(A/N) Hello! Miss me? We are movin on now! The end is in sight. There's this chapter, then one after it. Probably. We'll see.

Sakura was only slightly salty about being left to her own devices while Sasuke got borrowed by Kakashi and Naruto was taken by Tenzo. Only slightly she swears. Shino, Hinata, and Kiba were all being individually trained by their sensei even though only one of them had made it into the final round.

So she hung out with their team, learning genjutsu from Kurenai, a lot in how to break them, plus the hell viewing technique, the one Kakashi sometimes liked to use. It was a fun one to do.

"Sakura," Shino requested after breaking out of the genjutsu. "Please do not, I don't appreciate seeing three fourths of my hive destroyed, even if it isn't real."

"Okay, okay, I can be done practicing now," Sakura sighed reluctantly.

"Thank you." Shino said in the tone that meant he was sighing with relief. Sakura grinned at him in return.

"Hey, Kurenai-sensei, we almost done?" Sakura called over to her temporary teacher.

Kurenai nodded to her. "Yes Sakura, we can be done as soon as Kiba finishes learning this. You may go, however."

"Cool, thanks!" Sakura said, waving. "Come on Shino, Mom wants our help with dinner! She won't tell me what it is, just that you'll like it."

"Wonderful," Shino said dryly, following her out. "Have a good day, Kurenai-sensei."

"You as well," she replied before turning back to supervising Kiba.

The rest of the month passed similarly, although Sakura saw Sasuke maybe twice the entire time. She assumed he was camping out with Kakashi or something. Either way, it was kind of dumb. Both her parents and Shino's parents were fairly worried, despite having been warned before hand.

At least Tenzo returned Naruto each night, even if they wandered off into the Forest of Death during the day.

Sasuke didn't end up showing up for the chuunin exams finals on time. Sakura was ready to strangle Kakashi. It had to be his fault.

Tenzo had been drafted into being an ANBU watcher, so while they knew vaguely where he was, Sakura had learned rudimentary sensing and could sense sort of where he was, they didn't see him.

"He'll be fine," Sakura said, although she wasn't sure who she was reassuring. "He's got all the stored up rage from Neji beating up Hinata and a month's worth of actually good training from Tenzo."

"I don't doubt it," Shino said mildly. "While Hinata has been recovering well, and is expected to be fully healed in the next week or so, he hasn't exactly been keeping tabs on that."

"He also isn't going to let it slide anyway," Sakura agreed, snickering. "No matter if the person can heal or not. They got hurt, therefore revenge must be taken."

"What is it with Shinobi and revenge?" Shino sighed quietly. "It'd illogical and ridiculous."

Sakura shrugged. "Eh, it's something besides our trauma to focus on. And it isn't moping at a stone attempting to atone or some bs like that."

Shino hummed in agreement, knowing full well who she was referencing there. Kakashi, of course. He may not be there, but that didn't stop Sakura from taking digs at him. Hadn't before and wouldn't now.

"Is it just me or does the sand team look kind of nervous?" Sakura asked him under her breath, making sure the other team didn't hear.

Shino cast a speculative glance their way. They didn't seem to notice. "I would say so, yes. They can't just be nervous for their matches."

"Yeah," Sakura agreed, turning her attention to the match. She still kept an eye on the Suna team. "It does leave me slightly worried."

"We'll likely find out soon enough," Shino pointed out. "Naruto's almost finished kicking Neji's backend into next week."

Sakura snorted. "Yeah, almost done. Five, four, three, two-" she was cut off by an offended squawk by the Hyuuga as he was pinned by branches. "One."

The proctor called it. "Naruto Uzumaki has won."

"He doesn't look even remotely happy," Sakura snickered.

"Watch out, he is coming back up here," Shino warned. "And I have to go to my match."

"You'll do wonderful," she replied, patting his shoulder. "Have fun!"

Shino inclined his head to her, stepping away to head down into the arena.

"Hey Naruto!" She greeted her teammate cheerily.

"Is Sasuke still not here?" Naruto asked her instead.

Sakura gave him a very unimpressed look, but went along with it. "Nope. He should appear before his match though. At least I hope so anyway."

"He'd better," Naruto muttered.

"I'll help you kick Kakashi's butt into next month if he doesn't," Sakura promised. "And rope Tenzo and Sasuke into it."

"Ask Gai to help," Naruto said, smirking.

Sakura pushed at his face. "Do not make that face, it looks creepy."

Naruto batted fruitlessly at her arm, his words muffled slightly by her hand. "Okay, okay, fine! I won't make the face!"

"Thank you," she replied, removing her hand from his face before he could lick it. She'd had that happen enough thank you. And not only by him. Kiba had done it enough times as well. Sasuke had even done it once. She was beginning to accept that everyone would probably do it at some point.

"Did he just forfeit?" Naruto asked, sounding horrified.

Sakura turned her attention to the match quickly. Kankuro had just forfeited. Shino looked angry, which Sakura understood. He'd been jipped of a fight. And one he'd been looking forward to. "Okay that was incredibly rude," Sakura huffed. "Shino's been looking forward to this fight all month."

Naruto started glaring daggers at Kankuro, even as Temari and Shikamaru left to do their match.

Shino joined them by the railing. "The next time we meet, it will be in battle," he said, mildly ominously.

Sakura patted his shoulder. "You do that."

"Thanks," he said dryly.

"Welcome!" She chirped in response.

(A/N) First part of the final exams! There are a lot of slots on my update schedule open, so here's the link to the poll for that! /27wYJyJei3QmmfLU8