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...

Gaara cursed inwardly as the form he was shaping above him crumbled into fine sand. His eyebrow almost twitched; his chakra had been completely shot ever since his encounter with the Uzumaki and the old man. Back when he had been captured by the latter about two weeks ago and his mother's… Shukaku's voice had been silenced, the redhead had unfortunately learned that his control was extremely wonky. With his gifts as a Jinchuuriki, Gaara had seldom paid attention to the lessons during his schooling, which meant that he did not remember much about chakra control either.

It had also meant that he had been unable to escape from the grasp of the old pervert - or Jiraiya, as Gaara had later discovered his name was - but thankfully that problem had soon been rectified when he was just released. Released. Just like that… albeit with a stern word or two from the aged Shinobi about being stupid and giving into the wills of bloodthirsty demons. He only wished he could have shoved fistfuls of sand into the hermit's mouth to shut him up.

Yet the craving for Jiraiya's blood simply wasn't there. Days went by as the Toad Sage explained the concepts of the the 'will of fire' and as much as he thought he wanted to bury the man within his sand, his heart simply wasn't in it, whether from the man's words or from the lack of his mother, he couldn't tell. Having spent the better part of two weeks in isolation with only the white-haired man as company from time to time, he had had a lot of time to simply sit there and think. No more could his mother protect him, which in turn meant that he would have to protect himself until such a time he could hear her words once more.

After so many years he had never even considered the possibility of being able to sit in silence and not have venomous whispers plaguing his thoughts. As he walked down the street, his eyes glazed the stalls and market vendors selling their wares, all of them unaware of the burden that he carried. It was a foreign feeling, not sensing the hatred glaring at him and at the same time not wanting to bathe the walls with their blood.

It was… odd.

"Gaara, there you are!" shouted a familiar voice, which caused the red-haired Jinchuuriki to turn his attention to where he could see his sister running towards him.

"Temari," said Gaara as his older sibling stopped several feet in front of him, her fear of him still keeping her out of harm's reach.

"Where have you been? I've been worried sick about you!" exclaimed Temari as she composed herself, doing her best to get her breath back. "Kankuro would be out here looking as well but he's become paranoid of late, saying that he feels like a scarecrow is watching him or some nonsense."

"Worried… about me?" responded Gaara as if hearing his sister's words for the first time. He had heard this speech before, but now that he was actually able to process these words without any outside interference, he didn't truly know what to make of them.

Temari, for her part, also managed to pick up on the fact that something seemed out of place. "Are you alright?" she asked.

This was where Gaara seemingly hit a stumbling block in his thought process. Did he dare tell his sister that he could no longer hear the voice of the Biju he carried, or was this a secret that he should keep only to himself? "I am fine," he finally said, looking Temari in the eyes.

Even though she didn't say anything she quickly noticed that something was out of place, as the rings that usually circled his eyes from the lack of sleep had been lessened, as if Gaara had spent some time in the last few days actually sleeping. She knew that was impossible, however; as soon as her younger brother fell asleep the beast within him would wake and rampage the city around them. Shaking her head from side to side, Temari merely concluded that she must have been seeing things.

"Tell me, Sister, what has happened in my absence?" asked Gaara.

Snapping back into reality, Temari instructed Gaara to follow her as she had summons from Baki about some important information that they all needed to hear.

…

Sakura ducked without a second thought as a small wave of shuriken tore through the air above her. Normally, the pink-haired girl would have thought this to be an opportunity to counterattack with one of her own ranged weapons, but she was sure that against this foe, it would only add to her opponent's arsenal.

She wanted to close in on the girl, but the weapon's specialist was having no trouble keeping her at bay. That meant she was severely limited in what she could and could not do. A part of her envied Naruto for just a second, the boy's Wind-natured affinity would allow him to blow away her foe's weapons like dust, while his incredible amount of chakra would mean that he wouldn't exhaust his reserves after doing a Jutsu or two… a luxury that Sakura didn't quite have.

A larger shuriken flew towards her as she threw herself to the side, narrowly avoiding a small kunai, which in turn followed her movement and almost nailed her in the shoulder. A second later, she felt something pierce her skin, and was horrified to see a small trickle of blood flow down her arm. Sakura's eyes widened as she realised that she had been hit by a familiar weapon… a senbon. Gritting her teeth in frustration, Sakura plucked the needle out and tossed it to the ground while she kept half an eye out in front of her to keep a watch for other surprises.

How had this contest come about? That was simple.

oOoOoOo

"Ahh Kakashi, my eternal rival, I see your students have the fire of youth burning brightly within them," shouted Gai as he made his appearance, looking around the training ground with a large smile.

"You say something," replied Kakashi, indifferently.

"Your hip attitude knows no bounds," shouted Gai as he clasped at the sides of his head.

"Guess this guy's like this all the time," said Naruto from nearby, his teammates quickly recalling the one time before the start of the first part of the Chunin exam where they had met the teacher with the ridiculously large eyebrows.

"What are you after Gai?" asked Kakashi, not taking his eyes off of his porn.

"It is time for our contest," declared Gai. "This time I shall win for certain. It is your time to choose our contest, however, so choose wisely, my rival, as you will need every advantage you can get."

Lowering the book ever so slightly, Kakashi's visible eye looked over the students in front of him, and an unseen smile crept across his face.

oOoOoOo

"You're like a sitting duck," taunted Tenten from her hiding position as she hurled a handful of shuriken at the pink-haired Genin, who did her best to leap out of the way. While originally she hadn't been thrilled to have been tossed into battle against one of Kakashi's students, she had quickly figured that this was one of the better ways she had to prepare for the exam: fighting somebody whom she knew little about while given the chance to test her own abilities.

The battleground wasn't really one that suited her strong points, however, as the numerous trees and branches prevented her from having too much of a clear shot. It didn't matter, though, as the one weapon she had managed to pierce Sakura with had been one of the Genin's own, and after a quick inspection, she had found that there had been a fine layer of poison coating the tip. She doubted that the opposing Genin would use anything lethal, and it was pretty likely that she had either built up or was in the process of building up a resistance to the poison. The advantage, however, was in her favor.

"Note to self, build up poison immunity," grumbled Sakura as she turned an eye to where she believed Tenten to be. She knew it wouldn't take long for the poison to start spreading through her veins, and she was not looking forward to the results. An idea sparked, however, and she suddenly realised she had a chance to win this if she played her cards right.

Peering around the tree, Tenten's eyes slowly widened as Sakura started flailing wildly, as if swatting away at imaginary enemies. "Get away, get away!" screamed the pink-haired girl in a tone that made the weapon-wielder worry whether her opponent's sanity was intact. Neither Gai-sensei nor Kakashi had jumped in to stop the fray, so the fight was still going, but Tenten was becoming increasingly worried.

It would be easy for her to start to make Sakura look like a pincushion, but she knew that she wouldn't be able to bring herself to do something like that. The right thing to do would be to knock the girl out and then get her to the hospital to have the poison taken out of her system.

Jumping down from her hiding position, Tenten slowly walked across the battlefield, still cautious just incase one of Sakura's wild swings came her way. Thankfully, however, the pink girl's back was turned to her as she seemingly struggled with an imaginary opponent, and Tenten couldn't help but be glad that the poison hadn't struck her instead.

Quickly closing the distance between them, Tenten raised her hand up, intending to knock the girl out with a chop to the back of her neck. However, with Sakura's back turned to her, she hadn't been able to see the fact that the pink-haired girl had gone through several hand signs unnoticed and was merely waiting for the right moment.

"Gotcha," shouted Sakura as she whipped around. "Katon: Te Moete!"

Before Tenten could react Sakura had grabbed both of her hands, and while confusion reigned supreme momentarily, it didn't last long as she felt the fingers that Sakura was holding start to burn under intense heat. It took her the better part of five seconds to wretch her fingers free from Sakura's grasp but the damage had already been done. The fight wasn't over yet, but she had no idea what she was meant to do from here.

…

"Come with me," said Neji as he turned away from the fight.

"But I've got to support Sakura," protested Naruto as he gestured towards his pink-haired teammate who was near victory. However, he knew that it would only take a second for the tables to flip in yet another unpredictable way.

"This is more important," he said curtly while shaking his head. "I require your assistance."

"Well, it can wait," shrugged Naruto. Although he always liked to help out a person in need, Neji was quite an arse, and his loyalties definitely lied with Sakura.

"Just go, Dobe," sighed Sasuke. "I wonder what a member of the esteemed Hyuga clan wants with you anyway."

"Unfortunately the conversation I wish to have with Uzumaki is private," said Neji, not all too kindly.

"Fine, fine," Naruto put his hands up as he attempted to play the role of peacekeeper. He wasn't eager to see a match of bloated egos. "I'll come but if Sakura-chan loses, I'm blaming you."

Neji ignored him, his eyebrow raised in a bemused position. "Follow me," the branch member said as he led the blond-haired boy away from the small gathering of members from both teams. Thankfully, Lee was over with Gai-sensei, yelling about the fires of youth while Kakashi attempted to ignore the duo, so Neji would not have to put up with his questioning either.

"So is this far enough?" asked Naruto as they finally reached the outskirts of the training ground, the small dirt path which led back to Konoha visible.

"I suppose," Neji said with a sigh, before looking Naruto in the eyes with an intense fire burning within his own. "I need your help."

Naruto blinked. "You need my help?"

Neji nodded again after a little hesitation. "Hinata-sama… I believe she may require your assistance."

"Hinata needs my help?" asked Naruto, before continuing when he received a nod of confirmation. "Well, why didn't she just say so?"

"I believe that Hiashi-sama 'grounded' her," Neji said with a cough. "Although she was meant to be free to leave the compound almost a week ago, she has been in a rather dark state of mind recently, and has refused to leave her house. I believe this may be a result of her younger sister returning from the hospital and reminding her of what happened between them."

"What happened between them?"

"I'm sure that you know of Hinata-sama's… ugh… unique condition?" said Neji with a questioning tone, before receiving a small nod from the normally-hyperactive blond. "Well, a sparring match went wrong and Hinata-sama ended up injuring her younger sister rather heavily."

"This is Hinata we're talking about," said Naruto good-naturedly. "She's a good friend and everything but c'mon, she wouldn't hurt a mouse."

"Hanabi-sama sustained several injuries: three cracked ribs, a broken nose, and a clean break in her right forearm," Neji said biting his lip to prevent a chuckle from escaping, knowing that it would be wrong to laugh at his cousin's injuries, even though the way Naruto's eyeballs bulged would have had an Aburame rolling on the floor.

"So why was she in the hospital for so long?" asked Naruto, knowing that after a good medical Jutsu or two the girl would have been sent home with a cast and a brace for her ribs.

"She slipped into a small coma," said Neji without missing a beat. "As you can imagine, Hinata-sama would not have taken very kindly to the realisation that she inflicted these injuries upon her sister, especially when most could have been avoided."

"I see," Naruto nodded slightly. "So what do you want me to do?"

"Well, I believe that your friendship with Hinata-sama is something she holds most dear, so I think that perhaps you could help snap her out of this state of hers," Neji said, resisting the urge to shake his head slightly. Just a month ago he had hated and envied Hinata for the lifestyle she lived. "Hiashi-sama may not take too kindly to an outsider entering the Hyuga compound, but sometimes I've come to believe it's necessary to disregard the laws for the betterment of others."

...

Taijutsu was nowhere near Tenten's strongest attribute, and it was showing as she felt Sakura's fist connect with her shoulder. It didn't help that she couldn't really block anything with her hands. She had done her best to try and wield a weapon of some kind, but her fingers were too sensitive for the moment, and as much as she wanted to, she couldn't stop her palms from shaking as a result of the pain.

Kicking out, Tenten tried her best to press the offensive, but the attack was blocked by Sakura's forearm before pink-haired reached out and grabbed Tenten's wrist. In a swift motion, Sakura pulled her opponent forward, tripping her in the process while never letting go of the appendage in her grasp.

Tenten could only stick a single arm out in a bid to try and stop herself from eating the dirt beneath her, but it proved ineffective, and before she could push herself upwards, she felt her arm being pulled behind her back and the cold edge of a kunai placed against her throat.

"Winner: Sakura," announced Kakashi much to Gai's dismay. The Copy Ninja couldn't help but smile somewhat, knowing that his three students had managed to best the opponents that had come their way over the course of the past few weeks. Kiba had returned a week earlier to try and get retribution on Sasuke, something which failed miserably now that the Uchiha felt little strain whenever his Sharingan was activated. Naruto had been challenged to a fight against Shino, and the bug user had found himself without his insect allies as Naruto's wind blew them all away. Sakura had been the only one not openly challenged, which had been the reason as to why he had nominated her for this contest.

"You got me," said Tenten in dismay as she pushed herself up into a kneeling position.

"Only cause you hit me with my own poison," replied Sakura who was holding at her head.

"What poison was it?" asked Tenten looking up at the pink-haired girl.

"Something that causes headaches and migraines," said Sakura with a weak smile. "Since you didn't know what kind of poison it was I made it look like I was hallucinating."

"To lure me into a false sense of security," concluded Tenten, realising it had been her own weakness that had been her downfall. She couldn't really blame herself, though, since morally it had been the right thing to do, but she had no idea that she had walked right into an elaborate trap. Looking over to where her team had stood, it seemed as if Gai-sensei had taken this loss heavily and was missing, most likely doing something ridiculous as punishment. Lee, being Lee, would be joining him every step of the way.

"Come on, I'll take you to the hospital," offered Sakura, wanting to head there anyways to get her head checked out.

"Sounds good," said Tenten allowing herself to be pulled to her feet before the two worn-out Genin began making their way back towards civilization.

…

"Kakashi-sensei," said Sasuke as he attempted to gain the attention of the man who seemed to be enjoying his little orange book. Gai and Lee were performing some ridiculous training regime, since Tenten had lost the spar, while the girl in question and his female teammate had gone to the hospital. Neji and Naruto were probably lurking somewhere nearby but he didn't particularly mind if either one of them overheard what he was about to say.

"Yes?" the man asked nonchalantly, stubbornly refusing to lift his eye from his book.

"I've been doing a bit of training recently by myself, using Shadow Clones…"

"That's right, you can make them with your Sharingan activated now without depleting your chakra," nodded Kakashi having noticed the improvement in not only Sasuke but all of his students' training.

"Beside that, there's something I want to ask about the Shadow Clones themselves," said Sasuke focusing his eyes upon his teacher. "Now that I'm using them a bit more frequently, I've noticed that I seem to be… learning more? I'm not really sure how to explain it, but it feels as if I know stuff that my clone knows and I shouldn't know."

"You are correct in many assumptions, but I'll break it down for you," explained Kakashi. "What you are experiencing is the clone's mental feedback. Whatever the clone learns, after you dispel it, the clone's memories will be transferred to you. This is why the Shadow Clone Technique is known by many of Konoha's ANBU, who have to go on stealth and reconnaissance missions, but instead of going in themselves, they can just send a clone. As you could imagine, once it learns what it needs to, it can dispel and relay all the information it has learned with almost no harm to the user at all."

"That sounds too good to be true," Sasuke frowned, knowing that the technique would be far more renowned if it were to work just like that.

"There is a backlash to this, however," warned Kakashi. "Remember a week ago when Naruto was admitted to the hospital and didn't wake up for a day or two?"

"I remember," said Sasuke, having been shocked to discover that his teammate had been hospitalized. There wasn't much that could keep him down, usually.

"Well, that's essentially what'll happen to you if you use too many clones at once," said Kakashi. "Naruto, much like you, hadn't realised that he could access the memories of his clones. If you choose to read your clones' memories, the information will hit you like a train and your brain will have to process a lot very suddenly. The overload was so much that he fell unconscious and had to spend quite a lot of time recovering from and processing the memories."

"Wait, so you're telling me that Naruto figured this out before I did?" asked Sasuke as he read between the lines.

"Yep. Sakura figured out how strenuous it was relatively quickly when she and a clone studied through some books from the library," said Kakashi which seemed to only irk Sasuke somewhat, now knowing that, of the three Genin, he had been the last to realise the true potential of the clones.

Kakashi, for his better judgment, decided not to tell Sasuke that he had pretty much given Sakura a step-by-step guide on how to properly use the technique, as opposed to leaving both Naruto and Sasuke in the dark. Some would say that it made him bad as a teacher, but he figured that there were some things that they should learn by themselves and not simply be spoon fed.

Looking back on it now, if he had given Naruto some warning, then his student might not have suffered from the most splitting headache imaginable. "Again like your Sharingan, the more you use this kind of exercise, the easier it'll become, as your mind becomes able to absorb more information in a single go. For now, I recommend that you use a clone to read through a scroll or something along those lines for an hour at most before having it dispel."

"And then use them as a mental exercise by steadily increasing the time for each clone," summarised Sasuke.

"The alternative would be to make more clones for the same period of time," said Kakashi, offering another option. "That way you also build on your chakra reserves at the same time. I'm actually going to start going through this training regime myself, otherwise you three are going to be getting stronger than me before you even make Chunin."

Sasuke could see that Kakashi was giving them more praise than they were worthy, and while he didn't say anything on that, he did pick up on something else. "But didn't you say Naruto spent time in hospital because he used too many clones?"

"That's what happens when you have the memories of a hundred clones come invading your mind at once," explained Kakashi. "Your memory in this scenario works much like any other muscle in your body, slowly exercise it to make it more powerful but don't overload it unless you want to risk permanent damage."

"That makes more sense," said Sasuke as he nodded in understanding before summoning a clone. It was time to take his training to the next level.

...

Sarutobi sat within the confines of his office, a small trail of smoke wafting in the air from the pipe that sat between his lips. Unlike most times when the room felt empty - much like it had been for the last few weeks - the office was devoid of all ANBU members. Sarutobi knew that for someone as skilled as his former pupil, assassinating one of his ANBU and taking their place would be child's play. While he knew Orochimaru would rather finish him off with a bit more flair, the aged man couldn't take any chances.

He couldn't prepare to be caught off guard while the Chunin exams loomed. There were too many important people who would be present, too many future mission clients scouting for the best hidden village to request the aid of, for him to be caught by surprise and made a fool of. It was the first time Konoha had hosted the exams in a while, and if all went well, they would hold another one a few years later.

He sighed as he unravelled a scroll that a messenger had delivered. The symbol on his headband had told the Hokage that the ninja had been from the Suna, but Sarutobi hadn't known what to expect. Sure, the Kazekage's son had been held hostage by his most loyal pupil for a week or two, but there was no way that Suna could have found about that. Even if the boy had scampered off and reported his kidnapping to any superior from Suna, it would take a few days to get a message from Konoha to Suna and back.

He blinked once in surprise as he read the contents of the letter. In its opening sentences, it stated the Kazekage's intention to attend the final bouts of the Chunin exams - although it explained that he was mainly doing so to see the progression of his three children. That in itself was a little surprising despite the fact that the two villages were allies. The days of Kage who weren't hosting the Chunin exams attending were long passed. After the Third Great Ninja War there had been too many tensions left unsettled, and though every village had signed a peace treaty, they weren't exactly on friendly terms with each other.

Suna was the smallest of the Hidden Villages, the letter explained, and as such, the Kazekage had requested a team of Konohagakure ninja to protect the village while he was attending the exams. Sarutobi's eyebrows immediately raised as he suddenly became a little more cautious - that was definitely an odd request.

It was understandable, however, as with the Kazekage visiting it wouldn't just be him alone. A Kage simply wandering about would be a prime target, and as such, he would be bringing several teams with him as both protection and a sign of power. And Sarutobi supposed that the team was meant to be some kind of collateral, because by the Kazekage's logic, Konoha wouldn't dare try anything if a team of valuable shinobi were in Suna. That, and it would also help repel others who would potentially see it as an opportune moment to strike.

The letter did also state for somebody to be sent whose name would strike fear into anybody who thought that, with the Kazekage out of town, it would be a perfect time to invade. Looking at the teams at his disposal, the third Hokage knew that only a handful of his ninja could be classified under such a title, his own son being one of them. However, with his students participating in the Chunin exams, Sarutobi couldn't really ask him to leave. The same could be said for several other of his outstanding Jounin who wouldn't want to be parted from their students - he could only imagine the uproar Gai would make about it.

There was one, however. They probably wouldn't like it but rarely did one like the jobs they were given. "Team Seven," grumbled Sarutobi as he looked at his files. While the Genin were exceptional in their own right, they had no real experience in doing something of this magnitude apart from that single instance at Wave. This, however, shouldn't be anything as dangerous as they would simply be over there to cause an intimidation factor. And this was a different type of game than the one they played at Wave, since this time it had political undertones.

The Sandaime did figure that of the whole team, Naruto was the most intimidating solely for the purpose that not many shinobi could handle themselves when they saw a wall of orange clones cascading towards them. Be that as it may, Kakashi Hatake was a very well known name amongst ninja, and the only Konoha nin - short of the Sannin - which could maybe outdo him in that aspect was his student, Sasuke Uchiha. They were ideal for the mission and getting them away from Konoha would also throw another monkey wrench in whatever plan Orochimaru had involving the last Uchiha.

Making his decision, Sarutobi made himself a note to send for Team Seven the next day. It would take a few days for the team from Konoha to arrive in Suna, and by his estimation, that would be roughly the same day that the finals would be held. They wouldn't like the fact they'd be missing out on watching their friends compete but sacrifices had to be made.

Speaking of Team Seven, Sarutobi figured that it was about time he thought of alternative disciplinary actions necessary for the Chunin responsible for having Team Seven removed from the exams in the first place.

…

Naruto squirmed slightly as he stood outside Hinata's house. Though everyone in almost a mile's radius would be able to see him if they wished to with their Byakugan, he was fairly sure that the clan heiress would not have it activated given the state of mind which Neji had described.

Neji said that he had spoken with Hiashi when he had gotten home the other day, and the Clan Head had hesitatingly agreed. Though Naruto had yet to meet the man in person, he had already began to form an opinion of him. He sounded like he had a stick up his ass, much like Neji had - or maybe used to - but at the same time, he sounded like he was genuinely concerned for the health of his daugher. Anyone like that couldn't be all that bad a guy, right?

He sighed as he looked back nervously. Neji had escorted him in and to the door before excusing himself as he mumbled something about a team meeting, and as such he found himself alone. There were a couple Hyuga guards eyeing him every once in a while, but he supposed he couldn't blame him given his notorious runs as a prankster.

Biting on his tongue, he decided to just take the kunai and get it over and done with as he proceeded gently rap on the front door.

…

Translations:

Katon: Te Moete = Fire Release: Burning Hand

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