When Sakura woke after being drugged, she found herself alone in an unfamiliar forest, and she had no concept of how much time had passed since the end of the first round, and what was worse she couldn't feel Naruto or Sasuke anywhere near.
Seeing that there was going to be no help whatsoever Sakura stood and two scrolls that had been in her lap instantly caught her attention as they fell, quickly Sakura grabbed them up hoping one of them would be a clue as to what was going on and she was right.
The first one was a message to her as a participant of the Chunin Exams from the Raikage, explaining that she had passed onto the second round and her task was to navigate her way through the forest of Turtle Island, find her teammates and reach Killer Bee's house.
A post script was added that the second scroll was necessary for her to pass, however her teammates carried the other scrolls and she had to give the scroll she had to the person it best represented and accept the one that best represented her all in two weeks.
"Guess that answers my question" Sakura sighed, tucking the spiritual scroll in her storage pouch for safekeeping and leaping into a tree to get started on her first task which was to find her teammates who were no doubt separated themselves and panicking.
Or one of them was at least panicking 'Probably Naruto' Sakura giggled inwardly because the blonde was such a scaredy-cat sometimes, though with that in mind she took off even faster intent on finding the boys as quickly as possible.
Until night fell and she realized she'd been going the whole day and her stomach was clearly protesting as it growled angrily in hunger "Ugh this is a total nightmare" she groaned after searching her pouches for some matches and not finding any.
Which meant she had to make a fire the old fashioned way, luckily she was a survival expert now so it didn't take her very long to get a fire going, followed by spearing a couple fish on sticks and setting them up to cook.
Not long afterwards she put the fire out so it didn't alert anyone to her position in the forest and jumped into a tree attempting to get comfortable there so in case another participant was near it would be hard to pinpoint her location.
Sleep claimed her soon after and when morning came Sakura ate quickly and took off again attempting to find Naruto and Sasuke in the unfamiliar forest while reminding herself to stop and take a break every once in awhile.
It was two days later that she sensed very familiar chakra nearby and dashed off in it's direction unaware that she was on a collision course until Sasuke slammed into her with all the force of a bull in a china shop.
Knocking them both harshly to the ground "Oooh that didn't feel good…Sakura are you alright" Sasuke groaned before realizing that his teammate was pinned underneath him, her face twisted into an expression of agony.
Considering it took her a couple of seconds to answer he guessed that it had hurt her quite a bit more than it had him "Yeah I can heal myself remember though it would be nice if you could get off me to Sasuke" Sakura wheezed.
Sasuke scrambled up off her like he was on fire and watched worriedly as Sakura sat up gingerly then focused her chakra and healed herself "Alright now and sorry I only felt your chakra this way, I wasn't paying attention" Sasuke apologized.
Once she was finished and he held out his hand to help Sakura up "No worries I'm fine and here I think this represents you better than it does me" Sakura assured, brushing her clothes off before reaching into her pouch for the spiritual scroll.
"By the way I still can't believe they just dumped us like that and only left us with a scroll explaining the round" Sasuke grunted, accepting the scroll and while he felt his scroll the physical scroll suited Sakura, he knew it was meant for Naruto somehow instead.
Sakura snorted at him "You have no idea how afraid I was when I realized neither you or Naruto were by me when Cee grabbed me and knocked me out and I still don't know how long I was asleep either but there's nothing we can do about it Sasuke" she admitted.
Thankfully Sasuke understood her and channeled chakra into his eyes to activate his sharingan in an attempt to locate the final member of their team "Dobe's probably freaking out and running around like a maniac trying to find us" Sasuke commented.
When he chose a direction and started heading that way Sakura on his heels "Most likely Sasuke that's why we have to find him and soon I'm a little worried" Sakura chuckled softly while maintaining a serious expression on her face.
It became readily apparent she wasn't the only one who was a little worried as Sasuke took off a little faster prompting her to do the same "As much as I hate to say it I think we should stop for a bit, eat to replenish our chakra and then continue searching" Sasuke grumbled.
Hours later when it was past noon and they still hadn't found Naruto "Right" Sakura sighed and got a temporary camp set up and while she was gone hunting Sasuke used a jutsu to get a fire going for whatever Sakura brought back.
Which turned out to be a couple of rabbits that Sakura skinned, gutted, chopped up and turned into a fantastic soup, flavored with wild herbs that Sakura had found while hunting and then an hour later they were back to searching.
Leaping from tree to tree looking for Naruto until they were to exhausted so after eating a late dinner Sasuke and Sakura got comfortable in trees and went to sleep, "Hey" Sasuke woke her partway through the night.
"Suppress your chakra and scent Sasuke" Sakura whispered urgently, sensing what he felt, hiding their presence expertly in the nick of time to as an unfamiliar trio, genin from Iwagakure burst from the brush and set up camp.
Putting the two genin from Team Seven in a precarious situation [Use your genjutsu on them you know frozen oasis because we need to move] Sasuke signed to her fifteen minutes later when the Iwa genin had passed out.
Though it was dangerous Sakura flashed through the hand signs for the genjutsu she'd created and immediately at the flaring of her chakra the genin were awake and on the alert "Ninja Art: Frozen Oasis" Sakura murmured softly.
Capturing the trio in her specialty illusion before they could attack and with that she and Sasuke vanished in the opposite direction, enhancing their speed with chakra in order to put as much distance as they could between them and their fellow exam participants.
They ran until light filtered through the tree's of the forest they were in and only then did they stop, chests heaving and out of breath "Do you happen to have any blank tags on you Sakura" Sasuke panted, his hands on his knee's so he didn't fall over out of exhaustion.
She arched a fuschia brow at him in answer but handed over a blank tag that he drew on with ink he happened to have on hand "Now seal your genjutsu in it please and make a shelter out of your earth nature" Sasuke requested.
Hand signs were made and Sakura pressed her hand to the paper tag "Seal" Sakura hummed, sealing her illusion in the tag before flashing through a second set of hand signs making a sort of earthen shelter for the two of them.
Once ensconced safely within, tag on the outside in case anyone let curiosity get the better of them they went back to sleep for a couple of hours to catch up on their missed sleep and woke with their stomach rumbling hungrily at them for skipping breakfast in order to rest.
"We have to find Naruto today so that way we have more than enough time to complete the second task this round is consisted of" Sakura declared, having simply roasted some fish over a hastily made fire so that they could fill their bellies.
Knowing that Sasuke couldn't argue with that kind of logic "You know I've noticed something strange, every once in awhile it feels like we're moving, it's subtle though" Sasuke frowned, hoping that Sakura would have some idea as to what was going on.
But she shrugged in confusion "No clue, perhaps something to ask once we make it through this round" Sakura responded simply tossing her stick in the fire and Sasuke did the same before they cleaned up making it seem like they were never there in the first place.
Before taking off through the tree's again, only stopping briefly to eat lunch hours later until night once again fell over the land "Why am I not surprised" Sasuke rolled his eyes when they randomly stumbled across their teammate.
Naruto it seemed had gotten himself into a bit of trouble as he was currently tied to a thick tree with no way to get loose "Yeah….cut him loose would you Sasuke" Sakura sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose out of frustration.
Quick as a flash Naruto was free though he remained asleep "I think he's in a genjutsu Sakura, should I try to wake him from it" Sasuke scowled, activating his sharingan and seeing Naruto's CN all out of whack.
Sakura pursed her lips "Lets do it together and then get out of here, someones coming, perhaps the person who did this to Naruto" Sakura suggested, kneeling down on the other side of Naruto and focusing chakra into her hand.
Together she and Sasuke fed their chakra into Naruto to disrupt the foreign chakra in the blondes body "Huh what" Naruto snapped awake seconds later, feeling their hands and freaking out until he recognized their chakra "Sasuke, Sakura-chan" Naruto cried loudly in relief
"Dobe quiet not so loud" Sasuke hissed in warning, remembering what Sakura had said, while clapping a hand harshly over the blondes mouth just as the bushes rattled to their right and a man wearing a scratched out Leaf hitai-ate emerged.
Sakura only had a second to look at the rogue before he lunged at the three of them, "Damn you, damn you" he cursed when Team Seven scattered so that they surrounded him and drew their weapons in order to defend themselves.
The first to make a move was Sasuke after thinking through his limited options "Chidori" Sasuke yelled drawing the rogue's attention giving Sakura ample enough time to figure out who their attacker was.
Not that it took her very long to recognize the man who was in the bingo book, Minoichi, a former Konohagakure Anbu who defected and joined the Land of Silence [Naruto Shadow Clones now] Sakura signed at the blonde.
Who had been watching her closely already so hurriedly made a hand sign and created over fifteen shadow clones that he instructed to join the fight just as Sasuke was thrown bodily through the air, jutsu fading from the palm of his hand as he hit the ground hard.
And as much as she wanted to rush to his side Sakura stayed put, preparing to use her own jutsu, thankfully she didn't have to worry to much as Sasuke popped back up and launched into the battle again.
Using purely taijutsu for the time being when Sakura was about to make her move Minoichi disappeared from the middle of the all out brawl that Naruto had initiated with his clones and reappeared behind Sakura.
"Tch missed" Minoichi scoffed as he withdrew his blade from the pinkette's chest, having missed the girls heart by a centimeter, what he'd hit instead had been a major blood artery as blood gushed from the wound to her teammates horror.
The rosette would no doubt die now which meant the completion of his mission and so not sparing either boy another glance as they rushed to the girls side he vanished in a plume of smoke to report in that his job was done, he'd prevented Team Seven from finishing the round.
Preventing them from becoming Chunin or so he thought "Sakura, Sakura tell us what to do please" Naruto begged, attempting to stop her injury from bleeding but the blood just continued to pour through his fingers undeterred and Sakura remained unresponsive.
She was unconscious and unable to heal herself, it was like they were in a living nightmare as Naruto and Sasuke frantically wracked their brains for an idea they could use that would help them save Sakura's life.
And then it came to them "Even if we're disqualified for breaking the rules and opening the scroll we don't have a choice this is a matter of life and death" Sasuke intoned grimly as he grabbed one of the scrolls from his pouch, the spiritual scroll.
Naruto nodded solemnly as he held Sakura still trying to cover the wound futilely and watched as Sasuke warily peeled the edge of the scroll up to unroll it, when the scroll was open it started glowing blue, activating the trap meant for foolish genin who couldn't follow the rules.
The two boys squeezed their eyes shut when an explosion of smoke came from the scroll obscuring their vision before it cleared to reveal Cee "Honestly you are some of the ones I least expected to disobey the rules but now that you have I have no choice but to knock you out" Cee sighed.
Obviously disappointed in them and not paying any attention "We didn't have a choice Cee-san" Naruto snapped, azure orbs glinting with unshed tears, Cee finally realized that something was seriously wrong.
As he looked down and found Sakura in a puddle of her own blood that was still growing, immediately the blonde was in medic mode as he knelt, hands glowing green as he pressed them to Sakura's chest "Care to tell me what happened" Cee demanded.
"He was a nuke-nin from Leaf, but I didn't recognize him, I'm sure Sakura did, anyway he attacked us and right when she was about to use her jutsu he body flickered and stabbed her through the chest then left" Sasuke explained.
Cee grit his teeth "He just left without finishing you off that sounds like he was here specifically to prevent you from completing the exams" Cee frowned and across from him Naruto nodded his head in agreement.
Moments later Sakura slowly opened her eyes again "Does this mean we failed" Sakura asked sadly, unable to blame her teammates for opening one of the scrolls in order to save her life even if it meant being disqualified.
That's how loyal they were to one another "No in fact Sasuke-san made the right call, I'll explain the situation to Raikage-sama" Cee shook his head, surprising the genin who had really thought their goal had died a miserable death here in this forest.
After another minute Cee finished closing her injury with his medical ninjutsu and passed her a blood replenishing pill before re-setting the scroll Sasuke had opened and returning to Killer Bee's to inform Ay of what had happened.
He was furious to say the least and barked out orders for security to be tightened so no more incidents like that happened, meanwhile upon being left to themselves Sakura had made a little shelter to change out of her ruined clothing.
Before emerging and had a scroll thrust into her hands "It's the mental scroll signifying intelligence I think it represents you Sakura-chan, I already got the one that represents me from Sasuke" Naruto said.
Showing off the physical scroll that signified strength which meant they all had their scrolls now and could finish off the second round "So any idea of which direction to go because I don't" Sasuke asked, stuffing the spiritual scroll back into his pouch.
Making Naruto and Sakura do the same with their scrolls "Well if I had to guess this way I think" Sakura pointed, just as lost as Sasuke really, so they started in that direction, her walking a little gingerly as every step made her chest throb from the residual pain leftover from her injury.
Sasuke grimaced "How about I carry you for a bit Sakura-chan that way you can rest up, Sasuke can carry your pack" Naruto suggested, kneeling down, offering his back for the pinkette to ride on, knowing that she wasn't at a hundred percent yet despite getting healed.
Though she wanted to refuse Sakura knew that in order to travel fast this was the only way to do it "Thanks Naruto" Sakura sighed, relenting to his hopeful expression and a moment later the three of them set off at a faster pace, her being carried upon her teammates back now.
Until finally after three more days they found an oddly placed building in the forest that couldn't be anything other than their objective Killer Bee's house "Finally make it did you, I expected you to be some of the first ones here" Darui greeted.
When they knocked on the door, his comment earned him three glares "Not funny Darui-san anyway here the mental scroll it represents me because of my high intelligence" Sakura scowled, shoving the scroll at him that Naruto had given her.
Darui blinked but accepted the scrolls from Naruto and Sasuke as well "Congrats on passing the survival round you three go ahead and rest up there's some rooms up the stairs that you can sleep in and there's a bathroom at the end of the hall that you can use as well" Darui clapped.
Gesturing them up the stairs, where after taking individual showers with Sakura going first since they hadn't found a river for her to wash the dried blood off in, Team Seven crawled into the beds of the guest rooms and went to sleep.
At that point in time there was only five days left of the second exam and the trio were all to happy to laze about in Killer Bee's house until some familiar genin showed up a day later "Figures you'd have made it here before us" Suigetsu grumbled.
Looking like he'd been through hell what with his clothes torn in several places, hair littered with twigs and leaves and dark bags beneath his eyes not to mention he smelled like he'd taken a merry stroll through a pig farm.
Naruto pinched his nose shut reflexively and hurriedly pointed out the bathroom "Go take a shower Suigetsu" Sasuke nudged the boy off up the stairs, Suigetsu nodded grumpily and disappeared soon after.
Leaving his teammates behind who seemed to be in better shape than Suigetsu "And trust us we've only been here since yesterday" Naruto said, letting his arm drop now that the offensive smell was no longer in his vicinity.
"Only yesterday and here I thought since you were the first one does with the previous round you'd have been the first ones done with this round to" Karin commented, brow furrowed in confusion.
Sakura tried to smile at her but it turned into a grimace as her chest ached again and she rubbed the spot soothingly trying to get the pain to go away "What's wrong Sakura" Haku frowned, stepping closer to his betrothed.
She tensed in response before sighing "A rogue ninja from Leaf tried to kill me, my chest still hurts a little from getting stabbed" the rosette admitted not wanting to keep secrets from Haku, the two from Team Fourteen looked horrified.
Before Haku reached back into his storage pouch and withdrew a container of ointment "Here Sakura, before you go to bed tonight rub this on the spot that hurts and it will dull the pain" Haku instructed.
Handing the jar over to Sakura who hugged it and him "Is it just me or are they a little more lovey dovey than usual" Darui arched his brow at the remaining genin when the betrothed duo headed up the stairs hand in hand.
Karin nodded her head "Yep, ever since a couple days before the start of the exam, Sakura-chan accidentally kissed him and she confessed to, and though their not quite in an established relationship yet I have no doubt that will change once we get back to Leaf" Karin grinned.
Vanishing after the others where she found an empty guest room to use right across the hall from the one Sakura was occupying "By the way I have to ask where the heck are we" Suigetsu was the one to ask when they all gathered together again.
The other teams that had arrived off elsewhere "Turtle Island" Darui answered simply, wondering if one of the kids would understand, Sakura immediately jumped up with wide eyes and rushed outside, before leaping onto the roof of Bee's house.
Climbing high into the tree's and up the spikes that protruded out of the turtles back, teammates and friends on her heels "A giant turtle, we're on the back of a giant turtle that's why I felt like we were constantly moving" Sasuke laughed.
Upon activating his sharingan, sensing out the creatures chakra network and spying the turtles head in the distance as they all clambered back down and entered Kill Bee's house again "That's totally crazy how on earth did we even get here" Naruto the oblivious one asked in confusion.
"Knucklehead we were knocked out by the Jonin and brought here though I don't know how long that took" Sakura snorted rapping the blonde gently on his head with her knuckles causing him to flush red in response.
Darui chuckled "Three days and while you were out you each were taken very good care of by the Jonin assigned to you and then placed in the forest along with the instructions and scroll to complete this round" Darui explained.
Feeling generous "Well at least we'll be back in Kumo for the final round won't we" Karin groaned, ready to call it quits, really what had she and her teammates been thinking, they certainly hadn't been ready for this sort of insanity that was for sure.
"Of course you will, until then enjoy these last few days by resting up as much as possible" Darui suggested, keeping an eye out for any more trouble, later on when the genin had gone to bed Cee showed up.
After scouring the entirety of the island over the past few days "Couldn't find the bastard, he must still be on the island but I couldn't find him" Cee scowled furiously, extremely irritated that someone had tried to cause trouble during the exams.
His partner couldn't blame him "We'll just have to keep an extra eye out when the ships arrive to take them back to Cloud, if he's still here he'll have to sneak onto one of the ships and we know his face now thanks to Uchiha pointing him out to us in the bingo book" Darui informed.
Resuming his vigilant watch until the second round came to an end, all the genin from Leaf who'd entered had made it through along with some genin from Iwa, Kiri, Suna and Kumo as well of course but that was the extent of it.
And with that the final round participants were on their way back to the mainland, unlike when they'd been brought to turtle island they left it awake allowing them to get the full experience of crossing the vast ocean.
Since they were so close it only took a few hours to return to land and the Hidden Cloud Village and the moment they set foot within the village a silver blur snatched Sakura off her feet "I heard, are you alright Sakura" Kakashi inquired.
Crushing his kunoichi to his chest before pulling back to check her over with his own eye, the others stood behind him with partially amused smiles on their faces, though there was worry in their eyes as well "I'm okay thanks to Sasuke, Naruto and Cee-san" Sakura assured.
Letting her sensei hug her all he wanted "Good to know, seriously brat stop worrying me…us" Zabuza growled, once she was set on her feet and he could look her over himself, she was just fine to his relief.
But that still didn't stop him from worrying any less "Anyway I'm sure these kids are ready to take a break until the final round starts right" Mangetsu questioned, seeing the attention they were getting and how uncomfortable it was making the genin.
Especially the ones he was most familiar with "Right so to the hotel" Juzo declared, directing the brats down the streets though he was sure they knew their way around the village he wasn't going to take any more chances of them being attacked.
"Guess you weren't exaggerating they really do get in trouble a lot don't they" Yagura said once the genin had eaten, bathed and finally gone to bed for the night, Zabuza nodded grudgingly before entering his own hotel room and soon was fast asleep for the night like the others.