(A/N) End of the second exam and prelims. This is my last WBBU update before November and NanoWrimo, so see you in like a month and a half!

Sakura finally came upon a dry cave that was sufficient enough for her to set Naruto and Sasuke down inside. She dragged down vines to hide the entrance. It wouldn't do to have someone come upon them and find them.

She couldn't sleep yet, so she took a chakra pill and ate a ration bar. She'd have to keep watch until one of the boys woke up. She could go a day or two without sleeping, she'd live. Wouldn't be fun, but this entire exam wasn't meant to be fun.

Hours later, and she heard people approaching. She stood up, readying a kunai.

It was a sound team. Not with Orochimaru, but still.

Sakura narrowed her eyes, raising the kunai. "Get out."

"Why would we," the leader scoffed, raising his arm, which was mostly covered in a massive grey thing made of metal. Sakura didn't think she liked that, as it was clearly a threat.

She dove to the ground as sound ripped over her head. She pulled earplugs from her bag, a last resort in case either boy started snoring when she was trying to sleep, and stuffed them in her ears. It may not be perfect, but it'd have to help at least slightly.

She lunged for the leader, dodging a senbon from the girl and what looked like a blast of air from the other boy.

The leader yelled something, probably about his arm thingy, and Sakura sensed the sound more than heard it. The earplugs were working.

Now that she'd bypassed his primary weapon, Sakura went for his legs, knocking them out from under him and faceplanting him in the dirt.

She lodged a kunai in his weapon thingy, hopefully breaking it, struck the back of his head precisely in the way Tenzo-sensei had shown them on a few of Naruto's clones to knock him out, then lunged for the boy with the air. He was the biggest threat right now.

When she'd finished with him, she ended up breaking his arms to stop the air, then knocking him out, the girl had been taken out by a clearly newly awakened Sasuke.

A good half of his visible skin was covered by black markings, and he was staring at his hands in confusion as the marks turned red and disappeared onto his shoulder.

"What was that?" Sakura asked after a long moment.

"I don't think I want to know," Sasuke replied, looking mildly sick. "But we're telling Tenzo-sensei as soon as we get back. I did not like that."

"Noted," Sakura said, nudging the girl with her foot to make sure she was out. "Let's grab Naruto and sprint for the tower. We have what we need, I'm not spending another three days in here. Let's get out while we can."

"Yeah," Sasuke agreed, still staring weirdly at his hands.

Naruto woke up halfway to the tower, wriggling awkwardly in the hold Sasuke had him in, which was slung over his shoulder like a sack of bricks.

"Oi! Lemme down!" Naruto squawked, clearly only half awake.

"Wake up properly and I'll consider it," Sasuke said, grinning as he spotted the tower.

Sakura breathed a sigh of relief as it came into view. She was ready to crash for twelve hours. Not any longer because longer than that was a coma and she refused to leave the boys unsupervised for longer than that.

"I'll put you down when we hit the tower," Sasuke bargained. "It's right there."

Naruto huffed, but settled down. "Fine."

"Thank you," Sakura said, quickly scanning the ground for traps. It wouldn't do for them to be caught unawares.

They were doing preliminaries. Because of course, they were. Why not?

"Destroy him," Sakura told Sasuke in no uncertain terms as his matchup was displayed. "We show no mercy."

Sasuke smirked, nodding.

Sakura grinned, following Naruto and Kakashi up into the stands.

Sasuke destroyed the other genin, of course, and he joined them up in the stands, the other genin carted out on a stretcher.

Sakura narrowed her eyes upon seeing her opponent. Ino. She didn't know what the other girl had been learning, so she quickly put her hair up into a somewhat messy bun. It'd hold for the match. She couldn't afford to leave her hair open to be grabbed as she usually did, although she was usually fast enough to not have that be a risk, she simply didn't know what Ino was capable of right now.

Ino had the backing of a clan, had it her whole life. Sakura was civilian born, her greatest asset being betrothed to the Aburame clan's heir. She had her team at her back, and she would beat Ino, fair and square.

She noticed Ino leaving her hair down, and resolved to pull it at least once. Maybe it'd remind her that long hair can be grabbed.

There was a reason that long hair was designated a 'powerful shinobi' trait. All three of the sannin had long hair, although she knew Jiraiya used his for a few jutsu, Orochimaru and Tsunade likely just wore theirs long to show off.

"She absolutely deserved that hair pull." Sasuke deadpanned as she rejoined them.

"Oh yeah," Sakura agreed, snickering. "Oh well, maybe she'll take it a bit more seriously now."

"Long hair is a liability," Naruto agreed solemnly.

"Looks like you're up next," Sakura noted.

"I feel mildly sorry for Kiba," Sasuke admitted, only to shrug. "Oh well, his loss. Go get him. Him and his tiny dog."

"Akamaru really is so tiny for a nin-dog right now," Sakura agreed, laughing. "So tiny!"

"HEY!" Kiba squawked, having apparently heard her. "He's a perfectly good size!"

"Sure, keep telling yourself that!" Sakura shot back, grinning down at him.

(A/N) Ah, I hate writing fights. Watch me skip em all, haha.