Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

The Past: Unit Ten

Today was the day when she would be fighting the other people in her unit—who up until this point she had rarely seen. She would often catch blurred glimpses of some as they entered their bunks, and there had also been that one girl she had sort of greeted. Still, that didn't count for much—barely a hello had transpired between them.

Her stomach felt like it wanted to come out of her throat, and her heart fluttered harder than the wings of a hummingbird. She couldn't do this. She could barely breathe, how could she fight? She couldn't do this.

What scared her was not the fighting, but the placement. She couldn't be placed on another team. It didn't feel right. It was a mistake. Everything had been a big mistake. She couldn't do this, and was she having a panic attack?

She put her hand to her chest and folded onto the ground. Deep breath in. Deep breath out. Repeat.

A part of her felt frustrated at the stupid loyalty she still held for her old team. She hadn't realized it at the time, but Kakashi-sensei's lesson really stuck with her. Even though her original team was no longer, their broken pieces scattered to the wind, she would always hold enough loyalty towards them to make her falter.

She would have thought it funny that one of the few things that Kakashi-sensei had taught her, she had learned better than the other two—much like when they were learning to tree walk. If she wasn't having such a mental and spiritual dilemma over such a stupid thing, she would have laughed.

Deep breath in. Deep breath out. Repeat.

Slowly, her episode began to wane, and a switch was flipped within her, tilting her world on its axis. When it was over she was left feeling a little less lost and a little more disconnected. (She really did miss her team, though.)

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

She stepped out of her bunk and waited beside her door. All of the others were already there. She counted nine other people waiting in the corridor with her. The tall girl from before was there. She also recognized another face in the group. It was Lee's female teammate. She was slightly thrown off. Shouldn't she be with Might Guy? Subconsciously, she already knew the answer, though.

~It was a bleak day, like the day the third Hokage had been buried, but instead of the sky crying, it simply looked mournful. She clenched her hands at the remorse that still lingered in her chest and at the splitting headache that had decided to overtake her at precisely that moment. She had been having many of these, but she chalked it up to stress. After all, she had never known death, not like this. Not when it crept up on someone who still had more than enough energy to bestow the world, and not on someone that the world needed more of. Someone she still had a debt to. There was a niggling sensation at the edge of her mind that wound her up, more so than she already was. (If only she could take a pain pill. She wanted to peacefully pay her respects, damn it!)

She stood in a very small crowd made up of Lee's teammates, his sensei, and Naruto. Lee's teammates were distraught. The female member of his team cried openly, and the male member, Neji, looked lost and angry.

Guy's grief was heartbreaking to see. He looked like a shell of the man that she had once encountered before. She could see the self-loathing in his eyes, and she could feel the heaviness of his loss. Oh, Lee. He would have hated this.~

A faceless instructor came to collect them. He led them to an arena. She saw Ibiki and about twenty other spectators in the stands, but they were muted and blurred by a genjutsu. The genjutsu also simmered around them, unit 10. She wondered if it gave them, the spectators, anonymity, or if it was to conceal the identifies of unit 10. It was explained that during their month of training, they had all been evaluated individually. Each of them currently had a score, and they were already put in a rank, which greatly influenced how they would be partnered. The fights that would be taking place were only to adjust the scores and placements, based on accuracy and precision, strategy, and strength.

The two-man cells would be announced by the end of the day. Sakura felt her heart stutter in protest. Deep breath in. Deep breath out. Repeat.

There were ten of them. Each would be paired against another, and the winner would move on to another round. Only one winner would emerge and they would also get a prize that would be revealed at a later time. She asked herself what the point was, but chose to keep quiet, as did the others.

Her fight ended up being the last one from the first rounds, and she would be paired against a boy named Minoru. She glanced over at him. He had short brown wavy hair and alluring amber eyes. Although his eyes were very pretty, he had a standoffish air about him. He reminded her of Sasuke, with a similar haughty attitude. He caught her staring and raised an elegant eyebrow at her. She didn't look away, but when the first fight started both withdrew inspection of each other.

The first fight was between Lee's teammate, which she had discovered her name to be Tenten, and a girl named Tsubasa. Tsubasa had grey hair and grey eyes, and despite the color being darker, she was reminded of Kakashi-sensei.

Deep breath in. Deep breath out. Repeat.

The match was beautiful to watch, both girls were highly skilled in the use of kenjutsu. It was a dance of metal, and sparks flew from all the clashing of their blades. Although Tsubasa fought with a flawless form, using her twin blades, Tenten had a more diverse arsenal to choose from and when she switched to using a scythe-like weapon Tsubasa found it hard to find an opening. She subsequently tired quickly and became slower, which Tenten used in advantage to disarm her. The fight ended with Tenten standing over Tsubasa, with the blade of the scythe drawing a trickle of blood from her neck.

The second fight was between Hiroshi and Botan. Hiroshi was, to put it mildly, quite a character. His first move, which had not been understood until the consequences happened, was to 'systematically' place explosion tags all around the battleground. When Botan took his first step, Hiroshi set off a few, one of which sent him flying through the air, but he laughed manically and used the momentum to his advantage. She looked to the other contestants to see if anyone else was baffled by him. She was pretty sure Tenten's jaw had dropped in shock. They were in a subterranean arena for fuck's sake. Ibiki didn't look worried, though, so she decided the building could take it. Although, she still looked around in paranoia for any cracks in the foundation.

A harsh static noise filled the air, and for a second, she thought that Kakashi-sensei was around. From within the smoke that had been left by the bombs, a surge of electricity sparked to life and colored the smoke a translucent blue. Botan emerged from the within and advanced towards Hiroshi, two whips charged with electricity aiding him in his attack. Unlike Hiroshi, Botan seemed more like Ibiki when he fought, a stoic façade never giving away a hint of emotion. For the next few minutes, sounds of electricity, violent explosions, and manic laughter filled the arena. Finally, as Botan had trapped Hiroshi with ninja wire, having lost both whips in the battle, he suddenly stopped, having been caught in a genjutsu. Hiroshi broke free of the wire and held a kunai up to Botan's neck, indicating the end of the battle and his victory.

The third battle was between Zenjiro and Kita. Zenjiro reminded her very much of Haku, as his features were very androgynous. He had a slender nose, a heart-shaped pale face, long white hair, and coffee-colored eyes that soften his stark appearance. The way he carried himself was very graceful and reserved, but he was as fast a snake—she meant that in a good way. They both favored using senbon needles to attack, but Zenjiro relied more on taijutsu and speed, whereas Kita used a blade to fend off attacks. Kita gave off a bubbly exterior as she dodged and counterattacked. She was like a cat playing with a mouse, and when Zenjiro started to sway, everyone understood she used poisoned weapons. All seemed to indicate that she had won until her body fell to the ground and began to seize. A few medic-nin hurried over to stabilize her condition, but a slightly weakened Zenjiro gave them a vile. Antidote. He, too, used poison on his needles. She was very impressed and found this fight to have been her favorite.

The fourth fight, before hers, happened between Gin, the tall girl she had briefly interacted with before, and Harue. Gin was a fierce fighter. She was fast and aggressive in her style of fighting. She incorporated knuckle knives, which kept Harue on his toes. Yet, where Gin was very direct, Harue was always hiding and watching out for the perfect opportunity to strike when Gin's attacks became too repetitive. He wasn't as fast as Gin, but he utilized a metal bow to fend off her assaults. When he would manage to get away he would shoot arrows, proving his draw to be faster than his feet.

A short-range fighter and long-range fighter, who would win?

Harue often used clones to confuse Gin, but she would find him quickly. Although, Harue proved to be a good long-range fighter he also showed that he was able to keep up with Gin in hand-to-hand combat. Both gave a great display of brute strength, but ultimately Gin, who was faster, won.

Finally, it was her turn.

Deep breath in. Deep breath out. Repeat.

She found herself standing across from Minoru, hazel eyes looking cruelly upon her. She cycled chakra through her body and felt everything around her slow down significantly. She saw his right leg shift slightly back. She saw him come at her, but where her body and logic were ready to fight, her heart was weak to let go of what held her back.

"Damn you, team seven," she whispered under her breath, as she let Minoru's fist connect with her jaw. It sent her sprawling back.

She got up, and, again, left herself open for an attack. Minoru complied, and she felt the burn of a hit to her midsection. It wasn't until she heard the hiss of metal being drawn that she was forced to defend herself with a kunai. Minoru was a kenjutsu user who wielded a tantō. He swung out at her, and she blocked with her kunai—not extremely affective but enough to not be skewered by him. Before any more fighting could take place, she formed the sign of reconciliation, indicating her forfeiting from the battle. Thus, ending it.

"Number three," Ibiki's voice boomed out. Everyone startled. She looked up into the stands dispassionately, as she was sure that she was 'number three'.

"Hai?"

"What is the meaning of this?" (She wanted to know as well, but her mind was a jumble of memories and her heart raged with conflicting emotions.)

She didn't see the point of competing against these people. They were all prospects for unit 10, therefore they would-be coworkers. They were unknown by many but had the potential to be useful. 'Nobodies', as the Hokage had said. In their field, that was basically the equivalent of cannon fodder. She didn't want to be cannon fodder, along with the rest of the people there. She wanted for time to rewind and for her to be waiting with Naruto and Sasuke for their chronically late sensei, but that was no longer possible.

She sighed heavily.

Just place her with a new partner and be done with it. She didn't think that she could actively fight to be placed on a team as if she wanted that. (She would not be scum.)

She really missed those terrible boys with weird quirks. She wished that she could start all over again, and go back. Maybe if she could have done things differently the outcome would have been different. If only she could go back.

She wanted to laugh and get angry as quickly as she used to. She wanted back that false sense of security that had allowed her to think nothing bad could ever happen to her village.

She just wanted the day to be over already. A headache was already starting to bloom, and that niggling sensation whispered at the back of her mind.

This had been a mistake, but there wasn't any going back because the reality was that she was the weakest of team seven. As a result, they had left her, and they had never looked back.

"I forfeit from this battle, sir."

"I can see that. Why?" He was seething.

"Strategically wise?" She heard some people behind Ibiki snicker, and Ibiki let out kill intent that silenced them quickly.

He lifted an unimpressed eyebrow at her that promised dire consequences. She went back to take a seat in the stands and ignored the looks from the people around her. For the rest of the battles and on into the final one, she tuned out, trapped in the past when she would watch Sasuke and Naruto get into petty squabbles, and when Kakashi-sensei would read his orange book.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Gin ended up winning. She had the best stamina, and fought with rage, while others were tamer and tired easily. Although Gin did not openly gloat, her demeanor was that of pride and enthusiasm. She saw Hiroshi roll his dark eyes at Gin. It seemed like there was a one-sided rivalry already starting there.

They were all dismissed. Except for her.

"Haruno, stay. You're giving me one hundred kill drills."

Fuck. Kill drills were the worst. They were a series of pushups, tumbles, sprints, sit-ups, and jumps. One hundred was impossible, and yet she remembered one morning when she had seen Guy and Lee doing them. They had been on set two hundred. She grimaced, sorrow for her fellow comrade clouding her nostalgia.

"Hai."

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Half an hour in, and she was panting and sweating uncontrollably. Her body shook from exhaustion. What number was she on? She had forgotten to count after forty. She tried to do another push-up and collapsed. She let out a snarl. She could do it, damn it! Lee had proven that it wasn't impossible, yet here she was about to pass out from exhaustion. She turned over on her back and stared at the bright lights overhead.

~She had a basket of fruits with her. It was for the boys, they had just woken up. Their bodies needed energy, and it was such a perfect day for a healthy treat. The sun was casting a warm blanket over the partially destroyed city, but the wind blowing from the west was cool and chilly. It aided everyone that was helping to repair the city to not swelter too fast, and that, in turn, was lightening the mood, a little.

She registered as a visitor to the nearly fully repaired hospital. It had taken precedent over all other repairs, as it was a vital part of the shinobi village.

She went to the room where the boys had been. Except, they weren't there. She worried. What if there were stray enemies still in the village? What if one of the medics hadn't caught an injury that one of the boys had sustained?

Where were they?

She swore under her breath and went to go look around. While she was roaming one of the corridors she heard angry voices. They seemed to be coming from outside. She looked out of a nearby window. She looked down. Nothing. She looked up at another section of the hospital's rooftop that could be seen from where she stood. There they were.

She frowned as she saw their expressions become darker, and their mouths move quicker. They were about to start fighting. Those two were such hotheads! Didn't they think about the damage they could cause?

She had to do something. She ran. Many nurses scolded her as she ran by, and she almost rammed into patients that roamed the halls, but finally, she made it to a stairwell that led to the roof.

Her legs burned as she ascended. She did not slow down. She pushed open a door and was met with the sound of chirping birds. Sasuke, who had activated Kakashi-sensei's signature move, was advancing on Naruto, who had a swirling ball of chakra in his hand. He, too, started running towards Sasuke. The hospital! The people!

"Stop!" It fell on deaf ears. She ran to come between them and saw fear on both of their faces. Her heart dropped as she realized that they couldn't stop anymore. She closed her eyes and waited for the impact. She waited for her death.

The air shifted around her, and she smelled ozone. She could feel the hairs on her arms stand. There were loud sounds of impact, but she felt no pain. She opened her eyes to find out what had happened and found Kakashi-sensei in front of her. She stared at his back in relief, but quickly, it was replaced by worry and slight fear as she felt the tense atmosphere around him. He was furious enough to conjure electric static around him—his chakra nature raging about him.

She looked towards Naruto and Sasuke who had recovered from being thrown across the rooftop. Naruto looked remorseful and scared, still. Sasuke just looked angry.

"You almost killed her," Kakashi-sensei growled and a sliver of kill intent left him. Her throat felt too narrow, and she could barely swallow her nerves down. She wanted to say something, anything to lessen the punishment towards the boys, but she couldn't find the words.

"Those who abandon their friends are scum. Those who kill them are . . . monsters." Kakashi-sensei's voice hollowed at the end.

"We're not friends, though," Sasuke sassed out, and she felt her heart break. The next thing they all registered happening was Sasuke knocked out cold by a punch to his temple, and Kakashi standing over him breathlessly trying to restrain his anger and kill intent. No one moved from their spots, too frozen by the emotions coursing through their bodies.~

She felt a few tears escape her eyes at the memory. She furiously wiped them away before letting out a cry and going back to doing the remainder of the push-ups. When she went to tumble, she stumbled and crashed to the floor. The exhaustion was finally shutting her down. She crawled up and tried again.

"Stop."

"I'm not finished."

"You are. Now, stop," Ibiki commanded. She gave him an ugly stare, but her body complied with his command.

She sank to the floor and sat there trying to catching her breath.

"Now, tell me. What was that about?"

She shrugged and said, "A lot of things. Things that don't make sense."

Ibiki chuckled and replied, "I torture people for information. Half the things they say don't make sense, but it's my job to connect the pieces."

"My team, mostly."

"That team is no more."

She let out a humorless laugh. "That's what everyone keeps saying, but you see they'll always be a part of me. Stupid Kakashi-sensei taught us that those who don't follow the rules are trash, but those who abandon their friends are worse than trash. They're scum." She shook her head, embarrassed at her confession. The edges of Ibiki's lips downturned. He didn't seem to have the same philosophy.

"You haven't abandoned them," he stated, and he was right. They had left her first, but she wished that she could make her heart believe that.

"Forget it. I guess I just didn't see the point of fighting fellow comrades. Competition is a good incentive and all, but it can also be a double-edged sword. I don't want to compete for something so meaningless as 'who's the best cannon fodder'."

Ibiki snorted.

He held out his hand to help her stand. She took it because Ibiki was rarely so nice and because she knew she could barely move, let alone stand by herself.

"Don't hold back on us anymore, Haruno." He was back to his stern self.

"Hai."

"If you do. I'll make sure, you don't leave until you make it to one hundred kill drills."

"Hai."

He faltered in his pace, which caused her to glance up at him.

"Things are about to become much more difficult. Are you sure you want to continue?"

She swallowed thickly and nodded.

"Hai."