Because I Love You - Chasing After You

by The Flare Blade

Hiruzen knew that Tazuna's request was much more dangerous and important than it first appeared to be. He needed experienced ninja for the mission, but his hands were tied because of politics... until he sees a loophole. Using an educational project as cover, he will send two teams to Wave! A Naruto retelling with Hinata as a main character but with canon teams. (Ch1-5 revised!)

25. Chapter 25 - Crashing Thunder

Hey folks. It's been a while, huh?

I apologize for the wait. Chapter 5 was troublesome, but the big culprit was a lack of motivation. I lost my job, and for some reason my desire to write usually plummets when I'm home. I can't even blame it on gaming this time, despite Smash Ultimate and Hyrule Warriors being such huge timesinks (especially Hyrule Warriors... omg does this game have stuff to do).

But enough of that. We have hit some key thresholds with Reviews, Favorites and Followers lately! I thank everyone for helping this fic becoming so much bigger than I ever imagined, and through reviews, so much better as well.

I think I might have implemented a few changes that ended up going uncredited in my revised chapters, so I'd also like to thank everyone that ever gave some input, at least. You guys point out issues and I keep then in my mind for months, but I after such a long time I might have forgotten from where X or Y idea came from… some things were in reviews but others were in PM replies and those are much harder to investigate. Many times I don't immediately realize an idea is worth exploring more or in a different way until I'm right there writing it, and I apologize for that.

Chapter 5's 3.0 version is out by now, and I have a little announcement: the next chapter will not be a revised Chapter 6, but rather Chapter 26. I don't even want to think about losing my new job once the three months of my experience period are over, but if it happens, at least I used the time for concluding this part of the arc or close enough.

Finally, special thanks for my friend JGC who ended up giving this a beta read at the last second as a favor just this once, aiding me alongside Ozy. He helped me with bits and pieces of the chapter 2-3 revisions and the second bonus chapter, too, while we were in college.

And with that, let's move on the second exam!

---

The Chunin Exams arc

Chapter 25: Crashing Thunder (v1.0)

---

The wind blew past Team 8 as they moved.

"Nothing yet, Hinata?"

"No... sorry Kiba-kun."

"Nah. Don't worry," he shook his head. "I guess that's why we leave the plans to you, huh, Shino?"

Akamaru barked in agreement.

"Your idea wasn't unreasonable."

"You know, you could have just said my idea was reasonable," the Inuzuka remarked, frowning.

"Oh, I'm aware."

"Hmph. Smartass…"

Hinata giggled at their casual banter as she continued to scan the area with her Byakugan, yet her eyes saw nothing worth noting.

Team 8 had arrived hours early to the second part of the exams, thanks to Kiba of all people. He had suggested for them to use their tracking abilities to scout the exam site before it began and hopefully gleam useful information for themselves and their other genin allies, which Hinata and Shino quickly agreed to.

When they arrived, they saw that Team Guy was there early as well but for no particular reason. Since Neji had a tracking ability as well, the teams decided to split the labor and do a half-circle around the metal gates that separated Training Ground 67 from the nearby wilderness.

Unfortunately, neither team found out anything.

The reason was simple: Training Ground 67 was nothing but a massive rock structure, dwarfing the metal gates that isolated it from the rest of the world and justifying the proctor's previous warning about wall climbing. It was also wide, taking them almost half an hour to fully circle it at a ninja's pace.

Hinata had compared it to a small mountain, yet as there was no peak in sight Shino had theorized it might be a plateau instead. Without being able to glimpse the top they couldn't be sure, but the dense, tall forest all around them didn't allow such a thing.

More relevantly, the supposed plateau was both too tall and too wide for Hinata's Byakugan to catch any significant detail, and the same applied to Neji. That wasn't a matter of skill, talent or anything of the sort: age was the key factor there. Their eyes still needed a few extra years to hit the biggest natural 'growth spurt' of their dojutsu.

Which was certainly fine with Hinata. Not only that made her felt zero guilt for failing her team—what was she supposed to do about it?—she also didn't have to put up with her cousin's usual toxicity since he was stuck just like she was.

With those potential sources of anxiety out of the way, all that remained was the one haunting her since the day before: her complete disregard for her own teammates during their test. She spent hours preparing herself for what was bound to be a very difficult conversation while they traveled… but that turned out to be nowhere as difficult as she had dreaded. The hard part had been stewing in her own insecurities until she found the courage to bring it up to her team.

She shook her head at herself, smiling slightly. 'I shouldn't have doubted Naruto-kun.'

His counsel ended up being spot-on.

Kiba had merely laughed when she apologized. "Come on, like we didn't know you had helped him! There's no way he'd pass that shit test on his own, but he did, so duh."

…She had omitted how Naruto finished his test with nothing but his name on it, of course.

Shino, for his part, seemed more concerned with the 'how' of the situation.

"While you took a sizable risk in helping Naruto that way, you didn't get caught, thus I don't see a need to linger on this matter. Though I admit, I don't see any better options you could have used with your skillset."

That they both just glossed over her decision to help Naruto in the first place… Hinata didn't know what to make of that, so she decided to just be glad neither of her boys became upset with her.

She wanted to go back in time and beat up her past self, who had been so very disappointed once she discovered who her teammates were supposed to be, not to mention scared.

'But that was then and this is now,' she dispelled the thought just as the front gate of the training ground came into view. Team Guy had already circled back, and the two friendlier members of the team waved to them, which Hinata shyly reciprocated. That was as far as the interaction went, however, as their older comrades made no move to approach them.

There were only a few teams there with them, more than when they had arrived but still nobody they knew beyond Team Guy, leaving Team 8 to find a corner for themselves. Shino suggested a spot near the area's gate, but by the woods instead of the road so that they could watch the competition as they entered without drawing attention to themselves. Both Hinata and Kiba agreed to that, but as they walked Hinata noticed Kiba sniffing the air, frowning. She was about to ask him what was wrong when someone jumped down from a tree, startling all four of them.

"I take it the scouting mission didn't pay off, kiddos?"

Standing in front of them and smirking smugly was the exam proctor, Anko Mitarashi.

Anko had violet hair, messy with a ponytail that was just as unruly, and wore a tan overcoat, which would usually be considered a conservative wardrobe choice… yet Anko wore hers completely unbuttoned, openly displaying a mesh armor bodysuit that clung to her like a second skin and went down to her thighs. The young woman also wore an orange skirt held by a belt that seemed to loop diagonally across her stomach, and shin guards over her sandals.

She intimidated Hinata. Anko had dropped some very unsubtle threats after she burst through the classroom window at the end of Ibiki's part of the exam, which as always only fueled Hinata's anxious behavior. But there was also the way bold way Anko dressed, with form-fitting clothes that left very little to the imagination despite how little skin she actually had exposed. It was the kind of outfit that made everyone just stare, and Hinata knew that in her place she would not last a second wearing that in public.

Yet Anko though wore it without a care, showing self-confidence in her looks and a complete disregard to what others might think, whereas Hinata was the opposite, having absolutely zero of the former and being so heavily chained down by the latter. She couldn't claim to be envious of Anko, per se, but the woman exuded an overbearing aura of "this is what you'll never, ever be" to Hinata and that unintentional message shook the girl.

She wasn't the only one thrown off by Anko's presence.

"Er, yeah. It kinda didn't work," Kiba replied with an awkward laugh, his pitch noticeably higher than usual. Hinata noticed he was not looking at Anko at all… yet Anko was looking at him, openly amused.

"Hah, I knew it."

Shino, however, was unflappable. "Might I ask why you are interested?" he questioned with a frown, making Anko quirk an eyebrow.

"Why? Cause you're Kurenai's brats, of course!

The three genin shared a look, saying nothing, and Anko soon realized her answer didn't do much.

"Wait a sec, she never told you all about me…?"

"Um… no?" Hinata replied, confused.

"Not even one little passing comment?"

"Unfortunately not," Shino shook his head.

"Nothing at all?!"

"Sorry miss proctor," Kiba shot her down, "but yesterday was the first we ever heard of you."

An ugly scowl formed on Anko's face as her anger began to build up. "Argh, what the hell Kurenai!? I thought we were besties! If I had my own team of brats they wouldn't last a week before I told them of you! If they lasted a week."

Team 8 shared another look. Anko wasn't even talking to them anymore.

"She's gonna see," the woman continued, crossing her arms over her chest defiantly and pouting like a little kid. "I'm never buying fancy sake for her birthday again, even if I lose out on it too. I'll just forget about it like she did! Hmph…!"

"Uh. So… you're sensei's friend then?" Kiba dared to ask.

"That's what I thought up until now, but apparently I was mistaken," she grumbled, but finally, her expression softened a bit. "Then again, you guys aren't the only ones she's teaching, right? She said some stuff about a project for Hokage-sama a few times."

"Y-Yes! T-That's exactly it," Hinata spoke in a hurry, hoping to diffuse Anko's ire. "She's, uh, j-just very busy with all the genjutsu classes she t-teaches when not working just with us…"

It wasn't a lie, as that did cut into some of their team bonding time compared to their first month together, but Hinata found weird that Kurenai never mentioned her apparent best friend before.

Though considering how Anko was behaving…

"I guess," Anko sighed. "All that training better pay off, you hear? She talks a lot about you three, even if she doesn't talk about me to you. But I have high expectations of you now!"

The woman then grinned evilly.

"And by that, I mean that I hope you three won't give up too quickly on the test," she chuckled a bit, a clear attempt to psyche them out.

Except Hinata was fairly sure that after that… outburst, Anko was never going to intimidate her again.

Ever.

"But anyway, I didn't come here to socialize. I know you three and Guy's brats went out to scout the area, and while that's not a bad plan, just… don't wander off again, okay?"

"Have we broken any rules?" Shino questioned.

"Nah, I'd have kicked you out in that case." Anko's expression then grew serious. "Thing is, we've seen cases of genin hunting down competition outside of the exams exams."

Hinata's mind helpfully supplied an image of Gaara for her, because that's just what she needed.

"We don't increase security just to keep outsiders safe in our land, you know? So stick to where I can still see you. Kurenai's going to use her entire genjutsu repertoire on me if something happens to you guys while you're under my protection, and she knows a lot of nasty ones, let me tell you. But I'll save the funny stories for another time!"

Anko then turned around, her coat swishing dramatically in the process.

"If you three survive, that is."

The genin watched in silence until Anko was far enough. "Man that was ominous. The end I mean—the rest was just weird."

"She seems to enjoy intimidation tactics," Shino observed, as if to abate Kiba's worries. "But if what she said is true, we will be hearing from her again in the future."

"I just can't picture Kurenai-sensei hanging out with that one," Kiba commented, frowning in Anko's direction. "Let alone being best friends. Don't you guys think something was off about her? It's like she reminds me of something but I can't put my finger on it."

But Hinata could.

"She feels a lot like Naruto-kun."

Kiba blinked at her, then went back to stare at Anko who had just entered through the nearby metal gates.

"Huh?"

"I-I dunno, it's just… they both have this carefree, trickster-like vibe to them."

"I suppose torture could be said to be an advanced form of pranking people," Shino supplied, making both Hinata and Kiba laugh.

"They're both childish and dramatic too, in a funny way," Hinata continued. "And… her skirt is that same orange Naruto-kun always wears."

"…Her skirt was orange?"

Shino raised an eyebrow at Kiba. "You didn't notice? I find that particular shade of orange to be impossible to miss."

With a shrug, Kiba replied: "That's not where I was looking."

He then wiggled his eyebrows.

That made Hinata gasp, her hands covering her mouth but doing little to hide the red in her cheeks.

Kiba just laughed at her.

"K-K-Kiba-kun! T-That's not nice!"

"Oh, come on! I only stared at them when she was looking away. Besides, if she's wearing something like that then she's probably fine with it."

'…That doesn't make it right,' she frowned but kept to herself since she had no rebuttal. She didn't agree with Kiba at all but couldn't exactly counter his point.

And from the way Shino was shaking his head at the Inuzuka, he shared that opinion. But Kiba just sneered at that. "Pah, you act like that but I bet you put those sunglasses to good use."

…That made Hinata stare at Shino. His glasses were really dark. In theory, he could stare as much as he wanted without being caught.

Even at her.

'But… he wouldn't, would he?'

"Don't ridiculous," the Aburame scowled. "Let's focus on something actually important."

"Sure sure," Kiba chuckled, bending down to pat Akamaru. "The test, right?"

"Indeed. I wanted to revise some of our tactics while we still have time…"

---

Naruto scowled as he scratched his cheek, which was itching as the Kyuubi's chakra made short work of the shallow cut Anko had just given him minutes ago.

It had been an annoying situation, but he was used to being the butt of other people's jokes. It didn't sting that much anymore.

"This is where we stop. I trust Anko's explanation was sufficient?"

"We're fine, thank you," Sakura said to the chunin proctor who had led them from the gates to the starting area designated for their team.

"You can begin whenever," the man said. "Just remember that you aren't allowed to com down here once you reach the top unless you want to give up. Good luck."

The chunin then stepped to the side, leaving nothing between Team 7 and their first trial: the gigantic rock wall they had to climb.

"Alright guys," Naruto grinned widely at his teammates. "Let's do this!"

He then began to run.

Or he almost did, but Sakura quickly grappled him by his jacket's collar.

"Not so fast, Naruto! Don't you think we have to discuss something first?"

"Huh? …Oh, you mean what Ino was saying?"

"Yeah." She released him, then looked between him and Sasuke. "What do you guys think?"

Naruto crossed his arms, his mind going back to the event in question.

Team 10 had been the last to arrive of their little group, thanks to one lazy Nara. To be more specific they were the last of the entire batch of exam takers, barely making it in time.

That proved to be a problem. As soon as they got there, Ino had asked them all to gather as she had an important suggestion to make.

'Everyone, I don't really have an idea of what the test is going to be, exactly, but I've heard that the second exam is usually a competition between squads. I think we could have a much higher chance of getting through this if we team up and work together, don't you agree?'

It had been a nice plan. There was a fair mix of offensive, defensive, tracking and support skills between the twelve of them, never mind the raw numbers advantage they'd have against any team trying to take them down.

…But the idea got shot down immediately before anyone had the chance to agree with Ino.

'While in theory that sounds nice, what you actually want is a chance of passing this exam at all.'

Of course, Naruto remembered with a scowl; that had been Neji. Unfortunately, the Hyuuga did have a point: Team 10 was easily the least suited for that kind test.

'We are allies, yes, but my team has been preparing for this for more than a year. You all only have a few months of experience and I'm not going to risk our promotions for your sake. You're on your own.'

Neji then left them without even allowing a gaping Ino to blurt an indignant response at him.

Not that she would have a chance, as Anko had everyone shut up so she could start explaining the exam right there and then, cutting their meeting short.

That practically forced Lee and Tenten to follow their teammate, but at least before leaving they quickly promised they wouldn't fight any of them if they met up somewhere in the exams.

Naruto wasn't so sure Neji would be okay with that, but the guy was so full of himself he might see then as too weak to bother.

The thought infuriated him.

"Ino's plan is solid," Sasuke began speaking. "Even without Team Guy, we'd have a good chance against other teams if we were together. But we don't have a way to search for them."

"Ugh. You're right," Sakura deflated. "Besides Team 8, Ino's the only one of us with any sort of tracking abilities, and she's not exactly good at it yet."

Sasuke nodded. "I don't think we can afford to wait for them."

"Yeah," Naruto agreed. It was unfortunate, but at the training ground's entrance Team 7 had been sent to the opposite side of Team 10, and they didn't get to see where Team 8 ended up going. "There's no way we can find them on our own…"

"But if they come to us, do we team up?" Sakura asked.

"Definitively."

Naruto nodded at Sasuke. "I think so too. I mean, screw what that asshole thinks! We gotta look out for each other!"

"Then it's decided," Sakura smiled at them. But it quickly disappeared, and she turned their back on them. "But first, we have to climb this…"

Naruto took a moment to look up and grimaced. He couldn't even see the top.

"Even with chakra, at our level a fall from that high would kill us," Sasuke observed.

"Can we make it in one run?" Sakura wondered. "I'm thinking it would be safer to walk in this case…"

While their original training had them running up the trees, they had progressed enough that they didn't need to rely on speed to finish long climbs. Walking was slower, but they could focus better and in theory for longer.

…Yet they never had to climb something as massive as this mountain-like structure.

Naruto gulped, his jaw locked up tight. Now that he had stopped to give this ridiculous stone wall a good, hard look…

"We would definitively take a few hours if we decide to walk," Sasuke argued. "And the more time we take to climb, the more teams will be up there when we reach the top and the harder it will be to get the scroll we need."

"Yeah, but… hey, Naruto? What's wrong?"

Startled, Naruto suddenly saw both of his teammates staring at him, with Sakura visibly concerned.

"Oh, it's nothing. Just… you know," he said vaguely, scratching his head.

"No we don't," Sasuke frowned. "Spill it."

"…I'm not sure my chakra control is good enough for this."

Naruto hated to say that out loud. He hated to feel weak, to feel inferior to his teammates… but… he also recalled that lecture Kurenai had given to his team the day they met.

There was no shame in asking for help. That didn't hold up very much in practice, yet he realized he had to be honest. If he failed he wouldn't go down alone. He couldn't just rush it while hoping for the best, like he had been about to until Sakura stopped him.

Plus, he could die.

He sighed, cursing his impulsive nature. "Look, I've been getting better. A lot better. But these past weeks that I've been trying to get that Wind Jutsu to work, even though I did, what was my big problem? Control. And it's still not that easy to get it right."

Sasuke and Sakura shared a look before glancing up at their imposing first obstacle again.

"It's a risk we'll have to take," the Uchiha declared, turning towards Naruto. "Even for us."

"But," Sakura raised a finger, "maybe there's something we can do to mitigate that risk."

Under the boys's curious gazes, Sakura slung the bulky, brown backpack she had on her back, leaving it over her chest as she opened it. "The proctor said there was more stuff in here than just ration bars and water…"

"Oh. I forgot about that thing," Naruto muttered. Anko had confiscated most of the genin's belongings besides weapons and a few other items. Food wasn't one of the exceptions, much to Chouji's chagrin. In exchange, each team was given a bulky backpack with almost enough ration bars to sustain three people for four days, plus extra tools Anko hadn't bothered to detail.

The supply bags weren't an objective within the test per se but it was clearly structured so teams would keep spoils after defeating another squad, or even hunt down squads they would otherwise be able to ignore.

"Naruto, hold this for me."

Sakura handed him a red scroll with a flame design. That was one of the key objectives of the test, with the other being a blue scroll with a droplet design. Each team received either a Scroll of Fire or of Water, and one copy of each was needed to pass.

"We need to decide who'll keep what during the test too," the girl added.

"Simple enough," Sasuke spoke up. "Naruto, you keep the backpack. If we get outmatched you send some clones away so we still have food later on, since the enemy won't know which Naruto to hunt down. I'll keep the scroll. It'll be easier to cast a genjutsu on an enemy if I have something to get them looking at me."

Shrugging, Naruto passed the scroll. "You're also the fastest here, so it will be harder for anyone to steal it from you."

"Right."

"Aha! I found some ropes!" Sakura declared, drawing attention to herself and a strand of rope peeking out of the bag. "It seems pretty sturdy too," she added. "And there's a lot of it."

"Uh, cool, but so what?" Naruto asked, eyes widened at how much rope she was pulling out. 'That really is a lot!'

"I was thinking, what if we tied this around our waists? If one of us fell down the others could keep you from falling!"

"Or everyone falls together," Naruto countered, frowning.

"If we are caught by surprise, maybe," the girl allowed. "Bu look, I don't think me or Sasuke-kun will have problems with this climb. Our control is already pretty good. If you go a bit ahead of us, we can see if you start falling we can react quickly to help you."

"Er… I dunno... that's kinda—"

"We don't have a better plan," Sasuke cut him off. "That's the best we can do right now. Unless you want to give up?"

Naruto scowled at the challenge. "Like hell!"

"Then trust us," Sakura said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "If we work together then we'll get to the top easily. Besides, who knows if you'll actually need the help?"

He felt his spike of anger ebbing away. "Yeah… I guess. We can try that. Sorry for… all the trouble, I guess."

"Just compensate when the true exam beings afterward," Sasuke said. "We'll need your help up there. Now give me those ropes Sakura…"

---

Sometimes, having the Byakugan active didn't really matter, as Hinata found out the hard way.

Her field of vision was wide but her mind could only focus on how her lungs and legs were burning from the exertion. Byakugan or not, the world around her was just a blur.

One thing was clear to her: 'I still need more training.'

Except it was too late. She had already conquered the test's first obstacle, and there was no going back anymore.

Her teammates fared better than her. Kiba, being the fastest and the one with the most stamina, had made short work of the climb despite his comparatively weaker control. Shino was the opposite, but he played to his strengths and went at a slower pace—which in retrospect should've been her choice too.

That's not to say the boys didn't need time to recover from the climb, far from it, but Hinata had taken it the worst and was still gathering herself while her partners took in the test site's true form.

"Whoa… this place is just as messed up as the proctor made it sound like," Kiba observed, still slightly out of breath.

"Indeed," Shino agreed as he readjusted his backpack. He then approached Hinata. "Are you alright?"

"…I-I'll be," she promised, cursing her weakness.

Shino examined her for a moment. "I see. What does your Byakugan tell you now?

His prompt was the final push her mind needed to get back into the game. With one last deep breath, Hinata allowed her unique senses to take over and focused.

"I can't see anyone nearby. But… the plants, water and some of the ground around here are different to my eyes."

"Could it be the Fire Chakra the proctor spoke about?"

"I-I think so."

What she saw reminded her of the mission to Wave. When the Kyuubi's chakra leaked from Naruto it stood out in contrast to everything her developing eyes could see, but whereas Naruto had radiated energy as if he were some sort of sun, the surrounding area only had subtle pink hues to it and otherwise didn't stand out from the usual.

The Byakugan had its perks, but it was only when Hinata turned it off that she understood Kiba's awe.

Anko's words echoed from her memory.

'Listen up you brats! I know history is boring but this will be important! Way up above is a place we call the Firewater Mines. This used to be a mountain mine and was home to a big ninja clan that made a living not just of missions, but also from selling the ultra-rare Fire Chakra crystals they mined here. This clan was pretty famous a few decades back, but then Konoha happened, and they weren't very happy with the competition.

'This clan began to send ninja to ambush our men during missions, and even went as far to smuggle Fire Chakra crystals to other clans that had a beef with Konoha. Their threat to us became big enough that eventually the First Hokage and his brother, who would become the Second, personally came here to resolve the situation.

'In the end, negotiations went nowhere and the entire clan decided to attack. You'll see it when you get there, but the First and the Second really wrecked the place. You can't see the top of the mountain cause they destroyed it. There's no rubble down here anymore but you'll see a lot of it above. Plus there's trees and water in all sorts of weird places, and a big portion of the mines and caverns are flooded to this day.'

That final part was why her Byakugan picked up something new. The water eventually eroded the crystals within the mines, spreading fire chakra into the environment and subsequently, those that consumed it. The plants that didn't mutate from the chakra on the ground and water died off, and the wildlife was similarly devastated from exposure to the toxic raw elemental chakra, or the lack of food. Only a few species of bugs and birds still called the territory home.

And what a mess of a home it was. There were big chunks of rock everywhere, tress sprouting out of rocks seemingly random places contrasting with clearly defined pathways that led into underground tunnels. The area was very uneven, with various small rock hills blocking and the occasional tree Hinata's normal sight lines despite how the terrain slopped downwards towards the center.

She also found various ponds, some shallow and others deep enough to hide underwater caverns, giving credence to Anko's warning about how some of the tunnels were flooded. As her Byakugan had detected, the water was tainted with Fire chakra, and if Anko wasn't messing with them before, it was as dangerous to the touch as acid.

If Hinata had to describe everything she saw in one word, "chaotic" would be her choice. It almost gave her a headache just from looking around.

Finally, at the very center, was a gray tower, with a giant tree sprouting from inside it and casting shadows all around it. It was the tallest structure of the exam site, despite sitting at the lowest point of the mine's surface

Kiba pointed at it. "And that's our goal, huh?"

"In a way," Shino said. "The proctor said there were multiple entrances, but that we'd have to venture underground to find them."

"Right," he grimaced, putting Akamaru on the ground. "So how are we going to do this?"

As always, Shino took the lead. Bugs began to leak out of his sleeves, separating in small clouds that each flew in a different direction. "First of all, Hinata, we will need your Byakugan again."

"Of course." Her vision shifted. The only blue chakra signatures nearby were Team 8's. "We're still clear."

Shino nodded. "I believe we were fortunate with this test. Our tracking skills should allow us to find other teams and ambush them while avoiding ambushes ourselves. While we seek another team that has a Fire scroll, my bugs will be scouting the underground caverns for the entrance."

"Looks like a solid plan," Kiba smirked. "What do you think, Hinata?"

"Hmm… so, are we staying above ground for now?" she asked.

"It seems like the wisest option to me," Shino said. "If the tunnels below are too narrow we won't be able to leverage our abilities to ambush foes. Here, however, we can use the open environment to our favor, which seems to be the test's ultimate point given the unnatural variety of areas at our disposal."

"I see."

Hinata gulped. She actually had a more important matter to bring up, and the idea of maybe opposing her teammates was frightening.

But she had to speak up. She had to trust they would at least consider her words, didn't she?

"I… w-well." Kiba and Shino looked at her. She stopped and took a deep breath. "W-What about Ino-san's idea?"

Kiba frowned. "Ugh… almost forgot about that. It's up to us if her plan flies, isn't it? The other teams can't look for each other like we can."

"I presume all of us want to go through with it, correct?"

Kiba nodded at Shino's question and, sighing in relief, so did Hinata. She was just overthinking things again.

"In that case, I believe we need to find Team 10 first."

"Team 10?" Kiba's frown deepened. "I hate to agree with Hinata's asshole cousin, but… the guy kinda has a point. Shouldn't we find Team 7 first?"

"B-But Kiba-kun, isn't his words exactly why we need to find Team 10 first? They'd need our help the most!"

"Hinata is correct, Kiba. Furthermore, while their performance as a team is… lacking, I believe their abilities synergize well with ours. And Team 7 has better odds at surviving this test by themselves than they do."

Kiba crossed his arms as he considered the argument. "I guess you're right. But do we go straight to them, or try tackling other teams along the way?"

"We should decide based on the situation, but I'd like to prioritize reaching Team 10." Shino then pointed towards the central tower but veering off to the side slightly. "They are closer to us than Team 7 but still quite far. Neither have climbed up just yet."

Hinata began to remember her chat with Chouji and his worries about his team's combat ability without Asuma. Those worries, now, were hers as well.

"If we don't hurry, they might end up in trouble…"

She exchanged glances with her boys. Sensing everyone was in agreement, they nodded to each other.

And thus, the test truly began.

---

There was one counterargument that could be had for Shino's statement about Team 7's chances.

While, yes, they were the strongest of the three teams, they also were the one with the worst tracking skillset, which left them as the most vulnerable to enemy ambushes. Their only way of protecting themselves was to send clones ahead, but that had the risk of tiring out Naruto down the line.

After finally climbing to the actual test site, thankfully without any problems, the three genin had discussed their plans for the next portion. They eventually agreed on not wasting Naruto's biggest assets—his reserves and stamina—so early during the test. Sasuke had been the only one against the idea. To him, it was a risk worth taking so that they could finish the test earlier and more safely, which would circumvent the problem entirely.

It didn't take even ten minutes for them to get ambushed.

A well-disguised smoke bomb trap left Sasuke regretting that he didn't push harder for the scout clones, and worst of all, he got split off from the others after quickly firing a Great Fireball at the enemies, and ended up locked in hand-to-hand combat against one of the enemy genin.

"So much for home field advantage, eh?" the boy he was fighting said, laughing to himself as they fought. He seemed to be about as old as Guy's team, and his headband was engraved with the symbol of the Grass village. His taijutsu wasn't anything to write home about, but he had some speed to him.

Nowhere near Lee's speed, but just enough that after the smoke cloud distraction, Sasuke was forced into the defensive and could barely keep up even with his Sharingan.

The enemy also had the mental game to his advantage. Sasuke didn't know how his teammates were faring, whereas his foe had confidence. It was written all over his smug smirk.

It only made punching his face more delicious when Sasuke finally regained his footing.

"Damn you," the other boy growled, tossing a kunai. Yet Sasuke's eyes quickly told him it was going to miss him… but that the explosive tag would catch him if he stood there.

Scowling, he chakra-jumped away. Between the smoke cloud and the rock walls of a nearby cliff, Sasuke's only option was a nearby pond-like area that had a single tall, thin tree with thick branches growing from its watery depths.

Midair, Sasuke tossed a kunai of his own and struck right in the middle of a log.

'Substitution,' he realized as he landed on the water. Despite all the warnings about the water being hazardous, it wasn't dangerous outside of direct contact and Sasuke had enough proficiency in using chakra to walk on water to stay safe.

He quickly scanned his surroundings, finding nothing until he heard laughter from above.

"That was almost too easy," the Grass genin taunted from atop the mid-lake tree, his hand frozen in a hand sign. "Water Release: Wild Water Whips!"

Five massive tentacles of water sprouted from the surface, surrounding Sasuke.

"Let's see your Fire jutsu save you now, idiot! There's no way you can beat me with this much water around."

Sasuke's only thought on the matter? 'I should thank Naruto later.'

After all, what was dodging some water compared to a horde of screaming clones? The tentacles were bigger, but somewhat sluggish and predictable which compensated for the bigger threat they posed. The Grass genin tried to control his jutsu in a way that would corner Sasuke, but again, he had endured worse tactics from Naruto.

He jumped and dodged, weaving hand seals as he darted between the whips.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!"

He spewed a stream of fire, bigger and hotter than what he was used to thanks to the chakra in the water. The grass genin responded with a single seal of his own, and one of the whips moved to block his fireball… only to burst as Sasuke's flames overwhelmed it.

"Whoa!"

Sasuke hissed. Not only had his attack missed by the smallest of margins when the enemy jumped away, but some of the destroyed whip's water splashed into his arms, the raw fire chakra eating his skin where it touched. It didn't sting as much as what he had endured when training with his family's jutsu, but it was enough to potentially become a problem later.

His eyes then widened when his Sharingan noticed the other whips falling apart, but nothing that a substitution couldn't solve. Using the same log his enemy had used before, he was in solid ground again, standing across from his foe.

The other boy openly gaped at him. "Y-Your fire went through my Water Whips? But how?!"

Instead of answering, Sasuke began to connect some dots. 'It would have been easier for him to jump to another area of the pond. It's closer and he'd have easier access to the water. Why did he go all the way back here?'

One answer popped into his mind, and from there a plan of action.

"Water is supposed to beat fire!"

Sasuke replied by tossing five shuriken at him. They were aimed towards him but slightly to one side, leading his foe to jump away right into a predictable direction and right into Sasuke's actual trap: his taijutsu.

Rushing to catch the boy unbalanced just as he had done to him early, Sasuke quickly overwhelmed the grass genin with melee attacks. He wove past his opponent's shaky guard, punching through his blocks until he created an opening to deliver a powerful kick that sent his target back into the pond.

The boy landed above the water, gliding across the surface. Sasuke's eyes caught exactly what he had been hoping to see: the water beneath the boy's feet wavered, signaling an imperfect use of the Water Walking Technique.

"What's wrong?" he taunted the other boy, smirking at his success. "Afraid of getting wet?"

"Screw you! Water Release: Gunshot!"

Sasuke dove under the projectile and repeated his last strategy, kicking the boy by the sole tree within the pond.

'Time to end this.'

He drew shuriken again. The other boy countered by drawing a kunai, intent on deflecting them rather than dodging and getting kicked again.

'Checkmate.'

His red eyes saw it all. The confusion in the boy's face as the shuriken veered wide to his sides, the shock when he was suddenly pulled back by something… and the sinking feeling of defeat when he saw the wires crisscrossing around his body, binding him to the tree.

Sasuke nodded to himself, satisfied with his work. The maneuver had taken him weeks of training to perfect, and he was glad to have this new skill in his arsenal.

"Don't move or the wire will cut through your neck. You will die."

The grass genin was too shocked to react in any way, and with his hands pulled tight against the tree he was no longer a threat.

It was his victory, but he had to move on.

'Now where are they?' Sasuke wondered as he walked back to where the smoke trap had been. The cloud was almost gone, but he saw no sign of anyone else.

Then a voice rung loud from the cliff, above.

"Wind Release: Gust Cannon!"

'That's Naruto!'

Sasuke gathered chakra into his feet to scale the wall, yet before he could he saw a shadow flying past him and heard a scream following it.

When he followed the sound, he witnessed one of the most unfortunate coincidences he would ever see in his life.

The shadow was from a tall, muscular genin that Sasuke had only caught a glimpse of before the smoke cloud had engulfed his team. He had been launched right into the pond, but he bounced off the surface, a testament to his chakra control.

Unfortunately, that bounce made him go just high enough that he crashed into the tree and impaled himself into one of its branches, right through the chest. The other genin he had tied to the tree was helpless and terrified as he watched his teammate take a lethal wound right before his eyes, and could do nothing to save himself as the tree's trunk gave out from the crash and broke off, sending them both sinking into the pond.

It all happened in only a few instants.

Sasuke didn't know if the boy he fought would drown or be burned alive from the Fire chakra first, if not melted alive.

'…If I knew, I would've just slit his throat,' he thought with a grimace, struggling with the bitter taste the scene left in his mouth. He breathed a small sigh and turned away, knowing there was nothing he could do at this point.

Plus, there was the exam to worry about.

"Sasuke!"

Jumping from the cliff, Naruto landed beside him. Sakura followed soon after. Both of them were looking around as if there was still a threat, but neither appeared to be wounded.

"Don't worry," he told them. "You were fighting that big guy, right? He's gone."

Naruto stomped the ground. "They got away? Damn it!"

"…No."

Sasuke couldn't recall a time where he had outright lied to his team, but that's what he had to resort to. Naruto had yet to kill someone for the first time, and Sasuke feared what a bad reaction could do in the middle of a dangerous exam.

His lie was simple.

"The Grass genin I was fighting didn't have a good chakra control. When you blew the other guy to the lake, it caught him off-guard and he began to drown. The other one tried to help but he got burned and fell with him."

"Whoa… well, shit," Naruto frowned. "So… they died?"

He nodded. While Naruto looked away uneasily, Sakura just gave him a look, letting him know she didn't buy it. Then her gaze fell a little and her eyes widened. "Your arms!"

He glanced down at them. Without adrenaline giving him a boost it stung worse than before, but he knew burns and knew his limits. "It's not as bad as it looks. Focus on the exam."

"A-Alright," she nodded shakily. "So the third member. They can't pass the exam, but they might want to take revenge."

The comment surprised Sasuke. "They didn't fight you two?"

"No, it was just the big guy," Naruto said. "There was a weird crocodile summon helping him out though, but it burst out after me and my clones finally landed my jutsu on him." He then turned to Sakura flashing her a grin. "Thanks for the opening by the way—Ow!"

He drew back, rubbing his wounded shoulder after Sakura punched him. "Yeah, like I wanted that creep to stare at my butt like that," she spat, glowering at Naruto then at the ground, her cheeks reddening from anger and embarrassment both.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow but decided it was safer not to ask. "We should look for that third person then. They might have the scroll and the backpack, since they one I fought didn't seem to have them."

"The one we fought taunted us about not having either," Sakura muttered, displeased.

"So the other one has to have them!" Naruto followed that remark by summoning five clones, which them scattered. "We should look up there too," he pointed at the cliff.

After climbing it, Sasuke took a second to examine the area. It was more rocky than the flat area he was fighting on, but also had some trees, bent at weird, curvy angles and sprouting from odd places like usual—or usual for that place anyway. The area was on the highest ground nearby and had no caverns, so at least they were safer from ambushes than down below.

"Alright, so what if we don't find them?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at one of the area's taller trees a little in the distance. "…Looks like we won't have to worry about that."

His teammates followed his gaze. "I see something red," Sakura noted just as the wind blew a little stronger. "It moved! Looks like… hair? Is someone there?"

A small yelp from that direction answered that.

It was time for action, Sasuke decided. "Let's go."

Team 7 barely managed to approach before a shaky, feminine voice rung out. "S-S-Stop right there!

They halted. A girl stepped out from the tree's foliage, high up on one of its branches. The girl's messy red hair was hard to ignore, as was the supply backpack she had on her, but Sasuke hardly took notice of either when he caught sight of the explosive tag dangling from the kunai the girl held in both hands.

The weapon's tip was pointed at her own neck. "G-Get back! I-I'll do it, you know!"

"What?" Sakura said as they all skidded to a halt. "What are you thinking?! You're going to kill yourself?!"

"I-I know you want that stupid scroll," the girl continued, her voice stained with fear.

"But you can't pass the test anymore," Sasuke argued. "Your teammates are dead."

The comment didn't faze her. "I-If you let me go t-then I'll throw the scroll. B-But I-l'll blow it up with me if you get any closer! You hear me!?"

"Look, girl," Naruto began, raising his hands as if to declare he wasn't a threat, "we aren't here to hurt you, and you don't seem to want to fight. So maybe…"

In that moment, Naruto took a step forward and Sasuke's eyes immediately focused on the girl, his Sharingan catching every detail of her reaction: her expression went from fear to full-blown terror as she took a step back.

And fell.

"Aaaah!"

Sasuke saw her eyes closing instinctively as gravity took hold of her body.

And he winced as her weight impacted his burnt arms.

"Are you alright?" he said through gritted teeth.

"…Huh?"

The girl opened her eyes again—red eyes beneath glasses—to see she was only inches away from Sasuke's face. "Wha… b-but… uh…?"

She closed her mouth, settling for staring at him instead. He sympathized with her surprise—he was surprised he was there himself.

Her kunai made a sharp noise as it hit the rocky surface, its explosive tag still unlit. The sound apparently brought the girl back to reality and she began to struggle against his hold. Sasuke quickly put her down, seeing no need to restrain her when she wasn't exuding any killing intent.

"Looks like you are."

She still looked dazed. "Uh… I—"

"Of course she is, you show off," Naruto grumbled as he came closer. "Her chakra would have protected her." Sasuke almost glared at him in return—his body had moved on its own, what could he do about it?

But then the girl yelped and twirled around him, putting his body between her and Naruto.

"Stay away!"

Sasuke winced from her scream. "Naruto, get back!"

Startled, the blond jumped backward. "What? What did I do!?"

"J-Just stay away from me!" she yelled, clinging to Sasuke's back. He felt her trembling terribly, and eyed his teammates unsure. They mirrored his confusion, forcing them all into a tense silence.

It didn't last long.

"Can I come closer?" Sakura asked, softening both voice and expression.

"Uh… sure."

"Alright. And you stay right there," she pointed at Naruto, who wilted at the order even without Sakura's usual harshness. She then closed the distance between herself and Sasuke, giving him a weird look he couldn't decipher, and gazed past him. "My name is Sakura. And yours is…?"

The redhead stared at Sakura for a few seconds before she finally found the courage to answer.

"…Karin."

"Karin, huh? I see you are from the Grass," she pointed at the girl's headband. "Were those two your friends?"

"Teammates," she corrected, frowning. "I didn't even know them before this exam…"

"Whoa, really?" Naruto asked, making the girl cower once more.

"Y-Y-Yes, I-I swear!"

Sasuke put a finger in front of his lips, glaring at Naruto. His "rival" looked more than displeased at the unspoken order—perhaps because it was from him—and stormed away. But as long as he shut up and was still in sight, Sasuke didn't care.

"That's odd, putting a team together like that in a hurry," Sakura continued, still speaking gently.

"M-Maybe… but I-I'm a sensor and a healer. There's no need for teamwork, especially when I can barely fight as it is."

"Then that's why you went for something so drastic just now," Sasuke concluded, motioning to the nearby explosive kunai.

Karin finally let go of him, showing she was more comfortable. "I didn't know what to do, I'm sorry. I can see you are good people, despite what happened to those two."

Sasuke tensed. "You saw that?"

"…I sensed when their chakra flow stopped. I was hiding up here even before they ambushed you, so I didn't actually see how they died."

He relaxed. 'So she has something like a rudimentary Byakugan. Good,' he thought, despite Sakura once again giving him an odd look. He wouldn't be able to keep this under wraps for long, but hopefully Sakura would pry until this ordeal was over.

"So you're a sensor then," Sakura said. "I suppose we are the only ones nearby?"

"Right now, yes. There were two teams fighting over there," she pointed in the direction opposite from the pond, "but they aren't there anymore."

"I see…"

Sakura seemed to fight her curiosity over the matter, but as he turned off his Sharingan, Sasuke decided there was something more important to ask. "You seem to be skilled enough at sensing that you can avoid danger easily. Why didn't you flee?"

The redhead blushed. "I climbed up to hide before those two ambushed you, but… I-I was too scared to get down."

'What are you, a cat?' Sasuke found himself thinking, but narrowed his eyes when he caught Karin glancing at where Naruto was. The boy was still keeping some distance but was unhelpfully glaring at her with suspicion.

That made Karin look away and she perked up at what she saw. "Oh! Your arms seem burnt!"

"Some water splashed on me during the fight," he explained. "The proctor wasn't lying about how the Fire chakra changed the water's properties."

"I can take care of that if you want," Karin offered. "You too, if you have any wounds" she added, looking at Sakura who just shook her head.

Sasuke wasn't going to pass up on that though. "I'd appreciate it."

"Really?" Naruto interrupted.

"Naruto," he began, "if she wanted to hurt us she already had plenty of chances to do so."

"I-I-I don't care about this exam," Karin said, once again using Sasuke as a shield. "B-B-But if you wanted to hurt me you'd have done so already, I… just want to thank you for your mercy. You can take my backpack too!"

"Is the scroll inside?"

"Yes. It's a Fire scroll."

"Ugh… we already have that one," Sakura muttered, shaking her head.

"We'll take it anyway," Sasuke said. 'If things go south this could be a nice bargaining tool later after all.'

Karin dropped off her backpack and handed it to Sakura, who walked over to Naruto so they could have all of the Grass team's supplies in one place. Meanwhile, he turned to Karin and extended his arms.

She looked at him, and her cheeks grew red, reminding him of Hinata.

"Uh… my healing, it's… not conventional."

He raised an eyebrow while Karin fiddled with one of her shirt's long sleeve, baring her left arm. His eyes then widened—it was littered with bite marks.

"…You want me to bite you?"

"It's the only way I know of transferring my chakra and healing people. I-It works better than traditional healing ninjutsu though! J-Just… don't be too rough, please," she pleaded, her voice growing ever smaller as she offered her arm.

Sasuke honestly didn't know what to think of it, but the various bite marks did suggest she was telling the truth.

So, gently, he took her arm and sunk his teeth, hoping he wasn't putting too much force.

"Now hold still. This won't take long."

He closed his eyes, feeling her chakra entering his body and seeking out damaged tissue and repairing it. The process felt warm, different from the soothing cool of medical ninjutsu.

Only a few seconds, and it was done. He poked and prodded at where his burns were, finding no trace of them. "Thank you," he nodded at her.

" It's fine. You didn't try to kill me, so that's the least I could do."

"Yeah, we didn't try to kill you."

The girl froze as Naruto spoke, even though this time his voice sounded more sad than upset.

"That includes me," he continued. "So why are you this scared? Heck, I wasn't even violent when fighting that guy earlier!"

"Naruto is harmless," Sakura agreed. "Well, unless you are secretly made of ramen."

"Hey!"

While Karin seemed confused at their exchange—even more so when the two began to bicker in earnest for a bit—Sasuke began to think. He was curious about it as well.

'If she wasn't scared by what she saw… then…!'

He placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Is there something wrong with Naruto's chakra?"

His words silenced his teammates.

"You said you could sense chakra, yes? Is that it?"

"…I-I don't understand what I sensed very well," Karin admitted, shaking her head. "It's like he has more than one chakra in his body. But that's impossible, isn't it?"

'More than one…?'

"O-Of course it's impossible!" Naruto spoke loudly. "Your ability is probably malfunctioning somehow," he laughed as if she hadn't said anything important, yet the way Naruto had paled at her words spoke of another tale.

"It was not!" Karin stomped at the ground, angry for all but a moment before reverting to her frightened persona once she realized what she did. "I-I know what I felt! And… and one of the chakras I sensed was so intense! And cold and dark, and… and e-evil..."

Sakura perked up at that last part. "Evil?"

Meekly, Karin just nodded.

Naruto waved her off. "You probably got something wrong. But anyway, shouldn't you get going? Other teams out there might not be so nice even if you don't have a scroll."

'…He doesn't want her here,' Sasuke realized, eyes narrowing.

Naruto tried to sound casually dismissive like he so often did, but there was a subtle shakiness to his voice that Sasuke easily picked up on, only because he was on the lookout for it. It was one of Naruto's tells, giving away he was actually nervous but that he wanted to avoid confrontation.

That last part was the big problem. Naruto usually confronted people when cornered in any way, but there was only one topic—that topic—which made him react evasively instead.

Sasuke opened his mouth, but Sakura was faster.

"Naruto's right for once."

"Hey!"

"It isn't safe for you to be here," she ignored him. "We aren't being monitored at all, and you can't even fight off anyone that tries to… you know. Make use of that."

The girls shared a look, while Naruto seemed confused by what Sakura was alluding to, making Sasuke shake his head at the boy's obliviousness—or perhaps innocence would be a better word.

"Should we accompany her?" he asked Sakura, knowing what Naruto's answer would be already.

"N-No, please!" Karin interrupted them. "I can… sense my way out of trouble, so d-don't worry about me."

After thanking them again for sparing her life and wishing them good luck, Karin left them, walking back towards one of the area's edges to climb down and formally give up.

But not before giving Naruto one last wary glance, which only raised the tension in the air for Team 7.

"…"

"…"

"…"

Naruto was the first to crack under the silence.

"So! Where to now?"

The way Naruto smiled, carefree as if nothing of importance had happened... it made his blood start to boil as he marched towards the blond until they stood face-to-face.

"What did she mean about you having two chakras?"

Sakura may or may not have spoken to him at that moment—his focus was 100% on Naruto. He sent chakra to his eye, and his whirling Sharingan picked up on even the smallest of nervous twitches on his teammate's face.

"Uh… h-how would I know?" he laughed, but Sasuke's eyes caught when he swallowed. "I told ya, she probably saw something wrong with whatever her ability is."

"Is that so?"

A small, delicate hand landed on his shoulder. He paid it no mind.

"Probably," Naruto looked away.

"Then why are you scared?"

"Scared?" Naruto's expression finally mirrored his own anger. "I'm not scared!"

"If she was mistaken you wouldn't have pushed her away like you did. You wouldn't be fidgety and nervous like this. Or what, are you going to say my eyes are malfunctioning too?"

The hand on his shoulder began to shake him lightly.

"And her ability was working right. She sensed her teammates dying. She also sensed something evil, and so did the others back in Wave. What was she talking about Naruto?"

"I already told you I don't know! It was probably Zabuza!"

"I don't b—argh!"

He recoiled as the fingers over his shoulder curled up and short nails dug into his skin through his blue shirt.

"Sasuke-kun, that's enough!" Sakura hissed as she forced him to look at her, subjecting him to her smoldering green glare. "What are you thinking?! We're in the middle of a life-and-death exam here! Now it's not the time to talk about this!"

Her words were like a bucket of icy water spilled over his head. She was absolutely right, and he could only look away as shame hit him.

"You two are impossible," she huffed.

Her disappointment stung more than he was prepared for. Old, foggy memories of being scolded by his parents resurfaced in Sasuke's mind, and it only made him feel worse. They would have been disappointed in him as well.

"Uh, guys? One of my clones popped."

Sasuke closed his eyes, drowning himself in darkness for a moment to steady himself. "What happened? Did it get attacked?"

"No… but he found a team with a Water scroll, around… there!" he pointed beyond the pond. "They're not underground, but I found them by going through a little cavern. It's in a good spot for an ambush!"

"Anything of note about them?"

"Uh, their headband isn't like ours, I guess?"

He rolled his eyes at Naruto's ignorance, but he had to give credit where it was due. "Okay, good job. Dispel your other clones and let's go."

"If we are quick enough we may be the ones setting a trap this time," Sakura added, and with that they took off, following Naruto's lead as he followed his clone's memories.

Yet Sasuke's mind wandered as they dropped down and dashed around the pond's shore. How could he have allowed this to distract him in the middle of something so dangerous and important? He had thought himself above this kind of rookie mistake, yet he still allowed that to happen.

His eyes darted over to Naruto, fixing themselves on the red swirl on his back.

Despite their differences in skill, the blond had always managed to get under his skin. But this was different.

Sasuke was going into this "friendship" thing completely blind, exactly as he had confessed to Hinata months while they cooked together on their way to Wave. It was a struggle for him to allow people to come closer once again, to be vulnerable again, and never being completely sure he was doing well or badly.

What he had learned is that these bonds needed both parties to make an effort to work. Sakura taught him that. Though she sometimes relapsed, she was trying to keep herself in check, to not let her crush and unfounded image she had of him rule how they interacted. She gave him space. In exchange, he tried to hold back on his usual harshness and to give her time instead of pushing her away and focusing just on himself and his goals. He wasn't sure if they were legitimately friends, but he could feel a mutual trust between them.

With Naruto he didn't see the same results. He couldn't deny that both of them were getting better at being together without goading the other into a fight, which was indeed big progress for them.

But he felt as if their bond was otherwise crumbling ever since the end of their struggle on that bridge. All because of Naruto's secrets… no, his demons. This mystery surrounding him that Kakashi, Kurenai, and even Hinata and Haku of all people seemed to know but refused to tell.

It was maddening. Sasuke didn't show this outwardly but pursing mysteries had always appealed to him. From difficult math problems in the academy to the murders in the mystery books he would often stay up reading overnight, he simply enjoyed finding answers to problems. He was good at it, too, yet this riddle had him stumped despite so much time he had devoted to it, and in his stubbornness, he just couldn't let it go. He knew Haku had lied about how Naruto had defeated him. What had actually happened? Why would Naruto not tap into his full potential?

It was insulting. That fateful day where they first met Kurenai, she had forced his deepest fear out in the open and turned it into reality, even if not for long, and thanks to that Naruto and Sakura knew more about his heart than he would ever be able to comfortably show to them of his own will. They saw his darkness and even promised to help him. Sakura was, fortunately, too "normal" to have such worries to share, but Naruto apparently had something just as impacting as Itachi to haunt him… but no matter how much Sasuke tried, Naruto never accepted his help when it came to that.

It was frightening. Sasuke's memories from before his world had been torn apart were few and muddy, but he could recall how the people around him felt… off, before that nightmare began. Both his parents and Itachu felt off, tense if not scared, and even some of the other clansmen he interacted with like his cousins or policemen. Even the shopkeepers were weird! There had been trouble brewing in their Clan, and while deep down Sasuke knew he might have been too young for that, he wondered if he could have changed something, if only he knew what was going on at the time.

That last aspect was what kept his heart racing whenever he stopped to reflect on this mess. The signs were all there, just like they had been before his family's death and his clan's destruction. Whatever was going on with Naruto was big, likely bigger than his imagination could keep up with considering all he knew, but Sasuke once again seemed to be stuck with the truth just out of reach.

Would he be too late this time as well? Would he have to watch powerlessly as another tragedy unfolded right before his eyes?

"Tsk."

He shook his head, forcing those thoughts out of his head. 'Sakura's right, this isn't time to worry about that. I have to focus on the exam.'

Not worrying was much easier said than done. Sasuke could only hope this was just a lingering trauma that was getting the better of him as he tried to concentrate on his immediate goal again. He had never slipped up so badly during a mission before.

He was better than that.

It was time to get back into the game.

---

For Team 8, it took much longer for them to see any action. They moved at a brisk pace initially, but the other competitors soon followed them up to the battlegrounds, forcing them to slow down and move with care, guided by their diverse tracking techniques and what Kurenai imparted to them.

They had to stop each time they came near an enemy team so they could analyze the situation and decide whether to engage or keep searching for their friends.

Unfortunately, there was only so much the three could find out about their rivals without getting dangerously close, especially when the messy environment sometimes provided no cover whatsoever. That made even a strategy as safe as spying from afar with the Byakugan risky, so most of their time was spent sneaking around the unknown, potential threats.

It left a bitter taste on Hinata's mouth. Unlike their pre-test scouting which required a lot more from her Byakugan than she could give at her age, if her eyes were even a little bit stronger she could have produced better results in this part of the test. Be it from spotting enemies from a distance more safely or being able to zoom in to gleam more information.

Not that she felt useless. Her sight already had allowed them to avoid combat with some teams that had the wrong scroll, as well as others with dangerous-looking weapons, but there was that feeling that she could've done more plaguing her. Like always.

At that moment there were no teams in sight. All she could do was help them maneuver around the upper part of a small but maze-like canyon area they walking through, pointing out paths they shouldn't take because of flooded sections, or the occasional cavern entrance that Shino could send bugs to scout out—so far that hadn't yielded any results either.

She sighed.

"You okay there Hinata?"

"Ah!" she startled at the sudden call. "I-I'm fine. Thank you, Kiba-kun."

"If you need a break just say so."

Shino then added: "We know your eyes cannot be used for too long."

"O-Oh, no! Please don't worry… I was only a bit off yesterday because I needed to focus a lot. I can keep going for a few hours if we need to."

"I don't believe it will come to that," the Aburame continued. "We are getting closer to Team 10's position now, and Team 7 is not that far off from here."

"We could get delayed if any of us ends up in a big fight though," Kiba argued.

"…What about a small fight?"

The boys turned confusedly to Hinata.

"I can see a lone person nearby." She frowned as she focused her sight to examine their equipment, more specifically an object they had on their hip. "They have a scroll… oh! It's a fire scroll!"

"Huh? Are you sure they are alone?" Kiba frowned. "Who'd even try going solo in these exams?"

"A very confident person or a very foolish one," Shino replied.

"I… don't see anyone around them. But maybe we should get closer so I can say for sure?"

"Yeah, let's go!"

Shino didn't share Kiba's excitement. "If they are by themselves I am sure there will be traps to deal with. This might slow us down even more than catching a normal team off-guard."

"But if we can work around the traps it's no problem. We gotta get a little closer before ruling it out, man. If everything works out we'll have our way out of here before the first night!"

After Akamaru barked in agreement, there was a period of silence while Shino mulled over Kiba's words. Hinata used that time to analysis their maybe-target's surroundings. They were in one of the narrower parts of the canyon-like maze and right at the entrance of one of the flooded segments of the area, which almost boxed them in.

From what she saw, attacking either from the high ground or the water would be risky. The rock walls were nowhere as tall as the training ground's border and their first obstacle of the day, but they were too tall for anyone in Team 8 to execute an accurate or timely assault from without being noticed. The Flooded area was a long corridor that also offered no cover at all. There were trees in the area, but they were thin and poking out of the walls, unfit for one to perch on or use in any significant way.

Their possible foe was lingering right by one of the canyon's various exits, an inclined path. It was an escape route, but while the person was moving about a bit, it was not towards there.

All four options they had to tackle their target from were decent, but all required full commitment and carried a risk of being spotted before they could actually engage.

Hinata frowned. She couldn't see much else thanks to the thick rock walls muddying her vision in a faint pink. The only reason she spotted the scroll was because of the chakra-infused ink within glowed to her eyes, in the shape of the word "fire", which at least confirmed it as genuine rather than a chakra construct like what she saw from one of the teams they passed by. Otherwise, the only thing she saw was something strapped to the person's back.

'Must be their supply backpack,' she thought.

"Very well then," Shino finally said. "We will approach and examine them more closely."

"Alright! Let's go, team!"

Neither Hinata nor Shino really got pumped from Kiba's rallying cry, but they moved on anyway. Due to the area's lack of cover they agreed to climb out of the canyon entirely to scout out their target. It cost them a few extra minutes, but the person didn't move away from where Hinata first spotted them, which only left the girl more intrigued as she observed them moving about.

It was only when they got close the border of the canyon's walls and finally found a good line of sight that she understood what that person was doing down below.

Or, more specifically, what Kankuro from Suna was doing.

Hinata paled when her eyes finally recognized who was there, and what that could mean.

"Damn," Kiba frowned, keeping a low volume. "He knocked out an entire team by himself? This guy must be good."

"And he's stealing from them," Shino noted.

Hinata gulped, her breath shaky.

"He… didn't knock them out."

"…"

"…"

Her Byakugan wasn't picking off anyone's chakra signatures besides Kankuro's.

"So… he killed them?"

"I… I-I think so, yes."

Hinata's only comfort was that they weren't from her village. Upon a quick zoom-in, she saw the emblem from the Rain village on their forehead protectors.

"And now he's scavenging their corpses. That Fire scroll he's holding likely belonged to this team," Shino noted.

They spent a few seconds lost, merely watching from high above as Kankuro continued to examine one of his victims's weapons pouch.

Her still-active Byakugan caught Kiba's arm moving, his hand settling on her shoulder. "Can you tell us anything about this guy? All we know is that his teammate is that ginger guy Naruto and Sasuke were asking Kabuto about."

"Y-Yes. We've met before."

"For real? How come?"

"Not important," Shino cut Kiba off, motioning for Hinata to keep going.

"He's a puppeteer from Suna. He can use Chakra Strings to trip you and, uh, I suppose to control p-puppets?" Her head fell. "I'm sorry… it was a very brief encounter."

"Chill, girl," Kiba patted her in the back comfortingly. "We have something to work with, that's way better than nothing. You did great," he offered her a smile.

"Kiba is correct. I presume that the object strapped to his back is a puppet then?"

Hinata nodded. "It's made of wood, but I can't figure out how it's supposed to be shaped. It… looks humanoid? There seem to be metal edges in weird places, which seem to be extendable blades."

"So he used the puppet to cut up those three then."

"I believe not," Shino countered Kiba's theory, pointing at the ground. "There aren't puddles of blood here or any other signs of a fight taking place. This suggests he incorporates poison in his skills, somehow, or possibly that in the time it took for us to get to him he disabled whatever traps he used to kill them. If not both."

Hinata frowned as she scanned all around Kankuro. "I see no tools or wires anywhere."

"So he's vulnerable then," Kiba grinned to them both. "I think we should go down there and kick his ass."

"Perhaps." Shino turned to Hinata. "Your thoughts?"

"…He and his team seem to be very strong" she said, remembering the way the genin from Suna carried themselves, and both Gaara's chilling presence and impressive records if Kabuto was to be believed.

"I think… we should do it. If we can deal with him, his team can't pass even if the others find the right scrolls."

Kiba stared at her in open surprise, and Shino's eyebrows rose above his sunglasses. It seemed like neither expected such a suggestion from their risk-averse teammate.

"Very well then. We need a plan before engaging him, however."

Kiba shook his head. "Guys, he probably isn't going to hang around there for long. I say we should just go in as is."

To that, Shino frowned. "And end up like those three below?"

"Man, come on. You said it yourself: he was probably just disabling his own traps all this time. Heck, he probably baited that team to follow him to this place. He has no idea we are here."

Instead of arguing, Shino just turned to Hinata instead. "How's the situation?"

"I see two teams fighting at the edge of my range, close to where we had been. They have just begun fighting."

"So he still has no backup, and it doesn't seem like we will have company."

Shino stretched his arm with a closed fist. Opening it revealed a single small bug that immediately flew away.

"We have time for a simple plan then," he decided.

True to his words, planning only took a couple minutes as it was a tried and true maneuver for them. Hinata listened to the plan as attentively as she could, juggling that with watching Kankuro's movements and trying to calm her beating heart.

'Shino-kun's plan is solid, and we have multiple advantages. There's no reason to panic,' she told herself as she deactivated her eyes.

Their preparations reached the final step when Akamaru took Kiba's form. Hinata continued to monitor Kankuro, and his lack of reaction proved he was not a sensor-type. She gave the signal when their unsuspecting foe turned to the rocky ramp.

"Good luck," Shino said before Akamaru and Kiba leapt down, a kunai with a smoke bomb in one of the Inuzuka's hands and the other forming a thumbs-up.

As they fell, gathering chakra to shield them from a nasty fall, Hinata dashed along the canyon's border, going in the same direction as the kunai Kiba tossed. The blade missed its target at the last second when Kankuro spun away, turning to face the enemies coming his way.

Hinata threw herself down the chasm, her vision shifting back to black, white and the glowing blue of chakra.

"Are you serious?!" the Suna genin snarled. "I just packed Crow away!"

"Too bad pal, whatever that means."

Kiba threw a bundle of shuriken before Kankuro could retort, making the puppeteer jump away while he tried to unravel his weapon off his back.

He froze when he realized the cloud of smoke he landed into. "Dammit!"

The loud noise of a double Fang over Fang covered Hinata's landing into the smoke. She rose to two feet in a sprint, ignoring the visual hazard completely with her Byakugan and winded up for a palm strike.

Hinata scowled when it landed. With a poof, Kankuro was gone and Hinata's hand collided with one of the nearby corpses, launching it backward. She saw it coming too late into her thrust to do much about it.

"This has to be karma," she heard Kankuro grumble as he tossed kunai of his own, which she narrowly avoided by diving away, angling herself so that Kiba and Akamaru would pass overhead.

That move took her out of the smoke cloud, and after Kankuro dodged the incoming drills, he followed.

His eyes went wide when he saw her. But then he began to laugh, mockingly. "So you of all people made it through the first part! What a surprise!"

It was impossible not to feel insulted by his words but, mainly, Hinata felt relief. If he hadn't noticed her before this second exam began, then he didn't know about Shino.

That didn't soften the blow for Kiba, though. "You got a beef with my teammate, asshole?" he called out from deep into the cloud.

"Oh, no." Moving swiftly while Hinata rose to two feet, he freed his bandaged puppet from his back. "I am quite fine with this, actually."

With a complicated hand motion, the puppet—Crow, if she heard understood it right—flew towards her. It was a grotesque wooden construct, but what Hinata feared were the blades she saw hidden by the arms.

Her fears were unfounded. Her taijutsu was far superior to what the puppet was able to muster. It wasn't exactly slow, but its moves were extremely telegraphed. She had a fight just like that the day before with Chouji, yet unlike her friend, Crow was light and she easily pushed it aside with her own physical strength after weaving between a few too-wide blows, and with a strong kick she knocked it into the wall by the water.

To her disgust, not only the puppet remained intact, she noticed Kankuro had only been sparing her a fraction of his attention. He seemed far more worried with the smoke cloud that still hid her friends. It didn't hide the noise they were making, and their enemy seemed unable to figure out what they were up to.

But Hinata knew. Even if she could close the distance between then in time she had to hang back for her own safety until she had an opening.

"Whoa!"

She dashed as a Fang over Fang burst from the ground, yet again narrowly missing the target who jumped away. From the smoke cloud emerged a grey blur.

"Gotcha now!"

Kiba swung his claws at the Suna genin with a yell, but Kankuro sidestepped and tried to land a punch of his own. Kiba ducked beneath it and Hinata almost hit their enemy with a palm strike.

This time she caught the trail of chakra before readying her strike and was ready when Kankuro swapped out from Kiba's follow-up, now with his puppet. On the other hand, unlike the corpse, the puppet couldn't be ignored easily.

Especially when it drew blades from its arms before brawling with them.

"Hinata, those are poisoned!" Kiba warned as he went for his kunai.

"Okay!"

It was not okay. Hinata discovered the hard way that when Kankuro actually was putting effort, the puppet was very dangerous. Though it was a 3-on-1, their wooden enemy danced around their blows and moved in ways they weren't prepared for as its body wasn't bound to the same limits human limbs were, leaving Kankuro to mock them as they failed to achieve anything.

To Hinata, it was clear that they had to aim for him first… yet the puppet gave them no room to disengage.

'Is Shino-kun in position?' she found herself thinking as Crow dodged another blow from Akamaru. She tried to focus on her expanded vision and…

"Aaah!"

"Hinata!"

She jumped back, a hand over her own stomach. "I-I'm fine!"

The slash hadn't broken through the chain mail woven in her jacket—or at least she thought so—but the impact hurt anyway. Glaring at the puppet, she braced itself for its next move, only for it to turn back and attack the nearby Kiba instead.

'What…?'

Finally, she noticed something: Kankuro was now close to the water, but he hadn't been there earlier. He had been moving as they fought.

An idea struck her at that moment.

'…I was between him and the puppet!'

With her newfound knowledge she rushed toward the puppet, but focused on the glowing strings connecting it to Kankuro as chakra gathered at her fingertips. And just as the puppet went to strike Kiba…

"Kiba-kun, now!"

Her chakra burst one of the strings, leaving Crow's left arm limp.

A feral smirk spread on the Inuzuka's lips.

"Gotcha!"

He caught the useless wooden limb and with it he swung the puppet around, smashing it against the rock wall.

"Crow!"

Kankuro moved to get a better angle, but Hinata was already running at him, using her body to block his sightline to Crow.

Behind her, she saw Akamaru tearing apart that same arm at the joint, crippling Crow. In front of her, she saw Kankuro's face twist in fury.

His eyes settled on her.

"You."

Hinata realized her mistake far too late, gasping once she saw the chakra strings latching on to her.

The next thing she knew, her head crashed on the floor and her body was dragged against the rocks for a couple meters, leaving her lying on her stomach.

One advantage of the Byakugan was that, when active, it could prevail through many circumstances that would otherwise impede a person from seeing clearly, such as dizziness. She saw Kankuro reattach the strings to Crow and keep Kiba and Akamaru too busy to help her

But one disadvantage of the Byakugan—one hardly known despite being obvious in hindsight—was that the enlarged, exposed veins around the user's eyes created a weak spot. Even the smallest of wounds on that area would lead to severe bleeding if the dojutsu was kept active, and bringing a shaky hand to the corner of her eye, Hinata felt wetness.

Color returned to her world and her fears were confirmed: her blurry hand was stained red.

'No! Even if this wound isn't serious, I can't use the Byakugan right now… stupid! How could I have forgotten what he did to Naruto-kun that time!? You idiot!'

Yet no amount of self-loathing would get anything done. Hinata firmed her hand on the same ground that had just mistreated her so, and firmed—

"Oh no you don't!"

Kankuro.

Yet Hinata didn't move.

"Aaah!"

She screamed not from pain, but from fright. In her defense, to wasn't every day that one witnesses a corpse throwing itself at you.

The dead Rain ninja was, unfortunately for Hinata, almost a fully grown man and between his weight and her unfavorable position… she was stuck.

'How much more useless can you get?' her mind accused.

"Hinata, I'm coming!"

Another smoke bomb.

Kankuro began to laugh, and Hinata could see why. Kiba had dropped the smokescreen behind him and rushed for its cover. It would hide his own movements, but it didn't obscure anyone else. Kankuro, thus, still could direct Crow against the transformed Akamaru and would be able to see Kiba helping her out.

But she wasn't worried. Hinata only felt shame from being more of a dead weight than the fallen genin that pressed against her body, or that was pressing until Kiba emerged from the smoke.

"There we go!" he said as he freed her, then helped her up.

"Thanks for making this easy!" Kankuro called out.

The two of them turned to watch as Crow floated around Akamaru and poised to impale him with its poisoned blade….

And Kiba smirked.

"C-Crow?"

The puppet began to convulse as a horde of bugs began to pour out of its joints. Kankuro kept trying to make it bend to his will, but failed, and Crow fell limp on the floor.

"This fight is over."

Kankuro gaped when Shino stepped out of the smokescreen. "There's a fourth brat?!"

With a poof, Akamaru answered that question by returning to his original form and jumping to Kiba's arms. "Great job, boy!"

"What…"

"Your strings are chakra-based," Shino spoke to the shocked Suna genin. "My kikaichu feed on chakra. Ergo, you won't be able to control your puppet anymore."

Kankuro's head fell, and he kept silent.

While Shino began to explain that they would let him go peacefully if he surrendered his scroll and supplies, Kiba deactivated his jutsu and turned to Hinata. "You okay? That's a lot of blood…"

"I'll be fine," she said, gingerly touching her wound. "It's just a scratch. I can't use my Byakugan before it heals, but my ointment should speed that up."

Kiba opened his mouth only to shut it when Kankuro began to laugh at them.

"This fight was more interesting than I thought it would've."

He then chakra jumped backwards, landing on the water's surface.

"Wait, is he going to ditch the puppet?"

Kankuro's reply came muffled by a loud splash and Shino groaning.

"Shino-kun!"

The Aburame crumpled over from Kankuro's fist on his gut. In her surprise Hinata quickly looked at where Kankuro had once stood, only to see his Crow floating limply in the water alongside Shino's bugs, which squirmed futilely in the water as it boiled them alive.

"You don't know when to quit do you!?" Kiba shouted as he charged at the puppeteer, and Hinata quickly fell in step with him.

Yet both jumped back as Kankuro swung Crow's broken, bladed arm at them, giving him just enough time to once again jump to the water, blue strings forming in the air as he moved.

"Hinata, go after him!"

Her gaze then followed Kankuro. He had correctly predicted they'd both go to Shino first and used the time to get Crow out of the water and re-attach its arm.

It struck her that outside of that arm, the water likely had washed off the poison in his tools.

She had a chance to shine.

'I can do this!'

She rushed through hand seals as fast as she could, racing towards and against Kankuro, who was reattaching his strings to Crow and getting the puppet upright again.

Her feet touched the water, and the liquid bent to her will despite the fire chakra within.

"Water Style: Pressure Shot!"

She shot a water stream from her mouth, thin and unassuming. The jutsu was very simple, with the only requirement being above-average control to manipulate the water's pressure with chakra correctly.

Kankuro yelped. He almost didn't put up Crow as a shield in time, and the puppet jerked back from the impact.

"Shit. You're a Water user," Kankuro muttered to himself. He then sent Crow forward, the puppet moving swiftly despite the "damage" it took when Hinata's attack burst a section of its lower face and neck, leaving the head hanging limply.

If only it needed a head to function. But it didn't. Crow and its blades were upon her, and only her, forcing Hinata to draw not one but two kunai to defend herself.

"Ah, but it looks like that won't be a problem," Kankuro taunted her with a knowing smirk.

After all, with both hands busy, how could she use any jutsu?

That knowledge seemed to embolden Kankuro, and his puppet's blows grew more ferocious. Before, despite being with Kiba and Akamaru, Hinata had struggled against it.

The big difference, in truth, is Crow had been on the defensive where it could abuse its superior mobility. But now it was her on the defensive—that's where Hinata excelled.

She dodged his slashes or deflected them with her kunai, until she saw a chance to strike back.

Hinata missed her target but not her objective. Kankuro moved Crow back and to the right exactly as she felt he would, and had it swing with all its might at her head with the left blade.

She ducked.

"Water Style: Pressure Shot!"

The water jet destroyed the left arm's hastily repaired joint and tore a hole through the damaged neck.

"Crow, no!"

Kankuro tried to twirl the puppet away from Hinata but it was too late—she caught the fallen arm did what Crow couldn't, striking it in the head and fully decapitating it.

She had swung so hard that the damaged wooden arm broke at the elbow from the impact, and the head bounced off the wall, splashing up somewhere behind her.

"Look at what you've done to him!"

Hinata stared him down. "Please give up the scroll and your supplies."

"…You speak as if you have the upper hand, brat."

Her eyes went wide. 'He's smirking…'

"Hinata, get out of there!"

By pure instinct—a poor, untrained one, from someone unused to being in danger without the Byakugan active—she glanced back to Kiba, only to see a purple mist spreading.

"You though the Crow's head was just decoration?"

Instinct took over and she jumped away, trying to avoid the poison mist and Crow at the same time.

It wasn't enough. Kankuro tracked her down with ease and the puppet finally got the one strike it needed, piercing Hinata's right shoulder.

Hinata gasped from the pain but managed to kick the beheaded puppet away from herself. The wound wasn't deep thanks to her armor, but still was deep enough that her dominant arm wouldn't be too useful anymore.

It pained Hinata to admit it—to fall back on her cowardice—but she saw no other option.

'I have to flee!'

Even with Kankuro's puppet damaged, there was too much stacked against her to justify insisting in the fight.

As soon as she recovered her footing after her attack, Hinata pivoted away. She could barely see Crow's head floating in the water and spewing that purple cloud. It was growing bigger and bigger at an alarming rate, confined by the area's narrowness.

Hinata knew she'd need altitude to get past it, so she chose to jump to the rock wall and run on it diagonally, trying to ignore Kankuro's laughter. Her shoulder screamed at her as she ran, but she ignored that too.

The poison gas caught up to her faster than she predicted, forcing her to cover her mouth and nose when it engulfed her.

Her escape only lasted a few seconds. As soon as light began to seep in through the purple mist she jumped as far as she could.

She stumbled on the ground, almost falling on the rocks again if not for Kiba being right there to catch her.

"What happened?"

A coughing fit made an answer impossible.

"She's wounded," Shino pointed out, making Kiba's eyes bulge out.

Hinata tried to abate their worries between coughs. "I think… poison… washed off…"

She wasn't sure Kiba heard, with how focused he seemed to be on her bleeding shoulder. He cursed under his breath, but then his features softened as if to assure her everything was fine. "Just get ready and trust me. We've got company."

"Uh… what…?"

Looking, around briefly, the only thing of note was that Akamaru was sitting atop Kiba's head again. Something about her surroundings looked off, but she couldn't put a finger on it.

Her confusion only lasted a few seconds, ended by loud footsteps.

"Looks like Kankuro ran into some problems here."

Eyes wide, she tried to look up the rocky ramp that stood opposite to the river. She recognized the voice but…

'Why does everything look blurred and… wobbly…?'

"Three dead, three wounded. I expected a little more."

Hinata barely recognized the voice's owner—Temari.

Which meant that the silent figure that stood a little behind her was…

'Oh no.'

She felt faint.

"Don't be like that, Temari," Kankuro said, walking out of the poison cloud as if it was anything but. "What's the harm in playing around a little?"

As if they posed no danger whatsoever, Kankuro passed by Team 8 without even looking at them. He held Crow in one of his arms, hastily bandaged to hold up its broken parts.

"The 'harm' will be if we end up getting lost underground and without supplies," the older girl snarled at him.

"I've got two, here," he patted his backpack, then pointed at Team 8. "Plus you both have a few. We should be safe."

"You didn't kill them."

Gaara's voice was cold enough that Hinata began to shiver. Was that killing intent?

"Well," Kankuro seemed to shrug, "I don't care for killing unnecessarily, but if you want to…"

Her heart began to pound furiously as panic flooder her system. Her team had struggled against just one of the genin from Suna, but now all three were there, and she would only be a liability in the coming fight, which was even worse than being useless.

Her mind was becoming hazy and her body was shaking from fear, pain, coughs and something she couldn't quite identify, but even in that state, a few things about Kiba stood out to her. He was holding her tighter now, and she could feel his claw-like nails poking at her through her jacket, meaning he had the Four-Legs Technique active.

The second thing was his calm, serious demeanor. The way Kankuro and Gaara spoke about them undoubtedly would have pissed him off, but he didn't talk back to either. That Shino was acting like that didn't surprise her, but Kiba? She expected him to at least growl at the foreigners like Akamaru was doing atop his head.

Plus, maybe it was just her vision playing tricks on her, but he seemed to be glancing up at times. She tried to do so herself and saw nothing but a cloudy sky.

Her teeth and fist clenched. 'If only I could use my Byakugan!'

Finally, Gaara seemed to reach a decision. "Mother wasn't satisified with the last ones. Perhaps these will…"

A shapeless brown mass erupted from behind Gaara. Hinata could barely keep her head up to see it, but she saw enough. She opened her mouth to scream at her friends, to beg then to run and leave her so they could escape, but all that came out was more coughing.

"Hiyaaa!"

Kankuro screamed.

"Take that! And that!"

"Temari! Stop! What the hell are you doing!?

Even though the world was tilting awkwardly, Hinata saw Temari attacking Kankuro out of nowhere. She still couldn't make out whatever the older girl had strapped to her back, but Temari was swinging the object wildly at her brother.

And whatever was that mass that rose when Gaara spoke, it assaulted Temari instead, grabbing the blonde and violently pinning her against the stone wall.

Gaara's killing intent rose considerably. "Explain yourself."

"Ouch! You like to play rough, don't you, boy?"

Having said that, Temari went limp. The brown mass immediately withdrew, leaving Temari to fall to the ground, seemingly unconscious.

To Hinata's surprise, Kiba began to chuckle. "And that's out ticket out of this mess! Get ready, Hinata!"

Before she even had a chance to ask what he meant, Kiba swung one arm behind her legs so he could hold her in both arms, and chakra jumped high into the air.

And then Kiba threw her with all his strength and, this time, Hinata screamed, almost fully drowning out a new voice.

"...Size Jutsu!"

Hinata flew higher and higher, but never fell. A strong, impossibly big hand caught her in midair, and the impossibly big arm it was attached to began to shrink, pulling Hinata up.

The surprise cleared the fog in her mind and eyes enough that she could recognize who it was.

"Cho… Chouji-kun…?"

The Akimichi smiled widely at her. "Whew… we almost didn't make it! I never stretched my arm so far."

"Troublesome," she then heard Shikamaru grumble nearby, and glancing to her left she saw him crouched near Ino, who was sprawled on the ground and seemed to be waking up. "That Gaara guy with the gourd broke free of my control way too fast. Why did you three even try to fight that team?"

His eyes then widened once he met her unfocused ones. "What happened to you?"

"I… was…"

Her words faltered when the ground began to shake.

With a loud noise, Kiba drilled out of the rocks thanks to the ever versatile Fang over Fang. "I'm here! Thanks for the save, guys!"

"Forget that," Shikamaru scowled at him. "Hinata's doesn't look in good condition."

"Shit, she looks worse than before!" he said, hurrying to her side. "Hinata, did you breathe some of that gas?"

Hinata tried to answer, but the only thing she managed was to glance from person to person, seeing nothing but worried looks aimed at her.

She was fairly sure she had covered her mouth and nose in time.

"Boys, Hinata's not going to get better if those three catch up to us!" Ino said as she got up.

"I concur," Shino said. "We should…"

Hinata frowned. 'How… When did Shino-kun get… here…?'

Her friends began to sound far, far away.

Darkness claimed her the last of her vision.

In the void, only the pulsing ache on her shoulder existed, but even that disappeared when her consciousness faded away…

---

A/N:

Whew, we made it folks! Sorry for the long closing note but I want to discuss this chapter with you all before we move on. If you don't care for that PLEASE AT LEAST READ THE PARTS IN BOLD! IT IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT THAT YOU DO!

...So I faced a lot of problems with this chapter. From introducing the new Training Ground and the test, to the usual hassle of fight scenes, and most importantly… settling on a PoV for the Team 7 fight. Sasuke was my very last option, and you can see remains of the other scrapped PoVs that unfortunately for you all Sasuke doesn't care enough to ask about, haha. (And I guess I couldn't run away from his PoV forever…)

We had two introductions here. Anko is a character we don't have much to go on with, but I hope I did her justice. I will be using her quite a bit more in the future, so Anko fans should speak up now if they have issues to point out!

Karin on the other hand was mostly a tool to build further tension between Team 7. Full disclosure: I do not have any further plans for her at the moment. This is her last role in Part 1, but by the time I get to Part 2 we might have reason to put her back in the game. We saw some of young Karin in one of the Infinite Tsukiyomi anime fillers, so I wanted to explore that a bit once I saw a chance to use her. Also, I wanted to portray her as inexperienced with her sensor abilities at this point, hence why she didn't also sense Gaara and the special guests that have yet to make an appearance. Like with the Hyuugas, she has way less range at that point.

Lastly we have the Team 8 fight. I hope that fight kept those that pay attention to fight scenes (a group I don't really belong to nowadays) engaged and guessing as the tides shifted around. I have my reasons to give Kankuro some spotlight this early on, but those will become clear in the future. For now, I wanted to explore some advantages and disadvantages of the Byakugan.

We can only focus on so much at any given point, so even the all-seeing eyes aren't a guarantee you'll catch all the details you need, especially mid-fight. And training to fight only with the Byakugan active has to have some drawbacks when you are forced to go without it, doesn't it?

As a final observation on this chapter, Shino will explain his role in this scene during the next chapter.

Overall I'm quite pleased with this chapter (even if I couldn't get a scene with Gaara and Hinata like I originally wanted—I can't argue with the story when it starts to write itself unfortunately), and hope to hear feedback from the various points raised here. More importantly than that…

PLEASE! If you like Naruhina, do yourself a favor and read "Nightdreams" by Narutodays on Archive of Our Own. It's a different take on how Naruto and Hinata got together after the war ended, and IT IS THE BEST NARUHINA FIC I HAVE EVER READ. At least when it comes to pure Naruhina. Unlike this fic, which juggles more character arcs and a main plot, Nightdreams is dedicated to the ship, which is why it succeeds where The Last failed horribly.

You might be turned off by the smut it has, but trust me, the smut is used masterfully to advance and give nuance to their relationship in a way I never saw another work do. It's a wonderful fic and I wrote a huge ass 5K word review praising it on every aspect I could think of, which you can find on the first chapter's comments. (so spoiler alert in case you like to see comments as you read the story).

Like I said above, I'd love to hear from you guys. But honestly, if I had to choose between having you read that fic or review mine, I'd have you read that fic. Every NH fan needs to read that fic. It's godly.

And now I go. Look forward to Chapter 26, hopefully within the next 2-3 months!