This chapter includes (Practically going over, if you know what I Mean?):

Akamaru Trembles: Gaara's Cruel Strength!

The Scroll's Secret: No Peeking Allowed

Clone vs. Clone: Mine are Better than Yours!

Surviving the Cut! The Rookie Nine Together Again!

Narrowing the Field: Sudden Death Elimination!

"Aghhhh!" Naruto screamed, making my head snap to the side. Choji and Shikamaru knelt over him, Choji holding a stick. "Eh?" He looked over, seeing Sakura and Sasuke talking. I rolled my eyes.

"They didn't have to hit him with a stick.." I muttered under my breath.

"I do not think he would have been that hard to wake up." Lee said, his arm slung over my shoulder. I chuckled a little, and helped him sit on the ground.

"Me either, but I've never seen him sleep, so.."

"Everybody hide! Quick, get down!" Naruto suddenly shouted, and hit the dirt on his stomach, crawling around. "That ninja..where could she be hiding?!" Naruto asked himself, looking around quickly. I saw Sakura and Sasuke turn to look at him, and raised their eyebrows.

"Naruto?" He was interrupted from his thoughts when Choji poked him in the head with the stick again.

"You really are one of a kind, that's for sure. And I mean, you're the kind that gets on my nerves." Shikamaru spoke, his hands shoved in his pockets.

"Mhm." Choji added. I sighed, and stood up, dusting off the dirt from my legs.

"One day, those guys are gonna get it for being assholes to him. Hell, everyone's gonna get it for being assholes to him, you watch."

"Do you think he will become Hokage?" Lee asked, tilting his head up at me. I smiled a little, and helped Lee to a stand.

"Yeah. And I'll be there when he does." I grinned wider.

"Oh no, Sakura! Sakura, Sakura-" My head snapped over to Naruto. What was wrong, now? His head turned to look at me as well, and he stopped, gasping. "Both of you! Something serious happened to your..to your hair!"

"Oh..that's all.." Sakura reached around and touched the ends of her hair. I giggled, and walked over with Lee, setting him down next to Naruto and Sakura.

"We just wanted to change our looks." I smiled a little bit at him.

"Uh, right!" Sakura agreed. "I like it better long, but when I'm out in the wilderness like this, and I'm moving around all the time, it gets in the way too much."

"Mmm." Naruto said knowingly. I gave a quick look to Sakura and winked at her, giving a small smile. She smiled back a tiny bit, when we both shot our heads over to see Shikamaru and Choji standing over Naruto. "So what's your story? Why are you guys here in the first place, what's goin on around here?" They both groaned.

"Explaining everything to you is going to be such a pain." Shikamaru spoke with an annoyed expression on his face.

"Everyone just showed up to help." Sakura spoke up.

"What?" Naruto asked, confused. It's better if he didn't know, obviously. He'd have a fit, and besides, its over and done with. I winced at some pain in my neck, and realized it was the mark that he gave me. Well...it was almost over and done with. I looked to my right to see Ten Ten kneeling down next to Lee.

"I'll take care of him now, Tessa." Before I could even blink, she turned to Lee and started shaking him aggressively. "Just what were you thinking, rushing in there all by yourself?! Look at you, you're a total mess!"

"Well...Tessa and Sakura were in trouble, so...I had to do something, right?"

"That was pretty darn stupid, don't ya think?"

"Well..I guess I cannot really argue with that." He said glumly, curling up a little bit.

"Aha! I know you, bushy BROW!" Naruto yelled. I giggled a little.

"Naruto, I wouldn't-"

"Hey! Knock it off, you better not say anything bad about Lee!" Sakura yelled at Naruto, sending her fist his way. He hit the floor without even a bit of a struggle. "Lee?"

"Huh?" He turned to glance at her with a confused look. "Thank you. Because of you, I was able to stand up for myself. And I've become a little stronger." Sakura smiled gratefully at him. I smiled at him, and kissed his cheek.

"Really, we would've been in trouble without you. We've caused you so much trouble, but thank you for helping us." I added.

"Mmm...Thank you both! But, my efforts alone were not good enough." Lee said, glancing at Sasuke and I. I looked at him with a frown, and looked down, hiding my face.

"Oh yeah, what was that you were using, Tessa?" Sakura asked me.

"I don't want to talk about it." I spoke, looking away and crossing my arms. She was interrupted before she could say anything else.

"Sakura, Tessa, the lotus of the leaf village blooms twice." We both looked at him. "When we meet again, I will have become a stronger ninja. I promise."

"Hey Sakura, Tessa, come on over here! I wanna fix your hair for you, okay?" Ino shouted from across the opening we were at.

"Yeah, I'd like that!" Sakura smiled. I nodded, and walked over, barely listening in on their conversation.

"Why you sneaky little troll! Hugging him like that! Billboard brow!"

"Haven't you heard the expression 'Alls fair in love and war'? Little Ino-pig!" I just rolled my eyes. This is why I don't have girl friends, all they do is fight, gossip, and boy talk. No thank you. I mean, Hinata is my friend, yes, but she doesn't over extreme girl talk like these two.

"Naruto, no! You don't know what could happen if you open that scroll! The proctors are smart, you really think they're gonna leave the scrolls with us curiosity filled kids with no protection?!" I narrowed my eyes at Naruto.

"If we don't do anything, we'll never make it!" Naruto shouted at me. He picked up the scroll, and started to peel it open, very slowly. You could see his hand shaking like a madman. I bit my lip in nervousness. This isn't going to end well. Tess, what are you doing, stop him! His thumb got under the paper, but it stopped because a gloved hand slammed down on Naruto's, holding it to the paper.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." My eyes traveled up the familiar looking arm, and landed on the owner's face. You know that feeling you get when someone punches you in the stomach? Take that times a million. That's what my heart felt at that moment. That familiar face, and those familiar eyes. That person was evil. And his name was Kabuto. I sat there frozen for a long time, until a hand waved itself in front of my face.

"Tess?" Naruto's voice asked. He bent down and looked at me in the eyes. "Hey, are you okay?" I didn't answer, feeling a cold sweat cover my skin. My breath hitched in my chest, and I felt blood gush in my mouth from the pressure of me biting the inside of my lip. "Hey, Tessa?" Naruto tilted my chin up to look up at him. I finally snapped out of it through his contact, and blinked a few times.

"H-Huh?" I asked, looking up at him.

"Is everything alright?" My eyes scanned all of their faces until finally landing on Kabuto.

"Fine." I snapped a little bit. No one else saw, but he smirked at me in realization. He knew it was me, it was obvious. But how could he not? My red hair gave me away way too easily.

After Naruto got his clothes back on (Don't think like that, you nasty), and they started getting camp cleaned up, guess who strolled his happy little ass over to me?

That's right, four eyes.

I wish I could break his glasses and stab a shard right in his dark eyes.

You can see how much I "dislike" him.

"What do you want, four eyes?" I growled quietly as I put some things in my pack. He closed his eyes, 'hm'ing' and pushing his glasses up with his fingers.

"I just wanted to have a word, red." My head snapped up to look at him, my eyes narrowing at him.

"Don't call me that." He smirked, opening his eyes, and bending down.

"Don't worry. Your time will come. He knows your here, and I'm sure you know that."

"I know, and I can't wait to bust his teeth in." Kabuto genuinely laughed, and pretended to wipe a tear away.

"You're funny. But fair warning. He's not done with you, yet." My eyes widened, and my hands started shaking. Kabuto only stood up, turning around. I snapped my head over to say something, but he was already walking away.

That dirtbag..

I crossed my arms, my eyebrow raised as Sakura read the riddle.

"Anyway, it's about the scrolls. I think we're supposed to open and read the heaven and earth scrolls now." Naruto handed Sakura the heaven scroll, both of their fingers slowly going under the opening to rip it open.

Well, I'd like to see them rip it open. Hell, rip it into pieces, I'm so tired of worrying about these scrolls. Thank god Kabuto didn't follow us in here.

They pulled open the scrolls, and instantly had confusion on their faces.

"What? What does this mean?" Naruto asked, narrowing his eyes at the paper. I strolled over, standing on my toes to rest my chin on his shoulder, and looked over it, at the scroll.

"A man? A person?" Sasuke had a look of realization on his face, and as soon as he did, smoke came out of the scroll.

"Oh no. This is a summoning jutsu. Naruto! Sakura! Quick, get rid of the scrolls!" I backed away from Naruto, and moved beside him, giving him room. They both threw the scrolls in front of us a few feet, and there was a huge pillar of smoke.

When it all disappeared, they all gasped.

"What, its you?!" Sasuke asked.

Iruka sensei stood in front of us, his face neutral.

"Hey. Long time no see, huh?" He looked up, a grin spreading on his face.

I smiled a bit, crossing my arms and closing my eyes. I wish I could go home. Well, to my apartment. We've been out here five days, I'd love to sleep back in my bed.

After all the shit with Orochimaru, and the new mark he left on my neck, it was completely draining my energy. Not to mention the stuff with Itama and my 'curse', as I put it. I need to have an internal talk with him about it.

I'm honestly so tired. Can't this be over? It's time to go to bed. Please please please please please please please please please-

"Tessa!" A voice yelled, pulling me out of my head. My eyes snapped open, and Naruto stood in front of me.

"What?" I asked, slightly annoyed.

"Get a move on!" He pointed in the direction of the doors.

"Alright, alright, put a lid on it, I'm moving." I glared at him, walking to the doors and shoving my hands in the small pockets of my shorts.

They immediately put us in a small formation. Many of us were still here. Great.

"First of all, congratulations on finishing the second exam!" Anko yelled, standing in front of us all.

"Hey look, all of the leaf village rookies are here too!" Sakura whispered, looking around.

"Whoa, everybody's here, old man Hokage, Iruka-Sensei, and even bushy brow! It looks like absolutely nobody got left out this time!" Sasuke growled, and I noticed him grab his shoulder, the one with his curse mark on it.

"I don't have a very good feeling about this."

Me either, Sasuke. Especially with Orochimaru here.

"Alright, now pay attention, Lord Hokage is going to explain the third exam to you! You better listen carefully, maggots." She spoke, and turned, looking at Lord Third. "Lord Hokage." She spoke, giving him the spotlight. "They're all yours."

He stepped forward a bit, clearing his throat, and looked at us.

"First, before I tell you what the third exam entails, I want to explain something about the test itself. Listen closely now, It's something that all of you need to understand." I groaned, and stepped forward, leaning my head on Naruto's shoulder again, lazily.

I'm too tired for this, old man. Come on, lets get on with this. I still listened, just not very closely, as he went on about the Chunin exams representing the battle between our allies, and a bunch of other things. I know, its important, but when you're this tired, you're too tired to care.

I closed my eyes, still leaning on Naruto, trying to listen. Our third exam proctor, Hayate, stepped up and started to speak, but he was coughing like a madman.

Dear god, did he need an inhaler or something? He's not gonna like, die during our exam, is he?

"Hey, are you still alive?" Naruto shrugged his shoulder, mumbling to me. I took a deep breath, before answering quickly.

"Nope, I'm in purgatory, burning at the stake with blood on my hands." Naruto was silent, until I opened my eyes. He had a look of terror on his face, making me chuckle. "Yes, I'm alive, Naruto. Just tired."

"Uhh..we have to have a preliminary exam before we can move on to the real one." Hayate spoke up, catching my attention.

"Preliminary?!" Shikamaru shouted at him. "Just what do you mean by that?!" I rolled my eyes. What do you think, Shikamaru? It's a preliminary. PRE. LIMINARY. BEFORE. Geez.

I'm sassy when I'm tired, give me a break.

"I'm sorry, Sensei, excuse me, but I really don't see the point." Sakura spoke up. What's this preliminary all about, why can't we just move on to the third exam?" Well, she's not wrong.

"Uhhhh...well, you see, the first and second exams might have been too easy. The fact is, we never expected so many of you to still be here. According to the rules of the Chunin Exams, a preliminary round can be held at any stage, in order to reduce the number of candidates remaining." Great, so some of us are going home. Awesome.

"Uh, but, is that fair?!" Sakura asked.

"It's just that at this stage, we have to speed things up a bit. As Lord Hokage said, a lot of important guests will be watching. We can't afford to waste their time. They've come to see only the best. So if there are any of you who feel you're not in top physical condition, now's your chance ta-" He cut himself off with some coughing.

You mean like you?

I asked in a snarky tone in my head.

*Time skip because I don't wanna bore you lol*

I still don't think its a good idea for Sasuke to fight with his curse mark, not to mention mine. But Sasuke wasn't having it. Sakura tried to convince him not to fight, but he wouldn't budge. If Sasuke wasn't going to budge, then neither was I.

And of course, Kabuto dropped out. He's only been gathering information, I suppose. I wish they would catch him. Before it's too late.

But they don't realize it like me, it's already too late.

"Alright then, we'll now begin the preliminary round. This round will consist of one on one individual combat. At full battle intensity. This is not an exercise. There are 22 of you remaining. So that means we need 11 matches.

The surviving candidates from these 11 matches will advance to the third exam. As for the rules, there are none. You will fight until one dies, or concedes defeat. Or is rendered physically incapable of continuing the contest.

Naturally, those that are losing are urged to concede defeat properly to avoid a fatal outcome. Furthermore, as proctor, I'm given a certain amount of..." I groaned, pressing my hand to my forehead.

"Shut uppppppppppppp." I quietly whined.

A panel on the wall then opened up, and Hayate mentioned the people matched up will fight next.

I stared up at the board as names flashed, until it stopped. I chuckled at the first names.

Tessa Cabrera vs. Aniki Kinuta

"Whoa, no way!" Naruto yelled and turned to look at me. I crossed my arms, finding it really hard to keep a grin off my face.

"Time to face the music." I spoke softly.

"Alright now, those whose names have been drawn, come forward." I dropped my arms, stepping up and sneaking past Naruto and Kiba.

"You're totally gonna win!" Naruto loudly whispered. I snorted at him, sticking out my tongue, before stepping forward even more. I looked over at Aniki and wanted to barf. She wore a bra, LITERALLY A BRA, that supposedly was supposed to be her shirt, and a pair of black pants that went down to under her knees. Her hair was black, and went into a sidebraid, down to her chest. She had a sound headband on, which is strange, since we didn't see her. She's probably from another squad that we didn't see.

But wait, she had devices on both of her arms that was similar to Dosu's. Could they be siblings somehow? Weird. Whatever.

"You have been chosen for the first match. Aniki Kinuta, and Tessa Cabrera. Are there any objections?"

"As if." I smirked.

"Nope." Aniki replied, popping the P loudly.

I winced a little, feeling my curse mark burn, but I ignored it, biting the inside of my bottom lip. I'll have to deal with it later.

"Uhhh, alright then. Let's begin the first match." Hayate spoke. "Okay, everyone other than the two opposing candidates, will now clear the area and move to the upper level." I turned, and watched as my squad walked up the stairs behind Lee and his team.

I turned back towards Aniki, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Let's do this." I smirked at her. She let out a nasty chuckle.

"You're gonna eat dirt in less than a minute."

"If you're ready, let the match begin." Hayate spoke, backing off.

Right after he said that, Aniki swung her fist at me, the one with the device on it. I quickly jumped back, sliding across the ground, away from her.

"I don't think so sweetie, I saw Dosu's trick and experienced it first hand, you'll have to try harder than that." I grinned wildly at her.

"Maybe I won't have to, red." I frowned, standing up straight.

"Don't call me that, sound." I reached in my weapons pouch, grabbing shurikan between my fingers.

"Hurry up already and make your move then, Red." She said, a smirk on her face. I growled, and ran towards her, throwing the Shurikan her way. I jumped in the air then, making a handsign.

"Shadow clone Jutsu!" I yelled.

"Yeah, kick her butt Tess!" Naruto's voice yelled from the sideline. I smirked at Naruto's comment, as my clone and I landed. I was gonna show every one that I could do this. No one believed in me, but Naruto sounds like he does.

My clone and I looked at each other, nodding, and going separate directions, around Aniki. She laughed, shoving her nose up in the air.

"How pathetic." Aniki made some handsigns, and ended with a Ne.

"Ninja art: Sound Shurikan!" She held out her hands towards me. I noticed then that the devices on her arms expanded down and went over her palms of her hands, but instead of being able to focus on what she was doing, I felt a stinging sensation on my cheek. I hissed in pain, and touched my hand to my cheek, seeing a drop of blood. I looked up at her in confusion, when I felt a ringing in my ear.

The ringing was extremely loud. I put my hands to my ears, and dropped to my knees, yelling in pain.

"Tessa!" Naruto shouted.

"You must get up!" Lee's voice shouted, making my eyes flicker up to him. "Do not give up! Fight!" My eyes flickered back to Aniki, whom was walking forward, spinning a shurikan around her index finger.

"Give up, Red?"

"Not yet." I whispered, and shakily forced myself to a stand. Aniki hm'd, and smiled.

"Not as pathetic as I thought." She threw the shurikan around her finger at me, followed by two more. However, they all disappeared, as soon as she threw them. I stared, wide-eyed before gasping. Three inches before my face, one appeared, and I forced myself to fall over, ducking, and landing on my back on the ground.

She went for a kill shot!

"Hey, that was a dirty move!" Naruto yelled from the second floor.

"Hurry up and beat her, Aniki." Dosu's voice said from the opposite side of the floor, sounding bored. As soon as he said that, I felt the ringing in my ears intensify, and I pressed my hands to my ears, screaming in pain, kneeling back to the ground. A moment passed, and I leaned over, emptying the contents of my stomach onto the ground. Great, nothing like vomiting in front of the entire competition.

"Tessa.." I heard Lee speak softer. I gasped for breath, trying to basically clean my airways.

"Just let this fight be over already." Kiba's voice said.

"K-Kiba.." Hinata started. I felt myself shake. They think I'm so pathetic. I'll show them.

Before I could make any other moves, Aniki made another set of handsigns.

"Ninja Art: Sound Release: Carnage Anthem!" The entire room suddenly grew quiet, and I looked all around me. Something is wrong. Something is very very very wrong. I wrapped my arms around myself, looking around. Where did Aniki go? This place became suddenly eerie, and I feel like someone is watching me.

"Hello there, Tessa." His snake like voice spoke. I gasped and turned around, looking. He stood less than an inch from my face, and I gasped, scooting backwards across the ground. "You thought you could escape me? That you could just be family, and then escape?" Orochimaru reached out his hand, and wrapped his arm around my neck, his hand following suit.

"You can never escape me." I felt the curse mark on my neck burning, making me want to scream. I just want it to stop. I hissed a little at the pain, and shaking.

Don't let it take control.

"So this is what you're scared of." Aniki's voice echoed from somewhere. I squeezed my eyes shut, repeating a phrase like a mantra.

It's not real. It's not real.

It's not real.

I forced my eyes open, and made a handsign.

"Release!" The genjutsu disappeared, and Aniki stood there with a dumb look on her face.

"What?!"

"Now it's my turn."

"Yeah, way to go Tessa!" Naruto's voice yelled.

"Good job Tessa!" Lee's joined in. I focused on Aniki and made fast handsigns, and concentrating my chakra.

"Ninja art: Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Thirty clones appeared around me, and I grinned. "Let's go!" We all as clones made our own separate hand signs. In less than ten seconds, we all had jutsus shooting out at Anika. She struggled to dodge everything we threw at her, but eventually, it came down to the two of us. She panted for breath, as did I.

"Let's finish this." Anika appeared in front of me, slamming her fist into my cheek. I groaned as my head lurched back a bit at the force. I turned my head back to look at her, and spit blood out to the side, before disappearing, and reappearing just above the ground, slamming my foot into the underside of her chin. She flew up in the air, and I appeared up with her, making handsigns.

"Ninja art: Shadow Heart Wielder!" I felt the chakra flood into my hands, and in them formed a giant and heavy mallet made out of my own shadow and magic from earlier. I could use other weapons, but I wasn't going to kill another human being, not in this test. I gripped the handle tight, before swinging the mallet over my shoulder, and down on Anika, slamming her straight back into the ground below.

There was a loud boom, and dirt flew up in the air, covering us both.

I felt the tension in the room rise, and I stood over Aniki, panting for breath. When the dirt settled, I saw our 'audience' watching me, my shadow mallet still in my hand, but also on the ground.

Aniki laid on the ground, unconscious, and immobile.

"Aniki Kinuta is unable to battle. Therefore, the winner is Tessa Cabrera!" The proctor spoke.

"YEAH!" Naruto's voice screamed. "WAY TO GO, TESSA, I KNEW YOU COULD KICK HER BUTT!" I chuckled a little, feeling the sweat drip down my forehead, and a thin stream of blood drip down my jaw from my mouth.

I felt a presence behind me, and I immediately jumped at it, until realizing it was Kakashi-Sensei.

"I know about your mark." Kakashi wasted no time, making me turn pale. "It's not a problem now, but if it begins to become too much, we need to take care of it. Understood?" He asked softly. I bit my lip and nodded slowly. "Good. Congratulations on your win, kiddo. Go join your teammates." He motioned his head up to Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke. I grinned, rubbing the back of my head.

"Thanks, Sensei." I started to jog upstairs, just as the medical ninja came with a stretcher to put Aniki on. I looked back at her, unsure. One thing is for certain though.

I'm so glad I didn't kill her.