Again. It had happened yet again, and right before Sasuke's eyes. He'd been so close to getting Sakura out of there, but he had failed completely and utterly, no matter that he'd been closer than ever before. He let her hand slip from his, a smear of blood left in his palm.

"I'm sorry, Sakura," he said quietly, easing her down onto the ground with a gentleness he hadn't realized he possessed. He was struck again by how useless all of his training had been, since he'd trained to fight Itachi instead of focusing on other ninjas that could get in his way. The latest thing he'd learned had been one step in the right direction, but one step wasn't enough to protect his comrades. Distantly, he heard Sai still yelling, and he rose to his feet.

It seemed like the entire world was trembling beneath his feet. It was a surprise when he looked up to see that the only things trembling were his legs. He remembered the way he'd frozen up and almost taken his own life when Kaze had strolled into the clearing. He'd sworn it would never happen again, and now he had to make good on that swear. He turned slowly to see the Mist ninja who'd made the ice prison strolling towards Sai and Tazuna.

"Hey," he said hoarsely, and when no one noticed, he clenched his fists and dug deep into himself.

"You!" he roared, charging towards the Mist ninja. The ninja dodged to one side with a graceful ease, moving so fast that Sasuke could barely see him. This bastard killed Sakura, Sasuke thought. And I'm going to do something about it.

The ninja was fast, but if Sasuke could only see, he could keep up with the bastard. All of the training he'd put his body through had left him with enough speed, but he needed to see. Follow his movements, watch where he's going to attack next.

Sasuke spun around, his eyes finally beginning to adjust to the speed. He could see where exactly the ninja was going to attack, and he managed to deflect a kunai that would've gone flying towards Sai. Yet when the Mist ninja started attacking him, the blows were so fast that he couldn't defend himself. I need to be stronger. I need to be strong enough to protect the rest of my comrades. I need to be strong enough to surpass my rival!

For a second, nothing happened and he kept taking damage. Then, all of a sudden, the world seemed to sharpen. The movements grew clearer, and Sasuke started blocking. Clearer, and Sasuke was even able to parry some of them. The more he fought, the more he was starting to see through every movement, and the Mist ninja started slowing down. That kekkai genkai Sakura had forced him to use must have sapped most of his chakra, and now the one who was at a huge disadvantage was him.

At one pause in the battle, Sasuke managed to get the hand signs in for a fireball jutsu, and when he used it he was quick enough to singe his opponent. He could feel shock and confusion radiating through their blows, and then his opponent suddenly leapt away and stared at him in disbelief.

"Those eyes…" the Mist ninja said, and Sasuke realized that something did feel different with his eyes. He felt as if he could see things in a way he never had before; he could analyze his opponent's movements until he understood them so well that they were obsolete to use against him. He even had the feeling that if he wanted to, he could use those movements later since he understood them so well. So this was what it felt like… the Sharingan. He smiled grimly, pleased that he'd managed to unlock it this early.

"From here on out, I suppose you'll only get stronger," the Mist ninja said, sounding almost sad. "In that case, I'm of no more use. My chakra is almost gone and so I will only get slower. You, on the other hand, will continue to grow in this battle. I have failed. My life is yours to take."

Sasuke gritted his teeth, unable to see how anyone could accept their death so easily. He glanced over his shoulder at Sakura's body, then looked back at the boy. He took a kunai out and started running; even if there was no point in this death, he couldn't allow the person who had killed his comrade to live.

Up until the very last second, Sasuke expected meet resistance. Until he was close enough to see that the boy's mask had broken a little, and the one eye that showed through was completely accepting. Then Sasuke didn't expect any more resistance. Which, of course, was when he got some; the boy's head jerked towards where Zabuza and Kakashi had disappeared into the mist, and he suddenly knocked Sasuke's hand away.

Sasuke cursed and chased him, thinking he meant to take Kakashi with him before he died or something, but that wasn't the case. What Sasuke saw wasn't his opponent trying to kill Kakashi; it was Kakashi killing his opponent. It seemed the boy had thrown himself in front of Kakashi's hand to save Zabuza, dying in the process. Sasuke saw Kakashi's eyes widen for a second, and his mouth moved to form a name—Rin?—before Zabuza tried to kill Kakashi. Kakashi leapt away taking the body of the dead Mist ninja with him, and then turned to face his opponent.


"Jiraiya," the Third was saying, and Jiraiya thought for a second that it was an old memory of his sensei getting angry with him for spying on public bathhouses. He smirked at the memory, his smile growing perverted as he thought of the girls he'd been spying on last time the Third had caught him. Man, the Leaf Village had the sexiest women. As much as Jiraiya wanted to avoid it to avoid being recognized, the women always drew him back here. He cackled madly to himself, before remembering to shut up in case anyone heard him.

"…Jiraiya, if you keep ignoring me, I'll tell the women you're here and let them loose on you."

That got Jiraiya's full attention, and his gaze snapped from miles of tanned, lush young skin to the wrinkled, stern face of Sarutobi. His day had started out so well, too. He pulled a face at the old man and half-turned his body so he could keep an eye out in case the Third tried anything. Like signalling young women that there was an old pervert around.

"Sarutobi-sensei," Jiraiya said, trying on a smile. "Are you here for the view, too?"

"Little brat!" Sarutobi snapped, making Jiraiya feel like he was twelve years old and had just failed at yet another jutsu. Those days were fun, but he wouldn't go back there for all the world. After all, Tsunade hadn't had nearly the melons she had on her now.

"You're getting too distracted here," Sarutobi sighed, rolling his eyes to the heavens as if asking why he had to put up with this. "Let's talk in a more private place."

"Are you suuure?" Jiraiya asked, nudging the Third with an elbow suggestively. "I mean, I won't tell if you just take a peek."

Sarutobi reached up to massage his temples as if Jiraiya was giving him a headache. Jiraiya honestly wondered for a second if Sarutobi would join him, but the old man didn't seem to have a fun bone in his body. He turned and started walking away, clearly expecting Jiraiya to come after him. Jiraiya let out a long, dramatic sigh, casting one last glance at the girls before following his old teacher.

"This better be good," Jiraiya grumbled, shoulders drooping. He'd been getting so into his 'research' too. It was annoying, but Sarutobi always seemed able to find him when he least wanted to be found. The Third said nothing for a while, but he stopped when they reached an old dock just south of the main street. There wasn't a soul around besides a couple of loons swimming lazily through the lake the dock led into. Even those looked like they were both males. Jiraiya wondered why the heavens had cursed him with such a strict teacher.

"Now, did you come back because you heard your former teammate would be joining us for the upcoming Chuunin Exams?" Sarutobi asked, fixing Jiraiya with a piercing look that could ferret out the true answer without Jiraiya even having to speak.

"I was aware of the fact," Jiraiya said cautiously, straightening up. It was true that he'd heard Orochimaru was in the area and planning something—probably something that involved destroying Konoha, as usual—but he really had come to do research. If Orochimaru tried anything and Jiraiya had to stand up to him in front of a bunch of pretty Leaf kunoichi… well, he wasn't complaining about that part either.

"I see," Sarutobi said. Jiraiya wondered what exactly his former sensei wanted; Orochimaru was notoriously slippery, so it wasn't like Jiraiya could just dig him up out of nowhere. But that wasn't what Sarutobi wanted at all. Sarutobi pulled a paper from his sleeve and handed it over to Jiraiya, watching as Jiraiya studied it.

"Our genin have yet to be chosen, but this is a list of all the other genin that will be participating. There's something in this list that disturbs me, but I can't figure out what it is. I was wondering if you, knowing Orochimaru even better than I do, could see the link between him and a team on this list."

Jiraiya glanced over the names, reading them in his head, sounding each one out. When he was done, he couldn't say that any one team had stuck out, but he understood what Sarutobi had meant by something disturbing. It was there, just at the edge of his consciousness. Something that sent warning bells ringing and disrupted the sage-like calm he could usually achieve. What it was, though, lay just out of Jiraiya's reach.

"I can't see anything off the top of my head, but leave this with me," Jiraiya said, reading through the list again. This was truly troublesome. It nibbled at the back of his brain like a pesky bug he couldn't squash.

"Very well. Let me know if you come up with anything," Sarutobi murmured, his brows creased as he too looked at the list. Somewhere in this list, someone on this list… they weren't right. Someone here wasn't supposed to exist.


Sai wasn't entirely sure what he was feeling as he knelt over Sakura's prone body, but it wasn't something pleasant. He couldn't get the image of her wiping ink from his nose and grinning out of his head. 'Sai, have you ever had a friend?' She wore her emotions on her sleeve, and yet she was still incredibly strong. 'Well, you're going to have two now.'

He looked up to see Sasuke coming over to stand beside him, the young Uchiha looking drained as he sank down to his knees to regard the body of their kunoichi teammate. Watching Sasuke awaken the Sharingan had been interesting, and Danzo would certainly want to hear about it, but right now Sai couldn't bring himself to even think about facing his old master.

"And what caused the awakening?" Danzo would ask. Sai would have to emotionlessly report that it was death of their comrade, who had selflessly sacrificed herself to give them more time and drain their opponent's chakra. Danzo would be more interested in Sasuke's reactions, feelings, and powers than Sakura, who had been the bravest of the three of them.

Kakashi, who had ceased fighting Zabuza while the Hidden Mist shinobi killed the man behind the attacks, limped up to stand behind them. He laid heavy hands on both of their shoulders, and Sai felt like something was crumbling away inside of him. He'd spent so much time building up walls to put his emotions behind that it felt like something was going to start to flood out in a torrent. He'd only known Sakura for a few short weeks, but her indomitable spirit had totally won him over.

"Sakura," Sasuke said roughly, his hands fisting on his knees. "Get up."

It was a selfish command built from grief, and one that none of the remaining Team 7 members believed would work. So it came as a huge shock when Sakura's eyes suddenly fluttered, and she croaked out: "Sasuke?"

Sai felt like what had been collapsing in him was suddenly expanding, and he felt an unfamiliar prickling behind his eyes. Sakura blinked a few more times, as if focusing, then let out a yelp, her fist flying up to land—

—right in Sai's face. Sai fell back again, clutching his cheek in shock as the pink-haired kunoichi bolted up, eyes wide as her head whipped back and forth, her eyes frantically searching all around the battlefield.

"Huh? What happened? Where's that boy? And Sai… wait, was that you I punched?"

There was an unnatural pause, in which Sakura seemed to get more confused and flustered as she looked at everyone's faces. Sasuke was the first to break to silence, snorting out a laugh that turned into a chuckle that turned into full blown laughter of relief. The expanding in Sai's chest got so big that it had to be let out, and to his surprise what came out was laughing that matched Sasuke's, and then Kakashi joined in so they were all laughing in joy and relief.

Sakura didn't seem to get it, but when she saw the smiles on their faces her own lips twitched up and she seemed unable to stop herself from grinning. The four of them were battered, bruised, and bloody, but somehow that moment felt better than any of the moments they'd had all week together. For the first time, Team 7 was truly a team.

'Well, you're going to have two now,' Sakura had said, and as Sai laughed with his two teammates, he was overcome with the truth of that statement.


Three weeks later, after returning home and doing a few more D-rank missions that only strengthened the bonds between the Team 7 members, Kakashi stood before the Third, who was asking for Chuunin Exam nominations. Before the mission with Zabuza, Kakashi wouldn't have recommended his squad for anything in the world. Now, thinking about the way the three of them were warming up to each other and the way they sometimes even trained together after missions, recommending them was the most natural thing in the world.

There were no protests from anyone, even Iruka. Everyone had heard about how successful the mission with the three genin was, and it was already expected that they'd take part in the upcoming Exams. If anything, most of the adults were looking forward to showing off the next generation against the other villages.

Unsurprisingly—to Kakashi at least—Kurenai and Asuma both recommended their squads as well. In the end, all nine rookies were going to be entering the Chuunin Exams, for better or for worse. Kakashi smiled under his mask, knowing that things were about to start getting very interesting. All the players were on the board now; it was time for things to begin.


Jiraiya lay under a tree close to the hot springs, idly writing a few thousand words of his next book. This one was going to have his fans screaming for sure. Make-Out Tactics, it would be called, and it would feature his most perverted stories yet. He chuckled to himself as he wrote it, licking his lips with a grin. Oh yeah, this was one was truly—

His pen abruptly paused over the paper. What had been bothering him about the Chuunin Exam list finally clicked in his head, and he took out the paper Sarutobi had given him, setting it in front of him. He studied the names, then flipped over the page he'd been writing on to write down the three names that had just started making perfect sense in his head.

Hikami Noyo.

Jiraiya wasn't sure what it was supposed to mean now that he'd figured out the message the names were sending, but there was one thing he was sure of; this couldn't be the work of Orochimaru.

Hira Ran.

He swallowed thickly, almost unable to write the last name. He knew these names. He knew every letter intimately, and he couldn't believe he hadn't recognized them when he'd first read them. This team was far beyond the level of a chuunin. This team was a team that shouldn't—no,couldn't exist, which was why his brain had refused to comprehend the names he'd initially skimmed over. His hand trembling, he wrote the last name and his worst fears were confirmed.

Kaze Naminato.