Previously:

Sakura's grip tightened around Sasuke, her tears fell, staining his shirt. Friends… That's right, they weren't just teammates anymore… they were her friends!

"We're going to survive you… We're going to pass this test…"

More tears fell as she imagined their smiling faces.

"And we're going to go on lots more missions together…"

She remembered all of the fun they had together, even when Naruto got on her nerves.

"I won't let it end here!!"

Sakura wiped her eyes and pulled herself together. "That's right!!" she said, forcing herself to stand, propping Sasuke up with his arm over her shoulder. They couldn't stay there. She needed to collect Naruto and April, too, and find a safe place to treat everyone's wounds. 'I won't let it end here, either!!' she thought with renewed determination. 'I won't let my friends die!!'

Chapter 49: The Beautiful Beast…!!

Sakura had managed to find shelter under the raised roots of a massive tree. It was hard work getting everyone there, but she did it. She reached up and retrieved one of the cloths that she had hung up to dry after washing off the blood from cleaning her teammates' wounds, folded it, poured some cool water on it, and folded it again so she could put it on Sasuke's warm forehead. She repeated the same process for April, adding another cool cloth over the seal on her stomach. It had finally stopped glowing, but it was still hot enough to make a soft sizzling sound with it came in contact with the damp cloth. She noticed that April's expression, while still tense, seemed slightly more relaxed now. Sasuke was still wincing and moaning in his sleep. 'Their breathing is returning to normal… But there's still a strong fever...' she thought, feeling their foreheads again to measure their temperatures. 'Especially Sasuke-kun...' Despite their enemy's sinister prediction, April seemed to be gradually pulling through. Naruto appeared to be better off than the others, but that Orochimaru guy had done something strange to him, too, and she couldn't get him to wake up. She stared down at her unconscious teammates with a troubled expression on her face, worried about their conditions. She was exhausted, physically and mentally. 'I… I… I must protect them...' she thought, furrowing her brow and squaring her jaw, channeling her remaining energy into determination.

"Hehe… Found him..." the bandaged leader of the sound ninja quartet whispered when the group of four finally located their prey, watching them from one of the treetops that overlooked the leaf ninjas' new base.

"Don't forget, that cute purple-haired girl is mine," the muzzled sound ninja reminded the others moodily, still pissed that they chose him to wear the seal.

"She's all yours," the leader told him. "But remember that we're here for a reason. As Orochimaru-sama commanded, we attack at daybreak. Our target is Sasuke Uchiha."

"But if the other three get in our way, we can kill them, right?" the spiky-haired ninja asked.

"Of course," their leader replied.

"Like I said, the purple-haired girl, is mine," the muzzled ninja hissed sternly, glaring at them. Her hair was his favorite color, so she would make a perfect addition to his collection. He wasn't about to let them make a mess of her.

"Get over it. No one cares about your twisted hobbies," their group's kunoichi told him.

"No one cares about what ugly things think either," the muzzled ninja retorted bluntly.

"Why, you…!!" she shouted indignantly, before the other two sound ninjas grabbed her to hold her back and cover her mouth before she caused a scene and alerted their prey to their presence.

"I've already told you… You can slaughter each other after we've completed the mission, but not before," their leader scolded them. "If you have any frustrations, take it out on them," he added, directing their gaze back to Sakura and her unconscious teammates. They should be easy pickings, especially in their current condition.

Sakura refreshed the cloths on Sasuke and April's foreheads again. She had been keeping guard for several hours now, ignoring her own need for sleep to look after them. She shook her head frantically when she felt herself start to nod off. 'You can't fall asleep...' Sakura scolded herself. She had to stay awake in case more enemies attacked. "..." She squinted a little when a light fell in her eyes while looking up through the roots. 'Oh! The sun…!?' Was it daybreak already? She looked back at her unconscious friends, worried. The night was over, and they still hadn't woken up yet.

"!!" Sakura twitched when she heard rustling in a nearby bush and quickly drew a kunai. She gripped it tight, trembling in anticipation of the danger she was about to face on her own to protect her friends. Slowly, carefully, she turned around to see… "!" Sakura stared at the fluffy little critter that was sitting on the edge of her territory, nibbling on a nut, and sweat-dropped. Her expression deadpanned. 'A squirrel…?' she thought, relieved, but kind of annoyed that she had gotten worked up for nothing. "Geez, don't scare me," she scolded it. 'Oh!' she thought, gasping in alarm when it started to run over to her. Acting quickly, she threw the kunai in her hand to stop it before it could come any closer.

"!!" the squirrel chittered in alarm, stopping itself on a dime to avoid the dangerous weapon as it embedded itself in the ground only centimeters away from its head. Deciding this was clearly not a safe place to find food, the little fluff ball immediately turned tail and scurried away to find a less threatening area to forage.

'Phew, that was close,' Sakura thought, a bead of sweat sliding down her face. Just a little bit more, and it would have been a disaster.

"She's very observant..." the spiky-haired sound ninja remarked. "She noticed the explosive note on the squirrel?"

"No… That's not it..." their bandaged leader corrected him.

"What do you mean, Dosu?" the spiky-haired ninja asked.

"…?" the muzzled sound ninja said, furrowing his brow slightly.

"We'll probably find out when we get closer," the bandaged leader, Dosu, replied. "So… Let's go."

Sakura's own brow furrowed while she stared down at her unconscious teammates, wishing they would wake up. Up until now, she had never fully realized how much she relied on them. Even while unconscious, they still managed to find ways to help her. If not for the food pills in April's pouch, then all four of them would have gone the whole night without food. Eating one was what had helped her find the energy to stay awake all night without once closing her eyes. She was able to get Sasuke and April to swallow one, but Naruto was completely out cold. 'It's also thanks to April that we still have our scroll...' she thought, feeling troubled when she remembered how Sasuke had attacked her. She never wanted to see either of them like that again. She wondered if April would be able to forgive Sasuke…

"Hehe… Up all night?"

"!!" Sakura flinched in surprise, shocked that she had allowed herself to get caught off guard. She quickly spun around to face the intruders and found herself face to face with the last people she wanted to see. "!!" She furrowed her brow and a bead of cold sweat slid down the back of her neck. 'These guys!!!' It was the sound ninjas, the ones they had encountered right before the first test began, the ones Orochimaru said would come for them!

"But it's no longer necessary," Dosu continued, standing at the edge of her territory with the rest of his team. He tilted his head, glaring at her. "Wake up Sasuke-kun. We want to fight him."

"I'd like to put in a request for the purple-haired girl, too," the muzzled ninja added, removing his muzzle to reveal a wicked smirk. "Wake her up for me."

"Hey! Biki!! You know you're not supposed to take that thing off without permission!!" their female teammate exclaimed with a scowl.

"It's fine," Dosu said dismissively. "He can't affect any of us right now."

"Wha..." Sakura said, reaching her trembling hand down to her kunai holster, ready to draw another weapon. "What are you talking about?!!" she shouted incredulously at them, her anger for her friends winning out over her fear. "I know that someone named Orochimaru is pulling the strings from the shadows!! What is his purpose?!!!"

"!!?" All four sound ninjas were taken aback to hear her say that. How could this girl possibly know that already?

"What is this weird mark on Sasuke-kun's neck?" Sakura demanded. "You did this to him… and now you want to fight?!!! April, too!! She's still suffering from the effects of the seal!! Why are you after her, too?!!!"

"I don't know anything about that," the formerly muzzled ninja, Biki, stated bluntly. "That girl you called 'April'? I'm after her for personal reasons."

"Personal reasons? What personal reasons!?" Sakura asked, furrowing her brow in confusion.

"They're personal, so there's no point explaining to someone who's about to die," Biki retorted coldly, shooting her an icy glare.

"!!" Sakura shuddered at the chill it sent up her spine.

"… Hmm..." Dosu said, looking past Sakura to her unconscious teammates, his eye resting on Sasuke. It sounded like Orochimaru had already come in person. But, then, why bother sending them? "I wonder what that man is thinking..."

"…?" Sakura noticed he seemed confused about something. Did he not already know about their meeting with Orochimaru?

"But hearing that, we can't let you go," the spiky-haired sound ninja said, giving her a wicked smirk. "I'll kill this girl. And I'll also kill this Sasuke guy."

"By 'this girl' you better mean the pink-haired one..." Biki said sternly, narrowing his eyes at him in distrust.

"Of course," the spiky-haired ninja replied. "The other one's all yours." As if he could forget with the way he kept reminding them every five seconds…

"..." Sakura glared at them, bracing herself for battle, determined not to let them lay a hand on any of her teammates.

"Wait, Zaku. Biki, too," Dosu told them before they could move.

"Huh? Why?" Zaku asked.

"Trying to get a head start, Dosu?" Biki accused with a growl when their leader stepped forward after holding them back.

"Not at all," Dosu replied calmly, squatting down to check the ground in front of him.

"..." Sweat dripped down Sakura's face while she watched.

"You're not very good..." Dosu told her, examining the different elements. "A recently overturned stone, different colored dirt. This grass doesn't grow here."

"Ugh..." Sakura grimaced while she watched him pick apart her work.

"A booby trap… is pointless unless it goes unnoticed," Dosu told her, standing up again.

"Pfft… Stupid," Zaku scoffed. "So that Kunai was to prevent the squirrel from setting off the trap."

"Can we go now?" Biki sighed, not even bothering to hide his boredom. He spotted that ages ago. He thought Dosu had stopped them because he had something important to say.

"Well, since we have no use for this girl…" Dosu said, tilting his head at an eerie angle to stare at Sakura. "Kill her."

Sakura smirked when the four sound ninjas leaped high into the air to avoid the trap on the ground. She reached behind her with her kunai and severed the thin wire connected to her main attraction. Always have a follow up attack ready. That was something she had learned watching April fight.

"A giant log!!?" Dosu exclaimed when her second trap came swinging down at them from its camouflaged hiding place in the treetops. "Another trap above? Oh, no!!!" he said, feigning distress, as the log came closer. "Yeah, right..." he scoffed, smirking and making a hand seal the moment the hand connected to the arm wearing his porous metal gauntlet came in contact with the large wooden surface.

CRRRRSSSSSH!!

"!!" Sakura gasped, shocked when he obliterated the entire log with one blow. 'Huh?'

"Frankly speaking, you have no talent," Dosu told her. That last tap might have at least posed a little bit of a challenge if the log had been solid instead of hollow, but as it is, that was just pathetic. "People like you have to work harder," he continued to taunt her as he and his teammates closed in. "A weakling like you shouldn't mess with guys like us."

Sakura could feel tears forming in her eyes as she stared up them, watching helplessly as they swooped in to kill her and her friends. They were right. There was no way she could possibly beat all four of them on her own… She was so tired, she couldn't even move!

"Leaf Whirlwind!!!" a familiar voice roared as a spinning flash of green suddenly appeared to intercept the sound ninjas, sending them flying back in the direction they came from.

"!!?" Dosu exclaimed as he and the rest of his team hit the ground, sliding back from the force the of the attack.

"Ugg..." Zaku grunted, sliding through the dirt on his back. He winced, irritated that he was the only one on his team who hadn't landed on his feet.

"!?" Sakura gasped, instinctively raising her arms to shield herself when the source of the green blur landed directly in front of her.

"Then you guys… should also work harder," Rock Lee stated coolly with the squirrel from earlier perched on his shoulder, facing them in fighting stance with one hand behind his back and the other held aloft as a challenge.

"..." Sakura stared at his back, surprised when she recognized him. 'Huh? He is...'

"Who are you?" Dosu demanded, wanting to know who dared to interfere with their mission. Who was this freak?

Lee furrowed his brow and frowned at the scoundrels who had tried to attack poor Sakura four-on-one. "Konoha's Beautiful Green Beast… Rock Lee!!!"