Sakura woke up before dawn, as soon as the birds began chirping. She was too nervous to sleep through any noise at all.
She grabbed her chūnin exam registration papers from underneath her pillow and put them in one of her pockets, then went to the bathroom.
Sakura stared at her reflection. She had pink hair and green eyes, but that was as far as the resemblance to her younger self went. Her eyes looked brighter, and if she saw a fading bruise, she was proud of it. She even had more muscle than before and stood up straighter.
Sakura tried a smile in the mirror. Then she blinked. She pulled out the picture of her parents from a scroll on her hip to stare at it. Then she looked back at the mirror and forced a smile again.
Slowly Sakura took off the grey sweater she'd been wearing over her mother's armor, still staring at the mirror. Then (after a glance at the ceiling) she unsealed Kubikiribocho.
Now she had no doubt. She was ready.
Her mother's green eyes stared back at her from her father's face and with the armor and the sword at her back, she really did look like them.
Sakura took her time to walk to the bridge where Sasuke and Naruto would meet, watching Konoha wake up. She felt jittery, seeing teams of three run across Konoha's rooftops every few minutes in the same direction as her. Only a few of them were from Konoha, and she couldn't shake the feeling that they all needed to be watched, very carefully.
"Couldn't sleep in?" Sasuke's voice said, when she'd reached the bridge. Sakura looked up into the tree where she could feel he was and smiled.
"No," she admitted. "The birds woke me up." Sasuke snorted but didn't reply.
They waited a bit more in silence. Sakura mentally went over everything she'd brought with her once more, and then their opponents.
Naruto made it there not long after.
"Woooo!" he yelled, punching a fist in the air. "We're going to kick butt now!" He grinned maniacally at Sakura, then glanced around in confusion. "Where's Sasuke?"
Sasuke silently jumped down behind him which Naruto didn't notice. Sakura stifled a giggle and shrugged.
"Weird. Well," Naruto crossed his arms and stuck his chin in the air. "if he sleeps in, I'm gonna dump spoiled milk all over his face. Serves him right for being late like idiot-sensei."
Sasuke kicked him in the head. Naruto yelped and jumped backwards spinning around to face him as he pulled out a kunai. "I've been here the whole time, moron."
"OI!" Naruto shouted, pointing a finger at Sasuke, who just raised an eyebrow. "You're going down!"
"Actually," all three genin turned to look at their sensei in surprise. "Shouldn't you three be working together?" Kakashi asked mildly, from where he was leaning against the bridge and reading his book. Both boys crossed their arms; Sasuke glared and Naruto rolled his eyes. Sakura just laughed.
"I had some followers too," the jōnin continued. "You should probably deal with them before going to the exam."
At that, two girls, three boys, and a dog tackled the genin to the ground in giant hugs, all talking over each other.
"Is it true you're gonna become real chūnin?"
"Is the test dangerous?"
"I don't want you to die or get hurt!"
"You're gonna be awesome!"
"Be safe."
Sasuke looked disgruntled, having given up on trying to push off Akio, who was clinging to his leg, and Hime, who was licking his face furiously. Reo and Ichika had attached themselves to Naruto, who was boasting about how amazing he was going to be in the exams, and Akari and Touma were hugging Sakura tightly.
She smiled at them and gently began prying their arms from around her.
"We'll be back soon," she said.
"But what if you die?" Ichika sobbed. "Or get hurt?" Akio whimpered and clung tighter to Sasuke, who rolled his eyes again but didn't make a move to push him off.
"That's what shinobi do," Touma snapped at her roughly. "They get hurt, then they get back up and keep fighting." He looked up at Sakura. "Right?" he asked desperately, tears brimming in his own eyes. "You've gotta keep fighting."
Sakura hugged him back. "Yes," she said. "We get back up and keep fighting."
Touma let go of her and scrubbed his eyes. "Well I'm gonna be a shinobi too!" he announced defiantly.
"Me too," Akari said quietly, holding Sakura's hand.
"Hmph," Naruto huffed, then his face split into a wide grin. "Well you guys had better hurry up then. I'm gonna be the best!"
Reo frowned and poked him in the side. "Nuh uh. You're lame. I'm definitely going to be better than you someday." Naruto's eyes bulged incredulously.
Kakashi clapped a hand around Naruto's mouth and picked him up just before he could start shouting. "You three need to get going, or you're going to be late for the exam," he said.
Akio didn't stop crying, but he slowly let go of Sasuke. Ichika went over to stand by him, wiping the tears off her own face. Hime sat down and whined. Sasuke sighed, gave Akio a quick one-armed hug, and scratched Hime's ears once before walking off towards the exam building.
"Let's go then."
They recognized nearly all the participants lined up at the door labeled "Exam Registration" but Sasuke pulled both Naruto and Sakura up one more level, to where another door was labeled with the same thing.
Sakura saw Team Guy follow and signaled that to Naruto and Sasuke, who nodded. It was a team to watch, and avoid if possible-
"Uchiha Sasuke!" the green one, Lee, said loudly. All three genin winced. "My name is Rock Lee, and I challenge you!"
Naruto puffed up angrily, but Sakura put a hand on his shoulder and shook her head. "Not before the exam," she told both of them quietly. Sasuke, who had stiffened at the challenge, slouched and turned to Lee.
"No," he said, and turned to continue walking down the hallway. Sakura could see Sasuke's knuckles turning white from how tightly he was clenching his fists.
"But I have to fight you! Our sensei's have been rivals, and I must prove to that beautiful flower next to you than I am stronger!"
Both Sasuke and Naruto froze, and Sakura nearly ran into them.
"OI!" Naruto shouted, turning on his foot. "Leave Sakura alone you creep!" Sakura felt her face heat up. She tried to look anywhere but the spandex-clad genin. That was what Lee meant?! He was calling her beautiful?!
Sasuke had also turned to face Lee, and Sakura could tell he was considering a fight.
"Come on," she tugged both of their sleeves, still avoiding making eye contact with Lee. His teammates looked less than pleased but resigned to watching. "Sasuke, Naruto, we have to go to the exam," she pleaded.
Begrudgingly the two boys let her drag them away, but then Lee appeared in front of her. Sakura flinched a little. She knew he was fast, but it was hard not to react to that speed when she was already on guard.
"So your name is Sakura?" he asked, then winked and blew her a kiss.
"Yes," she said, feeling her face heat up.
"A perfect name for such a beautiful flower. Do you want to go on a date with me?" Lee asked, moving closer to peer in her face hopefully.
"Uhh, n-no?" Sakura stammered. This time, it was Sasuke and Naruto were pulling her down the hall.
"Lee, give up," one of his teammates sighed behind them.
"But she looks just like an angel!" Lee protested.
"Creepy bushy-brows," Naruto growled.
"I will kick his ass," Sasuke agreed.
The tension in the written exam room was so thick it almost felt like killing intent, but of course Naruto didn't notice. Sakura smiled as her teammate bounded over to Ino in the middle of the room and excitedly started shouting at her, forgetting all about the encounter with Lee.
Ino, for her part, shoved him away and did the exact same thing to Sasuke. Sakura could see his eyebrow twitching and stifled a giggle. She began to relax a little but kept an eye on the door. Team Guy would show up soon, she was sure.
"Hello Sakura," Hinata said quietly from next to her. Sakura smiled at the Hyūga.
"You guys got here early," she replied, just as quietly. Hinata murmured in agreement, and they both studied the other shinobi from the wall. As the classroom filled up, the tension grew stronger.
Lee entered the room almost as loudly as Naruto had, and Sasuke managed to evade Ino enough to stand next to Sakura. Even Naruto had enough awareness of things that were not Ino to nod at Sasuke, before continuing to shout excitedly at Ino again.
Out of the corner of her eye, Sakura saw a white-haired, taller genin get up and walk over to the group of rookies.
"Hey," he smiled thinly. "Can I give you all some advice? Just shut up."
Naruto immediately stiffened and glared at the newcomer. "Excuse me?! Who are you, you white-haired freak?"
"Kabuto." The genin replied. "And you all are loud, and unwelcome. Look," he sighed. "I remember what is was like my first time, and you all are obviously new here. But look around," and he motioned to all the other genin in the room, sitting rigidly. Some were staring at them, and others fiddled with weapons or talked to each other in low voices. "We're all here. It took me years to collect enough intelligence to take this exam again." He pulled out and flipped open a deck of blank cards.
"What are those?" Shikamaru drawled, sauntering over.
Kabuto grinned knowingly and lowered his voice. "Intel cards, that can only be activated by my chakra."
Shikamaru stared at him, then glanced at the ceiling. "Hm."
Sakura felt even more uneasy around Kabuto. She couldn't feel anything from him, except maybe the barest hint of satisfaction. "Intel on what?" she asked quietly.
Kabuto looked at her. "People, places, events. Why, did you have someone in mind?"
"Ooooh, what do you have on me?" Naruto perked up, looking at the cards interestedly.
Kabuto laughed. "Naruto, right? Let's see…" He flipped a card over and pushed chakra into it. It glowed brightly and then faded.
When the chakra had faded, it just showed Naruto's face, name, teammates, and rank of genin. There were a few other categories, like a skill meter and list of missions, but they were empty.
"What, you've just got my picture and name?" Naruto snorted and stood back up. "Your info is lame."
"Strange," Kabuto muttered, checking a few other cards. He glanced up at Sakura and Sasuke, then stood up abruptly and put the cards back in his pocket.
"Good luck rookies," he said, sounding harsher than before. "And try not to die."
The first exam was easy – it was a written exam designed for cheating.
Sakura grinned as Hinata sat next to Naruto; she'd take care of him. Sasuke would be fine with his Sharingan, and, as Sakura glanced at the questions on the paper, she could figure most of them out easily enough. She picked up her pencil and set to work.
When Morino Ibiki asked whether or not they would take the tenth question, Sakura felt oddly calm as the room seemed to explode around her. It didn't seem like such a big deal. Either they would fail and force their team to fail if they didn't take the tenth question, or if they got the wrong answer, they would never advance to the rank of chūnin. So many people dropped out, forcing their teams to drop out of the question, that it made Sakura wonder how many of the teams cared about each other the way hers did. If you got the wrong answer to the tenth question, you only failed yourself. If you didn't take it, you failed your whole team. The answer was easy, or at least it seemed that way to her.
Sakura sat straighter in her chair as she watched Naruto raise his hand. Was he about to-?
"NEVER UNDERESTIMATE ME!" Naruto yelled, slamming his hand down on the desk. "I WON'T QUIT, AND I WONT RUN, AND NEITHER WILL MY TEAMMATES YOU BASTARD!" He took a deep breath, then stood up. "I'll accept your stupid question, cause I'm gonna be Hokage someday, and even if I fail it and have to be a genin forever I'm still gonna be Hokage, even if I have to do it just by being stubborn! I'm not afraid of you!"
Ibiki stared him down, and the room chilled. "Are you sure? This is your last chance to back out."
"Well," he looked carefully at all the genin left seated in the room. "You pass."
"WHAAAT?" Naruto shouted. "What about the tenth question?"
"The tenth question was whether or not you would leave," Ibiki replied, grinning. The tension drained out of the room slowly. "You passed."
At that moment, a grey and purple blur flew in through the window. A second later, there was another female shinobi standing on the desk, raking her eyes over them with a critical look. She wore a long trench coat over a tight mesh shirt and had thick purple hair twisted back into a bun.
"Aww, you passed so many!" she pouted. Then she smirked at the genin, and Sakura repressed a shudder. "Don't worry Ibiki, I'll cut that number in half, at least."
Sakura and Sasuke carefully avoided Lee and Ino, but Naruto was happily talking with Hinata as they followed the new proctor to a fenced-off training ground just outside of Konoha.
"Hey, Hinata?" Naruto called back to her when they'd split up into their respective teams.
"Y-yes Naruto?" she smiled nervously back at him.
He gave her a wink and a thumbs-up. "Kick ass!" he shouted. Hinata blushed a deep red.
"You too!" she whispered back with a smile.