuke sighed grabbing Naruto by the arm, where the three of them then promptly disappeared up the stairs and down the right side of the hallway to Sakura's room.
Or more accurately her lab "Okay so how do we want to play this Forest of Death place out Sakura-chan, Sasuke, we're already severely underestimated so no one would be expecting anything of us which is why we can basically do anything" Naruto burst out.
Unable to keep silent any longer, Sakura smiled at him briefly in amusement before echoing Sasuke's frown with her own "I don't think it will be a piece of cake even with our unexpected experience" the fuscia haired teen informed.
In a completely dead serious tone "Your right, so the question is, is do we go in guns blazing metaphorically speaking or be discreet and undercover" the ebony haired preteen asked looking between his teammates.
Naruto frowned for a few minutes longer before something positively diabolical came to mind "Why not send in clones, we can follow along behind under the chameleon jutsu and take on our alter egos once we're in the forest" the Uzumaki declared.
Looking excited because he was the one to come up with an idea first for once "That's actually a great idea Naruto-kun and what would be even better is if we scattered more than one set of clones of us throughout the forest to throw anyone off our tail" Sakura grinned.
Because she knew that if something could go wrong it would go wrong on them, so what better way to keep people from attacking them than to send out multiple clones of themselves and let them handle whatever came their way.
Sasuke shuddered lightly in response to the mischievous gleam in Sakura's peridot irises before nodding "Okay so who wants to guess at what the point of sending us into the forest is" Sasuke asked wanting to hear their opinions before he added his own.
The three of them were quiet for a moment until Naruto once again chimed in "Probably to test how well we do in an unfamiliar environment while managing to complete the goal they set out for us" Naruto offered.
"Right and said goal is more than likely to get to the center of the forest where the tower is, which is why we're being given five days" the Uchiha added in sudden realization, though he was certain he was still missing a piece of the puzzle.
Which was given to him by Sakura "That explains the scrolls I saw in a booth off to the side, our goal will probably to get a pair of each scroll that I saw and take them to the tower, thus completing the second round" the pinkette announced.
It was Naruto's turn to shudder lightly "Yikes you really are scary Sakura-chan" the blonde commented, only offset by the grin on his whiskered face, though his expression was echoed by his teammates as they then began to decide what to take into the forest with them.
"Definitely a weeks supply of clothes, the rest should still be good from that mission, unless one of you needs to stock up on something and I suppose we could try and get a map and a compass of Training Grounds 44" Sakura hummed.
Searching her pack for anything she might be running low on or completely out of "Just the compass and map then cause I'm good" Sasuke grunted, glad they wouldn't have to go through the hell known as over-preparing.
"Me to and hey you can even send Aimai ahead tonight Sakura-chan to scope out the forest for us" Naruto chimed in surprising his teammates with yet another brilliant idea as they started heading for the exit of Sakura's room.
Just as they were about to leave Sakura stopped them "Tomorrow might be the last time we'll be in range of Gaara Sabaku for awhile at least, we have to make this one count" the rosette reminded holding out the tag that would hopefully completely separate Gaara from the tailed beasts chakra.
So there they stayed in the lab for another hour yet, pouring over fuinjutsu books until they were one hundred percent certain the tag would do its job "Okay now lets go see if we can find a map" the raven haired preteen sighed.
Stretching as he stood from sitting for so long "Not to sound like Shikamaru or anything but starting tomorrow everything's probably going to be a drag" the fuscia haired teen sighed giving the tag to Naruto.
Who shoved it in his storage pouch so that it wouldn't be forgotten in the scramble to get to their designated area "Poor Asuma-sensei" the blonde haired Uzumaki sniggered as they finally left Sakura's lab and subsequently her room.
"I wondered where you three disappeared to" Minato looked up as they randomly appeared in the living room, Kakashi was noticeably absent and Sakura narrowed her eyes at that, looking around she realized Samui was also absent which couldn't just be coincidence.
But she did shoot Minato a little smile "Yeah we were going over our strategy, you know thinking up all possible variables and not just the obvious ones" Sakura admitted, seeing as the Cloud Shinobi were no where in sight.
Most likely they were doing the same as they of Team Seven had been doing until just then "Oh, then you'll be the first ones to make it through the round then I assume" the Fourth Hokage raised a brow at the abnormal genin.
And each of them nodded making his statement a challenge more than likely "Right well we have some last minute preparations to make so we'll be going now, Tou-san" Naruto waved, marching through the living room to Minato's amusement.
"See you when you return" Minato nodded as Sakura hurried after Naruto, leaving Sasuke who returned his nod with one of his own before turning on his heel and heading after his teammates where minutes later they were out in the village.
Heading straight for a bookstore "So what exactly are we looking for" Sasuke asked once they found books with maps in them of all the areas in their village and had gotten back to the house only to once again disappear.
Sakura looked over the book she'd grabbed then pointed out something to the boys on her team "This Sasuke, Training Grounds 44 has 44 entry points which means we could start anywhere depending on if we're allowed to choose our own or are given a starting point" Sakura said.
Putting her book in the middle allowing Naruto and Sasuke to look their fill of it "Say we are given the option to choose which entry point I would think this one would be the better option considering the river, no one would be expecting genin to be able to water walk" Naruto commented.
Sasuke nodded his agreement, plus they would be in their alter ego forms with their chakra signatures altered so they wouldn't be recognized while their clones ran amok "That just leaves acquiring the second scroll, you said there were two different ones right Sakura" the Uchiha asked.
Glancing to Sakura to make sure he'd understood her much earlier statement "Mhm and I was thinking since we'll be using the chameleon jutsu until we enter the forest, we could just sneak behind and snag the opposite scroll our clones are given" the pinkette declared.
"Leaving us the ability to just head straight for the tower undetected" the blonde Uzumaki finished, grateful that he had asked Sasori Akasuna to train him and that the man had given in, otherwise he would be way behind everyone else.
With that all the books were put away and Team Seven made sure to double check their packs for the following day before heading down the stairs where the team of Cloud Shinobi were now sitting in the living room.
Karui looked at them in surprise "Don't tell me you've been preparing this whole time" Karui asked in total shock because spending hours on one thing was insanity, not even she would force her teammates to do such a thing.
Unfortunately the genin they were staying with nodded "Yep without a doubt, you'll find we like to be thorough Karui-san" Sakura smiled lightly before turning into the kitchen it was going to be dinner soon and no doubt everyone was hungry.
"But why, surely there's no reason to go overboard right" Omoi inquired massively confused by the Leaf Genin, they hadn't been normal by any means necessary and now they were getting even weirder at least to him.
The lone Uchiha on the team looked grim-faced as he answered "Well it's either that or be sorely under-prepared for anything that could happen, seeing as all three of us run into bad luck all the time" Sasuke shrugged.
Hurrying after Sakura to help make dinner "That's the gist of it" Naruto added, waving to Shunsui who nodded quietly before he to went into the kitchen and soon supper was ready, that night it was just the six of them plus Minato.
And when they went to their rooms for the night Sakura made sure they set their alarms two hours early while simultaneously summoning one of her bats, it wasn't Aimai this time though but a male that went by the name of Uri.
Who took off flying out her window spouting that he would do his best for Sakura-sama, he returned less than a minute after she'd woken from her annoying alarm going off "Uri brings news of the Forest of Death, lots of poisonous plants and insects there be" Uri informed.
To which Sakura happily rewarded him with a few drops of her blood before heading into her lab to grab some of her more exotic herbs, then she headed down the stairs on her heels were Naruto and Sasuke.
But who would be waiting for them in the living room was none other than Minato "Figured you'd wake up early, so I just wanted to wish you three good luck during this round, even if you aren't the first ones to complete it, still do your best alright" Minato shook his head not surprised.
Patting each of them on the heads until they went into the kitchen and made breakfast, eating quickly with him, while leaving enough for the others staying in the house and then just like that they were gone, vanishing like the wind.
Just before they were to reach the meet up spot the genin of Team Seven hid themselves in an alley, created clones, the first of many, transformed into their alter egos of Hideki, Kurumi and Leiko, then performed the chameleon jutsu to hide in plain sight with their chakra suppressed.
Now all that was left was to bide their time until the start of the round "Oh Sakura look there its Gaara" the blonde knucklehead nudged his teammate, instinctively knowing where she was due to how close they had been ever since they were little.
"Mm now would be the best time since we can sneak close undetected by him" the rosette whispered as they crept closer and like before Naruto grabbed the tag from his pouch and threw it on Gaara before speeding through the complicated set of hand signs necessary.
The change was immediate, the chakra of the tailed beast inside of Gaara receded until it could barely be felt and his eyes cleared completely of the insanity, leaving confusion in its wake "Jobs done others are starting to arrive" the Uchiha sighed in relief.
Glad that they'd averted one disaster so far as they headed back to where their clones were standing and stood there until Anko showed up, 0700 hours passed and she started listing the rules of the round followed by passing out waivers.
Indicating that she wasn't responsible for their lives should they die in the Forest of Death and then with their signed waivers they were made to line up to get their starting scroll, and when it came to Team Sevens turns.
Sakura sneakily grabbed an earth scroll after their clones were handed a heaven scroll the chunin in charge of manning the booth and handing out the scrolls none the wiser to her relief as they made their way to their choice gate and entry point of Training Ground 44.
Pleased that they even got to choose "You ready to do this guys" Naruto bounced in his Kurumi form at the exact second a buzzer sounded and their gate opened, the clones shooting in to the forest as they dropped the chameleon jutsu once they themselves were in the forest as well.
Sasuke matched the whiskered smile with a smirk of his own in his Leiko form "Of course Kurumi and we'll be the first ones to the tower but first" Sasuke put his hands together, copying Naruto who grew more excited with each passing second.
"Ninja Art: Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu" Sakura in her Hideki form called out in perfect sync of her teammates and in poofs of smoke there were fifteen clones to each of them already as their regular selves where they were given very precise instructions to wreak havoc and with that Team Seven set forth into the Forest of Death.