Four hours later after the start of the second round and after trekking for at least half of the miles necessary to reach the center of the forest Team Seven decided to take a quick break "So far so good, none of the clones have been dispelled at least" Naruto commented in a soft soprano still in his Kurumi disguise.
As a temporary camp was made next to the river "Good" Sakura rumbled in her Hideki voice, stripping a rabbit that she caught of its fur before removing the bones and innards as best she could where after she rinsed the meat and toss the mess of innards onto the roaring fire.
"Best eat quickly, a fire and the smell of meat will lure any creature or human our way" Sasuke reminded in his Leiko forms high soprano as Sakura quickly speared strips of meat on a stick and set them up over the fire.
Ten minutes later the meat was cooked and they ate without even really tasting anything before breaking down their temporary camp, packing up just as quickly, they made sure no evidence remained of them being there before disappearing into the forest once more.
Until they finally reached the river "Oh one of my clones just got killed by a rain ninja" the boy disguised as a ravenette spoke suddenly just as they were about to step out onto the river to cross it so they could reach the tower quicker.
His teammates paused in their own disguises "Probably just a contestant trying to get our scrolls, don't think to much of it alright Kurumi" the pinkette in her purple haired disguise patted the girl on the back reassuringly.
"Yeah Hideki's right so lets just get across alright and we'll be that much closer to our goal and more than likely also be the first ones to reach it" the shocking blonde form of Leiko smirked having decided that Minato's words from yesterday were to be a challenge.
And so they did, continued on right across the river, undeterred in their quest and finally hours later the tower was within their sights "Alright we did it" Naruto cheered undoing his Kurumi transformation.
Relieved because yet another of his clones was killed, it appeared the clones of Sasuke and Sakura were also killed this time because they suddenly went rigid "Do you think….." Sasuke began, scowl already forming on his face.
Worry in his eyes "Whoever that was, was to strong to just be a contestant Sasuke, if the wind was strong enough to destroy all three of our clones, then it was definitely someone after us, specifically at that" Sakura pointed out, expression grim for a moment before echoing Naruto's expression of relief.
Because if they hadn't come up with a plan before hand, that could have been them just now and elsewhere a certain Snake Sannin disguised as a Kusagakure Kunoichi screamed in fury that his prey had somehow evaded him.
"In any case we're here, the tower is safe and we don't have to worry now" Sasuke grunted, sending a glare in the direction he thought the clones had been killed at, then grasped the handle of the door they had been assigned.
Letting his teammates in ahead of him first "Joy" Sakura rubbed her temples seeing the chalkboard with the bloody riddle on it situated quite annoyingly in the middle of the room they had just entered.
Naruto was tempted to laugh but didn't as she went to inspect the riddle to determine how it was supposed to help them seeing as it was there after all, after a short time Sasuke joined her, both of them looking more baffled as the seconds went by.
Until finally he marched over to the chalkboard as well to see if he could help "Okay so I'm just going to make a guess and say through all this nonsense here it's telling us to open up the scrolls" Naruto shrugged unable to make sense of the riddle.
Sasuke and Sakura stared at him for a moment then shrugged and decided to do as he had guessed by hesitantly unrolling the scrolls "Hey I know that seal, it's the summoning seal" the blonde blurted once the scrolls were opened.
"But its on two different scrolls, so if we put them like this.." the rosette mused, laying the scrolls crisscross to complete the formula, only to jump back as the seal lit up blue and a plume of smoke disrupted their vision.
Putting them on edge as they crowded together weapons at the ready until the smoke cleared to reveal their sensei "Well this is…I can't say entirely unexpected, but still how on earth did you get through the forest so fast" Kakashi scratched his chin, confused.
As his genin relaxed and put their weapons away "Lets put it this way Kakashi, shinobi are supposed to be stealthy are they not" the Uchiha scoffed, hinting at something entirely diabolical that Kakashi couldn't help but laugh.
"Now hold on are you saying that you stole a scroll from the booth" the Copy Ninja intoned incredulously, only to groan when his students nodded unashamedly, though he was secretly proud of them he wouldn't admit it.
Then he cleared his throat looking his most serious "Right then, congratulations on making it through the forest, take these next four days to rest up, yada, yada and I'll see you once this round ends" Kakashi pointed to the door, saluted and vanished in a plume of smoke.
In completely unrehearsed sync Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura rolled their eyes at their sensei's antics but headed through the door where they were shown some rooms and where the cafeteria was so they could eat and then afterwards head to bed.
Meanwhile Kakashi had returned to the Jonin Lounge "Whats the matter Kakashi you look tired" Anko cackled when the man resumed his previous position, Kakashi scowled at her and that's when the other Jonin in the room seemed to realize.
Even Anko as Kurenai spluttered in surprise "Are you saying your students already made it through the forest, that's impossible" Kurenai denied, there was no way genin fresh out of the academy genin at that had made it to the tower in a single day.
Kakashi looked even more tired "Not as impossible as you think Kurenai, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura are quite the budding strategists" Asuma chimed in defending the genin of Team Seven earning him a look from Shikaku.
"Strategists huh, come to think of it you spent time as their temporary sensei on a mission outside the village didn't you, in the Land of Waves I recall, didn't that mission turn into a high ranking one, A if I recall" Shikaku inquired with all the subtlety he possessed.
Asuma nodded and stroked his beard for a moment "That's right Shikaku and it didn't seem to even faze them, if anything the skill level they possess is beyond that of a genin" the mahogany eyed Jonin admitted.
Glancing to Kakashi "Beyond, preposterous they've only been genin for six months, like the rest of them besides Gai's students who have six months ahead of our students" the ruby eyed Jonin dismissed the idea of genin possessing Chunin level skills ahead of time.
Until Anko promptly burst her bubble "I wouldn't be so sure Kurenai, Hatake's students aren't your average run of the mill rookies, especially that Haruno girl, Sakura or Pinky as I like to call her, she's different, has been since she was little" the purple haired interrogator informed.
Inoichi even nodded his head to that "Yes, Sakura-chan is quite the unique character, considering who she was taught by for all her years during the academy" Inoichi commented, not elaborating even when his friends shot him demanding looks that said he better explain.
"Taught by for all her years during the academy" Gai echoed also curious, because he'd heard of Sakura Haruno from one of his own students, Neji Hyuga was obsessed with the idea that fate had decided she was the one for him after all so he wanted to learn more about the girl if he could.
Realizing he'd messed up, it probably would have been better if he'd said nothing at all Inoichi sighed "Sasori Akasuna, he taught and trained Sakura-chan, Naruto and Sasuke before he returned to Akatsuki to spy on the organization and feed us information about it" the blonde Patriarch said.
Neither Kakashi or Asuma looked the least bit surprised at the revelation but the other Jonin were horrified "What was his purpose in training them, has any one checked to see if their sleeper agents waiting until the right time to destroy our village from the inside out" Kurenai frowned.
Asuma sighed and pat his secret lover on the shoulder "Their good kids and Akasuna wouldn't turn them against the village he tried to protect from harm himself" Asuma assured, because he knew straight from the source that Sasori had been fond of Leaf despite his pretending.
For several minutes the other Jonin in the lounge were quiet until the Akimichi Patriarch asked one of the most important questions "So how did they say they managed to get through the forest so quickly Kakashi" Choza questioned.
Quite curious and all eyes once again turned to Kakashi who shrugged "Little brats stole a scroll from the booth somehow before they were let into the forest, and they didn't tell me that outright just hinted at it so I don't know how they managed it in the least" Kakashi scowled.
Mask bunching up at the corners while Anko cursed "Fuck I knew I wasn't going crazy when we were down one earth scroll, damn brats making my life miserable, Morino was furious that we had to commission an extra earth scroll last minute" Anko hissed.
Determined once this whole Chunin Exam business was over that she would exact her revenge and Asuma was simply amused because it was something that Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura would do, wreak unintentional havoc.
~The Next Morning~
The genin of Team Seven woke bright and early "Four more of my clones was taken out last night, which means there is only nine left out there to distract" Naruto informed, shuddering at the memories of one specific clone.
"Some crazy Kusagakure ninja tried to bite me on the neck" Sasuke grimaced, proving that it wasn't only Naruto's clones that had been taken out but his as well and he was never so grateful to already be in a safe place.
It was Sakura who had the worst news to give "Not a Kusa nin Sasuke, that was Orochimaru and those musical note headband wearing shinobi you thought were suspicious are in league with him" Sakura grit out having a very good reason to hate Orochimaru and anyone associated with him.
Naruto and Sasuke paled in response "That information could be damning if it were to be leaked to old man Hokage, those genin could be removed before they are allowed to hurt someone" the blonde said trying to find some way to prevent a catastrophe.
"Yes, your right, but Knucklehead others would question their removal from the exam causing mass panic, the Hokage wouldn't want that on his hands" the Uchiha rapped Naruto on the head with his knuckles lightly.
Before looking to Sakura who looked downright murderous "We still have to tell him, that way a plan can be put in place to stop anything from happening" the pinkette declared and the trio shared nods with one another before Sasuke summoned Umo, scribbled a message and sent the hawk off.
Leaving them to sit in silence for a minutes longer until Sakura met her teammates eyes "I think moving forward at this point we have to be super extra careful about what we do, none of us goes anywhere without the others understand until this round ends" Sakura intoned gravely.
Absolutely dead serious as the two boys across from her nodded silently in response "Agreed, we should also try and avoid running into anyone until that time as well, which means we're probably going to be cooped up in this room" Sasuke sighed.
Eyeing the door warily while Naruto pulled a fuinjutsu book out of his pouch "Then it would be best if we barricaded the door" Naruto grimaced, glad that they had more than enough supplies to last them a week or longer if necessary.
As they made a barrier tag, the strongest they could make it and put it on the door followed by activating it so no one could get in without first destroying the barrier, that wasn't all they did, they also moved the desk that was in the room and put it in front of the door as well.
So there they sat for nearly four solid days, keeping away from other contestants as they arrived until it was finally the time for the second round to end and so with trepidation they moved the desk, cleaned up after themselves and removed the barrier tag.
Then finally stepped foot out of the room they had stayed in for the first time since arriving at the tower and promptly ran into someone "Sakura, Naruto, Sasuke, where the hell did you three come from" Ino shrieked at the sight of them.
Drawing her own teammates attention onto Team Seven "From this room here Ino-chan" the rosette informed, gesturing to the room they had just exited, Ino was confused for a moment then realization flashed across her face.
Her vague answer also wasn't lost on Shikamaru who narrowed his brown eyes in response to it "Do you mean to say you've been here since the first day and not once came out, you three have to be starving" Shikamaru frowned.
Not sure what the three had been thinking "Unless we had our own food supply Shikamaru then no we wouldn't be starving would we" the Uchiha on the team smirked, being his regular cocky self to Shikamaru's annoyance.
"Question is, is how did you get here on the first day without anyone realizing it" Choji inquired, wanting to know the details of that particular answer but it didn't look like he was going to be getting that as Sakura shook her head in response.
Sasuke and Naruto doing the same "For us to know and you guys to never find out you know" the Uzumaki declared, shooting Ino an apologetic look because he didn't like lying to his friends but Ino nodded in understanding and didn't ask anymore questions.
As they reached the arena where the other genin who had managed to pass the survival round were gathered, all twelve rookies were there coincidentally, Sakura purposefully ignoring Neji when he nodded in satisfaction at her.
Probably thinking something along the lines in his warped head that of course she'd pass the survival round because they were destined to be together, Sasuke smirked when Neji scowled at the clear avoidance and then they were all assembled before the Hokage.
Who was clearly on the alert there was a subtle rigidness to him as he scanned the crowd of genin before finally deciding to greet them "Congratulations to all who have passed but I'm afraid there will have to be a preliminary round to determine who will go on to the final round" Hiruzen said.
Gesturing to Hayate who coughed as he stepped forward "Those who want to participate in the preliminary round head to the right of the balcony, those who want to drop out to the left" Hayate explained also on the alert for any suspicious behavior.
Immediately without even thinking about it or asking Sakura grabbed Naruto and Sasuke's hands and drug them to the right "Gee Sakura-chan what if I wanted to drop out" Naruto deadpanned with a roll of his eyes and she shot him an amused snort.
"Like you were going to Dobe, the three of us are so in sync with one another we don't even have to speak to know each others thoughts and feelings about certain things" Sasuke scoffed and Naruto glowered at him in fake annoyance.
Until Sakura's quiet laughter got to him and he started laughing as well "You two are ridiculous" Sakura shook her head, gazing across the arena to the other side where the dropouts were gathered, her laughter immediately cut off when she met Kabuto's gaze.
And she hurriedly looked away when he gave her that spine tingling smile that gave her the heebie-jeebies, Naruto and Sasuke sensed the sudden tension in their teammate prompting all amusement to fade from their expressions.
Just as Hayate stood in the middle of the arena and pointed to an electronic board "The preliminary round will consist of one on one matches, the pairings of the matches will be decided at random via the electronic board" the brunet coughed.
Finishing in time when the board started flashing through names and landed on one particular pairing that had Sasuke groaning because it was his name that was up there first "Bad luck like usual then" the current heir of the Uchiha Clan scowled.
Heading down into the arena to commence with his match "Yo, Naruto-kun, Sakura-chan" Kakashi greeted from behind suddenly when their attention was solely on Sasuke, the two genin in question spun around with matching scowls at him for scaring them out of their wits like he had.
"Couldn't be less of a creeper Kakashi-sensei, at least warn us before scaring us out of minds" the fuscia haired teen intoned scathingly, heart pounding against her ribcage, Kakashi gave her an innocent look that she didn't believe for even a second.
Nor did Naruto believe it as he rolled his eyes "Kakashi-sensei you did that on purpose" the blonde sniffed indignantly before turning back around to watch Sasuke's match against Yoroi Akado, one of Kabuto's teammates if he wasn't wrong considering how the guy was dressed.
Kakashi ruffled their hair lightly then stood back to watch Sasuke's match himself since the boy was his student after all, so he wasn't all to surprised when Sasuke won and was the first contestant to make it through to the final round of the Chunin Exams.
Up next was one of Kurenai's students Shino Aburame but what got Kakashi was how each of his students glared at the Sound Ninja, if that wasn't enough, he took careful note of how even the Hokage stared hard at the shinobi from the foreign village.
It was something he would have to question his students about later in the safety of their own home, then his attention was back on the match just as Zaku used a jutsu and it rebounded on him, tearing his arms to shreds.
Many looked visibly ill, not his students though and then Zaku was carted off on a stretcher by the medics and Shino joined them in the stand again, next came one of the Cloud Shinobi Karui verses one of the few Kusa genin that had managed to make it through the forest.
Though he was low on chakra which was to Karui's favor in the end as she unleashed a lightning style jutsu on the boy earning her a pass straight to the final round of the Chunin Exams, next up was Kankuro vs the last teammate of Kabuto's.
Sakura watched intensely for some reason until he realized she was analyzing Kankuro's style of fighting with his puppets, in the end the Suna Genin won, making it four contestants through to the final round so far.
At this point Hayate called for a quick break, Ino decided that she wanted to freshen up a bit, grabbed Sakura by the hand and together the two girls vanished, Asuma shaking his head lightly in amusement while Kurenai frowned.
~In the bathroom~
"Okay spill it Ino whats up with dragging me along with you when your perfectly able of going by yourself" Sakura frowned wondering what was up with her best friend since the age of five, the only one until Sasori had come along, followed by Naruto, and then Sasuke.
The Yamanaka Heiress pursed her lips "Cause I think in a freaky twist of fate we're going to be matched against each other so I wanted to let you know before hand that if I'm right I'm going to forfeit and let you advance" Ino said.
Getting a funny feeling in the pit of her stomach, though it was clear Sakura wasn't to happy about it "Why, don't you want a chance to become a Chunin Ino-chan, how can you do that if you drop out if that even happens" the pinkette asked.
Ino twisted a long blonde lock of hair around her finger "Sakura, your my best friend okay, I couldn't fight you even if I tried alright, plus after all the shit that's happened to you I think you more than deserve to show everyone how kick ass you actually are" the blonde declared.
Sakura opened her mouth to argue only to find she had nothing to say "Damn it Ino your so irritating sometimes, fine, but that's only if we're matched against one another" Sakura huffed acting like she was irritated when really her heart fluttered in her chest with happiness.
"Good and I know its going to happen, just that gut feeling you know…..oh and Sakura I'm irritating on purpose" Ino cackled as she dashed from the bathroom ahead of her friend, making it back to the balcony first right as the break ended.
And that god awful electronic board started up again Sakura was mock scowling at Ino when as the blonde predicted their names were matched against one another "Ino" Asuma asked when his student forfeited the match and Sakura won by default.
He didn't get an answer though as the girl pointedly avoided his questioning gaze, this not helping Kurenai's fear that the genin of Team Seven were intent on taking over the Leaf Village someday as Sasori Akasuna's sleeper agents.
Next up was Temari vs Tenten, the lone kunoichi on Neji's team and she was crushed humiliatingly fast by the four-tailed blonde, Shikamaru took his win against another Sound Shinobi, Kin Tsuchi and that was seven contestants for the final round through already.
Leaving many more, such as the remaining Cloud Shinobi who were in another shocking twist of fate matched against each other with Omoi managing to scrape by against the powerhouse Shunsui, followed by Naruto vs Kiba.
Naruto played the part of the goofy idiot perfectly and still pulled off a win, the whole of Team Seven was through to the final round, after Naruto's match came Neji vs Hinata, Sakura curled her lip as the Hyuga verbally degraded the shy girl.
And if that wasn't enough he tried to kill her as well and that was something she just couldn't stand with a quick look of askance to Kakashi who tilted his head in answer she was down in the arena, hands already glowing a bright green.
Knowing that if something wasn't done before the medics got there Hinata would die "You should leave that weakling alone Sakura, fate has decreed it after all" Neji informed arrogantly and got a venomous glare shot his way.
It was so venomous that he actually took a step back in response before realizing what he'd done "Fate my ass Neji, your just…forget it your the one not worth it, at least Hinata doesn't look down on people" Sakura snapped.
Shaking her head knowing that she couldn't change Neji, it wasn't her responsibility nor did she want that responsibility, with that she simply focused on healing Hinata until the medics came and took her away and then she returned to the balcony to stand with her teammates and sensei.
Tension was thick as the next match was called Gaara vs Rock Lee, Gaara won by a landslide and Lee escaped with his life in tact, followed by the last match, the last Sound shinobi Dosu Kinuta vs Choji in which Dosu won.
With that the preliminary round was over with a whopping twelve contestants participating in the final round of the Chunin Exams "Well done, well done, it's good to see such promising potential among the genin, but before I let you go, you'll find out here who you'll be fighting" the Hokage clapped.
Proud of the genin before him, more his own village's genin than the other village genin but he was proud nonetheless as they drew numbers "From one to twelve, that person who has the number after them is who they'll be fighting" Hayate coughed.
Naruto drew one, Neji two, Shikamaru three, Dosu four, Kankuro five, Shino six, Sakura seven, Temari eight, Karui nine, Omoi ten, Sasuke eleven and Gaara twelve "Good, we'll see you in a month be sure to rest up and train to improve your skills" Hiruzen announced.
Dismissing the genin as their sensei body flickered them from the forest of death so they could go home, and almost immediately upon arriving Kakashi sat his students down "Talk, I want to know what is going on now" Kakashi ordered.
Because he didn't want to be out of the loop "Kakashi-kun" Minato asked in confusion seeing the dead serious look on his former students face and the equally grim faces of his former students, student's, so he promptly sat as well.
Sakura exhaled "Those Sound Ninja are in league with Orochimaru, whose after Sasuke and I think Kabuto Yakushi, the one at the hospital is also in league with Orochimaru" Sakura admitted glaring furiously at the table as she did so.
Kakashi grew rigid in response "Does Hokage-sama know and your going to tell me how you even know that information in the first place" the Copy Ninja demanded, though he was secretly glad they weren't trying to lie or hide the how and the why from him.
"Umo, it was the morning after we arrived at the tower the second day, I sent him to Hokage-sama letting him know so that a plan could be put in place so the Sannin can't do anything to our village" Sasuke crossed his arms.
Leaving the last bit to Naruto "And how is because of clones, before we entered the forest we sent out fifteen clones of ourselves each, that stupid Snake guy approached our clones repeatedly as did those Sound guys who told us who they were working for" Naruto finished.
And Kakashi pinched the bridge of his nose in response, Minato couldn't help but chuckle "Well at least we're well informed" the former Hokage shrugged, intending on going to speak with Hiruzen himself know that he knew.
Kakashi sighed "Keep it to yourselves but also keep an eye out, subtly understand, seeing as you'll each be training under someone other than I for this month, Sasuke with me, Naruto with Minato-sensei and Sakura-chan, with Anko" Kakashi informed.
Just in the nick of time as their house guests arrived via the front door unlike how they'd been body flickered directly inside, Kakashi was getting ready to head into the kitchen when he remembered something else that he wanted to ask.
"By the way Sakura-chan, when you and Ino went to the bathroom what did you talk about" the silver haired Jonin asked, brow raised indicating that she better answer, funny how the others eyed her curiously in response as well.
Until Sakura scowled at him "Ino told me that she thought we were going to be matched vs each other so decided to tell me that if it happened she was going to forfeit and let me advance, it was her decision and she wouldn't let me argue" the rosette huffed.
Vanishing ahead of her sensei where she got busy cooking dinner "I don't think we'll ever be able to keep up with those two girls you know" the blonde Uzumaki heaved a great big sigh followed by plopping down on the couch next to Shunsui.
Who looked bummed he hadn't managed to make it to the final round "Cheer up Shunsui, you did your best" Samui made an attempt to lift her unlikely students spirits and got a small nod and smile for her efforts.
"Plus think it could be you against Karui since somehow we managed to unluckily get matched vs each other" Omoi groaned knowing it was going to be one hell of a battle against his teammate, Shunsui nodded in understanding and that was that.
While Karui rolled her eyes "You boys are always so melodramatic" Karui snorted, then in a moment of sheer randomness decided to head into the kitchen to speak with the girl her age in the house since they got so little time to do so.
Sakura paused in what she was doing when Karui sat at the table "Whats up Karui-san, the boys driving you crazy or something" Sakura joked lightly, prompting a smile from the redhead before her expression became just a tiny bit more serious.
Making Sakura echo that seriousness "In the forest, Omoi, Shunsui and I overheard those Otogakure genin one night, they kept talking about how they were going to kill Sasuke for Orochimaru the Sannin, do you know anything about that Sakura" the redhead from Cloud asked.
And Sakura knew she couldn't hide the truth so she turned around "My guess is that Orochimaru's after Sasuke's sharingan, when training keep your eyes and ears open Karui-san because he, Otogakure and Sunagakure are planning something, that I'm sure of" the pinkette intoned grimly.
"Got it, I'll let Samui know so that she can help out, it's our right as allies, anyway it seemed like that Hyuga guy had a thing for you, he kept staring after all" Karui questioned as Sakura returned to preparing lunch for them.
This also prompted a snort "Neji Hyuga is delusional Karui, he thinks just because I beat him in a spar once that we're fated to be together and he thinks by continually trying to pressure me to be in a relationship with him that I'll want to be with him" Sakura rolled her eyes.
Disliking the Hyuga even more now that he had tried to kill quiet, shy, gentle little Hinata "Ouch, burn" the golden eyed genin hissed though her eyes were full of laughter and just like that their conversation was over as others crowded in the kitchen.
Lunch when finished was just as delicious as usual and the genin decided to be positively lazy for the rest of the afternoon well up to after dinner as well before finally bidding the adults in the house goodnight so they could rest up for tomorrow when their training would begin.