Disclaimer: These disclaimers are getting stupidier every time. There's only so much creative juice in me. It's a good thing Masashi Kishimoto owns Naruto instead of me, or I'd probably have given up and cried in my bed. Good luck with the rest Mr. Kishimoto! Don't let Naruto come here! Ever! Please!!

Chapter 7: Slowly It Spreads

"Now we separate."

Sakura looked at Sasuke strangely.

"Separate?"

"Yes. Each one of us has to run along the edge of this forest, walking along the gate until they reach another entrance of the forest."

The Genins had remembered from their Chunin Exam, that the forest had more than one entrance. Separating the teams would be more risky, but it would also cause more fights among the shinobi, which was something they were going for. With each one on their own, there would be more one-on-one fights, which would slowly decrease the number of people, or at least, their ability to fight back strongly, on each team.

And so they walked. And it wasn't until they were all singled out to just themselves, that the searching for opponents had finally begun.

Deja vu.

It was just like the Chunin Exam.

It felt just like it. Hiding from her fellow teammates her own fears and desires of what was occurring. She couldn't even begin to fathom the danger she was putting herself in, knowing that she was officially self-declared the weakest of the weak. But, even just to see that blown up rage in Sasuke's eyes disappear with the declaration of a fight, or better said, a bet, she would strip away all that was left of her strength.

And just as fast as night turned to day, she felt her fear desperately turn to faith. It was true that as soon as she heard that no others, no teachers, no Jounin, were to be involved in this secret battle of theirs, her soul sank to the deepest pits in her heart. But, she also remembered that friendship won over evil. There could be no chance that the other Konoha team, as strong as they were, would be able to take away their lives, as easily as they could to others. Lee loved her more than she could ever know. Tenten appreciated their small, but growing friendship as fellow female Genin. And Neji...

Neji was a lost soul. That was true. But deep down, it was pure. And although it was him that she worried about most of getting their emotions wrapped up into resentment, she had to believe that he would also fall back on their friendship.

But even with all that personal reassurance, Sakura still kept a defensive stance as she wandered the deep ends of the Forest of Death.

With no one appearing in her sight, neither friend nor foe, she had begun to get tired from all the seemingly endless walking she had endured. Her legs gave way, and she plopped down near a large oak. She had brought a ball of rice with her. Sakura had already experienced the Forest and walked its radius, and knowing as much as she could about it from the Chunin Exam, she did all she could to prepare herself for experiencing it a second time around. If it was one thing she could do right, it was taking caution and studying her ass off on the dangers of the Forest of Death.

It would have been nice to sit down for a few minutes and at least catch her breath, but knowing the competitive personalities of the other team she knew they would try to attack. Why she didn't even set up a trap, or do the least bit of something about it, she did not know. A kunai struck the trunk of the oak she had been supporting herself on. It was a mere centimeter from the tip of her ear. As soon as it struck her mind what was going on, she dropped her ball of rice, got up and started jumping from tree branch to tree branch.

Running away was not the best solution, but it was really the only one she could think of in such a tense moment. Knowing what she knew about her opponents, she decided that it could not have been Rock Lee, as she has never seen him use a kunai. Neji didn't either, but perhaps this was an exception. And finally, Tenten. Oh yeah, she definitely uses them as her main attacks, but knowing her impeccable aim, how could she have missed her?

Unless maybe the reason Tenten missed her was because she knew Sakura was going to run away. Perhaps the area where her legs were taking her to was full of traps or dangerous creatures of the forest. Or maybe…Could it have been that this bet was getting to Tenten too? Could she have missed on purpose because of her fear to hurt her friend?

Either way, it was better to stop and face her, Sakura thought. Although she wasn't able to see her fight against Temari that well, since she was still a bit knocked out from her fight with Ino in the Chunin Exam preliminaries, she could still tell that Tenten would not get too close. The most important thing she had to do right now was to watch out for any flying kunai in her direction. Tenten would probably not miss a second time…

And she was right. Two kunai were thrown from the trees to the right of Sakura. If she hadn't been so alert, they would have hit her head on. Thankfully, they had just grazed her right arm, but it still hurt. Sakura quickly back flipped onto the branch of tree behind her. She hid herself well. She could not see a trace of Tenten. It would not be wise for Sakura to get too close, but what else could she do? Just keep on waiting?

So, she ran out to the clearing. She knew that what she had just done would make her completely vulnerable to an attack, but she figured this fight would get nowhere if she didn't some risks. Since when she had gotten so strong, she did not know. There was something about this Forest, she supposed, that brought on a different side to her, but it was still incredibly to believe that she herself was fighting on her own this time, without her friends by her side.

"I'm not running away anymore. I suggest you do the same Tenten."

Her eyes took on a shocked state. Tenten did not realize she had revealed herself to Sakura. In fact, she was pretty sure she could not see her, seeing as she wasn't looking at where she was, so how could she know it was her?

"I know it's you Tenten. And even if it isn't, I'll fight you all the same. I'm not afraid right now."

Did that just come out of her mouth? Sakura wished she had more time to ponder on that but as soon as she was done speaking, her hidden opponent tumbled out of the trees and revealed herself.

"Hello Sakura."

"Hello."

"You know, you should be afraid. It is not safe to just put yourself out there believing that you are strong, and that you can get past me…alive."

"What?"

"What, you think I'm not capable of killing you?"

Although sweat started to form at various parts of her body, Tenten gripped her kunai and quickly threw it at Sakura.

It flew at an amazingly quick speed and in a matter of two seconds, cut her on her side.

"Aaaaaaahh!!" Sakura screamed as it blazed past her. It had barely hit her, but it hurt like hell. Would she be able to take a head-on hit?

Just when Tenten threw another one, Sakura performed the hand seals for Kawarimi no Jutsu (Replacement Technique) and the kunai instead struck a log.

Tenten furled (?) her eyebrows and looked on at Sakura in anger and disappointment.

"You're not going to hit me aga…AAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaHHHHHHHHHhhhh!!!"

Tenten began to sweat more and more. She didn't know how much more of this she could take. She had just hit Sakura in her thigh, and it was a full-on hit that had struck her at a tremendous speed.

Sakura was so frustrated, so pissed at herself. Even these words could not describe the rage she held inside of her towards herself. She wondered how stupid she must have sounded, probably appearing as if she was all talk. She had promised to become stronger to herself, and for a moment there, she believed she had. What had gone wrong?

Tenten stared at her, but then she turned her attention towards something that had moved in the trees behind Sakura. Could it be one of her teammates?

He had heard her screams and came running for her aid. From the trees he hid in, he noticed that Sakura had been fighting Tenten, and had been losing badly. Her clothes were a bit torn, her arm had a couple slashes, and her upper leg was bleeding profusely. And from what he could see, Tenten did not look to have any wounds on herself. She looked nervous and a bit distracted, so he took that chance to go and rescue Sakura.

"Sasuke!"

He jumped down from the branch and picked up the wounded Sakura. He looked on angrily at Tenten.

All it took was that one look from him to tell her that she was better off running away and reuniting with the rest of her team. The best thing for her to do right now was to find her other friends. She couldn't as well without them. She couldn't take saying all those things to Sakura. But she knew if she hadn't, she wouldn't have found the strength to hurt her.

And with that, Tenten fled.

"Sakura! Are you ok? What happened?"

"Sasuke…Sasuke-kun! You're here! How'd you find me?"

"Oh well, uh, I was just running through the trees and all and I heard you scream…"

"Oh my gosh. I'm such a loser. I can't believe you're seeing me like this."

"Sakura, we need to get you to a safe place right now and find Sasuke!"

"But you are Sasuke!"

"Sorry, I meant Naruto. I'm just a little nervous seeing you like this…so early in the bet…I didn't mean for you to get hurt."

"You're nervous?"

"Yeah…"

But he had barely finished that word when another hidden ninja attacked him head on.

"Sasuke?"