Tis me again, and so soon. Own nothing so far.


Ch 2: Pre-exam hassle

She couldn't sleep.

She knew she needed it, tomorrow was a test that according to her research, had a less than 5% passing rate for first timers. She had no doubt Sasuke-kun would be fine, hell, even Naruto's chances were good. Better than hers at least.

They just seemed so happy, and she wanted to be a part of that. Sakura was excited too, though it was dampened by her memories of uselessness in wave. She could only hope her increased training regime would be enough (and by 'increase', she means going from Shikamaru to Sasuke in hours training per day). Her parents wouldn't stop bothering her, wondering what could've possible gotten her so tired, day after day. She wouldn't be left behind this time, even if she had to stop dieting.

The amount of training she had done was impressive, but she wasn't the top kunoichi of the her year through ignorance. No matter how hard she trained in a short time, she could only improve so much. Further thoughts on the matter were abandoned in favor of the sleep she needed to make her work a reality.

(

The next day found her nervousness back. Sure she trained for a few months, but was she ready? What use was impressing Sasuke-kun as a corpse?

Her frequent sighs drew her mother's gaze.

"Sakura, honey, are you sure you want to go through with this?" she inquired, lightly gripping the anxious Genin's shoulder.

"I'll be fine, Mom. do you think I was coming home sweaty for fashion? I've trained hard for this," she let out with confidence she didn't feel. She was halfway through the door before her mother replied.

"Be safe."

Sakura's hands steadied. "I will."


The walk to her team's meeting spot by the bridge only made her more stiff with every step. The milling crowd was filled with possible enemy Genin, every childish shriek and angry customer were stone hearted killers waiting for the moment she showed an ounce of incompetency.

Was this how Sasuke felt being the last Uchiha? This pressure on her shoulders that sapped her will like some kind of sick jutsu? She didn't even realize how on edge she'd become until she nearly stabbed a passerby with a kunai that definitely wasn't in her hand a minute ago.

She rubbed the bridge of her nose while drawing a deep breath. The noises of the crowd faded away into silence, and she opened her eyes to an empty street.

"It's just the nerves, Sakura, don't pin everything on enemy ninja," The pinkette murmured in frustration. Once again her hand was in motion, only this time it resulted in a clang.

"Ohoho, I see the little girl has some measure of skill." A slimy voice echoed around her. She didn't know how sound could be slimy but this guy accomplished the impossible.

Her head was already swiveled towards the source as more of her recent training kicked in. Feet slammed down hard on the pavement of the empty avenue in a chakra powered jump. Surprise fluttered onto her enemy's barely visible face before he disappeared.

"Ha!"

An exclamation of success alerted her newly minted senses to where her kunai should end up. Another metallic ring resounded from their locked weapons. Her hands were soon shaking as she faced off the strange ninja in a straw hat. His masked face sneered in derision as he jumped back.

She committed the sound of his fluttering navy robes to memory. The man was out of sight again, and she strained her ears for a sign of him, though it sounded like it was coming from four sides at once. She picked up a slight increase in volume from her right and no sooner than that, she was bent over backwards in a show of flexibility she rarely exhibited. The blade passed by with millimeters to spare, even cutting some of the longer ends of her hair that lagged behind her motions. An oddly Sasuke-esque smirk wove its way along her lips, as the wind blew the excess hair into the nin's eyes.

He clutched at his face to get the bubblegum strands out of his way, then growled as he threw them to the side. "You bitch! I'll show you."

He once again was off in his odd 'surround sound' technique. Only this time, Sakura's eyes glimpsed his form in between his bursts of speed. Crouching in anticipation, she once again moved to intercept the angered Ninja's Shunshin slash. She switched hands then reversed the grip of the kunai in her left hand, subsequently stabbing down with chakra enhanced motion.

Much to both her and the unidentified nin's shock the thin knife imbedded itself through his palm inches before the blade it held reached her throat. It continued on powered by an overload of chakra, sliding in-between shingles and into the wood of the roof where she'd previously been standing. In the same motion she kicked off the roof, all her weight in an odd backflip using the impaling kunai as a pivet. Before her hand left the makeshift joint, another blade slipped into her dominant hand as gravity pulled it from its holster. The improvised maneuver left her at the back of the Ninja's forcibly crouched form with the second kunai to his neck.

He raised his available hand in surrender, muttering "Ya got me, Ya got me. So you aren't as fragile as you look."

The second of distraction caused by that backhanded compliment was all the captured nin needed to perform a substitution. In the once incapacitated man's place was a training dummy, and Sakura's enemy was nowhere to be seen.

She sighed in relief, only noticing that she was already at her destination. The training dummy was from the yard of the academy, which just so happened to be the building she was standing on.

"Oh, I'm early."


Sasuke thought he had escaped this.

Ever since his team had gotten back from wave, his days had been relatively peaceful. He trained, ate, trained, did D ranks, ate, trained, ate, slept and repeat. Nice, peaceful, productive, safe. He thought he was safe. Oh, how blind he was. They took the upcoming Chunin exams as an excuse to torment him. Everywhere he looked, every corner of every block was filled with them.

Fangirls.

The bane of his miserable existence.

"Hey, I found him!" One of the creatures screeched.

All at once, like an army of demented dolls, the preteen girls' heads snapped and locked on to his position. There were too many.

A moment of silence past.

"Sasuke-kun!"

A chorus of high pitched voices drummed against his eardrums in a sinister and otherworldly tempo. Like the shinigami himself was playing an instrument of death, torturing him with the chance of escape.

No. He wouldn't be ended here. He was an Uchiha, Kami damn it! He was going to-

they were feet away.

He ran.


Naruto stuck his pinkie into his ear.

"Were people yelling?" He mumbled to himself. Perhaps a robber? Or an enemy ninja that escaped the T&I department and was a missing-nin from Iwa who was trying to gather info in order to invade and his family was being threatened by his Kage and… wait.

Was there a rustle?

He took a step forward. The noise was in tandem with his steps.

"A-ha!" Naruto exclaimed, turning and pointing at a suspiciously shaped rock. A square one. With an eyehole. The 'rock' lifted up to reveal Konohamaru and his friends.

"As expected of my rival, able to see through my brilliant disguise," the kid proclaimed with his hands on his hips. He looked like a vertically challenged superhero.

An orange haired girl jumped from behind him to the left making an uncomfortable pose involving her leg up. "I'm Moegi, the most beautiful and powerful kunoichi in the leaf!" A boy with grey bowl cut hair jumped out of Konohamaru's other side. "I am Udon, the math Ninja!"

"And with the amazing moi taking front and center completes the Konohamaru corps!" He finished, gleam in his eye.

Naruto just sighed in exasperation. "I know, Konohamaru. Do you have to do this every time I see you?"

"Whaddya mean? Our intro is epic!" He replied in agrivation, followed by a chorus of "Yeah!"

"Anyway," Konohamaru continued, "You promised you'd play ninja with us this week. The weeks almost over!"

"Ah, sorry about that," Naruto let out, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. "I can't right now I have to-"

"I thought you would refuse, so here's some incentive!" The boyshouted mischievously. He held up a kunai pouch that looked suspiciously like…

"Hey wait a minute! Thats my kunai pouch you brat!" The blond yelled in reply, hands gripping and ungripping.

"Catch us if you can!" The brat yelled running off in the direction of the academy.

"Oh I'll catch you alright. Then you'll get what's comin' to ya!" He seethed, then took off after them.


Were they gone? Sasuke's eyes frantically darted to every possible place one of them may be. Only after scanning with his Sharingan over three times did he deem it safe to relax.

His body relaxed against the trunk of a tree. Arms haphazardly hanging over the branch, he struggled to keep his breath. Ragged gasps that gave no indication of the pride he felt normally.

There was no pride in being chased by them.

Sasuke's body involuntarily shuddered. He repressed the urge to retry his breakfast, only in reverse. If he had been just a bit slower… no. Don't even think about it. It didn't, and he was okay. Safe.

He stared into the upper branches of the tree he took refuge in, mind wandering from subject to subject when he heard an obnoxious shout. With a sigh he got up into a position that wouldn't bring shame to his name if seen, and watched for the inevitable appearance of the dobe.

Ah. There he was. Chasing that kid that sometimes follows the dead last.

The game of chase ended upon the scarf clad boy's run in, quite literally, with an older boy. This newcomer sported some weird black bodysuit and a cat eared hood bearing the symbol of Sunagakure. On his back was a strange object covered in bandages. To top it all off, he was wearing purple makeup.

What a weirdo.

The femboy lifted the kid by his scarf spitting generic bully lines like a two bit villain. The kid practically shouted for the genius's orange wearing teammate, and the idiot didn't take long to shoot off on cat ears.

"Let go of him you bastard!" The dobe all but snarled at him. It only earned a smug look from the self proclaimed 'better' that was the sand Genin. Deciding he'd had enough of the idiocy, Sasuke tested the weight of a small rock pilfered from the gravel earlier as… deterrent, then launched it at the guy.

He cursed and dropped the boy, who ran and hid behind a corner with his friends. Naruto yelled something about 'the teme showing him up,' but he couldn't care less.

"If you're in our village, you follow our rules," the last Uchiha drawled, jumping down from the branch. "Especially if they involve threatening to, how'd you put it? Oh yeah, 'disembowel you with the trees you like to hug.'"

He only sneered at me and opened his mouth to reply, but the Raven haired teen cut him off to finish. "Doing this to the Sandaime's grandson makes it all the more stupid."

The dumbass paled drastically, allowing the paint on his face to contrast that much more. If possible, he paled further when a cool voice broke into our conversation.

"Kankuro. You are embarrassing our village." the unknown arrival stated, sitting in the branch next to the one Sasuke had just vacated. He disappeared in a swirl of sand, only to reappear next to the idiot named Kankuro.

"Ah, you see, they started it and,-"

"Shut up or I will kill you." Despite the monotone manner, it gave him an uneasy chill. This guy was dangerous.

The cat eared Genin had clammed up, and Sasuke, ever the opportunist, took advantage of the lull in conversation to ask the nin what was biting at me. "What's your name?"

"Sabaku no Gaara. And you?" His voice was coarse like sand, yet paradoxically smoother than sandstone.

"Uchiha Sasuke," A smirk adorned his face. It looked like this exam was going to be interesting.


A/N: I would put Iruka's pretest for the boys, but it seems redundant. We all know they were ready, and I need a valid excuse for later.