If Sakura had been complaining about feeling queasy this morning and looked just a tad too pale, her mother had dismissed it as temporary nausea and was glad the tan she had gotten was wearing off. Sakura had, after all been experimenting with weird liquids lately. The amount of weird, thick, moving on its own, smelly substances she had found in the bottles in her room were enough reason to stop bothering with her daughter's shinobi life.

She wiped her hands on her apron as she watched Sakura sitting at the table, bleary eyed and with a unfashionable green sweater. In the middle of summer. Her mother rose a perfectly manicured eyebrow.

"Honey?"

Sakura chewed on her rice as if she was chewing on carton. And what happened to her diet?

"Sakura?"

No reaction yet. But Mrs. Haruno had enough practice with her husband. She reached for the green peppers she had just chopped and picked a nice juicy one. With the experience of someone who had done this plenty of time before, she planted it on top of the bowl of rice. Sakura's eyes flashed and- before Mrs. Haruno could retract her hand- she had grabbed her thumb in between her chopsticks.

"Ack!" Mrs. Haruno yelped.

Sakura sat back in shock "Mom! Why did you do that?"

"I was just trying to get your attention!" Her mother clutched her hand. "I never imagined that you would notice!"

"Mom! I am a shinobi, of course I would!" Sakura jumped up and left the room. She returned two seconds later to take the largest bite of rice her mother had ever seen her take, and stormed out again. Her mother remained standing on her spot, stunned.

Sakura fled her house, feeling both embarrassed and guilty. Her own mother didn't have faith in her quest to become a shinobi! Of course, she had always urged Sakura to just go to the civilian school and find a normal job, like a nurse for example. She would marry some nice guy and have some kids and all would be well. But Sakura chose to learn about weaponry, martial arts, killing and sitting in the dirt with blood coating her hands.

Her boots send clouds of dust rising in her wake as she navigated through the dark streets. Overhead, shadows crossed each other and shot over the rooftops. Every now and then, the scarce moonlight would light up a porcelain white mask, or metal headband as it flashed away. Sakura sped up to a comfortable jog and subconsciously stayed away from the lights.

The pinkette was still flushed when she arrived at the misty entrance to the Forest of Death where she was awaited by Chi. The other girl had donned light blue haori which was a size too big for her. Dark trees rose up from behind her, a purple hue was rising in the sky.

Raising her eyebrows in surprise she greeted the tired girl. Chi looked like the last time she had slept was last week and confirmed that when Sakura asked.

"I got this horrible new schedule from Ibiki sensei... Spend the whole night outside without sleep." She rubbed her head, making tangles in her hair.

Sakura winced. "Sounds terrible, but what are you doing here?"

Chi pointed behind her "Met Kurenai sensei on my way home, she asked me to direct you since this place is dangerous when your unfamiliar with it."

"But why didn't sensei come herself?" Sakura wondered.

Chi grinned apologetically "She's already preparing."

Great. "Well, lead the way." Sakura sighed.

Chi detached herself from the pole with a battered Keep out if you value your life-sign and stepped in the shadow of the looming trees. Sakura followed, standing closer to her former classmate than she would have normally found acceptable. Chi didn't seem to mind, or notice. Shinji and Ryuya probably flocked even closer to her.

They walked through the still dark forest in silence before Sakura spoke up.

"Aren't you scared?" Her voice sounded loud and shrill in the quiet of dawn.

Chi glanced at a tall tree, hand resting inside her haori. "I used to be completely comfortable here."

"And now?" Sakura eyed the steel brace around her neck. There was a fine crack running along the side, disturbing the smooth edges. What would happen if they broke?

Chi's eyes rested on her, a deep rusty brown color. "Now, I try to feel the same."

There was a pregnant pause. Sakura gulped, feeling out of place next to the trained-since-birth-and-already-killed-some-dudes kunoichi. She evaded a large caterpillar crawling across the path with a large step when Chi spoke up.

"I'm sorry."

"Huh?" Sakura tripped over her own feet. Chi's calloused hand grabbed her arm and steadied her. They stood still, looking at each other.

"I am sorry for saying those mean things on that day. In the classroom when we were waiting for the teachers to arrive." She clarified.

Sakura remembered and immediately waved the apologies off "I deserved that. You were right anyway. Even my own mom doesn't see me as a shinobi."

Chi looked ahead, eyes distant. Sakura's cheeks colored.

Snap! She doesn't have a mom! "I-"

"My mom," Chi spoke quietly "she never saw me as a child."

Sakura fell still, waiting for the other girl to speak. She did. Softly and almost nostalgic.

"She would never do things other moms- outside our clan- would do. Hugging, kissing, feeding... In our clan, it is custom to let the children raise themselves, it helps develop our own specialty. Besides, my mom wasn't fit to raise a child." She concluded.

"How come?" Sakura couldn't help herself. She didn't comment on the fact that Chi spoke like her clan was still around.

Chi's eyes locked on hers again, lighter this time. "She was insane."

When Sakura arrived at the clearing, and said goodbye to Chi who instructed her to wait here, she realized that she was cold. Which was rare in the Land of Fire. The hair on her arms and neck stood on end and she was shivering.

She tried not to think much of Chi's brief description of her mother. Still, she wondered what 'insane' meant. Was she abusive? Drunk, obsessed with someone, did she have weird habits? What was it that made Chi so... Chi?

As far as Sakura knew, Chi had always been an outsider. When they were around five, Chi had been a wild and carefree child. Once, they were supposed to hold a presentation about a special object in their life. Sakura's object was a ribbon given to her by Ino, Naruto had frog-wallet. Chi brought a rose. It was a dark one and smelled bad. She told them it was a special one, and was called a 'Chi'. She had cut it herself that morning. At the time, Sakura thought that she had accidentally injured her hand too, by the way she was clutching a blood stained handkerchief. Later, it turned out to be the liquid dripping from the stem of the rose.

Sakura couldn't bring herself to be jealous of Chi's presentation, the scent of the flower was just too bad. It did make her curious about the species. So after school, she begged her mom to take her to the library and found a dusty scroll in the far back of the 'K'-section, labeled 'Ketsueki clan: a his-' the rest of the label unreadable due to a dark stain.

She spent the entire night reading even as her eyes burned and the light of her flashlight flickered. Much like the sunlight did here, she suddenly noticed.

Her breath came out in white puffs as she spun around. The trees alternated between inky black and ordinary brown. Her nerves tensed, the periods of light and darkness switched faster and faster and she couldn't help but imagine a pale face nearing her. Her hand found her kunai and she jumped high on a overhanging branch. From her point she had the advantage to look at her spot.

Chakra... Sakura let out a breath and jumped down again. She folded her hands and dispelled the Genjutsu.

The trees disappeared. A gaping black void surrounded her. She dispelled it as well.

Tiny red eyes opened all around her. They followed her with every turn she took. Sakura's breath quickened but she forced herself to remain calm. Voices started to speak, hushed and sharp. One voice became two and soon two became four until the noise swelled to a muted choir. Sakura felt tears well up in her eyes and hated herself for them. She closed her eyes, gathered herself and send out as much chakra as she dared.

The voices stopped abruptly, the regular chirping of distant birds returned. Light managed to sneak its way through the thick roof of branches and hit her eyes. Sakura flinched and stepped away, still holding her hands out.

"Well done." A female voice spoke from behind her.

Sakura instinctively reached for her weapon pouch to retrieve her kunai before she recognized the teacher of Team 8. Kurenai Yuhi stepped out of the shadows, collected and confident. Her red eyes remained on Sakura's face as she neared her.

"K-kurenai sensei..." Sakura sighed in relief. She wiped her hands on her shirt.

Kurenai looked at her attire and smiled. She changed, for the better. "You are very quick at sensing Genjutsu, did you train that?"

Sakura blushed "N-no, not really."

The Jonin nodded "Very well, lets begin the real training."

At the entrance of the Forest of Death, noon~

Naruto really tried to keep a neutral face in front of the trees that loomed over him like the wrath of Kami, he really did. It was just that Sasuke was blessed with the emotional range of a chopstick and Kakashi had covered three quarters of his face. He had no such luck and was thus trying to distract himself by counting the leaves on the ground. He quickly discovered a dead mouse and then looked for other methods.

"There she is." Kakashi didn't even look up from his orange book.

Naruto squinted his eyes. Sasuke was peeved that he couldn't sense her.

A pink head appeared from behind a truly impressive oak, and Sakura's whole body soon emerged. In one piece, as Kakashi assessed with relief, though he had to wonder about her mind.

Oh well, she'll grow over it.

As the girl neared them, he could see the redness on her cheeks and puffiness of her eyes. Her shoulders were sagged, head held tiredly and her feet dragged over the dirt. Her chakra was nearly depleted. More importantly, there was a crow nestling on her head.

What the hell?

The crow spotted the group waiting, clicked once and tried to flee but got tangled up in the pink strands. Sakura's hand shot out and grabbed the bird by its neck, and tossed it aside like a twig. The crow let out an indignant whine and shuffled away.

Deciding that it probably wasn't worth his time and sanity, and that his students were most definitely going to end up in an asylum, Kakashi stepped aside and motioned for the Genin to follow his lead. There was a time and place for pleasantries and it was not now nor here.

He was the only one who got that memo.

Naruto launched in a tirade of questions and Sakura indulged him with the occasional hum or groan. Sasuke hadn't moved from his spot facing the trees. His Sharingan was activated and Kakashi could sense his chakra wavering. The other two kept on walking. Kakashi let them, he went to find out what bothered Sasuke. The boy didn't react to Kakashi, though it was certain that he'd noticed the teacher.

"Sensei," He started, sounding unsure "What is wrong with this place?"

Kakashi stiffened and looked at him for a long time, not answering. It was only when Sasuke turned to look, that he noticed the grim look in Kakashi's eye.

"Sensei?"

"Naruto, Sakura! Come here for a second." The copy-cat called.

Both kids turned and made their way back. Kakashi waited, enduring the hard stare from Sasuke.

"What's up sensei? Is Sasuke scared of the forest?" Naruto mocked with a wide grin. Sakura elbowed him, curious to hear what Kakashi was going to tell them.

"Listen to me, all of you." Kakashi said. The three heard the serious tone and straightened.

"I want you all to know that this forest is off limits for you three unless you have received permission from me or the Hokage."

Naruto frowned "But, Chi always goes there. She even took me to her house and that's on the other side of this place."

Kakashi's eye scanned the trees. "Chi lives here and knows every nook and cranny. Besides, her bloodline ensures her survival. She won't bleed out and die here, unlike you."

He faced the trio "Even if it's with Chi, tell someone- me or any other sensei- that you plan on entering."

Sakura scratched her head "Chi brought me to Kurenai sensei this morning."

"Yes, she did and Kurenai made sure to scan the forest and put some repelling perfume along the route you were going to take." Kakashi countered "Even with Chi, it is dangerous. Chi is only a Genin like you and much of her abilities haven't developed yet. You can't rely on her." Or her mind.

"But what's in here?" Sasuke interrupted.

Kakashi sighed "A long time ago, there was a shinobi who lived in Konoha. He was strong but obsessed with immortality. He eventually turned to performing experiments on fellow shinobi and animals. When he was exposed, he fled. We tried to find his creatures and dispose of them, but he had already released them into this place. Over the years there have been many hunts, but some survived and even reproduced. It caused the animals here to be malformed and become simply monstrous."

The Genin gawked. Sakura stole a quick glance at the dense woods and paled. The three didn't bother with any questions on their way to the Hokage Tower, too immersed in their thoughts. Kakashi lingered behind them, remembering the conflict it had caused with the Nara's and worst of all: the Ketsueki.

It had been that day when they all realized the threat of the blood clan. While the Nara's understood the danger and build themselves a fence and organized a patrol, the Ketsueki caused a bloodbath. For days, fumes of rotten, steaming carcasses rose from the south of the forest. They returned each night to the entrance and dumped whatever they had managed to kill. Sometimes it had been a giant snake with four heads, sometimes a deformed human. All were drained of blood and no one bother to ask what had happened with it. What Kakashi realized that day, was that there was no clan in the world who enjoyed murder as much as the Ketsueki.

Of course, the Hokage at the time tried to stop them and convince them to just wait for an organized hunt with the rest of the Jonin and Chuunin, but when the clan head had turned up to the meeting; all glowing yellow eyes, grinning and dragging a hideous chimera along, the Hokage saw that it was too late.

The clan of bloodsuckers was already too far gone.

Kakashi could only hope that the girl could be saved.

At the T&I building, that evening~

"Damn it all!" Ibiki slammed his fist against the metal bars as he left the cell. Inoichi hurried after him trying to rid himself of the gory image in the cell.

"Does he take us for idiots?!" Ibiki raged on as they left the dungeons.

"Well, he certainly didn't try to cover it." Inoichi shrugged. He frowned as he noted the other man stalking to the exit of the building "Oi, where are you heading? We need to fill out the-"

The door slammed shut and Inoichi groaned, he was stuck with the many forms again.

"Stupid kid, stupid Danzo, stupid secret ninja technique." He muttered as he took a turn and walked the stairs to his office.

Ibiki left for the bar. His feet took him there in five minutes and he stormed inside, startling a few Chuunin near the door. Most Jonins were already gathered with the exception of Asuma and Guy. He spotted Kakashi and Iruka studying a piece of paper and immediately walked up to them.

The copy-cat greeted him with a salute. Iruka's smile slipped off when he noted the angry look in Ibiki's eyes.

"What did Chi do this time?" He spoke before Ibiki could.

Her sensei took a moment to mourn the fact that that was a legitimate concern ever since the tall Genin managed to blow up part of the academy in search of a spider. He quickly shook the thought and pressed his lips in a thin line.

"Remember the boy we caught snooping near the Ketsueki compound?"

Iruka thought for a while and rose his finger "The one trapped in a ditch with stakes?"

"That one." Ibiki confirmed. His shoulders sagged "I went to interrogate him again but he managed to kill himself. Shoved a blade in his throat."

Kakashi shifted his weight. His gray eye was narrowed. "How? I thought he didn't have any access to weapons?"

Ibiki gritted his teeth. "Danzo came to visit today, said he wanted to take a look himself. He slipped the kid something, or killed him himself. Damn ol-"

Iruka discretely kicked his shin, expression not wavering. There was an unfamiliar presence on the other end of the bar. Ibiki's signaled the bartender.

"Now what are you going to do?"

Ibiki sighed "There is nothing I can do. Just hope that the kid will be okay."

Kakashi's eye curved "I think she will be fine so long as you train her, Ibiki."

Ibiki growled something and snatched the bottle from the bar. Attaching it to his lips, he wondered for how long he would be able to keep his team.

The very next day, at the top secret training grounds on the left of the Hokage tower in the forest~

Chi wiped her sweat away and took aim. Her hand came down from behind her and send the senbon flying. It hit the boulder situated in front of her and fell to the ground. She groaned, closing her eyes.

"Oh yes, great job hitting the one thing standing in your way in this huge open space." Shinji clapped and rolled her eyes.

"I don't see you doing better!" Chi snapped back.

Shinji rose her eyebrows "Oh yeah? Did you not see me hit the target from the fifty meter mark?"

"Please, that wasn't your target!"

"At least I hit a target. With you I wouldn't be concerned if you were trying to hit me, I would be concerned for my neighbors two doors further!"

"You don't have any neighbors with doors on the battlefield, you dimwit!"

Genma hit his forehead with concerning force. Ryuya smiled gently "This might not be their strong side."

"This is not any side of theirs." Genma chewed frantically on his senbon. "How am I supposed to teach them anything when senbon are my specialty?"

Ibiki walked over, long coat abandoned in the sweltering glare of the sun. "That's the thing, you can't teach them anything. You just show them something and hope that they can at least remember the name."

"Then what's the point?!" Genma exclaimed, feeling his skin burn in the heat.

"I don't know, it was Iruka's plan!" Ibiki retorted. "Go ask him!"

Genma sighed and plopped down on the grass, wincing when the dry blades dug in his back. The two girls were still exchanging insults. Ryuya got up and meandered to them, undoubtedly to try and form a truce between the two. Ibiki crouched next to the Chuunin.

"You know, the exams are in a month and I feel like they haven't learned anything."

"Haven't they been learning with the others?" Genma opened one eye.

"Yeah, they have been exhausted all week." Ibiki recalled "But the exams are serious business, they might get killed because we didn't teach them enough skills."

Genma snorted.

"What?" Ibiki demanded.

"No- nothing, it's just that I never imagined you to be the concerned teacher type."

"I'm not!" Ibiki growled.

"Yeah, you are." Genma sobered "I can understand though. They are just kids, really. Sometimes I wonder if we should encourage them to become shinobi."

Ibiki looked at his students, they were laughing now. Chi clapped Shinji on her shoulder, making the girl's knees buckle. He nodded "It is a cruel life we're forcing them into. I just hope that they survive long enough to be able to retire."

"That's false hope." Genma laid down on the ground. "We would be lucky if even half would make it into adulthood. The dangers of the world are constantly evolving, even if we aren't at war anymore."

Ibiki found it hard to speak, his throat restricting at the thought of having to bury one of the Genin. Even if they weren't his own students, they were still kids and he was still supposed to teach them to survive. If he failed at that, then...

"I wonder what we'd do without them." He muttered, without realizing he said so.

Genma eyed him with amusement and stared at the trio currently chasing each other with handfuls of red dirt. Ryuya tripped and rubbed her damaged joints. Even from this distance the elders could sense the surge of chakra Chi allowed in Ryuya's system to ease her pain. The girl smiled and jumped up again, throwing dust in their faces.

"We would become insane." He answered with sad eyes.