The Strength of the Cherry Blossom

by animea-hime

At the ages before five, a young girl learnt the way of her family. After the ages of five, she had no family. Living up to her dead parents’ expectations, the young girl must pass many trials before being forgiven by them. [Complete] Sasusaku

4. 3 The chuunin exams? Piece of Cake! Pt1

Chapter 3: Chuunin Exams? Piece of Cake! Right? Pt 1.

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Summary: At the ages before five, a young girl learnt the way of her family. After the ages of five, she had no family. Living up to her dead parents' expectations, the young girl must pass many trials before being forgiven by them. Sasusaku.

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'Thoughts'

'Inner selves'

"Talking"

FLASH BACK…

P.O.V

DREAMING SEQUENCE…

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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does.

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Recap:

The ninjas on the top of a hill stare out at the sunset after they buried Zabuza's and Haku's body with Zabuza's sword as a grave stone.

"Kakashi-sensei, is that really the way of the ninja? To be used as a tool?" Naruto asked.

"Hmm? Well, essentially, yes" Kakashi started "We are merely tools used to protect a village"

"Then I shall not follow that way. It is wrong and in that way, I will follow my own ninja way" Naruto vowed as the group headed back to Tazuna's house with the exception of one cherry blossom, her hair blowing in the wind before following her team.

"Kakashi-sensei how did Sakura-chan learn Zabuza's jutsu?" Naruto asked.

"Because, Naruto, Zabuza was once my sensei and I was once his apprentice" Sakura answers from behind him.

"How? When?" Naruto asked shocked.

"At one stage he was in Suna, and at that time I was there too and I asked to become his apprentice, then after a year he just disappeared with Haku" Sakura answered, eyes closed.

"Is that why you defended that boy when we were in the forest and on the bridge?" Sasuke asked.

"Hai, old relations make it hard to do something against another, especially when killing them" Sakura answered "Even if I swore I was going to kill both, it ended up as Kakashi and a mob of people killing them"

--

The bridge was finally finished. It is a bright and sunny day as the ninjas prepare to depart from the country of the waves and head back home; the people of the waves are with them, watching the ninjas leave there village; Inari, Tsunami and Tazuna at the front of the crowd.

"Thank you for everything team 7" Tazuna shook the hand of Kakashi.

"You're welcome" Kakashi smiles with the genins in the background nodding, well Sasuke and Sakura anyway.

"You're welcome" Naruto exclaimed as he ran up to Inari who was crying like him and hugged the boy and at that, team seven left the country of the waves.

--

"Sakura-chan, how did you know it was them in the forest? I mean you seemed to know who it was before Zabuza appeared" Naruto asked.

"Remember the rabbit? That was my rabbit, by the way Naruto, if you killed that rabbit I would have had your hide" Sakura answered before walking off.

End Recap

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As a new day arose from the hills, three genin and their sensei stepped foot back into the city of Konoha; the Village hidden in the leaves.

"Alright guys, let's head to the Hokage tower to make a report" Kakashi ordered.

"Hai" Naruto chorused as the ninja dragged themselves towards the Hokage Tower.

--

"Welcome back" Iruka greeted "Do you have your report from the mission Kakashi-san?"

"Hai" Kakashi nodded as he took about a bunch of papers and placed them on the desk in front of Iruka.

"Arigato, you may leave now" Iruka smiled. In an instant the cherry blossom was out of the office, leaving a trail of dust behind her.

"That…was…fast" Naruto blinked.

"Aa"

The males of Team 7 bowed respectfully to Iruka and the Hokage before leaving the room.

"Ano, Kakashi-sensei, do we have training tomorrow?" Naruto asked.

"Nah, meet me at the bridge in two days at five in the morning, and tell Sakura if you see her" Kakashi disappeared leaving a cloud of smoke in his place.

"And then there were two" Naruto grinned as he turned to where Sasuke was "Eh? Where'd he go?! Oh well, off to home" Naruto grinned to himself before running home and opening an instant ramen cup and waiting three minutes for water to boil.

--

SASUKE'S POV

Sakura is such a weird girl, I wonder why she ran off so quickly, aside Naruto's foul smell, because I don't think that was it. She seemed in a little bit of pain when we were walking back home, but it's not like I care.

"AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" suddenly a painful scream erupted from the edge of Konoha where I usually train. Acting on instinct I pumped chakra into my feet and raced towards the scream, which sounded like Sakura by the way. Picking up my speed, I eventually made it to my training spot, only to find the forest area empty.

"What the?" I mumbled before jumping off the ground and disappearing from the forest and back to my house.

END POV

--

Two days after arriving back into the city of Konoha three ninja, one blonde, one black haired and another pink haired gathered at the meeting place of team seven, a simple bridge over looking a river. The blonde boy slowly arose from his slumber to greet the day after eating his ramen breakfast and changing into his orange attire. Of course, Sakura and Sasuke arrived first, with Naruto bouncing his way to the meeting place roughly half an hour later; as the said blonde arrived tension in the air built up as Sasuke spotted Naruto and Naruto spotted Sasuke, with poor Sakura in the middle, tempted to kick both of them square in the head. However as soon as Naruto spotted Sakura his attention averted to the girl, who was becoming more and more irritated with the talkative blonde and their very late sensei who was already three or four hours late.

"Where is our fucking sensei?" Sakura cursed under her breathe "If he wanted us to be here at five in the morning then he could have the decency to meet us here at that time"

"Aa" Sasuke nodded.

'I could be some where off training right now if I wasn't waiting for Kakashi' Sakura and Sasuke grumbled in unison.

Three more hours later, Kakashi finally arrived again with a 'poof' smiling at the genin below him, one of which was yelling profanities to Kakashi about being late, while the other two were twitching slightly.

"Hello, I got lost on the path of life" Kakashi waved.

"YOU'RE LATE" Naruto yelled.

"Aa, anyway we have got a stack full of missions waiting for us, let's go ne?" Kakashi smiled.

"Really? What this time?" Naruto jumped with excitement.

"First up, pulling out weeds in one of the villagers gardens, come"

"Hai" Naruto nodded before chasing after the slowly disappearing Kakashi, Sakura following Sasuke behind Naruto.

--

'Look at teme, being all cool, yea well, I'm a good ninja too" Naruto glared at Sasuke before he focused on beating Sasuke at their little rivalry and started madly pulling out weeds….and the rest. Five minutes later their client came up to Naruto glaring at the boy.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" the women shouted.

"I pulled out all the weeds for you ma'am" Naruto smiled.

"And you also pulled out the rest of my garden" the lady pausing as she looked around at the remains of her former garden "Some of those were special and rare herbs I was growing" the women glared before drawing her arm back and punching Naruto right in the face giving him a black eye.

Continuing with their chores, team seven are sent to a river where they are to clean out the water, removing cans and such, only for Naruto to some how trip, fall down and be taken away by the current, to be almost taken down the waterfall had Sasuke not caught the boy.

"You're such a loser dobe" Sasuke muttered to the boy; the entire time Kakashi had his nose in a certain orange book and giggled occasionally with blush.

The next chore for team seven was a simple task of walking a few dogs, and yet some how, Naruto managed to fail at that as the dog he picked started taking him for a walk, oddly enough into a mine field; which obviously ended in disaster for Naruto yet not the dog.

"He just had to pick the biggest dog" Sakura muttered "Baka" Sasuke twitched in agreement.

--

"Alright guys, that's enough for today; our teamwork seems to be off by a lot today, so you guys can take a break now and stop for the rest of the day" Kakashi smiled and 'poofed' away from the three youngsters.

"What a waste of my time" Sakura grumbled before walking off from the group "Well guys, ja"

"Chotto matte Sakura-chan, you want to go out with me for ramen?" Naruto asked.

"No thanks" Sakura shook her head "Why don't you go with Sasuke? You two really do seem like a perfect pair to be going together" Sakura snickered remembering when Naruto and Sasuke kissed.

"Me? With him?!" they glared at the pink haired girl.

"Well, ja" Sakura waved and walked away.

"Dobe, you don't want to owe me right? Work on getting stronger" Sasuke glared, recounting all the times he probably would have saved Naruto since they became a team "Ja" Sasuke waved before walking off.

Slowly with out any choice, Naruto walked away by himself, only to be followed by an odd placed rocky coloured box.

"Eh? Was that always there" Naruto muttered to him self staring at the box. Slowly Naruto moved forward by a step, only for the box to move forward a step. Suddenly a chase began with Naruto being chased by a ridiculously obvious rock coloured box.

"Ha! I knew it! That is so obvious Konohamaru!" Naruto pointed at the box.

"You're sharp as ever nii-chan" a little voice squeaked from inside the box.

Suddenly the box exploded revealing three young kids; a little boy with goggles on his head with his brown hair defying gravity and standing up. He was wearing a yellow t-shirt, white shorts and a long scarf around his neck. Next was a little girl whose orange hair was in two ponytails. Like the first boy, she had goggles on her head. She was wearing a light pink shirt under a darker pink vest and a pink skirt. The final boy was a black haired boy with mucus coming out his nose and glassed in front of his eyes. On his head was a pair of goggles, he was wearing a long sleeved black shirt and white shorts. All three were wearing blue ninja sandals.

"Konohamaru" the boy with brown haired began.

"Moegi" the girl winked.

"Udon" the final boy sniffed.

"And together we are the Konohamaru ninja squad" the three chorused.

"What do you want Konohamaru?" Naruto asked.

"We want to play ninja with you since you just got back from your mission" Konohamaru grinned.

"Sorry Konohamaru, I can't play with you right now" Naruto sweatdropped.

"Naruto-nii-chan! Onegai (1)" Konohamaru begged.

"No"

"Please"

"No"

"Please"

"No"

"Please-"

"For Kami-sama's sake no" Naruto shouted before he chased after the boy with a clenched fist, threatening to kill the boy.

"Itai! (2) Naruto-nii-chan that hurts!" Konohamaru whined.

"I'll show you hurt" Naruto glared.

Suddenly Konohamaru ran into a pair of taller black covered legs. Looking up, Konohamaru look like he'd seen a ghost or something as the owner of the legs glared down at the boy. The boy had a black hoodie with ears, and a black jumpsuit with a circle in the middle, half red, half yellow as well as black ninja sandals. Strapped to his back was a big mound covered in bandages, with a little lump of brown fur or hair at the top of it. On his hood his forehead protector was sewn onto it. All over his face red markings were etched on into an intricate pattern. Behind him was a blonde girl with brown eyes.

The girl had her blonde hair in four ponytails and wore a light pink dress which rested on her arms, covering her arms until her elbows. Underneath she wore a fish net shirt and a one legged pair of fish net shorts on her right leg, and on her left leg fish net covered her knee and below. She was wearing black ninja sandals. Around her neck her forehead protector sat.

Angry that the kid hit him blindly, the mysterious boy in the black jumpsuit growled before picking up the boy forcefully.

"Oi, kid what's the big idea?" the mysterious boy glared.

"Let go of Konohamaru!" Naruto ordered.

"Why? Little kids who bump into people without watch where their going should be punished" the boy grinned evilly before hitting the boy across the head.

"That's enough Kankuro, don't cause any trouble" the girl ordered.

"Nande? (3) I'm just doing what's right" the boy called Kankuro spoke.

"Just stop it!" the girl demanded.

"Let go of Konohamaru!" Naruto shouted before charging towards Kankuro with his kunai drawn. As soon as Naruto reached hostage and captor he froze immediately has the other boys kunai was drawn at Konohamaru's neck, threatening to kill the young boy.

"Let me down" Konohamaru cried.

"Stop this nonsense Kankuro, what happens if Gaara finds out?" the blonde girl pleaded.

"Oh Come now, I just want a little fun" Kankuro smirked.

Slowly Naruto drew out a few shuriken ready to aim them and loosen Kankuro's grip on Konohamaru enough so he could retrieve the young child. Suddenly out of no where something flew passed Kankuro's hand forcing him to let go of Konohamaru, let the young boy escape from what ever Kankuro had planned for him and on instinct Naruto released his shuriken in the direction of Kankuro, from the shock of the sudden attack; which ironically missed the boy and the blonde girl, only to come face to face with a pink haired girl who was walking calmly with groceries in her hands.

"Nani?" the girl yelped as she dodged each and every single shuriken, only to have her grocery bags broken and on the floor with an odd yellow liquid oozing out from one of the bags. Averting their gaze to the direction from where the little thing was thrown from, they spectators raise their gaze to a near by tree to find Sasuke tossing a tiny pebble up and down, sitting slightly bored at the situation.

Regaining her composure, the girl stood up properly and glared at the people before her.

"What on earth is going on? I go to buy groceries twenty minutes ago and come back through here only to be attacked by Naruto's shuriken?! Either you guys give me a reasonable answer for what the hell is going on, or I'll make you all pay for new groceries, and I don't give a damn if you are from Suna either!" Sakura yelled, seething with anger. 'I can't even go to the market these days without being attacked'

"Well?"

"Well you see Sakura-chan, Konohamaru was being attacked by the guy in black and so…I was going to help Konohamaru, but teme got there before me!" Naruto explained.

In frustration, Sakura massaged her temples before bending down and picking up her groceries "Right, you guys can do whatever you please, just leave me out of it" Sakura grumbled before walking passed Naruto and pausing.

"By the way, the other guy in the tree, learn to hide your chakra better"

Averting their gaze to other side of the tree, the guy Sakura was talking about appeared on the branch. He had red hair and dull green eyes; on his forehead was a kanji symbol representing love. On his back he had a large, sand coloured gourd with black symbols over it. He was wearing a black t-shirt and pants outfit with a white scarf traveling around his body. 'When did he get there?' Sasuke glanced at the boy.

Slowly the said guy jumped off the tree and appeared before Kankuro while Sasuke jumped in front of Naruto.

"What's your name" Sasuke asked.

"Who? Me?" the blonde asked.

"No, the one with the gourd in his back" Sasuke pointed to the red haired boy.

Slowly the red haired boy turned around and faced the Uchiha.

"Gaara of the sand, and I'm curious to know who you are as well" Gaara paused from a moment "And the girl"

"Uchiha Sasuke" Sasuke glared at the boy.

"My name is of no concern to you, I'm sure you'll discover it anyway soon, unless you heard Naruto say it" Sakura muttered before walking off.

"I bet you're just dying to know my name as well" Naruto shouted, pointing to himself.

"I could care less about who you are" Gaara shrugged before disappearing and reappearing before Sakura.

"You want some thing" Sakura glanced at the boy.

"Your name" Gaara ordered.

"Is it of any relevance to you?" Sakura questioned.

"I want to know the name of a potential enemy" Gaara glared.

"Are you trying to encourage me to give my name or discourage me?" Sakura snickered.

"Girl, just give him your name" Kankuro shouted.

"What a waste of time" Sakura muttered before suddenly disappearing away from the scene.

"She's good" Gaara muttered to himself.

Up above a hawk circled Konoha alerting the jounins to arrive at the Hokage Building.

--

"I'm sure you are all aware that the chuunin exams will begin soon" the Hokage started.

The jounins nodded.

"Now is the time that any jounin teachers may recommend their students for the exams, which are going to held in a week's time" the Hokage started "First jounins in charge of the rookies step forward"

Slowly Kakashi as well as two other jounins stepped forth.

"Hatake Kakashi, leader of Team 7 and I recommend Uchiha Sasuke, Uzamaki Naruto and Sakura for the chuunin selection" Kakashi spoke.

Slowly a woman with black and blood red eyes stepped forth, proceeding to with her recommendations.

"Yuuhi Kurenai, leader of Team 8 and I recommend Hyuuga Hinata, Aburame Shino and Inuzuka Kiba for the chuunin selection" Kurenai spoke.

The final man stepped forth, he had black hair and black eyes with a tanned skin tone. In his mouth was a fag and surrounding his chin was his beard.

"Sarutobi Asuma, leader of Team 10 and I recommend Yamanaka Ino, Akimichi Chouji and Nara Shikamaru for the chuunin selection" Asuma said.

Suddenly murmurs and whispers could be heard from the jounins behind them, complaining that the nine genins selected were the rookie nine and had just made it into the ninja world and that they should wait some time.

"What? Are you three mad? I taught each and every one of those recommended I don't believe any of them would be ready by now" Iruka challenged the jounins.

"I agree with Iruka-san" A guy with a bowl cut hair style in a green jump suit began "Kakashi-san, are you sure you want to put your genin through the chuunin exams so early, they are in experienced and should try the next one, that's why I held my team back"

"I stand by my recommendations, Gai, Iruka and I'm sure Kurenai and Asuma would agree with me" Kakashi argued, Asuma and Kurenai nodding in agreement.

"To make it fair Iruka-san, we'll put these genin through a test, and if they pass they enter the chuunin exams" the Hokage sighed.

"Hai" Iruka and Kakashi nodded.

--

"Good morning team" Kakashi smiled.

"Impossible! Kakashi-sensei is here on time!" Naruto exclaimed.

"And the reason you are here on time is because?" Sakura inquired.

"These" Kakashi handed each genin a slip of paper "Those are the entry forms for the chuunin selection"

"What's the chuunin selection Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked.

"It's simply the chance for you to move your status as a ninja from genin to chuunin" Sakura answered.

"Correct, remember, it's each individual's choice to take the exam, but you must make the decision in three days time"

"Hai" they chorused.

"Now with that said, Ja" Kakashi waved before he disappeared with a cloud of smoke in his place.

"Well since he is gone, so am I" Sakura muttered and like Kakashi disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

--

"Naruto-nii-chan can we play with you" Konohamaru asked as he, Moegi and Udon follow the said boy around the village.

"Not right now Konohamaru, I have got to go train for the chuunin selection"

"Please nii-" suddenly out of now where a man with a straw hat captured Moegi, threatening to kill her before running off towards the woods.

"Grrrr! Get back here!" Naruto demanded as he began chasing the mysterious ninja.

--

"Sakura, can I talk to you" Sasuke asked as he followed Sakura around the village, who was buying new groceries.

"Hai" Sakura nodded.

"Come" Sasuke lead the girl away from the village and towards an open field, the girl receiving many glares and death threats from the fangirls.

--

"Give back Moegi!" Naruto and Konohamaru demanded as they chased the mysterious ninja.

"Not until I have the Scroll of Sealing from this village!" the mysterious ninja demanded.

"You are never going to get that" Naruto scoffed.

"I'll say" a mysterious voice said from behind Naruto. Turning around, Sasuke stood bored as he glanced at Moegi and her captor.

"Teme what are you doing here?!" Naruto demanded.

"You were interrupting my training" Sasuke glared "So I came to see what all the fuss was"

"What?!" Naruto shouted.

"You heard me, well I'm sure you can handle this on your own, but considering this guy attacked me as well, I'll stay" Sasuke smirked.

In an instant Naruto did a 'Kage Bunshin no Jutsu' and made a copy of him self before he raced towards the enemy ninja and attacked him. Just as quickly as he arrived to ninja he was kicked back to where he came from.

"Don't even try it" the ninja snickered "Unless you want that little friend of yours killed I suggest you do as I said and get the Scroll of Sealing"

"You mean this friend?" Naruto questioned as from behind him was Moegi popped out.

"What?" the ninja questioned as he turned to find that Moegi was gone and in her place was a straw body that looked a little alike her.

"Well done" the ninja chuckled and disappeared into the forest.

"Oi, dobe, drop off your little friends and we'll go find Sakura, if that ninja attacked us two, then he probably attacked her too" Sasuke ordered.

"Hai!" Naruto nodded.

--

"So, what's up?" Sakura asked.

"I think you shouldn't take the chuunin exams" Sasuke began "You aren't ready for it"

"Aa" Sakura grunted. Suddenly an onslaught of kunai and senbon needles attacked Sasuke, leaving him to die in pain.

"What the?" Sakura faked her surprise as her head turned to where the weapons came from.

"What do you want? Why did you do that?" Sakura cried fakely as she dramatically cried over Sasuke's body.

"Don't join the chuunin exams or that could happen to you" A mysterious ninja ordered.

"Please" Sakura scoffed as she stood upright, without a teary face, and more along the lines of a bored face "You're going to have to do a lot more than make up an illusion to scare me out of the chuunin exams Iruka"

The ninja looked shocked for a moment, before he disappeared.

'What's with people and wanting to kill my groceries?' Sakura sulked as she glanced towards the remains of her groceries.

"Sakura-chan, Sakura-chan daijobou?" a loud voice hollered to reveal that Naruto and Sasuke arrived onto the scene and ran up to the girl.

"Eh? Oh, yea I'm fine why?" Sakura asked.

"Some ninja attacked me and Naruto, were you?" Sasuke asked.

"Yea, yea" Sakura muttered 'Better not tell them it was just Iruka' "I'm fine…but as for my groceries" Sakura pointed to the remains of her newly bought groceries.

"Off to the market again" Sakura muttered 'I've spent more on groceries this entire week, than I really have in my entire life!'

--

The mysterious ninja reappeared on the roof top of one of the buildings on Konoha, before his illusion was dispelled to reveal that he was actually Iruka.

"They pass" Iruka muttered.

"I told you they would, don't doubt our judgments next time Iruka" Kakashi smiled before going back to reading his book.

--

Slowly the pink haired girl made her way to the academy and for some reason or another she felt very nervous, which was very unlike her. The determined look on her face was replaced with an uneasy, and some what painful look, and with the change in moods, came a change in outfits. Today, for one circumstance or another, Sakura wore yet another new outfit. This time it was a simple low cut, black and purple kimono style top, which was opened showing that underneath she was wearing a fish net top and a black sports bra. The shirt or dress if you will was tied at the hip with a dark purple and red band and underneath was a pair of black bike shorts which weren't view-able and fish net leggings which reach just below her knee. Of course like usual, she had her two kunai pouches, one strapped to her leg by her forehead protector and the other by bandages and such as well as her black ninja sandals. On her arms were loose light purple arm warmers over black fingerless gloves which were attached to her middle fingers. To add to the attire her hair was in her two buns, a purple choker was around her neck and around her hip was her knap sack she took to the wave country. (A/N: See 'Ninja Saku 3' on profile)

Walking up to Naruto and Sasuke, she greeted the two boys quietly and walked into the academy silently. 'What's with her today?' Sasuke glanced at the girl was already in the building with a slight amount of worry.

"Sakura-chan, daijobou?" Naruto shouted as he and Sasuke followed the girl inside.

"Hai" she smiled forcefully, fiddling with the hem of her dress outfit, as if trying to pull the thing further down her leg.

With Sasuke in between the two, team seven walked up two levels to reach room 301, the room they were supposed to be in for the exams. However in the way were two Konoha genins stopping entrance to the room and were kicking down one of the other genin who wished to get into the room for the exams. Unconsciously, Sakura's body turned away from the room and walked down the hallway, away from the room they were supposed to be in.

"Oi, you the girl with the pink hair" one of the Konoha genin shouted.

Turning around Sakura glanced at them, waiting for them to say something "Hai"

"You're here for the chuunin exams right?" he asked.

"Hai"

"Then where the hell are you going? The room we need to be in is here" he pointed to the door where the other genins were blocking.

'Doesn't any one count the number of stair case you walked up these days?!' Sakura questioned "You do realize that you have the wrong room right?"

"What?" he asked.

"Sakura's got the best eyes for genjutsu that I know" Sasuke said.

"Then you mustn't know many people" he snickered.

"Kai!" Sakura put her hands into the seal of the tiger and dispelled the genjutsu on the room.

"Now you said the room we need to be is here right? Well have fun in room 201 while I'm actually in the chuunin exams in room 301" Sakura snickered.

"What?" the boy exclaimed as he looked at the two genins in front of the room which was room 201.

"All you did was see through the genjutsu, it doesn't mean you'll be any good at the exams" one of them said before he drew his leg back ready to kick Sasuke, who retaliated with a kick of his own; which was stopped by a guy in a green spandex with a fruit bowl, black hair cut and frog eyes. It was the boy who was pushed down before.

'He's fast' Sakura glanced as the boy was started the brawl disappeared with his mate.

'He blocked my kick, what's this chakra in his hands?' Sasuke glanced at the boy's arm.

"What happened to the plan?" a boy with long brown hair and white eyes questioned walking up to the green spandex "You are the one who didn't want to make a spectacle of our selves" The girl with two buns in her like Sakura's sighing at the boy.

'Their wounds disappeared, so they were faking' Sasuke glared at them.

"Well" the boy set his gaze on Sakura as determination eradicated from him.

"Well, ja" Sakura waved her hand before she walked away from the scene before them.

"Sakura-san right?" the spandex boy walked up to the girl. Slowly Sakura turned around to come face to face with the boy in a green spandex with a fruit bowl, black hair cut and frog eyes.

"Hai, it is I" Sakura nodded.

"Kawaii!" the boy squealed "My name is Rock Lee, let's go out together! I'll protect you until I die" Lee proclaimed as he did his good guy pose. Sasuke glanced from a distance with a hint of jealousy, while Naruto showed it plain and simple.

"No thanks" Sakura sweat dropped.

"Eh?" Lee questioned. Sasuke and Naruto both seemed to rejoice inwardly.

"You're weird and lame" Sakura explained which sent Rock Lee sulking.

"Oi you, what's you name?" the brown haired boy asked Sasuke.

'Kuso, Sasuke again' Naruto glared at Sasuke.

"When you want to learn some else's name you should give yours first" Sasuke said.

"You're a rookie right?" the brown haired boy asked "How old are you?"

"I don't have to answer you" Sasuke answered.

"Nani?" the boy glared, the girl with brown hair giggled 'How cute'

Slowly Sasuke turned around to come face to face with a sulking Lee and Naruto.

'Lame…weird…' Lee sulked.

'What about me, no one ever wants to know my name' Naruto cried.

"Oi, dobe, chicken-ass, if you are coming hurry it up" Sakura shouted from the end of the hall.

--

"So those are Kakashi's and Gai's prized students?" the boy from before questioned. Suddenly both dispelled their henge no jutsu to reveal that they are actually much older than they were before.

"Well it'll be fun this time" one chuckled.

"Especially for us examiners"

--

At their own pace, Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto made their way up a stair case which lead to the third level.

'Man there are a lot of strong people here for the exams' Sasuke smirked as he thought about Neji, Lee and Gaara.

As Team seven ever so slowly made their way to room 301 they were stopped by a familiar voice.

"Oi, you with the fan on his back, wait" the voice demanded. Turning around the group found Rock Lee above their heads.

'Oh for Kami's sake not him again'

"Nani?" Sasuke questioned.

"Would you fight me right here, right now?" Lee asked.

"A fight right now?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes" Lee nodded before he jumped from the stair case above them and onto the ground before them "My name is Rock Lee, when you want to learn the name of some one else you introduce your self right? Uchiha Sasuke-kun" Lee pointed to Sasuke whose eyes widened a fraction.

"So you knew?" Sasuke glanced at the boy.

"I want to fight you now!" Lee demanded as he moved into a rather odd fighting stance "I want to see how far my techniques will go against a prodigy of one of Konoha's most respected ninja clans, plus"

Suddenly for some reason, Sakura felt at that moment it would be a good time to shudder with disgust and fright.

"There is a chance to gain Sakura-chan's love" Lee blushed, instantly both Naruto and Sasuke stepped in front of their only female team mate.

"Stay away form Sakura-chan!" Naruto ordered 'It's always Sasuke-teme!'

"It's alright Naruto seriously" Sakura sweat dropped "Look, you guys we are supposed to be at exams soon, can we please-"

"Stop! I want to fight you!" Naruto shouted.

"Enough! This has gone on long enough! If you guys wish to fight, by all means, go ahead and fight, but I am long gone" Sakura huffed before walking away.

"Well then, let's begin" Sasuke commented before he and Lee charged towards each other.

"Leaf Whirlwind" Lee shouted as he attempted to kick Sasuke off his feet but failed, but ended up with him kicking Sasuke to the side anyway.

'What's he using, ninjutsu? Genjutsu?' Sasuke questioned.

'Just as I expected, he is getting up' Lee looked at the Uchiha getting up.

"Fine, this gives me a chance to practice it. Let's do it" Sasuke said aloud smirking as he raised his head to reveal his sharingan in his eyes.

'So that's the sharingan' Lee noticed as he prepared him self for the worst.

'Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, whatever it is, let me see it now!' Sasuke focused his attention on Lee's body as he prepared to fight; charging forward only to be kicked in the chin by Lee.

'His movements, my sharingan, they're-' Sasuke winced in pain.

"Correct, I'm not using Genjutsu or ninjutsu, I am using Taijutsu" Lee reappeared behind Sasuke "You may not believe it" Sasuke went to kick Lee only to miss as Lee jumped up.

"They say the sharingan has the ability to see all genjutsu, ninjutsu and taijutsu, and so with ninjutsu and genjutsu, because you can read them, you are at an advantage; however taijutsu is a little different"

"What do you mean?" Sasuke questioned.

"Even if you can read my movements with your sharingan, your body can't keep up with my actions" Lee explained. Sasuke began to shake slightly.

"You know, there are two types of people; those with natural talent, and those who have to work for same results. If your sharingan is a genius type, I am the hardworking type who was mastered only taijutsu" Lee said, suddenly Sasuke charged towards Lee, angry at his claim, to punch the boy, only to be kicked up in the air, with Lee underneath him.

'Leaf shadow dance' Sasuke realized.

"And this is where I prove it; with this technique; that hard workers surpass geniuses" Lee announced. In an instant, the bandages on his arms came loose.

'What's he planning?' Sasuke pondered.

"I win" Lee proclaimed.

Suddenly, the loose bandage was pinned to the wall by a simple fan.

"Aaaaa" Sakura sighed "You guys still going at this?" Sakura questioned from above a turtle with a Konoha head band on its neck.

"That's enough Lee" the turtle spoke. Realizing it was time to stop; Lee pulled away from Sasuke and pulled his bandages from the wall.

'What's going on' Sasuke glanced at the turtle and Sakura as he fell from mid air.

Quickly Sakura jumped off the turtle and caught Sasuke in her grasp as she slid on the wooden hall floor. Lee jumped forth and bowed in front of the turtle.

'Sasuke was beaten?' Naruto stared in amazement at Lee.

"So you were watching?" Lee asked the turtle.

"Lee that technique is forbidden!" the turtle reprimanded.

'What's….what's….that…turtle' Naruto raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Gomen nasai" Lee cried.

'He's being scolded by…' Naruto began thinking 'Could it be that turtle is his teacher?'

Looking up, Lee noticed the reprimanding look in the turtle's eye.

"But…I wasn't planning on using the other technique….really!" Lee reasoned frantically.

'It must be' Naruto nodded. As he made his way over to Sasuke and Sakura; one of which was looking at the scene before them with unbelieving eyes while the other was bored.

"Hey, Hey" Naruto shouted, getting the attention of the two.

"Hmm?" Sakura glanced at the boy.

"That's a turtle right?" Naruto asked.

"What…else…would it…be?!" Sakura seethed with anger.

"Then can a turtle be a sensei?'" Naruto asked.

"I'm not going to answer such a stupid question" Sakura scoffed.

"Baka! You think you can get away with an excuse for that?!" the turtle scolded Lee, Lee flinching at the tone "You know by now no shinobi reveals his secret jutsus!"

'I lost to a green spandex wearing, thick browed, turtle talking weirdo?!' Sasuke glared at the turtle and Lee conversing.

"Are you prepared to pay?" the turtle questioned.

"Hai" Lee sulked.

"Then here comes Gai-sensei" the turtle announced. Suddenly out of no where, an older version of Lee with a jounin vest on appeared in a cloud of smoke on the turtle, in the weirdest of poses too.

"Geez, you are the epitome of adolescence" the man spoke making Sasuke and Naruto twitch like mad as Sakura sat down and waited for this little scene to finish.

"Is it possible that thick brow's has a sensei with even thicker thick brows?!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Yo Lee" the man smiled.

"Super thick brows…super bowl cut…Those are incredible eyebrows, I have never seen that before!" Naruto cried.

"Hey! Stop insulting Gai-sensei" Lee shouted in anger.

"Shut up! All these freaks keep appearing!" Naruto shouted back "How the hell are we supposed to react?"

"What did you?!-" Lee shouted.

"Hey, Lee, stop it" Gai ordered.

"Hai" Lee turned around and looked at Gai who suddenly punched him right in the face calling him a 'baka'; scaring Naruto out of his mind.

"Lee you are…you are…" Gai began.

"Sensei" Lee cried along with Gai, when a background of them at the beach and a sunset appeared.

"Lee"

"Sensei. I, I-"

"That's enough Lee, you don't need to say any more" Gai cried.

"Sensei" Lee cried as he hugged Gai, who hugged back.

"Lee!"

"What on earth" Naruto questioned.

'I lost to him' Sasuke glared at the two spandexes.

"Yes, this is what youth is all about!" Gai cried.

"Sensei!"

"You know Sakura-chan, that's some good stuff" Naruto pointed to Gai and Lee.

"Hmm? Whatever" Sakura yawned.

"It's alright Lee. Youth and mistake go together, forget it" Gai comforted the younger copy of himself.

"You are too nice sensei" Lee cried.

"Now, towards the sunset, 100 laps around the practice area" Gai pointed to some distant field in the background.

"Hai! Sensei!" Lee nodded.

"Sorry to break your err….little rendezvous, but the chuunin exams will begin in like 10 minutes" Sakura coughed.

"Oh right" Gai sweatdropped "Your punishment for fighting and trying to use a forbidden jutsu will be after the chuunin exams"

"Hai" Lee saluted.

"The call of youth! 500 Laps!" Gai announced.

"Yes!" Lee agreed.

"Ano sa, what was that turtle?" Naruto asked.

'These kids are Kakashi's' Gai stared at the three genins "Oi how is Kakashi-sensei going?"

"You know him?" Sasuke asked.

"Know him? He is my eternal rival!" Gai proclaimed. Suddenly he disappeared and reappeared behind Sasuke and Naruto.

"My record is 50 wins and 49 loses" Gai smirked when a rather sharp kunai was flung towards Gai, which stuck into his vest pocket.

"Whoops, I missed" Sakura sighed "Can you please shut up now?" Sakura stood up and walked over to Gai "the exams are going to start soon; I would appreciate it if you would let us leave and if not, I will personally have your hide" Sakura glared as she yanked her kunai from Gai's vest.

"Sasuke, Naruto, I'm saying this only one more time, I am leaving, and you better come or you won't get to even take these damn exams" Sakura glared at the space between them before departing away from the troublesome scene.

"Sakura-chan chotto matte!" Naruto shouted before chasing after the girl with Sasuke on their trail.

--

Finally, with little time to spare, team seven had made their way to room 301 where in front of the door was Kakashi waiting for them.

"So you did come Sakura" Kakashi began.

"Eh?" Sakura questioned.

"Now you can properly take the chuunin exams" Kakashi smiled.

"Nani?" Naruto asked.

"Truth to be told, the exams can only be taken in teams of three" Kakashi explained.

"Oh I see" Naruto nodded.

"What would make you think I wouldn't take the exam Kakashi?" Sakura glared.

"The change in outfit for one" Kakashi began.

"Its laundry day at my house" Sakura sweatdropped "I would have come any way, even if there was a storm of some freak kind I would have come" 'Don't tell me he is referring to my arms'

"However, even with a laundry day at your house, don't you have some thing better to wear" Kakashi sweatdropped.

"Eh?" Sakura questioned "I came on my own free will, don't tell me now you're going to force me not to participate in it, even though to pass these doors, I need to be with my team, just because I changed my outfit?"

"Never mind Sakura" Kakashi sighed 'Sasuke, Naruto keep an eye on her'

"Whatever, can we please go in now?" Sakura begged.

"Hai" Kakashi smiled "I am proud of you all, now go in" Kakashi ordered as he stepped aside.

--

Both doors opened to reveal a room filled with genins from an amazing array of countries from the ninja world.

"By the way, Kakashi, your eternal rival; couldn't you have picked a better one" Sakura questioned shuddering slightly before the doors closed on Kakashi's face.

"Woah!" Naruto exclaimed as Sasuke eyes narrowed while all they eyes in the room transfixed on the newly arrived team, and half of those on Sakura with a lustful look.

"Sasuke-kun you're late" a high-pitch voice squealed when suddenly a long blonder haired, blue eyed girl hugged Sasuke from the back, pressing her body against his "I haven't seen you in a while, I have been waiting in excitement"

'So loud' Sakura glared at the blonde.

"Why if it isn't Sakura" Ino snickered "Big forehead as always, Ugly!"

"What you guys are taking this stupid test too?" Shikamaru asked as he and Chouji who was munching on potato chips, walked towards them.

"Well if it isn't the baka trio" Naruto mocked.

"Don't call us that, man this sucks" Shikamaru sighed.

"We found you finally" a brown haired boy with a white dog on his head chuckled as he and his team walked towards the rest of the rookie nine. Behind him was a white eyed, dark blue haired girl and a black haired boy with sunglasses on.

"Every one is back together again" the boy chuckled.

"Hello to you too Kiba" Naruto grumbled.

"Hello Naruto Naruto-kun" the girl greeted shyly.

"Hmm? Hey Hinata-chan" Naruto smiled "Hey Shino"

"You guys are here too? Troublesome" Shikamaru whined.

"So all the rookie nine are taking the exams?" Kiba questioned "I wonder how far we'll get, eh Sasuke?"

"Well we aren't exactly here for a little play date" Sakura muttered as she sat down away from the group.

"You seem confident Kiba" Sasuke smirked, behind him a bit of a jealous Ino.

"We did a lot of training, we won't lose to you guys" Kiba proclaimed.

"And what do you think we were doing? Picking flowers and singing like school girls?" Sakura grumbled as she inspected the competition around her.

"Shut up! Sasuke may loose to you, but I won't" Naruto glared.

"Oi you guys, I would be a lot quieter, like your friend is over there" a grey haired boy with glasses pointed to Sakura "You're the rookie nine just out of the academy right? Screaming like schools girls. Geez"

"Who do you think you are?!" Ino questioned.

"My name is Yakushi Kabuto" the boy introduced "Look around you, some of these people have short tempers, like the people from the Hidden Rain, they're all nervous abut the exam. I thought I had better quieted you down before you caused a scene" Kabuto paused "However I can't blame you, you seem to be all clueless rookies, except your friend who has chosen to sit down and remain quiet"

"So then Kabuto-san, with your experience in this area you must have been in this exam more than once correct?" Sakura asked "How many times?"

"This is my seventh time" Kabuto smiled "The exam is held twice a year, so this is my fourth year in the exam"

"So then you know a lot about this exam correct?" Sakura questioned.

"Hai"

"Wow, that's impressive Kabuto-san" Naruto admired.

"However you have never passed" Shikamaru stated flatly.

"Aa…yea" Kabuto sweatdropped.

"The chuunin exam is that hard. Geez what a pain in the ass" Shikamaru whined.

"How about I share with you guys some information on the exams" Kabuto asked as he pulled out a deck of cards. "With these nin-info cards"

"Nin-info cards?" Naruto asked.

"They are basically cards that have information burned into them with chakra" Kabuto explained "They are all blank but to reveal what's on each card, I have to use my chakra"

"For example, take a look" Suddenly the card had smoke erupt from it to reveal the card now had a map on it, which different sized green bars in each area on the map.

"What information is this?" Naruto asked.

"This shows the number of participants from each country for this year's chuunin exam as well as what village they are from. Fire Country, Hidden Konoha - 72 participants, Wind Country, Hidden Sand Village - 30 participants, Grass Country - 15 participants, Waterfall Country - 12 participants, Rain Country - 21 participants, Sound Country - 3 participants" Kabuto paused "Why do you think people take these exams?" No one answered.

"They say it's to strengthen the alliance between the countries and to avoid any wars that may happen and encourage peace, as well as to raise the awareness and strength of a shinobi as a whole"

"They say?" Sasuke questioned.

"Hai, the real reason is to test the strength of each shinobi and to keep the power equal amongst the countries"

"Power? Stable?" Naruto muttered as he attempted to think of the reason.

"Why do such a stupid thing?" Shikamaru questioned.

"It's quite simple Shikamaru" Sakura started "It's simply so weaker countries don't get the shit beaten out of them by a stronger country"

"Geez, you put it so nicely don't you" Kiba snickered.

"Aa"

"Do you have information on individuals?" Sasuke asked.

"Of course, it isn't perfect but I do have information even on all of you guys, for example, I'll use you the pink haired girl as an example" Kabuto nodded. Slowly his card began spinning before smoke erupted from the card to reveal a picture of Sakura on the right side with her team mates faces on the left. On the bottom of the card was pentagon with nothing in it, columns next to it which were also empty and where information on missions was supposed to be, it was left empty. The only information it had on Sakura was her name.

"Oh my, you are quite a secretive little girl aren't you, Sakura-san?" Kabuto chuckled as he showed Sakura the card.

"Aa" Sakura nodded before the card exploded into flames.

"Oh my, that never happened before" Kabuto commented as he glanced at the girl.

'Kuso, my arms are really starting to kill me!'

'What are you going to do? We can't exactly just rush out of here like a made person'

'I know, just endure it, by the way, thank you for burning that card and intercepting all information on me'

'Welcome'

"How can I be sure that won't happen with people I am curious about?" Sasuke questioned.

"It shouldn't, unless they have as good defenses as Sakura-san does" Kabuto chuckled "So who do you want, give me a description of them if you could"

"Gaara of the Sand and Rock Lee of the Leaf" Sasuke said.

"So you already know their names, no fun oh well" Kabuto pulled two cards off the deck "Here they are"

"Show me them" Sasuke demanded.

"First up Rock Lee of the Leaf" Kabuto smiled "Okay, he is a year older than you guys. Mission history, D rank: 20 completed. C rank: 12 completed. His sensei is Gai. His taijutsu has improved a great deal over the year, but nothing else seems to have. Last year he gained attention as a talented new genin, however he didn't participate in the exams last year, so this is his first time as well. His team members are Tenten and Hyuuga Neji"

"Huh? Hyuuga" Naruto questioned, as if he had heard that name before.

"Next Gaara of the Sand. C Rank: 8, B rank: 1. Amazing a B rank mission as a genin. An unknown number of D rank missions. Since he is a newcomer from a foreign country that is about as much information as you are going to get about him, but it seemed all his missions he returned with out a scratch" Kabuto analysed.

"B rank as a genin and not a scratch?" Shikamaru questioned in amazement.

"Leaf, Sand, Rain, Grass, Waterfall, Sound. Many amazing genins from each of those nations are here to take the exam. Well, Sound is still a small village which was created last year, so there isn't much information on them but, needless to say, other villages are filled with talent" Kabuto put away the cards.

"Makes you lose your confidence" Hinata commented.

"You can't loose confidence if you never had it to begin with" Sakura scoffed quietly.

"So then most of these people are-" Ino started.

"Correct, like Lee and Gaara" Kabuto smirked. Quietly, Naruto began shaking.

'Naruto-kun is nervous at all these numbers?' Hinata glanced at Naruto. Suddenly Naruto began shouting and pointed towards the crowd of genins.

"My name is Uzamaki Naruto! I won't loose to you bastards!" Naruto proclaimed.

'Eh?' Hinata seemed shocked. Slowly Sakura got up and walked over to Naruto before standing at him.

"Naruto" Sakura started "Shut up you baka!" Sakura punched the blond to the other end of the room "Had you not been on my team, I would have punched you so much harder"

The rookie nine coughed at the thought of that punch being any harder.

"What the hell was that?!" Ino yelled at Sakura.

"What me punching or him yelling?" Sakura asked.

"Both!" Ino yelled.

"I just shut him up that's all and him yelling, why are you asking me?" Sakura glanced at the angry blonde.

"Who else would I ask?" Ino glared.

"That felt good" Naruto grinned as Sasuke smirked.

'I have the weirdest team ever' Sakura sighed as she sat down again.

--

"Hey it's that boy from before" Kankuro snickered.

--

"Baka" Tenten grumbled.

"He is very spirited" Neji commented.

"He's burning" Lee nodded.

--

"You hear? The Sound is only a minor village?" a sound ninja commented, his entire face was covered aside his left eye.

"It that so?" a boy behind him commented.

"Well then, let's play with them" the girl chuckled.

"Good idea" the boy with what appeared only one eye nodded "Calling us only leftovers…let's help him add information into his data, that Hidden sound shinobi are quite vicious"

--

"You won't loose to those bastards? Quite big words Naruto" Kiba chuckled.

"Baka he just turned everyone into his enemy" Shikamaru scoffed.

--

"Shall we?"

"Let's go!"

Suddenly all three sound ninjas disappeared from sight as they dashed around the genins.

--

Slowly Kankuro began to undo the thing on his back only to have his actions stopped by Gaara, putting his entire arm in front of him.

--

Suddenly one of the male sound ninjas flung up into the air and threw two kunai towards Kabuto forcing him to jump away from the weapons and onto the wall, which was next to Sakura. In an instant, the ninja with only one viewable eye appeared in front of Kabuto and aimed a punch on him, only to miss. However, his glasses broke and shattered into tiny pieces before him.

"Nani? It didn't even touch his glasses!" Sasuke commented.

"Probably got hit on the nose, acting like a big shot, pft!" Shikamaru said.

Suddenly, Kabuto's eyes widened as he felt vibrations of sound attacking his ear drum and forcing him to drop onto his knees. Being so close to the attack Sakura felt the immense pain of the sound waves come to her, as she tried to block out the painful sound.

As Kabuto fell onto his knees; as shaken up dramatically; his mouth opened for him to spit out spit and any thing else that got disrupted in his system. Trying to endure the pain, Sakura grasped her head in her hands and covered her ears.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto cried as he ran over to the girl, Sasuke behind him as they both kneeled down to Sakura.

Slowly the piercing sound stop and the cherry blossom could no longer fell any pain.

"Daijobou Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked.

"Hai, I'll be fine" Sakura nodded, as she breathed slowly, glaring at Kabuto who was still choking and the Sound Nins.

"Kabuto, daijobou?" Naruto ran over to the still choking boy.

"Hai" Kabuto nodded.

"How pathetic, especially for a four year veteran" the bandaged boy snickered.

"Write this down on your cards, three sound ninjas, are definite chuunins for this selection" the other boy spoke.

'How did the attack work? It didn't even hit Kabuto!' Sasuke exclaimed.

--

"Lee what was with that attack?" Neji asked.

"There was nothing wrong with the speed, however, there must be some trick" Lee answered.

--

"Okay" Sakura stood up slowly "For those who don't really understand the concept of his attack let me put it to you this way; they are using sound waves to attack and these sound waves are so high pitched that it could make ear drums explode, and with out sound you could be left to defend quite pathetically, it doesn't require physical contact to work either. In fact, I would say it is quiet a clever way to render an enemy immobile and pathetically useless and it doesn't affect them because, obviously, they're from the sound, they are meant to deal with sounds like that"

"My, my, aren't you quiet the smart little girl?" the sound girl commented.

"Aa"

"I apologize for hitting you with my attack, you were never my target" the boy bowed.

"Aa"

"Alright, quiet down you worthless bastards!" Suddenly smoke erupted from the centre stage at the front of the room. As the smoke cleared, dozens of figures could be seen in front of the chalk board with on predominate figure in front. He had a massive dark blue trench coat on over his entirely black attire down to his shoes and his forehead protector which covered his entire head. Along his face were various scarves and on his hands were black gloves.

"Arigato for waiting. I am the examiner for the first exam of the chuunin selection, Morino Ibiki" he man began "Now you listen here; there will be no fighting unless one of the examiners gives you permission and even under the permission of the examiners you are not to kill any one. Any one who doesn't comply with these rules; my rules; will automatically fail the exam!" Ibiki paused for a moment

"Now, you have each received a number before entering the exam, each seat has a number on it. The one with your number on it is your assigned seat. Please move into those seats now"

Quickly, the genin shuffled around trying to find their seats for the exam. After a while, it became apparent teams were split up.

"Alright since every one is settled in, now the first exam for the chuunin is a written exam and here are the rules" Ibiki turned around, picked up a stick of chalk and started writing on the board.

"Alright these are for this exam, and I won't be taking any questions for this exam. If you don't like the rules, then leave. Now then:

-Each participant is given 10 points at the start. The written exam consists of 10 questions, each worth 1 point. The test is a deduction based test, so if you get all problems correct, your point total remains at 10. If you get 3 problems incorrect, your point total is reduced to 7.

-The pass/fail decision is determined by team's total points.

-If a participant is caught cheating, each action will cause him/her to lose 2 points. If they drop to 0 points, they are kicked out of the exam.

-If anyone on the team gets a 0, the entire team will fail.

-The last problem will be given 45 minutes after the test begins. They have 1 hour to complete the exam.

Now sit quietly as the papers are handed out" Ibiki ordered.

Looking around, Sakura found that her team mates were on complete opposite side of the room. She was sitting on the last seat closest to the window, nine rows back. Sasuke was sitting in the tenth seat in the second column, 3 rows back and Naruto was sitting in her column of desks, 2 rows back on the last seat furthest from the window. Behind her some rows back was Ino, behind Sasuke, some rows back, Chouji and Shikamaru were found separated, Hinata was next to Naruto, Shino opposite Sakura on the same row and Kiba was two in front of Sasuke.

'I'm in the worst spot for this exam. First the reflection, although it isn't great is enough so people can cheat off my paper, and Yamanaka's is behind me some seats back and she'll probably use her 'Ninpou Shintenshin no Jutsu' to copy my answers, so I am going to have to use genjutsu for this one'

"And begin" Ibiki ordered, in an instant, the genin picked up their pencils while their eyes scanned the page for questioned they might be familiar with.

'These questions…no genin should be able to answer these, except for maybe Sakura' Sasuke made a quick glance towards Sakura to find her looking at her own test; smirking like she knew it all 'However, why is there so much concentration on cheating in this exam? Normal exams, if you cheated, you failed automatically! Unless, they want you too cheat to obtain answers. Maybe I can use my sharingan to read the pen movements from the guy in front of me and copy them'

'Interesting, all of these questioned, for most genin these types of questions would be impossible to answer' Sakura smirked as she slowly moved her hands into various hand seals as she performed her own genjutsu which stopped attackers with jutsu moves like Ino's from attacking her, as well as distorting things around her so they seemed normal, but weren't exactly. It's practically undetectable, only by sharingan is it detectable, but, only one person has the sharingan in this room, and he is at least fifteen seats away. Well that's what should happen if it worked correctly, she really had little chance to test this out as of late.

Quickly, Sakura raced through her exam prepared for when Ino may use her technique to copy answers. Hastily writing her equations to each question, Sakura had answered about four questions before Ino tried anything on her.

--

As Naruto's eyes scanned the test paper before him, his gaze dropped lower and lower as he passed each question, failing to under stand each one, and moving to the next to try and grasp that the questions concept. Soon he came to the end of the test questions to reveal that he didn't understand any of the questions and starts to panic.

Noticing Naruto's panic, Hinata slowly moved her test paper towards his.

"Naruto-kun, you can copy my answers if you" Hinata whispered.

"Nani? Why are you showing me your answers?" Naruto asked.

"I don't want you to fail Naruto-kun" Hinata blushed. Naruto nodded, understanding Hinata's kind act and slowly averts his gaze to Hinata's test paper.

"Oi you!" one of the examiners shouted, making Naruto freeze "Numbers 98, 21 and 68 fail"

'Shit! I thought he was about to yell at me' Naruto shuddered 'Sasuke and Sakura-chan would have killed me if we were sent out'

"Actually, don't worry about it Hinata-chan, thank you anyway, but a ninja as great as me should be able to do this no sweat" Naruto smiled.

"Oh okay" Hinata nodded as she went back to her test paper.

--

'Look at forehead girl; she is racing through this exam. Well, she'll help us now!" Ino made the hand seals for her Ninpou Shintenshin no Jutsu (4) discreetly before she caught Sakura in her mind jutsu; her body collapsing in the process.

--

Suddenly Sakura felt something invade her body and system, as Ino's spirit slipped into her mind frame; which was currently going frantic in terror at another spirit being in her body. Slowly the 'inner Sakura' realized what was going on and sent Sakura's mind into a calming state, before something worse happened.

'He he, I'm in, now just memorize these answers and I'm gone' Ino snickered as she picked up Sakura's test paper expecting to see answers with complicated equations, unbelievably big words and anything else that would appear like Sakura wrote it. But instead of what she expected, Ino was confronted with one word answers for each question, answers which had nothing to do with the question.

'What? There is no way she wrote such answers for these questions, she got the top in the class! Kuso!' Ino shrieked and with no choice, left Sakura to her own devices, as her chakra seemed to be lowered.

--

Slowly Sakura regained control of her mind, and glanced at her test paper and then at the time. Fifteen minutes left; widening her eyes, Sakura began writing at a ridiculously fast pace trying to catch up for what time she had lost before. More equations filled up the page and questions were being answered with the most logical answers the frantic blossom could come up with.

Around her many ninja were using different techniques, copying and obtaining answers for the ridiculously hard test. Gaara was using a sand eye; Kankuro was using a puppet transformed into one of the examiners; Tenten was using an array of different mirrors which reflected answers; above Kiba's head Akamaru found answers while Shino's bugs told him the answers he wanted; Sasuke was using his sharingan and Neji was using his Byakugan; each obtaining answers without getting caught; however it seemed all failed in obtaining answers from Sakura's test paper.

Soon the forty five minutes passed as Sakura finished her nine questions, while many teams were kicked out of the test hall for cheating pathetically.

'It would seem the drop outs have dropped out' Ibiki snickered 'Time to give the final question' "Okay, now I will give the tenth question"

'Everything relies on this last question' Naruto gulped.

'Took long enough' Sasuke smirked.

'Huh? What's going on? Last question, oh right'' Sakura sweatdropped.

'Hurry up and come back Kankuro' Temari glanced towards the door of the exam room 'If the tenth problem is given, you won't be able to help us'

"Yes, however before that is given, there is one thing I must say, there is a special rule for this question" Ibiki informed.

Slowly the door opened to reveal Kankuro in the door way with one of the examiners behind him.

"Your puppet didn't go to waste" Ibiki chuckled.

'He knew about Karasu!' Kankuro sweated.

"Oh well sit down" Ibiki shrugged.

Slowly Kankuro made his way to his assigned seat, passing Temari and dropping off a tiny scroll on her desk.

"Now, I will explain a hopeless rule"

--

"Geez, without the kids around it seems rather boring" Kakashi sighed.

"We'll get busy soon" Asuma chuckled.

"Why?" Kakashi asked.

"This year's first examiner is Morino Ibiki" Asuma answered.

'Looks like this year's first exam will be a little difficult' Kakashi sighed "They chose that sadist?"

"Sadist?" Kurenai questioned.

"Kurenai, you are still a rookie jounin so it's no wonder you don't know" Asuma began.

"So who is he?" Kurenai asked.

"A pro" Kakashi answered.

"A pro? A pro of what?" Kurenai raised a curious eyebrow.

"Of torture and interrogation" Asuma smirked.

"What?" Kurenai asked.

"Although there is no physical torture in the exam, I am sure the genins are feeling mental stress from his interrogation skills. He is Konoha's ANBU interrogation and torture squad leader" Asuma explained.

--

'A hopeless rule?' Naruto gulped again.

"Anyone who wishes to drop out now, may choose to or not" Ibiki started.

'May choose to or not? But what's the catch?' Sasuke questioned.

"Choose? What if we choose not to take the tenth question?" Temari asked.

"If you choose not to take the question, your points will be reduced to zero. In other words you fail, and if you fail, your team will also" Ibiki smirked.

"What's the meaning of this?" one of the genin questioned in the crowd "Of course we'd take it, other teammates failing is bull!"

"However there is another rule to that. If you don't answer the question you will fail and you won't be allowed to take the exam again" Ibiki grinned evilly.

"Nani? What kind of baka rule is that? There are tones of genins here that have taken the exams before!" Kiba growled "Woof, woof" Akamaru agreed. At this Ibiki began chuckling.

"You were unlucky this year. This year, I am the rule, which is why I have given you the chance to quit. Those who aren't confident, should quit now and re take the exam next time and continue on after that" Ibiki chuckled.

'Interesting, interrogation to make people fail' Sakura glanced around the room before averting her attention to the window which seemed to be more interesting.

"Now then let's begin. Anyone who wishes to not take the question raise your hand now" Ibiki ordered "After numbers are confirmed we will ask you to leave"

'Damn it what kind of question is it? If I fail this question I will be a genin forever!' Naruto cursed.

Slowly hands began to raise and teams were one by one escorted out of the room.

'Naruto raise your hand if you must, but please if you have any sense in you, please don't' Sakura glanced at her blonde team mate who was shaking madly.

'Remember, he always wanted to be Hokage?'

'Such unrealistic dream'

'Maybe you should raise your hand, so he doesn't'

'No thanks'

Suddenly Naruto's hand rose into the hair, making Sasuke and Sakura stare in shock at their other team mate.

--

"Ibiki, he understands human psychology, the scariest part is he can scare a person mentally into a corner, control their mind and bully them. He can find a person's weakness and break them quite easily" Asuma explained.

--

Suddenly Naruto's hand slammed down on the table as he stood up and glared at the examiner.

"Screw you; I am not going to back away! Even if I stay a genin forever, I will still become Hokage!" Naruto claimed "I am not scared"

'He wasn't even thinking about us, he has quite the spirit' Sasuke sighed.

"Then sit down Naruto so we can take this exam" Sakura sighed.

"Now I will ask once more, this will affect your entire life; does any one want to quit?" Ibiki asked.

"I'm not backing down from my words. That my way of the ninja" Naruto smirked which seemed to give every other genin confidence in the room, enough to stay.

"Alright already we got it, everyone who wanted to leave left, can we please get on with this question" Sakura sighed 'I have laundry I need to hang out'

'Interesting kid, He wiped away everyone's uncertainty. Seventy-eight candidates left, much more than I expected. Looks like there is no point in waiting any longer' Ibiki analysed as he glanced to the other chuunins in the room who nodded to him.

"Nice determination, for the first exam every one here" Ibiki paused for a second "Passes"

"Nani?" Sakura muttered.

"There was no tenth question to begin with. You can basically call the two choices the tenth question" Ibiki chuckled.

"I see" Sakura nodded.

"So then those nine questions were just a waste?" Temari questioned.

"No it's not. The nine problems served their purpose. The purpose of gathering information without getting caught" Ibiki explained.

"Gathering information skills?" Temari asked.

"First, the purpose of this test lies under the first rule. You fail-pass decision was based upon your three man team. By giving that idea, you have an unprecedented amount of pressure from your team and try and not be a nuisance to them" Ibiki explained.

"Yes, yes I was kind of sensing that in the test" Naruto nodded.

'Liar' Sakura glared while Hinata chuckled.

"But the test cannot be solved by simple genins like your selves" Sakura choked a little and averted her gaze to the side "So therefore most people came to the conclusion that they had to cheat to get answers, so we snuck in a few chuunins who knew the answers and would be subject to cheating"

"What?" Naruto exclaimed a little too loud.

"It took him that long to realize?" one of the genins behind questioned.

"Yeah" another replied; questions which made Naruto twitch with anger.

"Hehe, I knew all along, who wouldn't it would take a baka not to notice" Naruto chuckled nervously "Right Hinata-chan"

'He didn't notice…' Sasuke sweatdropped.

"The only baka I know around here is you" Sakura muttered.

"However those who cheated like a fool failed" Ibiki said as he took of his forehead protector to reveal scars and wholes running all along his skull "Information at times can be more valuable than a life. Information is contested with the lives of people" Ibiki explained.

'How awful, burnt marks screw holes and cut marks' Sasuke stared at the examiners skull 'Scars of torture'

"Simple put the tenth question was a two choice problem - to take it or not. There are similar to real-life ninja mission that carries heavy risks and how courage and confidence are necessary. Chuunins need to be steadfast in their unwavering decisions" Ibiki explained "This is where the first exam ends, good luck"

"Alright, I passed I passed" Naruto cheered.

Suddenly glass shattered as a black ball exploded and landed in front of Ibiki.

"Hey, hey, minna-san I am Mitarashi Anko, and I am your second examiner for the chuunin selection" a woman with purple hair and brown eyes grinned.

'Oh god not another Naruto' Sakura sighed.

"Meet me at the 44th training area tomorrow morning for the second part of the chuunin selection" Anko smiled.

"You're early" Ibiki growled.

"Eh? Gomen" Anko sweat dropped as she glanced around the room of genins "Eh? Seventy-eight genins left out of the 153? You're getting slack Ibiki. This test must have been too easy. I swear I'm going to wipe out half of you"

--

"Welcome to the forty-fourth training area" Anko greeted "But around here, we like to call it the forest of death"

Behind the woman, as one would presume from the given name, it is a forest. Surrounding the training area was a wired fence and various signs which had 'keep out' and death symbols marked on it. An occasional massive centipede or beetle crawled their way over and around trees, as well the odd screeching sound from the centre of the death trap.

"Alright this is how it will work, there are two scrolls, the heaven and earth scroll, your aim is to obtain both of them to pass and gain entrance to the final exam. Each team will be given either a heaven scroll or an earth scroll, in total; there are twenty-six scrolls. If your scroll is destroyed, you fail. If you lose one of your team mates, you fail. To pass you must obtain both scrolls and bring them to a tower in the centre of the training area in five days. You are not allowed to look in the scrolls either" Anko explained "Also, one other thing, each one of you has been given a consent form, please sign at the bottom of the form to allow you inside the training area" Anko grinned "As a last pie of advice, don't die"

Looking at the consent form in his hands, Sasuke contemplates the situation 'Interesting' Sasuke glanced at a booth which was closed off by a curtain 'No one will know whose got what scroll and which member has got the scroll, to get these scrolls we may have to kill each other'

Leaning on the fence of the training area, Sakura analysed each genin surrounding her, before reading the consent form and signing her name away.

"Well if it isn't little forehead girl" a girl's voice snickered. Glancing to the side, Sakura realized it was Ino who was making the ruckus.

"Yamanaka, would you shut up? Your piercing voice is annoying" Sakura muttered as she looked over to the other Konoha genins. 'Even people from our village will be considered enemies, oh well'

"Why don't you just give up now, you barely made it through the first exam" Ino snickered.

"You mean the exam you tried to copy my answers but I presume failed" Sakura questioned.

"What the hell was with you answers for that exam? Are you trying to pass or fail?" Ino shrieked.

"Oh so you did try and steal my answers" Sakura snickered "Nice to know my jutsu worked, thanks guinea pig" Sakura waved her hand before walking away from the girly pig.

"Get back here billboard brow!" Ino shrieked.

--

"Alright, Sasuke, who's going to take the scroll?" Sakura asked.

"Well for safety measures it won't be Naruto" Sasuke replied.

"So then one of us?" Sakura questioned.

"Hai" Sasuke nodded "Who would be the least obvious?"

"Well you it is then" Sakura nodded.

"Why me?" Sasuke glanced at the girl.

"Simply because people will suspect that 'the girl with the pink hair' has a lot of time to dye her natural pink hair that she'll hold it because it'd be least suspected, so we give it to the person who would be suspected to hold, thus people will assume you wont have it" Sakura explained.

"You really don't like you colour hair do you?" Sasuke chuckled.

"What do you think?" Sakura glared "Today will be a bad day I can feel it" the girl muttered to herself as she glanced down to her covered arms.

"You'll be fine" Sasuke scoffed.

"That's not what I am talking about, some of these genin, I really, and I mean really don't trust" Sakura growled shifting her gaze from one 'enemy' to another.

"This coming from the girl who barely trusts her own team mates" Sasuke scoffed.

"Shut up" Sakura growled before stalking off again.

FLASH BACK…

Waking up and starting a new day, Sakura began her morning routine of showering and eating a some what substantial breakfast before going to a quiet training ground to practice her skills a little before she headed off to the Forty-fourth training area for the second exam of the chuunin selection. Of course like always when it came to traveling and such, Sakura had her beige little knap sack on her, filled with everything she should need in the exams in the tiniest of bags. Of course because she was too lazy the night before, Sakura's laundry wasn't exactly hung out, so she had no choice but to wear a similar outfit to the one she wore yesterday, the only difference being that instead of black and purple it was white and purple.

At her training area, Sakura sat down, cross legged to meditate for a while to calm her body. As an hour passed, another person had stepped foot into her training ground with an evil smirk. As the being advanced forward he drew out a weapon and drew it back, ready to kill the girl. Step by step the figure rustled on the grass alerting the pink haired girl as her ears honed in on the person attacking her. Slowly the mysterious person drew back his arm and thrust it towards the girl, into her heart, killing her instantly, as her eyes widened in shock before her shock stricken face began to smirk into an evil smile. The girl suddenly exploded to reveal that it was a shadow clone in the girl's place and Sakura was right behind the mysterious figure.

"Now, far be it from me, but if you wanted to kill me you could have at least waited until we were actually in the exams" Sakura glared before she disappeared and reappeared directly behind him, each breathe tickling his neck "So what exactly do you want?"

"Simple" the Nin smirked "To erase you from the competition, take away the weakest link from the team, and the team can't participate"

"So you assumed that because I'm a girl with pink hair that I was the weakest link on my team?" Sakura glared.

"Well aren't you?" the ninja disappeared and reappeared behind Sakura with a kunai on her neck. Averting her gaze to his face, she realized the ninja was from the Hidden Grass.

"I have nothing to prove to you" Sakura glared before she elbowed the boy into the stomach, turned around and side kicked his face.

"Now, leave me be" Sakura glared "You aren't worth my time" Sakura sat back down in a meditating position to finish what she started.

"You think I'd leave that easily?" the boy scoffed before charging towards the girl, throwing kunai, senbon and shuriken alike; each weapon dodged by the girl effortlessly except for a kunai with scratched her cheek and something else which swiped part of her shirt sleeve. Glancing at the ninja, and then at her cheek, the girl lifted her hand and stroked the wound.

"Aww…Is the little girl going to cry now?" the ninja snickered.

"Not exactly" Sakura effortlessly took out her kunai and threw it towards the enemy, hitting him in the shoulder. "Do your self a favour and stay away from me" Sakura threatened before yanking her kunai out of his shoulder and walking off.

…END FLASH BACK

"Oi teme, where is Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked.

"We are ready to give out your scrolls" the chuunin behind the red curtain announced.

"I don't know dobe, she walked off a minute ago" Sasuke grunted.

"Hmmm" Naruto crossed his arms for a moment "SAKURA-CHAN WHERE ARE YOU?!?!??!?!?!?" Naruto shouted over the training area scaring the other genins and any wild life around them; which ironically silenced every one all glancing around looking for the 'Sakura-chan' the blonde of talking to.

Slowly the pink girl walked up to her team from behind a large boulder and waited to be called up by the chuunin proctors.

"Sakura-chan, daijobou?" Naruto asked, really concerned.

"Hmm?" Sakura averted her attention to the blonde "Yea, I'm fine"

"Alright next team" the chuunin proctor announced.

"Let's go" Sakura ordered, Sasuke glared at the girl, noticing a scratch on her cheek and her shirt sleeve ripped 'Wonder what happened to her'

Walking behind the curtain team seven exchanged their consent forms for a white scroll which could be identified as the heaven scroll.

"If you have received your scroll, follow one of the proctors and wait at your assigned gate. The test will begin in half an hour exactly!" Anko announced.

Waiting at gate twelve, Naruto started punching air, determined to show the rest how good he is as well as how good his team is.

"I will beat those who come to our way straight away!" Naruto claimed.

"Calm down Naruto, this time, please think clearly and don't let emotions cloud your judgment" Sakura advised.

"She's right Naruto" Sasuke warned.

"Hai!" Naruto nodded.

Soon two-thirty came as each genin prepared to make the made dash into the forest.

"Alright, we will now begin the second exam of the chuunin selection!" Anko shouted. Instantly every single gate opened to the forest area as each genin team raced into the forest, prepared to fight anyone and every one in their path. Like all the other teams, team seven set out to find the earth scroll and complete the exam.

"Sakura, be prepared, I think we are going to be the target for a lot of teams because of Naruto" Sasuke whispered to Sakura as Naruto raced in front excited about the exam.

"Hai" Sakura nodded as her eyes searched the forest for any enemies around them.

"Sasuke there is one guy, not to far from us, and heading closer" Sakura's eyes pointed to the right.

"Right" Sasuke nodded.

"Ano, guys, I need to pee" Naruto announced bluntly.

"Well could you at least do it behind the bushes, I don't need to be scarred for life" Sakura sighed.

"Hai, hai" Naruto nodded before running nervously behind the bushes. Moments later Naruto came back to the group, only this Naruto seemed to have no cut on his face from when Anko accidentally attacked him, and his kunai holster was on his left leg, when it's usually on his right. Suddenly, Sasuke attacked Naruto with kunai in hand, as Sakura followed his lead. Eventually the three came to a pause.

"Alright, where is the real Naruto" Sasuke asked 'Naruto'.

"Eh?" Naruto seemed shocked.

"Your wound that the examiner gave you has miracley cured has it Naruto?" Sasuke questioned.

"Also, you're kunai holster, it's on your left leg don't you wear it on your right leg Naruto? I thought you were right-handed" Sakura added.

"Your transformations are worse than Naruto's" Sasuke mocked.

"And that's saying something" Sakura scoffed.

Suddenly Naruto's form exploded in a form of smoke to reveal a Hidden Rain Nin with black hair and a respirator covering his mouth.

"How unlucky. I guess I have no choice since you found me. Which one of you has the scroll?" the ninja asked.

"Well I'll be darned, not most people assumed what I assumed" Sakura shrugged quietly as she got out her kunai.

"Tell me and I will spare your lives" the ninja threatened. Neither Sakura nor Sasuke said a word.

"I see, well then I will have to use force!" the ninja announced as he charged towards both leaf ninjas. In retaliation to the rain ninja, Sasuke jumped into the hair and performs a Katon: Housenka no Jutsu (5) which sent a ray of fire balls blasting towards the rain nin in an attempt to burn him before charging at him with a kunai, which was blocked by the rain nin's own kunai, while Sakura attacked the nin from behind stabbing him in the back leaving Sasuke to stab him in the front. Hastily, the rain Nin ran away from the two attacking leaf genin passing over a captured and tied up Naruto.

"Sasuke! Sakura-chan! Help!" Naruto shouted from below.

"Baka!" Sasuke shouted as he was about to thrust his kunai towards Naruto.

"Don't worry about him Sasuke, you go after the rain Nin, I got Naruto!" Sakura ordered.

"I found your weak spot, lucky me" the rain Nin chuckled as he doubled back and attacked Sasuke head on with kunai, one which had an exploding tag on it.

"Kuso!" Sasuke shouted as he barely evaded the explosion, landing on the forest floor, with the rain Nin behind him with his kunai pressed against his back.

"Oh for the love of-" Sakura cursed as she aimed a senbon needle towards the rain Nin to have it blocked by an incoming kunai.

"You're not getting away!" Naruto proclaimed as the rain Nin jumped away from Sasuke.

"You're always late Naruto" Sasuke mocked as he deflected Naruto's falling kunai with his feet and kicked it towards the airborne rain ninja before jumping and stabbing him with another kunai, right in the chest.

"How unlucky, going alone turned out to be very bad for me" the rain Nin cursed before running away from the scene.

'He ran away' Sasuke glared at the retreating figure.

--

"If the three of us are separated, don't trust any of them even if they look like the real person. There is a possibility that the enemy will transform and attack us" Sasuke explained.

"So what are we going to do?" Sakura asked.

"Let's make a password" Sasuke suggested.

"Password?" Naruto questioned.

"If a different password is given, assume they are the enemy, no matter what they look like" Sasuke ordered "I will only say this once so listen carefully, first you will ask 'the ninja song 'Ninki'? The answer for this is the following 'it is a good chance when a large number of enemies are making a scene. There are no hideouts even in a quiet place. It is important for a ninja to know the right time. The time is when the enemy has is tired and has his guard down'. Got it? That's it"

"Aa" Sakura nodded.

"Can you say that one more time?" Naruto sweated.

"I said I am only going to say it once" Sasuke glared.

"Don't you remember it already?" Sakura asked incredulously.

"I remembered it fine, I just want to make sure by hearing it once more" Naruto explained.

"I'll keep the scroll" Sasuke announced as he stood up from his place.

"Hai" Sakura sighed.

"Wait, Sasuke!" Naruto pleaded when something suddenly attacked him "Itai!"

In a matter of seconds, huge gusts of wind exploded from a near by tree, slowly pushing Sakura further and further away from her team, while Naruto and Sasuke held their ground with struggle.

"What? A new enemy?" Sasuke questioned as he raised his arms to block the wind hitting his face. Suddenly dust and tree particle exploded from the base of the tree to reveal three figures standing in front of the wind blowing tree.

"You two have fun else where, I want to stay here" a….boy with long black hair ordered.

"Hai" the other two figures nodded before disappearing from sight.

Hiding below in the bushes Sasuke waited for the new enemy to show them selves before he began attacking. Slowly, Sasuke gaze averted as he pushed himself off the ground, with kunai in hand as he faced a slightly worn Sakura.

"Sakura!" Sasuke exclaimed.

"Sasuke" Sakura glanced at the boy; it had been obvious that she was literally blown away from the gusts of wind.

"Say the password before you advance any further" Sasuke ordered "The ninja song "Ninki'?"

"Hai, it is a good chance when a large number of enemies are making a scene. There are no hideouts even in a quiet place. It is important for a ninja to know the right time. The time is when the enemy has is tired and has his guard down" Sakura replied.

"Okay" Sasuke nodded.

"Ouch!" Naruto whined as he limped towards the two "Hey, minna daijobou?"

"Naruto password" Sakura glared at the boy.

"Eh? I know it. It is a good chance when a large number of enemies are making a scene. There are no hideouts even in a quiet place. It is important for a ninja to know the right time. The time is when the enemy has is tired and has his guard down" Naruto smiled. Quietly, Sakura and Sasuke smirked as they both flung a kunai towards Naruto, who dodged it barely.

"What are you two doing?" Naruto demanded.

"Can't some one come up with a better person to copy if they're going to try and attack us?" Sakura sighed.

"Aa. I highly doubt Naruto could remember such a long password" Sasuke nodded "When he dodged our attacks, he was way off to how Naruto normally dodges as well"

"So then, who are you?" Sakura smirked.

Slowly Naruto's smile turned into a wicked grin as his long snake like tongue licked his lips. "I see" Suddenly Naruto's form exploded to reveal a long haired grass ninja wearing a white robe and black pants with a straw hat and a purple rope around tied around his hips.

"But if you knew he was going to forget why not use a shorter password?" the boy questioned.

"Who the hell wouldn't have noticed your presence beneath the ground, it was so bloody obvious" Sakura grumbled.

"I knew you were eaves dropping onto our conversation, which is why I made a long password" Sasuke replied.

"I see, so you don't let your guard down" the grass ninja removed his straw hat to reveal a very evil look in his eyes "Looks like I can have more fun than expected"

'Something is off about this guy' Sakura noticed 'Where is Naruto anyway?'

--

"Itai!" an upside Naruto whined. Suddenly a huge snake appeared and engulfed the poor boy into his mouth and right into his stomach.

--

Slowly the grass nin pulled something from behind his back to reveal that he had the 'Earth scroll'.

"You want this scroll right? Since you have the heaven scroll?" the boy asked before engulfing his scroll like a snake would engulf his prey "Now let's begin the fight over our scrolls, by putting our lives on the line"

Suddenly visions of each other exploding and blood splattering out engulfed Sakura and Sasuke as the feeling that they were watching their own death unfolded into something horrific.

"You think that scares me?" Sakura glared before she undid the genjutsu.

'A genjutsu?' Sasuke questioned before his body went limp as he threw up Kami knows what 'It was just intent to kill. I don't believe it. After seeing his eye I was imprinted with an image of death! Is Sakura alright?' Sasuke slowly glanced over to Sakura to see that she was basically unharmed, however the occasional twitch and shudder could tell Sasuke it was still affecting her.

--

"Get me out!" Naruto demanded from inside the snake's stomach as he continued to stab the insides with his kunai.

--

Breaking him self out of the genjutsu Sasuke stabbed him self in the leg and jumped away, picking Sakura up with him.

--

"Am I going to die in here?" Naruto questioned 'Iruka-sensei, Hokage-oji-san, Konohamaru, Kakashi, Sakura-chan, Sasuke-teme' Naruto reminisced the times he spent with each person 'Oh yea, I haven't finished with Sasuke-teme yet, I still have a few things I need to settle! If you ain't going to throw me up, I will make you!

--

"I see" the grass nin examined the area where he just threw his kunai.

--

"Sakura, daijobou?" Sasuke asked.

"Hai, gomen, I should have moved myself" Sakura apologized.

"Aa, just keep quiet now" Sasuke ordered as he became alerted on his surroundings.

--

"He used pain to escape his fear, he's not normal prey"

--

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! (6)" Naruto shouted as he continued to multiply in the snake's stomach, forcing the snake's body to explode.

"I am going to be the future Hokage, I'm not going to let a petty snake get in my way" Naruto proclaimed.

--

Forcefully Sasuke yanked out his kunai as blood spurted from out of his leg.

"Sasuke, daijobou?" Sakura asked, as she began shuffling through her bag.

"Hai" Sasuke replied.

"Here, use the bandages so it won't get infected and take these so it takes away the pain" Sakura handed Sasuke two pills and bandages.

"Hai"

Suddenly a shadow fell over the two genins, looking up; Sakura was confronted with a massive snake.

"Sasuke" Sakura shouted before grabbing him and her bandages and dragging him away from the snake.

'I was so shaken up I didn't notice the presence of the snake' Sasuke realized. Quickly, the snake chased after them as Sasuke and Sakura split into to directions, the snake ready to eat Sasuke alive.

"Get away from me!" Sasuke exclaimed as he threw shuriken randomly at the snake.

'He's not in the right place of mind. He's too scared' Sakura glanced at her team mate before rushing after Sasuke. Wincing in pain the snake fell limp towards a tree branch as the grass ninja cracked from the shell of the snake's skin.

"You can't let your guard down for even a second" the boy snickered who began slithering around the trees before coming to attack Sasuke, only to be stopped by an anonymous kunai.

"Sorry Sasuke" Naruto shouted from above "I forgot the password"

"Don't show off Baka!" Sasuke shouted.

"Looks like you defeated that big snake, Naruto-kun" the grass nin snickered.

'That boy he looks like a snake' Naruto thought 'That snake must have been his doing!'

In an instant, the snake boy was in front of Naruto as he kicked the boy off the tree branch and rendered him unconscious as he was left to fall to the ground. However just as he was about to hit the ground, he re opened his eyes to reveal red, evil eyes. Again Naruto attacked the snack boy, and the newly summoned snake beast under him only to come out victory-less as the snake thwacked him away. Suddenly the snake advanced forward ready to eat the Uchiha prodigy alive when Naruto blocked his path with a kunai, to succumb to the world of darkness once more and fall to the earth again.

'I have to stop this' Sakura threw her kunai, holding Naruto firmly in place against the tree.

"Enough Sasuke! What the hell is wrong with you?" Sakura shouted to a shock stricken Sasuke "Alright you listen here, yes Naruto is different from you; he is a baka and a nuisance at time but at least he isn't a coward like you!" Sakura glared at the Uchiha boy before launching herself off the branch and towards the snake attacking it at different angles with amazing speed and power. Slowly Sasuke closed his eyes in pain as he recalled what he brother said to him after he mutilated his clan. 'Foolish little brother. If you wish to kill me, hate me, detest me and survive in an unsightly way, run, run and cling to life'

"No!" Sasuke shouted before he joined Sakura in the brawl of kunai and blood. Suddenly, the snake boy jumped off his dispelled summoned snake and launched towards Naruto, picking up the boy and taking the scroll from out of his shuriken pouch.

'What? I thought Sasuke had the scroll!' Sakura exclaimed as she ran towards the snake to take their scroll back when the boy jumped away from the girl and began fighting with Sasuke, a fight which Sakura soon joined wordlessly. In an instant, both genins were frozen stiff as the grass ninja paralyzed them and started to perform a some what unknown jutsu.

'Is that? No!' Sakura exclaimed as she glanced over to Sasuke 'I have to move' 'Move! Move! Move!' 'Help me out here would you!'

As fast as her body could move, Sakura thrust herself in Sasuke's direction as the grass ninja's neck extended as if it were elastic and lunged towards Sasuke with glistening teeth. Sakura pushed herself to move in front of Sasuke as the snake boy prepared to strike Sasuke with his jutsu and bite him in the neck maneuvering around Sakura's body and bit Sasuke's neck and withdrew, leaving a three black coma imbedded onto his neck.

'Kuso!' Sakura stared in shock.

"Silly girl!" the snake boy chuckled before he sent their scroll alight in green flames.

"Sasuke, daijobou?" Sakura asked as the boy disappeared from sight; the only response was the boy screeching in pain.

"Damn! What am I going to do now?" Sakura cursed.

'You could try the transfer jutsu you were working on'

'It'd be too risky'

'What else can you do?'

'I have no choicer but to wait this out if the seal progress, I will try the jutsu, but only if it progresses'

'How can you do it, when by the next time you have him unconscious, we will most likely be at the tower?'

'Even if Kakashi is there, I'll do it before he can seal that seal'

'That's very, very risky'

'I know'

Hastily the girl bent down as Sasuke's form collapsed onto her, grasping her hand in pain.

'Seriously, what the hell am I going to do?'

'Move to shelter, collect Naruto and protect your teammates!'

'You better stay alert while I set up stuff'

'Hai'

As night fell to the death trap of a forest, Sakura hastily ran towards Naruto, after placing Sasuke under a near by tree, and released Naruto of the kunai holding him up and takes him to where Sasuke lay painfully. Checking the Uchiha lad's forehead for a temperature, Sakura realizes the boy as a slightly higher than normal temperature and begins to take out a small cloth and wet it before placing it on his bare forehead; his forehead protector had been previously removed. Checking Naruto's temperature, it seemed that he also had some what of a temperature, and so Sakura got out another cloth wet it, removed his forehead protector and placed the wet hand towel on his forehead. Noticing both boys shiver from the cold Sakura took off her top and covered the two boys to reveal that all she had one underneath was a fishnet tank top, her black sports bra and a pair of black bike shorts over fish net knee high leggings. Glancing at the boys, Sakura discreetly set up a small trap to alert her of any intruders before walking back to the boys and sat down next to the tree, leant on it for support and fell into a light slumber.

--

"Found you" a hiding sound ninja chuckled "Now remember, we are after the Uchiha, not the other two"

"Right" his companion nodded "But if the other two get in the way we can kill them right?"

"Fine by me, we strike at day break" he announced.

--

'Oi, you still awake in there?'

'Yea, what's up?'

'Three people, hiding in the bushes, ten metres from your position, waiting to attack'

'Gotcha, let's wait till day break for them to attack, just fake being asleep, and if I do fall asleep, please wake me up'

'Of course'

--

Slowly day break arrived to the pink haired girl in her team mates as she re-awoke from the chirping birds from up above.

'Kuso! I fell asleep! Why didn't you wake me?'

'I need sleep too!'

'Oh right, well since we are still in one piece, it means those three haven't attacked, are they still there?'

'Yea, I think they're getting ready to attack soon, I can hear a lot of shuffling from those bushes'

'Gotcha'

Discreetly, Sakura pulled out her kunai waiting for the three said ninjas to come from their hiding place and attack 'unsuspecting' victims. Suddenly a squirrel came fumbling out of the bushes where the three ninja were hiding.

'Hmmm….explosive tag on squirrel…do I save the squirrel from foreseen pain, or do I let it slide?'

'Let it slide, if you pick it up, the ninja will notice and attack. Let them keep thinking you're asleep'

'But the trap…'

'The one on the ground will be a diversion to the other one'

'Okay'

Following the squirrel with closed eyes Sakura waited for it to pass, which luckily enough, didn't go any where near the trap.

"Do you think she didn't hear the squirrel?" a voice mumbled.

"I don't think so" a female voice mumbled back.

"Come let's go" a new one mumbled back.

'So it is three people'

"What a terrible look out, falling asleep on the job" the boy chuckled.

'So they're attacking now'

"Well at least she won't have to keep watch anymore" the leader chuckled.

"What's the point? After all, we will still get what we want anyway" the other boy chuckled "Now, wake Sasuke up, we want to fight"

"And what makes you think that I will comply with you command" Sakura opened her eyes as she glanced at the three sound ninjas.

"Would you look at that, she's finally awake" the boy with only one visible eye chuckled.

"Who ever said I was asleep? You just assumed I was" Sakura smirked.

"My, my, aren't you a gutsy little girl?" the girl chuckled

"Just tell me what you want! You would just ask for a fight immediately" Sakura glared "I know Orochimaru is behind this one way or another. Why did he give Sasuke the curse seal?"

"What?!" Orochimaru-sama gave him that?!" the leader gasped 'What was he thinking?!'

"I can't stay quiet after the way that little girl talked to us. Let's kill her, then we'll fight Sasuke" the boy from behind smirked.

"Then, come and fight me" Sakura challenged as she moved into her fighting stance.

"Wait Zaku" the bandage boy commanded.

"Why Dosu?" Zaku questioned.

Steadily, the bandaged boy walked over to an, undeniably different grass patch and lifted up the patch.

"She was hoping you'd launch at her, you would have been caught in her trap" he answered his team mate "The dirt has been lifted up, and this kind of grass doesn't grow in a place like this. If you are going to make a trap, don't make one unless it is actually hidden"

"You're just a joke" Zaku snickered.

"Now we kill her" Dosu ordered as all three sound ninjas leaped from their place and launched towards the presumably, from their point, weak girl.

With kunai drawn, Sakura leisurely stood up, before blocking each attack that they threw at her effortlessly. Smirking to her self, the girl paced back a few paces and cut a long piece of string which set off another trap, hitting all three sound Nins away from her place by a massive log. Getting up from their shock, the three charged towards the girl, ready to attack her only to be kicked back by a blob of green and black.

'What the?' Sakura glanced towards the green blob to find Rock Lee standing in its place with the squirrel on his shoulder.

"Who are you?" Dosu asked.

"I am Konoha's green beast, and my name is Rock Lee" Lee introduced.

"What are you doing here?" Sakura glared at the boy.

"I am here to protect you with my life" Lee proclaimed.

"Protect some else with your life, I don't need protecting" Sakura stated flatly before charging towards the three sound ninjas ready to attack before creating a 'Kage Bunshin no Jutsu' which made two other copies of herself but before she could attack, Lee pushed the girl down and insisted on him fighting for her, which ended with him being attacked and beaten to a pathetic pulp and left to the side.

"Now it's fair" Sakura smirked. Suddenly all three Sakuras' clashed with the three sound Nins; fighting with jutsus, weapons and with physical brawl.

"Don't waste your energy, we are here for Sasuke, not you" Dosu snickered.

"If any one has the right to beating the shit out of either of those boys it's me. After all they both still owe me a sparring match" Sakura scoffed before dodging Dosu's kunai and stabbing her with her own, to be stabbed by the girl's kunai, who was accidentally hit by Zaku's kunai.

"What the hell you stupid baka!" the girl shouted.

"Gomen Kin" Zaku sweatdropped.

"Aww, hurt by a wittle kunai?" Sakura sniffed "Pathetic" Suddenly Sakura's form disappeared and reappeared unharmed behind Zaku, stabbing him with her bloodied kunai.

"You little bitch!" Zaku screeched before punching her off him. Slowly, Zaku, Dosu and Kin advanced on Sakura as her two other clones disappeared, circling and attacking the girl in kunai and shuriken. Suddenly Sakura's form, just as it was attacked exploded in smoke as a log appeared in her place. 'Kawarimi no Jutsu! (7)' Zaku glared at the girl who attacked from the side again.

--

"Come on, let's go they're dangerous!" Chouji pleaded.

"Looks like Sasuke and Naruto are out of it" Shikamaru commented "But Lee is beaten as well, it's only Sakura left, what are we going to do Ino?"

"Why are you asking me that question?" Ino asked.

"Sakura is in danger, are you okay with that?" Shikamaru asked; Ino looked over to Shikamaru "You were best friends a while ago weren't you? When you were like five right?" Shikamaru asked.

FLASH BACK…

A five year old Sakura, though smiling like always, seemed to be a little off that day. It was the day after her birthday and she seemed glummer than ever before. Of course, this was coming from her best friend, who didn't exactly know about their current situation with the whole mass murder and all. Yamanaka Ino was her best friend's name. She was pretty and beautiful. She had confidence, she had pride, she was proud of who she is. Before Sakura met Ino, she was constantly teased about her forehead, her pink hair, her green eyes, basically everything; which basically ensured no confidence in the girl.

--

One day, Ino found Sakura crying in the middle of a park, with a slight amount of cuts and bruises every where, even if the pink haired youth tried to hide them.

"Ne, daijobou?" Ino asked as she knelt down to the girl.

"H-h-hai" Sakura nodded, though she was still crying.

"I'm Yamanaka Ino, who are you? Aren't you the one they call forehead girl?" Ino asked.

"Sakura" Sakura muttered, slowly Ino stood up and poked the girl's forehead, inspecting it.

"So this is why they call you forehead girl? You hide your forehead with your hair?" Ino examined.

"Aa" Sakura muttered.

"Meet me back here tomorrow, I have something for you" Ino demanded before walking the still crying Sakura in the park.

--

From that day, the two seemed inseparable, conjoined at the hips if you will. But then the day after Sakura's birthday party, Sakura broke her friendship with Ino and disappeared from the village.

…END FLASH BACK

'Why did that memory come back?' Ino questioned as she looked at Sakura battling.

"What are we going to do Ino?" Shikamaru asked.

"I know we have to do something, but what can we do? We can't just jump in there!" Ino retorted.

--

"Just because I have pink hair, does not mean I am some pathetic little girl who can't fight!" Sakura shouted as she threw shuriken towards the three sound ninjas only to have the shuriken blasted back by Zaku with his arms that blew them back.

'Air pressure?' Sakura questioned as she blocked the attack of her incoming shuriken 'I have to distract him from using that, while I take down the other guy, the girl will be easy'

"Still, you are a little girl who can't fight" Kin smirked as she locked the girl in place by pulling both arms behind her back.

"You think I can't fight without my arms?" Sakura glared 'Hello?! Like I need my arms! Silent kill anyone?!'

"You can't fight without your arms" Kin smirked, positive that she was right. Suddenly the pink haired girl jumped into the air, twisted her body and slammed the sound girl on her back onto the ground before stabbing her in the arms with a kunai.

"Now, with your arms disabled, what can you do now?" Sakura smirked.

"Do you think I need my arms to fight?" Kin questioned.

"I don't care" Sakura glared before kicking the girl aside and reappeared in front of Zaku who was about to attack Sasuke.

"I told you, if anyone gets to beat these two up while they're unconscious it is me" Sakura glared.

"Pft" Zaku scoffed before stabbing the girl, only to realize she used a replacement technique again. Suddenly Sakura charged forward and kicked Zaku from out under the tree, only to be stabbed again and replaced by yet another log.

'From above!' "Don't think you can do that trick three times in a row without me realizing!" Zaku exclaimed as he threw four kunai at the girl, expecting her to disappear who didn't and got stabbed with each kunai.

'Now, where is she?' Zaku questioned as he looked around for the pink haired girl who was dripping blood over him.

"I know I can't use the same trick twice. Only an idiot does that!" Sakura glared, stabbing the sound nin in the chest and his arm, holding him in place with her kunai dug into the ground through his arm.

"Let me go!" Zaku demanded.

"No way!" Sakura smirked before pressing the kunai harder in the ground, causing the boy more pain.

--

DREAM SEQUENCE…

'Where am I?' Sasuke questioned him self as he looked around finding yellow and white splotches surrounding him, glancing around, Sasuke eventually found something, it was a little boy clad in black; simply, a younger version of him self. 'Who is he?'

"Otou-san, Okaa-san didn't have to die!" the younger Uchiha spoke.

The only sound was the drop of one tear before images of the murdered Uchiha head husband and wife appeared, one lying above the other. Suddenly everything turned dark as the younger Sasuke spoke.

"Everyone was killed because I didn't have enough power, the clan was wiped out"

…END DREAM SEQUENCE

Suddenly everything turned clear as day, as Sasuke slowly awoke from the coma induced slumber.

--

Eventually Zaku shoved Sakura off, kicking her out of the way, which lead her straight to Dosu's kunai, stabbing her right in the back.

'Kuso!' Sakura cursed as she got up.

"Now, stay aside as we finish our business with the Uchiha boy" Dosu ordered.

"No!" Sakura growled as she charged towards Dosu, Zaku and Kin, making two clones of her self again. 'What's this power?' Sakura glanced towards the tree where Sasuke and Naruto lay unconscious 'The chakra, I can see it! It's giving off colour! It's an evil chakra!' Sakura examined as purple chakra eradiated from the tree. Once again the girl was hit back down as her clones disappeared.

'Kuso! I don't have enough stamina' Sakura cursed as she slowly got back up and got out three kunai, placing one in her mouth and the others in her hands 'Well, thank you Zabuza for teaching me this attack'

Again, like in the wave country, Sakura's body swayed from side to side as if she were drunk, before disappearing and appearing occasionally as she attacked the sound nins with the silent kill.

--

"Ino, are you going to do something or not?" Shikamaru questioned.

"I don't know what to do! Sakura is determined to protect her team mates, even if she is justifying it with beating them up later" Ino whined "What attack is she using anyway?"

"I wouldn't have a clue, I never seen it before, fact is I can't see her period" Shikamaru scoffed.

"Look at the sound nins, they're being thrashed to bits, but Sakura isn't any where around!" Ino remarked.

--

Suddenly Sakura's attack came to a halt when Dosu attacked her miraculously from behind, forcing her to cough up blood, spit out her kunai and stop her deadly attack.

"My, my, that's quite a jutsu you have got there" Dosu complimented "But enough is, enough. We came to fight Sasuke not you, so move out of the way!"

"I agree" Zaku sneered before kicking Sakura a good ten meters away from them, which was ironically in front of the tree which the boys were under.

"Now, let's finish what we started" Kin smirked ready to kill the girl.

In an instant, Ino, Shikamaru and a scared Chouji appeared on the battle scene, protecting Sakura from the sound ninja's attacks.

"Yamanaka" Sakura coughed "What are you doing here?"

"I'm not letting you steal the spot light in front of Sasuke-kun" Ino smirked.

"If that's the reason you're here, get lost" Sakura growled as she struggled to stand up "There is no point in fighting if you are doing it for a person who doesn't give jack shit about you"

'They keep swarming, these stupid Konoha bugs!' Dosu mumbled.

"What are you guys thinking?! These guys are dangerous!" Chouji exclaimed.

"It's troublesome, but we have to. Ino came in, it would be wrong to let Ino fight alone as men" Shikamaru sighed.

"Sorry to get you two involved, but we're a three-man team. We do everything together" Ino chuckled.

"Oh well, whatever happens, happens" Shikamaru smirked.

"NO!!!!! I don't want to die yet" Chouji whined "Let me go!"

"Stop it! Shut up!" Shikamaru ordered.

"You can run if you want, Fatty" Zaku snickered.

"What did he call me, I think my hearing was off a little" Chouji growled.

'That word is taboo for Chouji' Shikamaru twitched.

"I said you can go jack off into the woods in you want, you fat ass" Zaku repeated.

Suddenly Chouji turned around, angry and glared at Zaku.

"I'm not fat, I'm big boned!" Chouji growled.

"Hurray for big boned people!" Chouji shouted "Okay you two understand that this fight is between Konoha and Sound right?"

'Good, he got pissed off' Ino smirked.

"Geez this is going to be troublesome" Shikamaru sighed.

"That's our line" Zaku grumbled 'Damn we were told to kill Sasuke before the exam ended'

"Sakura, take care of your team ne?" Ino ordered.

"They will be fine" Sakura scoffed before taking out two more kunai "I don't need your help; you'd just be in the way, especially Chouji"

"You saying I'm fat?" Chouji glared at the pink haired girl.

"Do you really want an answer?" Sakura smirked "Aside that, all of your minds are too emotional to be fighting, your chakra is all over the place already. Don't bother fighting" Slowly Sakura performed another jutsu, however this time it was really something none of the ninjas around her were familiar with. 'Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu' (8) Leaves and other forest debris slowly started to circle around the sound Nins, unaware that a jutsu was already being placed upon them. I mean leaves in a forest, that's not suspicious at all. The occasional draft made it seem ever more natural. Suddenly images of them selves dying, as well as loved ones started to appear in the forest around them scaring the sound ninjas and then black, before the scene turned back to normal with a very bored looking Sakura and quite shocked Ino, Shikamaru and Chouji.

"What jutsu did you use Sakura?" Ino questioned, very perplexed at the sound ninjas behaviour.

"That's for me to know, and for you to find out" Sakura shrugged. Slowly the sound Nins rose from the ground and glared at the pink haired girl.

"Eh? You're as stubborn as Sasuke and Naruto" Sakura sighed and got out two kunai.

"Oh, no you don't!" Zaku exclaimed before running towards the girl, grabbing her kunai and stabbing her into a tree by her arms, keeping her in place.

'Kuso!' Sakura glared at the now retreating Zaku.

"And what would you have done now Sakura?" Ino smirked.

"It's quite obvious that I can't do much now" Sakura scoffed "Do what you wish"

"Oh my, is that your blessings to let us fight?" Ino sneered.

"If you wish to have your precious Sasuke alive, do what you wish" Sakura muttered.

"Fine by me" Ino smirked "We're going with everything we have guys!"

"Right!" Chouji and Shikamaru nodded.

"Formation Ino-"

"-Shika-"

"-Chou!"

"Go for it Chouji!" Ino encouraged. Suddenly Chouji blew up twice his size and with drew with arms, legs and head into his body and began rolling towards Zaku "Baika no Jutsu! (9) And Konoha Taijutsu!"

"What the hell is that?" Zaku questioned as the ball of Chouji rolled towards him "It's just a fat ass rolling. Air cutter!" Zaku exclaimed as air pressure was released from his arms, stopping Chouji in his tracks momentarily, who after being stopped for that short moment flew up into the air, ready to pounce on the sound Nin.

'If anyone thought he was fat before, well…this is a…a whole…new…size' Sakura snickered.

"It flew up!" Zaku exclaimed. 'With his rotation, the air pressure from the air cutter doesn't work! But even if I were to use super sonic waves, my arms would break touching him'

Zaku cursed as he ran out of options. Scared that his team mate was going to be squashed by the meat tank, Dosu rushed towards Zaku, ready to push him out of the way, or at least stop the fatso.

'Oh no you don't!' Shikamaru smirked 'You're the most troublesome one of all! Ninpou Kage Mane no Jutsu' (10) Shikamaru's extended and captured Dosu; stopping him from doing anything to help his team mate.

'My body!' Dosu exclaimed as his body moved into another position, which looked rather ridiculous.

"Dosu! What are you doing?!" Kin exclaimed.

"Ino, it's up to you to take the girl" Shikamaru announced.

"Hai! Shikamaru, take care of my body!" Ino nodded. 'Ninpou Shintenshin no Jutsu' Suddenly Ino's body fell into Shikamaru's arms.

"Kuso! Kin!" Zaku shouted as he was continually chased by the Chouji ball.

"What's wrong?" Dosu asked.

"This is it, if you move, this girl is dead!" Kin/Ino claimed "If you don't want to retire, leave your scroll and get out of here, once I can no longer sense your chakra, I will let your friend go!"

'Why are they laughing?' Ino questioned.

"Chouji!" Ino exclaimed.

"Hai!"

"No! There going to-" Sakura exclaimed.

As Chouji came down from above Zaku extended his arm before releasing air pressure and sending Chouji into Kin/Ino.

"They'd hurt their own team mate?" Kin/Ino questioned.

"You took us too lightly" Zaku snickered.

"Our purpose isn't about the scroll or passing these exams" Dosu explained.

"Nani?!" Ino exclaimed.

"We are after Sasuke-kun" Dosu smiled wickedly.

Suddenly the evil chakra from under the tree rose to unimaginable levels as Sasuke slowly stood up and walked out to the battle field. Glancing around the battle field, he spotted his team mate, Sakura, pinned to a near by tree, as if she were to be crucified, which sent his blood boiling, and his chakra escalating. As his chakra seemed to escalate, strange marks snaked over his body covering his entire left side of his body; with his sharingan on.

"Sakura" Sasuke began; the amount of chakra radiating from him, the amount of darkness which seemed to come from him, scaring the residents of the battle field, even the ones hiding in the tree branches such as Tenten and Neji who were looking for Lee, who just happened to be there at the time "Who did that to you?" he asked in a deadly tone.

'The curse seal has covered his body!' Dosu exclaimed.

"Kuso!" Sakura cursed "Sasuke calm down, seriously!"

Glancing down at his arm, Sasuke could feel the immense power coming from his body "Don't worry; I can feel power surging inside me! It feels good right now. He gave it to me…"

"Nani?" Sakura asked.

"I understand now. I am an avenger. I must obtain power no matter what, even if I have to obtain it from the devil" Sasuke explained.

"Baka! Don't accept this power! Don't give into it!" Sakura exclaimed as she winced in pain from the kunai in her arms.

'Just as I thought, she was talking about the curse seal I was thinking about, but how does she know about it?' Dosu shivered 'Still I can't believe he woke up from it already'

"Sakura, tell me who did this to you!" Sasuke demanded "Who the hell hurt you?!"

"It doesn't matter who did this to me! Reject the power!" Sakura exclaimed.

"I did it!" Zaku smirked. Sasuke's red eyes instantly averted to him.

"Baka! You shouldn't have said anything!" Sakura growled at Zaku, who just seemed to smirk.

"Eh?" Kin/Ino questioned.

"Ino! You're going to get confused as the enemy like that! Return to your body!" Shikamaru shouted "Chouji we're going to go hide, come on!"

"Hai!" Ino and Chouji nodded.

"Kai!" Kin shouted as Ino's spirit returned to her body.

"Shikamaru what's going to happen now?" Chouji asked.

"How could I know?" Shikamaru retorted.

Slowly the curse seal began to snake its way all over Sasuke's body, covering him completely in black foreign marks.

'This is too much for us! His chakra is too high' Dosu realized.

"Dosu! Don't be afraid of that half dead guy!" Zaku ordered.

"Don't Zaku! You don't understand!" Dosu cried trying to stop his team mate.

"Maximum Air cutter!" Zaku exclaimed as huge gusts of wind and air pressure collided together in an attempt to blow the Uchiha away and stop his movements. "I knew he'd blow up into tiny pieces" Zaku snickered.

"Who?" Sasuke questioned before he elbowed the boy in the head.

"He's fast, he moved while carrying that blonde boy!" Dosu exclaimed.

Instantly Sasuke turned around, and with out a minute to think, Sasuke performed a Katon: Housenka no Jutsu.

"Don't get cocky! I'll erase!" Zaku claimed as he prepared his air pressured arms to attack, which blew away the fire, but revealed that they were hiding shuriken, pelting onto the boy like hail.

"Zaku, below you!" Dosu exclaimed as Sasuke raced towards Zaku and pulled his arms backwards while his foot held his body in place; which made Sasuke smirk evilly has he inflicted pain upon the sound nin.

'His chakra is totally different! Is this really Sasuke-kun? What happened?' Ino examined.

'Oh shit!' Sakura stared at the transformed Sasuke.

"You seem proud of your arms" Sasuke snickered.

"Stop it!" Zaku pleaded. Suddenly the sound of his arms snapping in two echoed through the battle field as Sasuke pulled harder and harder before kicking him away.

"SASUKE! STOP!!!" Sakura pleaded, still from the tree. Slowly Sasuke head turned and smirked at Dosu.

"Now, all that is left is you" Sasuke smirked as he advanced towards the ninja "You better entertain him better than you friend"

"SASUKE! Enough!" Sakura screamed as she slowly pried her self free of the kunai binds and chased after Sasuke and blocking his path.

"Move Sakura!" Sasuke demanded.

"No! You have done what you need, this is enough!" Sakura growled as she lifted her arms side ways, blocking his path even further.

"I need to do this!" Sasuke explained.

"No you don't!" Sakura shouted.

"I said MOVE!" Sasuke shouted as he shoved Sakura out of the way.

"And I said enough!" Sakura glared as she stood back up and ran in front of him.

"Move Sakura! Or I'll do more than push you out of the way" Sasuke threatened.

"Enough Sasuke! Naruto is safe, and you are safe. You don't need to fight any more" Sakura pleaded before hugging the boy front the front "Onegai….Yamatte"

Slowly Sasuke looked down to the mass of pink below his nose, his eyes widened in realization before the curse seal reseeded back to its place on the base of his neck.

'Looks like the curse reseeded, I am safe for now' Dosu sighed in relief.

Slowly Sasuke collapsed from exhaustion, taking Sakura down with him, as he breathed heavily to get his breathe back.

"Arigato Sasuke" Sakura smiled before she stood back up again and faced Dosu with a glare.

"Now, you may have gotten away from him, but, me however" Sakura smirked evilly "That's a different story"

"What?" Dosu screeched.

"Oh, come now, you guys got to have all the fun, I want to have a little fun too" Sakura pouted slightly.

"You and I already fought" Dosu scoffed.

"Spoil sport" Sakura grumbled "Oh well" Suddenly three Sakura's appeared ready to fight.

"One" Sakura said.

"Two"

"Three"

"Go!"

Instantly all four Sakura's lunged towards Dosu ready to fight, surrounding the boy, looking very serious.

"Now I am sure that you haven't got much chakra left" Sakura smirked.

"So all you have to do to get away with your life painlessly"

"Is to-"

"Give us your scroll"

In unison all four Sakuras put out their right hand with their left on the hip and waited for the sound nin to give it to them.

"Is that all you wish?" Dosu questioned.

"Well…."

"Yea" Sakura smiled.

"Fine by me, take the scroll" Dosu sighed as he handed the Sakura before him his Earth scroll.

"Well now that that's all done, you may leave" Sakura smiled.

"Sasuke-kun, you're strong, as are you girl" Dosu smirked "We cannot defeat you, but I look forward to meeting you at the tower"

"That's if you even make it there with a broken team mate and a sleeping one" Sakura snickered.

"That's for me to worry about, not you" Dosu sneered as he picked up Kin and Zaku before jumping away from the scene.

"Matte! Why does Orochimaru want Sasuke?" Sakura asked.

"I don't know, we were just ordered to kill him" Dosu answered.

"Oi, are you okay?!" Chouji asked.

"It's troublesome but Ino take care of Lee" Shikamaru ordered.

"Hai!" Ino nodded.

"OI!" Sakura shouted "Neji and Tenten, you may as well jump down from your little hiding place now, since you didn't fight like cowards" Sakura snickered below the tree top.

'Eh? She sensed our chakra?' Tenten glanced at the girl.

'His chakra was abnormal. My knowledge of the Uchiha power is limited but…' Neji glared at Sasuke "We may as well go down since we have been spotted" Neji sighed.

"Sakura-chan watch out! Don't worry I'll protect you!" Naruto mumbled in his sleep.

"What should we do with him?" Shikamaru questioned "Kick him awake?"

"Can I do it?" Chouji questioned.

"Hai sure" Shikamaru sighed as Ino brought over Lee.

"Sasuke, daijobou?" Sakura questioned.

"I don't know. What was I?" Sasuke asked.

"I think we should discuss this matter in private with out the baka trio around, nor with Neji around" Sakura muttered under her breathe as she pointed to Neji, Ten and Team 10.

"Aa"

Suddenly a loud scream erupted from the vicinity, scaring the ninja around them and sending Sakura into a reaction by where she threw her kunai at the target, which happened to be Naruto and missed just barely.

"Eh?" Naruto mumbled as he glanced around the area, spotting Sasuke and Sakura together, Ino carrying Lee and Chouji and Shikamaru next to him. Slowly an image or Orochimaru formed in his head. "Minna (12), hide! No get down! Kuso where is he?"

"Eh?" Sakura muttered.

"Naruto…" Sasuke muttered as well.

'Baka! He finally woke up!' Ino glared at the now crawling boy. Suddenly Chouji started prodding Naruto with the stick he used to wake Naruto up.

"You're pretty dumb aren't you?" Shikamaru questioned "Actually watching you pisses me off"

"Yes" Chouji nodded.

Slowly Naruto looked around the scene inspecting everything in its path, when he came across Sakura and Sasuke, and move importantly, a totally beaten up and bloodied Sakura.

"Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed as he ran to the girl.

"Hai?" Sakura sighed.

"What happened to you?" Naruto cried.

"Eh?" Sakura cocked her head to the side.

"The bruises, the blood, you HANDS!!!! Where's your shirt?!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Oh, yea, that" Sakura sweatdropped "That's what happens in survival Naruto, nothing serious, and my shirt, you and Sasuke seemed cold last night so I gave you guys it as a blanket" Sasuke scoffed inwardly.

"Nothing SERIOUS?! Are you serious?!" Naruto shouted "You look like you have been to hell and back! Arigato Sakura-chan"

"There will be worse times in my life" Sakura insisted as she stood up and walked over to her bag which was under the tree still; passing by Shikamaru and Chouji who were walking over to Sasuke and Naruto.

"By the way why are you guys here?" Naruto asked.

"Explaining to you is too troublesome" Shikamaru sighed.

Suddenly Tenten jumped down in front of Ino, scaring the girl slightly, followed by Neji.

"I'll take Lee now" Tenten smiled.

"Eh? Okay" Ino nodded as she handed the green beast over to the weapons mistress.

"Wake up Lee! Wake up LEE!" Tenten shouted as she shook the boy back and front before dropping him; who slowly awoke from unconsciousness.

"Tenten, what are you doing here?" Lee asked drowsily.

"We came to help you" Tenten answered.

"Where'd the sound nins go?" Lee asked.

"The Sasuke boy and Sakura girl drove them away" Tenten answered.

"I see" Lee nodded as he glanced over to Sasuke, while looking for Sakura who was bandaging her hands, and her top back on.

"Why did you take action on your own?" Tenten questioned "On top of that you're hurt"

"Sakura-chan was in danger so as a man I had to help her" Lee answered.

'Geez, if Lee was alone, he wouldn't have lost to them' Tenten believed "You are a real baka you know!"

"I can't argue with that" Lee sighed.

"Aha! You're that Fuzzy Brows kid!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Shut up Naruto!" Sakura sighed as she checked over her bandages before punching the boy.

'What happened while I was asleep?' Naruto questioned.

"Naruto is so out of it!" Shikamaru sighed.

"Lee, thank you for helping me" Sakura smiled "However, I asked for you not to help!" Sakura growled before punching him as well.

"Nani?" Tenten exclaimed "Why'd you do that?"

"I told him not to interfere, and he did, as far as I am concerned he deserved what he got" Sakura huffed before walking off towards her bag.

"Waah! It looks lie I need more training" Lee cried "Sasuke-kun, you live up to your Uchiha name, you drove the sound ninjas away, but I lost to them"

'He lost?' Sasuke exclaimed 'What's going on were they that strong?'

"Sakura-chan!" Lee shouted.

"Hmm?" Sakura looked towards the boy before continuing to inspect her arm

"Next time we meet I will be a stronger man" Lee promised.

"Do what you wish" Sakura grumbled before folding the hand towels into her bag and picking up Sasuke's head band.

"Oi, Sasuke, you might need this" Sakura shouted before tossing him the head band.

"Aa" Sasuke nodded before catching it noticing Naruto lying down on the ground in an angry, childish manner.

"Don't you care that a man confesses to you, and is devoting to getting stronger because of you?" Tenten exclaimed.

"Why the hell should I? People choose their own path to inspire them to get stronger, each person is different, either way it doesn't affect me" Sakura shrugged.

'Uchiha Sasuke' Neji glared at the Uchiha 'is a powerful rival'

--

Four days since the exam began, and currently team seven is sitting on a river side, as Naruto drew fish from the river, by jumping into the water, while Sasuke caught them with kunai and Sakura slept lightly. Instantly as soon as Naruto jumped into the pool of water, three fish rose above the surface, allowing Sasuke only a second to spear the fish with his kunai, the fish flailing as they struggle to get back into water.

"Move around more, I want three more for preservation purposes" Sasuke ordered "Three isn't enough"

"EH?" Naruto exclaimed

"I need three more baka" Sasuke explained.

"This is really tiring, why don't you do it for a while?" Naruto shouted splashing the water angrily.

"Actually never mind, three will have to be enough" Sasuke sighed before walking back to the camp site where Sakura lay soundly.

"It's been four days since we began this exam" Sasuke analyzed "Naruto and I have been out for one of those days, now Sakura is sleeping, we have had our scroll taken, to be replaced by a new one"

"I'm not really sleeping Sasuke, just trying to maintain my energy by resting my eyes" Sakura explained with closed eyes.

"Then if you're awake, come and eat" Sasuke pointed to the cooking fish.

"Hai" Sakura mumbled as she stood up from the rock she was leaning on and walked over to the camp fire.

"The exam began at around three pm, so we have about 25 to 26 hours left for this" Sasuke explained.

"I would presume a lot of teams have finished, so that means…" Sakura mumbled.

"Things aren't looking good" Sasuke finished.

'The big fish is mine' Naruto smiled hungrily at the fish cooking.

"There is a big possibility there are no heaven scrolls left" Sakura sulked.

"What do you mean Sakura?" Sasuke asked.

"Four of the five assigned days for this exam have passed, that means we've used up roughly 8o percent of this exam already, the total amount of participants are 78 or 25 teams, there are only 13 heaven and 13 earth scrolls, which means only 13 teams can pass, on top of that, Orochimaru burned our scroll" Sakura explained.

"That means" Sasuke nodded.

"Only 12 teams can now pass" Sakura agreed "And there is no guarantee that the scrolls are safe"

"After we left the other Konoha teams, we used two teams to recover from wounds, the amount of distance we travel today counts a lot, the next enemy we meet, may in fact be our last" Sasuke realized.

"I'm going to get some water" Sasuke announced.

"Aa"

"Oi Sakura-chan, I have a way to get out of this ting without fighting" Naruto announced.

"No Naruto, I refuse to colour a scroll and make it seem like the heaven scroll, if I am going to pass this exam, I will do it the right way" Sakura huffed "I'm going to pack up my stuff"

"How'd you know that I was going to suggest that?" Naruto whined.

"You're a prankster" Sakura sighed "Aside that we don't know what's inside the Heaven scroll"

"Well then we predict what it is by opening the Earth scroll" Naruto explained.

"No. I refuse to cheat" Sakura growled "If I don't pass this one, I will know that I need to train harder for the next one is all" Sakura explained.

"Sakura-chan please!" Naruto pleaded.

"You do what you wish, but if you make me fail this exam, I will hunt you down until you die" Sakura threatened.

"Well you've convinced me, no looking at the scroll.

Minutes later, Sasuke arrived to find a sulking Naruto and a very distant Sakura who was staring out at the lake.

"Oi, I'm back" Sasuke announced. 'Something happened while I was gone'

"Aa" Sakura nodded "Look, I have an idea, why don't we just go to the tower, wait for night fall to strike, and attack the next team to come, and hopefully they will have the Heaven scroll"

"Sounds better than other plans I would have come up with" Sasuke muttered.

"But what about my plan?" Naruto whined.
"You plan to cheat, if you wish to cheat, by all means cheat, but I refuse to be on your team then" Sakura growled as she placed her knap sack on her hips, adjusted her kunai holsters and shuriken pouch and walked towards the tower.

"Eh? Chotto matte Sakura-chan!" Naruto shouted as he re dressed himself, grabbed his gear and followed the girl, who was followed by Sasuke.

'So that's what happened, Naruto wanted to cheat, but Sakura is totally against it'

--

By night fall team seven had finally reached the tower.

"There's the tower, this is where things get crucial" Sakura announced.

"Then let's go!" Naruto shouted.

Slowly bushes rumbled as the sound of something advancing towards them got louder.

"An enemy already?" Sakura whispered; hearing the girl's question, Naruto shot his kunai towards the sound hitting a giant centipede "There!" he shouted.

"Just a centipede" Sakura breathed in relief.

"Naruto, if possible, I want to avoid unnecessary actions and sounds from now on" Sasuke ordered.

"What! Why do you suspect I would be so-" Naruto shouting came to a halt by Sakura's hand over his mouth.

"Speak in only a whisper, no throwing kunai at pointless targets, watch out for where you're going" Sakura muttered.

"Eh?" Naruto questioned.

"If we go through this forest like you are right now, it's a sign that we are coming and we will be sure to be greeted with an oh-so-passionate welcome" Sakura explained.

"I see" Naruto nodded.

"Let's move slowly and carefully when time allows it" Sasuke recommended.

"Hai" Sakura nodded.

Evasively, Team seven maneuvered around the forest area, getting closer and closer to the tower, inspecting each ninja quietly for their scrolls. Finally settling on a place to head towards the tower, the team walked just as slowly towards it, only to have Naruto, literally bump into a wire hanging from above; who was stopped by Sakura.

"Stop" Sakura whispered.

"A trap?" Sasuke questioned.

"Aa. It's going to get more intense now" Sakura nodded as they moved forward; carelessly, without realizing it, Naruto tripped over a hidden wire, triggering dozens of kunai, which sent them to attack him.

'Kuso' Sakura cursed as she blocked the kunai attack.

'Sakura-chan!' Naruto stared in shock as Sakura fell to the ground before her form emerged unscathed since she used a 'kawarimi no jutsu'.

"I told you, it's going to get more intense, be careful Naruto" Sakura sighed as she reappeared on a branch above them before jumping off and walking towards the tower.

--

Hours later, the group was still walking towards the never getting closer tower. Exhausted and tired, Sakura fell to the ground on her knees as she breathed heavily.

"Something is not right. Sasuke how long have we been walking?" Sakura huffed.

"A few hours why" Sasuke questioned.

Looking up towards the tower, Sakura's eyes widened in realization "It would seem we are already in some one's passionate welcome" Sakura glanced over to the side where a massive centipede was pinned to an even bigger tree and pointed to it "Look"

"Is that?" Naruto exclaimed.

"Kuso!" Sakura breathed.

"Genjutsu?" Sasuke questioned.

"It would seem" Sakura grumbled "I am such a baka for not realizing immediately! We have been walking in circles, all done in a completely careful manner"

"If that's the case, we have been the enemies play thing for a while" Sasuke growled.

"Aa. They'll probably come out soon to fight" Sakura muttered as she stood back up and took out her kunai; hearing a large amount of slithering surrounding them as rain ninjas peeled off trees and branches and advanced towards them in a deadly manner.

"They're here" Sasuke smirked.

"This is a good handicap" Naruto smirked.

"Lots of them, all of then replications" Sakura cursed.

"Like a mouse in a trap" one of the clones chuckled.

"Shut up!" Naruto shouted before punching the clone, expecting to explode into smoke but instead went through them as if it were made of sludge, which it looked like it was made of as another immerged from the sludge.

"What the hell?" Naruto muttered.

"What are they?" Sasuke questioned "I'll see! Sharingan!" Sasuke shouted as his eyes turned red. Instantly the clone started to attack Naruto with a doubled pointed kunai, only to be stopped by Sasuke's shuriken, which cut off the clone's arm. Slowly the clone turned around and threw its kunai towards Sasuke, who didn't seem to be able to move at the moment and couldn't dodge the weapon, but before he got attacked Sakura pushed him out of the way, and got slashed in the arm her self.

"Sasuke, daijobou?" Sakura asked.

'I can't move my body' Sasuke exclaimed as the curse seal began to slither its way around Sasuke's body as Sakura's gaze turned to the double tipped kunai. 'It's real, not a genjutsu'

"These are kage bunshins right?" Naruto questioned "But how can they be when Sakura got hurt? Are they illusions?" Before aiming his kunai to attack the clones.

"Stop! It's just an illusion. It's an illusionary technique used by the enemy!" Sasuke breathed.

"But Sakura-chan is hurt!" Naruto shouted.

"Them enemy is most likely hiding some where, and attacking when he can to make it seem like these are real" Sakura explained "So"

"If we find the enemy and take him down" Naruto smirked.

"We wipe away these pathetic clones" Sasuke sneered.

"But to find them will be difficult, when they threw the kunai it was unclear of where it came from, we don't know where they're hiding, they're the type of ninja who fight like cowards" Sakura growled "They will probably come out when we are immobile"

"So all we can do is dodge attacks for now?" Sasuke asked.

"For now" Sakura muttered distastefully.

"Fine then" Naruto muttered "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto shouted.

"Oh right, I forgot, you can use that" Sakura muttered while all the Naruto clones and him self attacked the rain illusion clones.

"We can't let him have all the fun now can we Sasuke?" Sakura smirked.

"Let's go Sakura!" Sasuke shouted as he lunged towards the clones, attacking them left and right, as Sakura attacked the from above and below.

As dawn came to the battle field the ninja were getting more and more tired as the clones kept re appearing to the point where team seven was now closed in, surrounded by rain clones.

--

"The sun is rising"

"Let's attack now"

"Mubi, you can stop now"

--

Slowly the clones vanished as the rain ninjas appeared before the Konoha, revealing them selves to be one of the ninjas who attacked them at the beginning of the exam.

"You, you were the one who hit me right?" the middle ninja questioned "I finally found you; you have wasted your time; how lucky, I can get revenge"

Gritting their teeth in anger, Naruto's mouth slowly turned into a smirk as he looked towards the rain ninjas.

"My, my, like a mouse in a trap" Sasuke's voice echoed through the trees.

"That went well Naruto, ne?" Sakura's voce seemed to chuckle evilly as the rain ninjas turned around; shocked that Sasuke and Sakura were in front of them and behind as well.

"Baka, you finally showed your selves ne?" Naruto asked.

"Did this kid-"

"You fell right into my trap. I used Kage no Bunshin jutsu to make copies of Sasuke and Sakura and you fell for it" Naruto grinned.

"Now if you fell for one of Naruto's traps, you really are quite pathetic" Sasuke smirked.

Slowly Naruto stood up before falling back down.

"Naruto, you used up too much chakra, I'll do the rest" Sasuke insisted.

Suddenly all three sound ninjas were punched away by Naruto's fist.

"Eh?" Sakura muttered.

"I ain't letting you steal all the good parts" Naruto chuckled "At least not while Sakura-chan is here"

'Is he really that Naruto? When did he get so strong?' Sasuke thought in jealousy.

"He can still move like that?" the rain ninja exclaimed.

"You're pretty good" the ninja smirked "But we aren't in an unlucky situation yet, we'll have to show you our jutsus now. Ninpou Oboro Bunshin no Jutsu (13)" Instantly masses of rain ninjas appeared in a cloud of smoke.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu?" Naruto asked.

"No they're just normal clones, but they have some tactic up their sleeve" Sasuke answered.

"If they are only clones, we just have to kick the original guys' ass" Naruto smirked.

"Baka! You'll waste your energy like that!" Sasuke exclaimed.

"I told you not to interfere" Naruto growled before charging towards the rain clones.

"Oi, Sasuke, which one are the real ones?" Sakura asked.

"None of them are there" Sasuke muttered.

"What?" Sakura asked.

"None of them are-" Suddenly pain shot through the Uchiha boy's body as his sharingan reseeded.

"Kuso! That curse mark!" Sakura growled "You have no choice but to sit out this time, for the time being until we discuss this curse seal business, don't use up too much chakra, that means no sharingan, it wastes your chakra too much" Sakura advised before jumping and attacking the said ninjas Sasuke spoke of.

"Naruto stop attacking! None of them are real!" Sakura shouted. Suddenly three heads shot out of the ground, as another ninja leaped into the air and prepared to attack Naruto with a kunai.

"Kuso!" Sakura growled 'Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!' Sakura exclaimed as three Sakura's charged towards Naruto, fighting off the rain ninjas; which made them rise out of the ground.

"Now it's my turn" Sakura smirked as she threw kunai towards the rain ninjas and kicking them with a powerful turning kick; making the clones disappear in clouds of smoke.

As seconds passed, Sakura readjusted her composure and smirked at the now unconscious ninja.

"Never mess with me" Sakura glared as Naruto began rummaging through the ninjas belongings for the scroll of heaven.

"Eh? I found it! The Scroll of Heaven" Naruto shouted.

--

As team Seven limped their way out of the forest, they smirked in victory at their final achievement as they neared the red tower. Sasuke leaning on Sakura for support, Naruto opened the big red doors to reveal an empty room.

"No one is here" Naruto grumbled.

"Sakura, I'm okay now" Sasuke insisted as he leaned off her one last time before standing up and walking towards Naruto.

"Eh? Oh right" Sakura nodded.

"Oi what are we supposed to do?" Naruto asked.

"Hmm, look at this" Sakura pointed to a big canvas which had kanji written all over it in a prophecy fashion.

"If you do not possess Heaven, gain the knowledge and be prepared. If you do not possess Earth, run through the fields and gain strength. If you possess both Heaven and Earth, dangerous paths turn into safe paths. This is the secret of something that will lead you on your way" Sakura recited.

"What does that mean?" Naruto asked.

"It's probably referring to the scrolls" Sakura began "If you don't have heaven, something bad will happen, if you don't have Earth, you have to find heaven. If you have both, whatever curse is on them is probably lifted, and then you may open them" Taking the Heaven scroll off Naruto as they prepared to open the mysterious scrolls they had collected.

"Then let's open them" Naruto ordered.

"Aa" Sakura nodded as she peeled away the parchment out of its roll.

"Eh? What is this?" Naruto questioned.

"Person? Jin?" Sakura questioned.

Suddenly smoke erupted from the scroll paper.

"These are summoning inscriptions! Sakura, Naruto let go of the scrolls!" Sasuke ordered; on command Sakura and Naruto tossed the scrolls away, as they landed together. As more smoke erupted, a figure was revealed in the smoke, scaring the genins into fighting stance.

"You're" Sasuke muttered.

"Eh? Long time no see?" Iruka smirked.

"Oh it's just you" Sakura muttered before sitting down, prepared for a long speech that would ensure from their old sensei.

"What's going on?" Naruto questioned.

"Looks like you three did a lot to get here?" Iruka smiled.

'A little? Ya think? SHANNARO!!!'

"Why did you appear through a summoning jutsu Iruka?" Naruto asked.

"Chuunins are to welcome the examinees at the end of the second exam" Iruka explained "The chance of giving you a message was given to me by chance"

"So what's the message?" Sakura asked as Iruka checked his pocket watch.

"You made it just in time" Iruka sighed in relief "Team seven you pass the second exam. I'd like to treat you to ramen but-" Suddenly Iruka was forced to pause as Naruto glomped him in joy "Naruto, let me finish"

"Ramen! Ramen! I did so good, I am the best!" Naruto cheered.

"This is coming from the boy who was unconscious during a fight with sound" Sakura scoffed quietly.

"What an energetic guy" Sasuke sighed as he followed Sakura's motion and sat down.

"Yay!" Naruto cheered.

"Shut up Naruto" Sakura sighed.

"Geez, you're still restless" Iruka sighed.

"I see, If we planned to look at the scrolls during the exams what would you have done Iruka?" Sasuke questioned.

"Sharp as ever Sasuke" Iruka smiled as he picked up the earth and heaven scroll "As you may have guessed this exam was to test your mission completion ability, so if you were to break the rules and open the scroll, well it would not have ended well"

"And Naruto, this is why I told you we weren't going to open the scroll" Sakura growled "Oh yea, what's with the text, some of it's missing, what does it say?"

"Who cares we passed?" Naruto grinned.

"My other mission was to explain what this means, Sakura you are also as sharp as ever" Iruka sweat dropped.

"What? Really?" Naruto asked.

"Yea. Read what it says. This is what Hokage-sama wrote that you should keep in mind as a chuunin" Iruka smiled.

"Principal?" Naruto asked.

"I see. The heaven is the mind of a person; gaining knowledge whole the earth is the body of a person; the strength that has to be gained" Sakura realized.

"Exactly, that means Naruto's weak point is his brain, he has to study and prepare for missions" Iruka smirked.

"That's none of your business" Naruto grumbled.

"However if you possess both attributes, your missions are safer; much like Sasuke and Sakura, although Sakura seems slightly weaker than Sasuke" Iruka smiled.

'Pft, tell me something I don't know'

"Then what about the missing letter?" Sakura asked.

"That is the symbol for chuunin, and it's from the symbol in the earth scroll" Iruka smiled "The skills you have used in the survival training is similar to that of a chuunin, and you guys have passed. Well that's all I was ordered to tell you"

"Then go already" Sakura sneered "Or hug Naruto if you wish, but that is very un-sensei like"

"Don't worry about me Iruka-sensei, I'll be fine" Naruto smiled.

"If I don't punch you in the head soon" Sakura muttered.

--

Twenty one people passed the second exam, seven teams passed in other words, and currently they were lined up in teams in front of the Hokage as well as various jounins, some of which included their teachers.

"First off, congratulations on passing the second Exam" Anko smiled.

"Eh? Sasuke-kun's team passed!" Ino cheered gleefully.

"Of course, our efforts would have been wasted, and so would have Sakura's if they didn't pass" Shikamaru scoffed.

"It seems your team passed, perhaps they were lucky, but since my team is here, they don't have a chance on getting any further, since the next stage, personal abilities are critical. Youth is sweet and sour, some times strict, Kakashi" Gai smirked.

"Hmm? Did you say something?" Kakashi asked lazily.

"Oh my God! That was pretty good" Gai exclaimed in jealousy "Your attitude is some what modern and pisses me off!"

"To explain the final exam, Hokage-sama will explain it to you" Anko announced.

'Oh god, it's going to be a long speech' Sakura sighed.

"If you do not under stand why these exams are held, it is simply to improve relations between countries and to show off military power of the village or country" the Hokage began "As well to improve the skills and power of the village's military power. Don't let those reasons deceive you; the reason for these exams so to speak is the epitome of war between allied nations"

"What d you mean?" Tenten questioned.

"Simply put, if we go back in history, allied nations right now, weren't exactly allied nations. These countries fought over and over again, so to avoid the waste of military power, the countries decided to hold a place to fight; which is where the origin of the chuunin exams came from" the Hokage explained.

"What do you mean? We aren't doing this to select chuunins?" Naruto asked.

"We are still selecting chuunins who are worthy f the title. But is also a place where ninjas fight and carry a countries ability and dignity" Hokage answered.

'In other words, proof that a country isn't weak' Sakura sort of glared at the Hokage.

"In this exam, feudal lords and famous people from various countries who may be potential clients are invited as guests. They will see your battles, if there is a significant stronger country, that country will flood with jobs, while a weaker country will have a decreased amount of jobs; at the same time countries are able to show are their village's growth and military power to other countries" the Hokage informed.

"So we are risking our lives basically?" Kiba asked.

"A country's power is the village's power a village's power is a ninja's power; a ninja's power is only born on life-death situations" the Hokage answered.

"Is that all?" Sakura muttered.

"I understand now" Naruto grinned.

"I don't care, tell us about this life-death exam" Gaara glared.

"Right, the details about this exam-"

"Will be explained by me" spoke another Konoha ninja as he jumped from his place in front of the Hokage "My name is Gekkou Hayate and I am the judge for the final exam" coughed the man "First off, since there are too many competitors left, a preliminary one on one matches are going to be held immediately to see will advance to the third exam. If any one wishes to quit, they may do so now"

"Preliminary matches? What do you mean?" Shikamaru shouted.

"But we just got through the second exam" Ino whined.

"As I already said, this exam is to see who will advance into the final exam; there are too many examinees currently" Hayate explained.

'I am not quitting!' Sasuke growled before wincing in pain at the curse mark.

"Sasuke, daijobou?" Sakura whispered.

"Hai" Sasuke nodded.

"Look, this is not going good with your curse seal, as soon as your match is over, let me seal it so it won't give you any pain" Sakura offered.

"Hai" Sasuke nodded.

"Just don't exceed your power too much, and don't use the sharingan" Sakura ordered.

"I know" Sasuke winced slightly in more pain.

"Just as I thought" the Hokage whispered.

"What should we do?" Ibiki questioned.

"Take him out of the exams and isolate him with ANBU squads" Anko suggested "And to advise him to withdraw immediately-"

"He won't listen to you that easily. He is far too stubborn" Kakashi interrupted "He is an Uchiha after all"

"Stop fooling around! I will make him quit even if I have to use force! The seal reacts when he tries to mold chakra, and it will try to extract power from him! The jutsu is forbidden and undermines the ability of a person" Anko growled "I am surprised he withstood it for that long, normal people would be dead" Anko confesses "Hokage-sama"

"You don't have to quit and you better not, or I will have really wasted my time here" Sakura smirked.

"I never intended to" Sasuke sneered.

Suddenly a hand rose from the genins "I'll quit" Kabuto smiled.

"Let's see you are Konoha's Yakushi Kabuto-kun right?" Hayate questioned.

"Hai!" Kabuto smiled.

"You may leave" Hayate nodded.

"I have seen him a few times. I believed he retired in the last main exam too" the Hokage examined "What is he thinking?"

"Anko" Ibiki ordered.

"Hai" Anko nodded as she began shuffling through a clipboard of papers "Yakushi Kabuto, according to our data, he has failed 6 times in a row"

"What about personal history?" the Hokage asked.

"He didn't stand out in his academy years, he had normal grades, and he passed graduation on his third try, after that he did 3 C-rank missions and 14 D-rank missions. No outstanding accomplishments, but-"

"But?" the Hokage questioned.

"It's about before he entered the academy"

"Yes?"

"You remember that boy who was brought back from the Kikyo Pass battle?"

"Yes. A jounin on the medical squad took custody of an enemy's boy that was left on the battle field, so he's that boy?"

"Hai"

"May I assume no one else is quitting?" Hayate coughed.

"What Orochimaru said concerns me, however let Sasuke continue" the Hokage announced.

"Nani?" Anko exclaimed.

"However if his power becomes unstable stop him" the Hokage ordered.

"I understand" Anko sighed in defeat.

"Alright, then let the preliminary matches begin. It will be one on one matches; basically real combat. Names are selected from random. Now that we have 20 left, we will have 10 matches. Winners of each match will advance to the third exam. There are no rules. Winners will be declared if the other dies, is knocked out or gives up, however if I the judge declare it over it is over. First match is between"

"Open it" Anko whispered into her headset. Slowly a hatch unlocked as the cement panel was dragged up to reveal a monitor.

"Are Akadou Yoroi and Uchiha Sasuke" Hayate announced.

"Right off the bat eh?" Sasuke smirked.

"Lucky you" Sakura smirked "I wanted to kick some one's but" Sakura whined.

"Wait your turn" Sasuke snickered.

"Meet you in the finals then" Sakura smirked.

"Will do"

"Those whose name's appeared, step forth the rest go watch in the stands" Hayate ordered.

"Remember Sasuke, don't use too much chakra, this seal reacts to it, if you do you will become uncontrollable and that means no sharingan. Think of it as training, a way to fight without chakra" Sakura smirked before jumping into the stands.

"Now then, let's begin" Hayate announced.

"Hai" both boys nodded; instantly, Yoroi began a jutsu which covered his hand in a blue mist before withdrawing shuriken while Sasuke took out his kunai, deflecting the flying shuriken, only to flinch in pain and fall to the ground. Instantly Yoroi was on Sasuke like a cat after strong, aiming to punch the boy but missed and got kicked down by Sasuke, with him holding his arm in a very twisted manner.

"He did it!" Naruto cheered.

Quickly, Yoroi grabbed Sasuke's shirt as his hand once again glowed a fluro blue, making Sasuke wince in pain.

'My strength' Sasuke gasped before Yoroi's hand slammed down on the boy's twitching body.

'What happened? My strength suddenly' Sasuke winced in more pain before shooting into a sitting position only to have his head grasped in his opponent's hand as the blue glow eradiated from it again.

"Are…you…my chakra?" Sasuke muttered.

"Did you notice now?" Yoroi chuckled.

'And that is Yoroi's special ability. He can suck mind and physical energy out of a person just by touching them with his palm. And once you run out of chakra you will be forced to rely on the curse seal' the sound ninja's sensei smirked.

"Kuso! Sasuke! Fight back!" Sakura growled, knowing what would happen if too much chakra was to be sucked out. At the sound of Sakura's voice, Sasuke's eyes widened in realization before he kicked Yoroi off him.

"Get off!" Sasuke shouted.

"You still have some strength left?" Yoroi chuckled "You're just a guinea pig though"

'That was close' Sasuke breathed in relief.

"Relax, I will end this quick" Yoroi smirked as he charged towards Sasuke with his blue glowing hands, in an attempt to suck more chakra out of the boy, but failed miserably as Sasuke dodged his hand.

"What's wrong, are you giving up already?" Yoroi mocked. In retaliation, Sasuke kicked his opponent, only to miss barely.

'He wants close combat, what should I do? At this rate I'll lose' Sasuke growled.

"Sasuke you lose like that, and after this match, I'll personally kick your ass" Sakura shouted "Don't be such a baka! Get serious!"

Sasuke slowly averted his gaze to the shouting girl, something she usually doesn't do, fact is she usually doesn't encourage anyone, anyway…well in a way, she is sort of trying to encourage him. Soon his gaze fell on Lee. 'I got it!'

"You don't have time to look the other way. This is it!" Yoroi declared as he ran towards Sasuke with his blue hand. As Yoroi thrust his hand forward, Sasuke dodged each attack before disappearing from sight and reappeared below Yoroi, kicking him in the chin and jumping upwards, floating under Yoroi, mimicking the move Lee used on him once before.

'That's my-' Lee gasped.

"From here on out, it's all original, though" Sasuke announced "Eat this!" Suddenly Sasuke's eyes widened in pain as the curse mark began to burn onto his skin, spreading over his face.

"Sasuke!" Sakura gasped.

'I won't let this take over!' Sasuke proclaimed as he pushed the seal back onto the place on his neck. Instantly as soon as the curse seal withdrew from his skin, Sasuke turned around and hooked his foot onto Yoroi's torso, before kicking him on his other side and elbowing Yoroi down to the ground in a slam; finishing it off with an axe kick to the stomach which sent both genin to each side of the arena in an awkward manner.

'Get up Sasuke' Sakura pleaded. As if hearing her inner thought, Sasuke slowly arose as Hayate checked the pulse of the other warrior to confirm him dead.

"I will stop this match now. The winner of the first match is Uchiha Sasuke" Hayate declared as Sasuke breathed in relief and exhaustion; ready to fall on his back, had a leg not stopped him.

"That took you long enough didn't it?" Sakura mocked "I bet I won't take as long"

"Aa" Sasuke grunted.

"You owe me a talk" Sakura nodded before both beings disappeared from sight; reappearing away from everyone but still near the arena, just outside of it, in another sound proofed room.

--

"Right, now what Orochimaru gave you is the curse seal. It reacts to your chakra as you probably has realized" Sakura explained.

"Aa" Sasuke nodded.

"Which means, it limits your ability to use chakra since it practically drains you of your own power, thus forcing you to use it's own, like you have felt numerous times; however to use that power ends up with a very weak and vulnerable body in the end; and at first it will hurt when you use it, cause you extreme pain" Sakura continued. Sasuke nodded "But I can remove you of your pain if you allow me to use my sealing jutsu, which also allows you use your own chakra, and you'll recover immediately so you can see the matches and what each ninja's strength and weakness is. Right now it's Shino and Zaku. If we don't seal now, some of this damage will be irreversible"

"How do you know all this?" Sasuke questioned in disbelief.

"I have seen people with the curse seal, and I didn't like seeing people in pain so I made my own jutsu to seal the power of it, but still allow the receiver to stay awake, painless and use their own chakra efficiently. I have seen some of the people I'd least expect to become monsters who work for Orochimaru" Sakura answered sadly.

"You must have taken ages to make this jutsu" Sasuke exclaimed.

"I did, are you going to accept or not, other wise I'll hand you over to Kakashi, whose sealing jutsu will end up with you unconscious for the rest of the preliminaries" Sakura half asked.

"I accept" Sasuke nodded.

"Okay, give me a sec to make a quick sealing circle" Sakura smiled 'I'm sorry Sasuke, but I am going to have to do the transferring jutsu I planned, but you still have the mark, and I'll seal it so no one gets suspicious, and since it really I have to seal it as well, I will only be able to transfer 75 percent of it to my body' Hastily, Sakura drew a rough circle before writing out the kanji symbols for the twelve hand signs as well as Sakura in the middle in kanji, surrounding it was the curse mark seal.

"Sit in the middle, and I hope you don't mind, but it's easier without your shirt own because I need to put the symbols I need in my blood on your back" Sakura blushed lightly.

"Aa" Sasuke nodded as his shirt peeled off his back and was tossed aside.

Just as hastily as before, Sakura wrote the same symbols as before on Sasuke's back, after she pricked her self letting blood come to the surface, but drew the curse seal mark on her forehead while the Sakura kanji symbol was in the middle of his back.

"Now remember and please don't hate me after it, but this will kill like hell, but I feel the same pain" Sakura pleaded.

"Aa" Sasuke nodded.

"Okay" Sakura nodded as her hands slowly moved into different formations, as chakra gathered into her hands. 'Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig' Sakura recited over and over in her head as her hands recited the formations three times more. 'Sakura Seal Transfer no Jutsu!' (A/N: please note; this jutsu is not one in the ninja world I think; I made it up because Sakura technically hasn't got her own special jutsus if you ask me) Sakura mind exclaimed as her palms pressed onto the curse seal, sucking the power away from the seal making Sasuke scream in pain, as her own chakra replenished Sasuke's own. 'Just a little longer Sakura, just a little more' Inner Sakura encouraged. Continuing to screech in pain, Sasuke's hands molded into fists so tight that they turned white and that his blunt nails were digging into his skin, so much so, blood was pouring off his hands.

What seemed like hours was in fact only a mere minute, before the jutsu was cancelled, light faded and Sakura collapsed in a slight amount of exhaustion and where the curse seal lay five small conjoined Sakura blossoms surrounded it as well as the circle of the zodiac animals.

"Like, I said…it kills like hell, gomen" Sakura apologized.

"It's fine, but what about you? Are you okay?" Sasuke asked.

"Yea, give me a minute to recover. Shino and Zaku's battle shouldn't have ended just yet" Sakura breathed "Does your chakra feel like it can move better around your body now with out worrying about been absorbed from the curse seal?"

Sasuke nodded as he molded chakra into his feet and walked up a near by wall.

"What about your sharingan?" Sakura asked.

"Sharingan!" Sasuke whispered to him self as his eyes turned red "Yea it works fine, if anything better than ever, I feel stronger too"

"That's good, now if I kick your but I can brag about it" Sakura chuckled as she leaned on the wall Sasuke was walking down on.

"Good luck to that you still got to get through the preliminaries" Sasuke mocked before flicking her forehead.

"Itai!" Sakura whined "I help ya, and I get flicked in the head"

"Arigato" Sasuke smiled microscopically as he offered his hand to help her up.

"Welcome" Sakura smiled "By the way, since you really have never fought Shino or Zaku, and their match should almost be finished; here's what I know about them. Aburame Shino, though I have never actually fought him, I know he controls bugs; he can speak to them and they will obey, that is his special ability. That's what we will be guaranteed to use in any battle; they feed on chakra, and they're so tiny you can't see them at all. Fire is an obvious weakness for them and an easy way to be rid of them; however genjutsu is probably a safer option I believe, if you create a genjutsu to knock Shino out, the battle is yours straight away" Sakura smirked "Now Zaku, you seemed to have already taken away his best asset; his arms, those arms he can create different amounts of air pressure, which is able to blow away, or at least block any attacks. I think he can use supersonic waves as well, so that affects hearing greatly on his opponents; but even with his arms err…removed from his arsenal of tricks, he has more than one way to kick some ones ass, but I have only versed him once so I can't say much…and you took away my fun when I was going to pummel him to death" Sakura muttered.

"How could you have pummeled him to death when you were pinned to a tree with kunai?" Sasuke questioned.

"I got off it didn't I?" Sakura sneered

"Whatever" Sasuke muttered.

"Let's go back; shirt on please" Sakura mumbled.

"Aa" Sasuke nodded.

--

"I see you two are back" Kakashi snickered.

"Say what you wish" Sakura grumbled, still recovering from the strength loss from the sealing with Sasuke "Who's up now?"

"Kankuro and Misumi. Sand versus leaf" Kakashi answered.

"Who one out of Shino and Zaku?" Sakura asked.

"Shino" Kakashi answered.

"I see"

--

As the matches continued; it became apparent that Sakura's match was going to be the last one; as she hadn't fought yet. Shikamaru won over Kin, Dosu won over Chouji, Kiba lost to Naruto, Hinata fought well, but lost to her cousin Neji; Temari was victorious over Tenten, and just now Gaara totally smashed up Rock Lee, to the point where there was no longer a battle field. Finally the last battle was predicted as Ino and Sakura made their way down to the stadium; Sakura finally recovering from her sealing Sasuke and was waiting for Ino to come down to the stadium. In the background Sakura could hear Naruto cheering for her as well as Dosu remembering who she was, and other ninja sneering at the pink haired girl they had never seen before; a girl they would assume would lose to Ino.

"Out of all the people I was going to be versing today, I didn't think it would be you and so early on" Ino confessed.

"Well don't think that this is a little tea party here" Sakura sneered.

'Ino excelled against the other rookie kunoichi, except her. Can she fight with Sakura on an even plane?' Asuma questioned.

"Of all combinations, it chose these two to be last" Shikamaru whined.

"Not good at all. I'm worried about Ino" Chouji whined.

"Sakura-chan! Do your best!" Naruto shouted; Sasuke and Kakashi supporting her the entire way.

"Begin" Hayate ordered. Instantly, Ino charged towards Sakura with her fist draw ready to punch Sakura; while the other girl just stood there. Coming close to a painful impact, Sakura smirked before blocking Ino with a simple outer block.

"You will have to try harder than that" Sakura mocked while Ino continued to attack Sakura with an onslaught of punches and kicks to have them dodged by Sakura effortlessly.

"Just as I thought" Shikamaru muttered.

"Sakura-chan is at an advantage!" Naruto shouted.

"Baka!" Shikamaru insisted

"What?" Naruto exclaimed.

"If you're not an idiot, you must be sleeping" Shikamaru sneered.

"They're kunoichi, their physical stamina and ability is lower" Neji explained.

"It's not because they are female. It's because Ino's going soft on Sakura and Sakura isn't taking Ino seriously" Tenten explained.

"Soft?" Naruto muttered.

Suddenly Ino punched Sakura in the stomach, making Sakura flinch momentarily at the impact; Ino seizing the opportunity to punch Sakura in the face, but the only sound emitted from the battle field was a slapping sound.

'Why did I think of that?' Ino questioned as she replayed the image of a younger, happy Sakura.

"If you are going to turn this into a slapping fight, I may as well not even bother in this fight" Sakura scoffed as she jumped back, away from Ino, before throwing kunai towards the girl. Minutes later, Ino continued to attack Sakura with physical brawl, only ever getting in an occasional punch.

'Since when was she ever this strong? She wasn't like that in the academy!' Ino breathed in jealousy.

'I am not losing to her!' Sakura growled before both punched each other square in the face; sending the each other backwards.

'This is a very long match. They have been going at this for ten minutes now' the examiner analyzed.

"There is no way you can be as strong as me!" Ino yelled.

"I can't be an equal of some one who is boy obsessed, and spends too much time on her appearance" Sakura mocked.

Angry at Sakura's remark, Ino drew out her kunai "Stop underestimating me!" Ino growled.

"Baka! She's taking those empty insults seriously" Shikamaru scolded "We don't know what she's doing now"

"I don't like the way Ino is acting" Chouji grumbled. As if in slow motion, Ino brought her kunai up to her hair, pulled on it before chopping it off.

"You're pretty simple minded aren't you?" Sakura questioned.

'Crap! She's totally lost it!' Shikamaru exclaimed with gritted teeth.

"See that? Screw this!" Ino shouted, tossing her cut hair in front of her.

"She's scary" Naruto muttered.

"Enough! I'm going to end this by making you say 'I give up'!" Ino exclaimed as she drew her hands into a different hand seal.

"She's going to try that?!" Shikamaru cried.

'That seal?' Sakura questioned "I see, so you're desperate to end this now eh?"

"Shut up!" Ino shouted.

"Ninpou Shintenshin no Jutsu. The user releases their mind and hits the enemy with it, so to take over their body and mind; but your technique has its weaknesses like any jutsu. First, the energy released moves slow and can only be transferred in a straight line; second, if the user misses, their body will be immobile like a doll until their spirit can return" 'Do you care to try again, even though you failed last time?'

"So what? You won't know until I make the move" Ino growled.

"Well if you miss, you miss" Sakura mocked as she prepared to run away from Ino's attack.

"Ninpou Shintenshin no Jutsu" Ino shouted as Sakura ran way from Ino. Instantly, both girls became frozen in time, before Ino fell to the ground and Sakura snickered slightly.

"Nice try, Ino" Sakura chuckled before running towards the girl prepared to end it, only to have her body frozen in place.

"Nani? This is…" Sakura gasped.

"You have fallen into my trap Sakura" Ino smirked.

"You-"

"That's right. I was pretending when I did those seals before" Ino snickered "Now let's try this again! Ninpou Shintenshin no Jutsu" Ino shouted. Like before, both girls' bodies became limp, before Sakura's began twitching slightly, and chuckling slightly, very out of character.

'What's with Sakura?' Sasuke questioned.

"Nice try, Sakura" Sakura/ Ino snickered as she raised her hand "I Sakura give-"

"SAKURA-CHAN! You have tried to hard to give up!" Naruto shouted "Don't give in!" Instantly, Sakura/Ino diverted her attention to Naruto; where Kakashi and Sasuke also seemed concerned.

"Damn it he's noisy!" Sakura/Ino growled in annoyance.

"It will be a disgrace if you lose to that Sasuke-obsessed freak!" Naruto shouted; Sasuke tempted to thwack Naruto over the head from his comment.

"It's no use telling me right now" Sakura/Ino sneered; abruptly intense pain shot through the girl's body, sending her hands to her head.

"What the?" Sakura/Ino muttered "…is this chill?"

'Naruto is too noisy! But he is right! I have worked far too hard to loose to this bitch' Sakura cursed.

"Sakura! This can't be!" Sakura/Ino muttered in pain.

"What is it? Do you give up?" the examiner asked. Suddenly Sakura shouted in pain, scaring everyone around her for her odd behaviour.

"There is no way I am going to give up!" Sakura yelled.

In Sakura's Mind

'SHANNARO!!!!'

Out of Sakura's mind.

"Which is it?" the examiner asked.

In Sakura's mind

"What the?" Ino questioned as she was pushed back by Sakura.

Outside Sakura's mind.

"Sakura!" Kakashi exclaimed as he watched his most distant student struggle in pain with a war no one could see.

Inside Sakura's mind

Images of Sakura's past speckled occasionally which was unexpected for both girls, one of Ino and her, another of blood, another with Zabuza and Haku, and one as a hostage. Suddenly another image appeared over Ino, however this one appeared very real, and very big; if anything it wasn't just an image; it was real. It was the current Sakura, maybe a little younger, see through and had kanji written over her forehead.

"This can't be!" Ino exclaimed as the Sakura image stormed over her 'I screwed the technique up?'

'Yamanaka, get the hell out of my mind!'

'If you don't you will be at hell's door step!'

'SHANNARO!'

Outside Sakura's mind

"What's happening to Ino?" Shikamaru questioned.

"Who cares what happens to Ino, what's happening to Sakura-chan?!" Naruto cried.

'What's going on? At this rate I won't last any longer!' Ino cried with no choice, she slowly moved Sakura's arm to dispel the jutsu.

"Kai!" Sakura/Ino shouted allowing Ino to return to her body exhausted, like her opponent.

'Impossible! She beat Ino's jutsu!' Shikamaru exclaimed.

'She used up too much chakra before, that's why she wasn't able to do the jutsu properly' Asuma believed.

'Though Ino had chakra left, that wasn't the reason Ino had to leave. Sakura's will power is strong and she won't let any one get in her way. Naruto just helped a little however, you both should have minimum chakra now' Kakashi stared in amazement.

"Like I said before, I won't work" Sakura smirked breathlessly.

"What…who…are you?" Ino questioned "You have two minds?"

"Every girl should know; to over power a little bitch, you gotta face them straight on. My strength is greater than you would imagine" Sakura explained "Now then let's finish this" Sakura began flashing her hands in a quick series to perform the 'Kage Bunshin no Jutsu'; creating three more of herself before charging after Ino.

"You think a petty attack like that will stop me?" Ino shouted as she hit each clone, making them disappear to reveal none of the clones were Sakura.

"No but this will!" Sakura shouted as she pulled the girl down into the earth "Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu (14)" Sakura shouted as she emerged from the ground smirking at Ino, drawing her kunai to the captured girl's neck.

"Now, this is a rather pathetic situation" Sakura snickered "The ground around you, is slowly closing in since I altered this jutsu, you have a kunai to your neck, either you give up, or you will perish either by kunai or by the ground"

"I refuse to give up!" Ino shouted.

"Are you sure about that?" Sakura questioned as the ground grew tighter and her kunai became closer to killing her.

"Sakura-chan, don't!" Naruto shouted.

"Yamanaka, I ask you again do you give up?" Sakura asked.

"Never!" Ino growled.

"Fine" Sakura stood up and closed her palm, ready to squash the girl.

"Sakura! Enough!" Sasuke shouted breaking the girl out of her reverie and into shock.

'Kuso! You took over again didn't you?'

'In fact I did, no one enters here twice and gets away with it!'

'But not to the point of killing some one!'

'Do you want to pass or not?'

'Don't, I am not going to kill her!'

'You won't pass these exams!'

'If you are going to kill by my hand I don't want to pass!'

As Sakura continued to have the inner war in her mind, the ground slowly released its grip on Ino and pushed the girl up, releasing her from the pain it caused. Staring at the struggling in shock, Ino slowly breathed watching her ex-best friend fight with herself; as if trying to do the right thing. Angry at the girl's struggle, Ino ran over to the girl before punching her, snapping her out of her inner fight.

"Remember, I'm your opponent?" Ino mocked.

"How could I forget?" Sakura questioned as she moved into a fighting stance.

"Then, let's continue" Ino ordered.

"Whatever you wish" Sakura muttered as she charged towards in with drawn fist. Again the two girls fought using only taijutsu with occasional weapons, in close combat, hand to hand, brawn against brawn. Soon it seemed that the girls would have no choice but to retire; they had lost almost all of their chakra, and were attacking in sheer physical strength. Cuts and bruises were marked in various places along their bodies; there breathing was ragged and unsteady; a sure sign of exhaustion.

"Eh? You tired?" Sakura mocked.

"Not at all, you?" Ino smirked.

"Nope. Just getting started" Sakura smirked as she ripped off her shirt and tossed it on the ground with a very large and heavy thud; shocking everyone in her room "Aaa! That's better, not so heavy any more" Sakura smirked as she massaged her muscles.

"That was weighted?" Ino questioned.

"Well yea" Sakura nodded "If you want to increase stamina and other stuff; weights help"

"How heavy was that exactly?" Ino asked.

"Not much; I think I put ten kilograms in that" Sakura shrugged before charging towards Ino with a much more quickened pace, punching her right in the face, receiving one from Ino as well as both girls were sent flying back. Slowly both struggled to get up, watching the other get up just as slow; before Ino collapsed and Sakura though on the verge on unconsciousness, stood up victorious.

"The winner is Sakura. This concludes the preliminary matches" Hayate announced.

'Impossible! She shouldn't be able to stand after that!' Asuma exclaimed, like Shikamaru and Chouji.

'Sakura eh? What an interesting girl' Gaara smirked evilly.

'She has amazing power for a kunoichi' Neji and Tenten exclaimed.

'She's amazing!' Lee exclaimed.

"GO SAKURA-CHAN!!!" Naruto shouted, cheering for his victorious friend with Kakashi and Sasuke proud of her winning.

"That….took….too long" Sakura grumbled as she sat unceremoniously on the floor watching Asuma pick his subordinate, sparing her a some what jealous and disgusted look.

--

"To those who have made it to the Third Exam of the chuunin selection, congratulations" Hayate smiled.

'In the finalist, we have six from Konoha, three from sand and one from sound' the Hokage thought.

"I will now begin the explanation of the final matches; you main matches will be shown in front of everyone. We wish for you all to show off you abilities as your country's representative power. There fore these matches will begin in one month time" the Hokage explained.

"What? We aren't going to right here and now?" Naruto asked.

"The one month time is so you can prepare for your matches" the Hokage answered.

"What do you mean?" Neji asked.

"In other words we are going to announce to feudal lords and famous people that the preliminary matches are finished and time needed for those people for the main matches. This is also time for you as candidates"

"I still don't understand" Kankuro growled.

"Simple put, that time, while feudal lords and leaders of each country comes here, we are given the chance in that one month to recover and prepare for each opponent we may face, analyze each opponent and find every possible way to defeat them, perfect jutsus and train" Sakura explained.

"Correct" the Hokage nodded.

"You're still conscious?!" Kankuro exclaimed.

"What does it look like ya baka!" Sakura muttered.

"This is used so you can also develop new jutsus; since in the main matches you will know your rival's techniques and abilities and they will know yours; and so you use this chance to get something new; thus making the matches fair" the Hokage added "Now before you go, there is something you need to do before your main matches here"

"Hurry up I have to go train!" Naruto yelled.

"Shut up! Don't be so hasty!" Sakura muttered as she punched him in the head, sending him a bit of a distance.

"Where do you get the energy to do that?" Kankuro exclaimed.

"Hn" Sakura grunted.

"Take a piece of paper out of the box Anko is holding" the Hokage ordered.

"I'll walk along, so take it in turns" Anko said as she moved along the genin, allowing each to take a piece of paper and open it up.

"Okay, everyone got one?" Ibiki asked "Now tell me what number you guys got"

"Eight" Dosu answered.

"One" Naruto mumbled.

"Seven" Temari muttered.

"Five" Kankuro said.

"Three" Gaara grunted.

"Nine" Shikamaru sighed.

"Two" Neji replied.

"Six" Shino muttered.

"Four" Sasuke answered.

"Ten" Sakura answered.

"We will now tell you your match ups for the main matches" the Hokage explained.

"Nani?!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Is that why we drew the numbers?" Shikamaru asked.

"Ibiki show the match ups" the Hokage ordered. Ibiki nodded as he turned around a clipboard with the match ups.

'Uzamaki Naruto vs. Hyuuga Neji

Gaara vs. Uchiha Sasuke

Kankuro vs. Aburame Shino

Temari vs. Nara Shikamaru

Dosu vs. Sakura'

'A tournament?' Temari questioned.

'I'm glad I am not on the same block as Gaara' Kankuro sighed in relief.

'Uchiha Sasuke' Gaara seemed to smirk evilly.

'Perfect' Neji smirked.

'Hyuuga Neji' Naruto grimaced.

"I have a question" Shikamaru raised his hand.

"Yes?"

"If it is a tournament, is there only one winner right? Does that mean only one person can become chuunin?" Shikamaru asked.

"No. That's not how it is. These matches will have judges including me, the Kazekage and various feudal lords and head ninja from other countries who maybe potential clients. These judges will grade you by watching your battles, and those who fit the criteria of a chuunin will pass even if they lost in the first round" the Hokage explained.

"So there is a possibility that everyone here will become chuunin?" Temari asked.

"Yes, but it also gives the possibility that no one will become chuunin, these matches are basically to show off your skills. Do you understand Shikamaru-kun?" the Hokage replied.

'Kuso! Troublesome!' Shikamaru muttered.

"Well with that said you may leave" the Hokage smiled.

"Finally" Sakura sighed before falling to the ground, exhausted.

"Sakura-chan, daijobou?" Naruto cried.

""Hai just tired" Sakura smiled.

"Pft! And you said you'd finish your fight quicker than mine" Sasuke scoffed.

"Aahhh! Shut up" Sakura muttered as she rolled onto her left side, lifted her self up and wobbled out the door.

"Your team mate is so weird" Neji snickered.

"At least mine hasn't got thick eye brows, wears a green jump suit and mimics your teacher" Sasuke smirked.

"Shut it Uchiha" Neji growled.

--

Instantly, as soon as she was out of sight from everyone and anyone, Sakura collapsed on the floor, behind a stair case, from exhaustion and from pain as inside her mind, another war raged on with the other spirit residing in her.

--

Notes:

-How was that chapter? Did you like it or not.

-Yea I know, it's not the whole chuunin exam, but that's because the chuunin exam is so long I decided to put it in two parts; but I haven't written the main matches yet –sweatdrops-

-I am very happy with this one, especially with the slight Sasusaku moments –grins madly- And I heavily based it off the story for this chapter; but left out a few pieces and added a few as well as rearranged it slightly; so I am sorry if it isn't to your liking.

-Please no flaming with reviews; but constructive criticism is appreciated; so please RxR!

-And one last note; for the translations; I have decided to only put the new ones in as well as the jutsus I use in this (except the ones I make up)

Translations:

1) Onegai- Please

2) Itai- Ouch

3) Nande- Why

4) Ninpou: Shintenshin no Jutsu- literally "Mind Body Switch Technique"

Type: C-rank, Supplementary, Short to mid-range (0-10m)
Shintenshin a.k.a. Art of the Valentine allows the user to enter a target's mind, taking control of their body and senses. Normally a spying Jutsu, it can also be used in battle although with many drawbacks. The spiritual energy travels very slowly making it easy to dodge; If this happens, the user's body will be left as an empty vessel for a few minutes, leaving it wide open to attack- and even if the Jutsu does work, any damage that is caused to the target will also be inflicted upon the user's original body.

5) Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu- literally "Fire Release: Mythical Fire Phoenix Technique"
Type: C-rank, Offensive, Close range (0-5m)
Sends multiple balls of flame at the target. It is also possible to hide shurikens within the fireballs, creating an unexpected secondary attack.

6) Kage Bunshin no Jutsu literally "Shadow Clone Technique"
Type: B-rank, Supplementary
Unlike the normal Bunshin no Jutsu (Art of the Doppelganger), this jutsu creates not just an illusion, but real bodies of the ninja. The user's chakra is evenly distributed among the user and every clone. This could be very dangerous if the user is low on chakra or makes many clones (like with Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Multiple Shadow Clone Technique), making this technique forbidden), something Naruto doesn't have to worry about, since his chakra supply is very high thanks to the Kyūbi. Kage Bunshin can't be detected by Byakugan (Hyūga Neji states this during his fight with Naruto during the third Chūnin exam). This is because the clones are real bodies with real chakra systems, identical to the user. It can be detected by Sharingan. Because the clones are real they can do real damage and can take some damage themself, being even able to bleed, although they'll still disappear when enough damage has been done, which is usually after one hit.

7) Kawarimi no Jutsu- literally "Change of Body Technique"

Type: E-rank, Supplementary
The user quickly replaces themselves with another object, such as a plant or an animal (usually a section of log). This usually confuses the attacker and leaves them open to a counter-attack. A fairly common Jutsu, it is one of the basic Jutsu a Ninja must learn before graduating to the Genin level. It is not limited strictly to the Naruto series, and is sometimes called Utsusemi no Jutsu.

8) Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu- literally "Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique"
Type: D-rank, Supplementary, Short range (0-5m)
Narakumi no Jutsu is a Genjutsu technique that causes its target to see a horrifying vision. The ninja will use the rat hand seal to cause a circle of leaves to spin and envelop the target and then fall away. Once cast the world will appear normal to the target until they see the illusion.

9) Baika no Jutsu- literally "Multi Size Technique"
Type: Hiden, No rank, Supplementary
This is a secret jutsu passed down in the Akimichi clan. The jutsu increases the user's body size, using up the user's food energy.

10) Kagemane no Jutsu- literally "Shadow Imitation Technique"
Type: No rank, Hiden, Supplementary, Short to mid-range (0-10m)
The user's shadow is extended to the opponent's shadow, combining them. This puts the attacker in control of the target's movements- the target is forced to make any movement the user makes. It is an extremely versatile technique. Given enough talent, the shadow can contract and change shape, and even get ahold of several targets at once. The shadow can also be connected with the shadows of other objects to extend its range. Shikamaru can only hold the jutsu for about 5 minutes.
Kagemane no Jutsu used to be called Kage Shibari no Jutsu. The name also suggests that in the past, the technique could only hold targets in place and not force them to copy the user's movements.

11) Yamatte- though the spelling may be slightly off; it basically means stop.

12) Minna- everyone

13) Ninpou Oboro Bunshin no Jutsu- literally "Haze Clone Technique"
Type: D-rank, Supplementary

14) Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu- literally "Earth Release: Double Suicide Decapitation Technique"
Type: D-rank, Supplementary, Short range (0-5m)
The user, emerging from the ground below the target, pulls down (or swaps places with) the target so that only the target's head is above ground.