"The way that girl can break a heart

It's like a work of art

And this is the worst part

She knows it

And she's so confident

That she's what everybody wants

But nobody wants

Her to know that

The way that girl can turn a head

Well she is such a threat

But don't ever forget

She knows it

And she's got it all

All figured out

And she won't let you doubt

She knows it

All the genin were packed in tight in front of the main gate. The night cell wasn't hiding in the back this time, they were right in the middle of things, ready for action. Sato was practically bouncing on the balls of her heels; she couldn't wait for those giant, foreboding gates to swing open. Shinri had slipped in with them a few minutes ago, looking rather pleased with himself in a snakelike sort of way. Neither of them had even asked what he had been up to.

Makuro remained as stoic as ever, standing motionless between his two other cellmates, tense, ready for anything.

"What an extraordinary company of noobs! I can't wait, this is going to be so much fun!" Sato said, a competitive grin flittering around her features. She chanced a look at her linen-clad friend, "You?"

"I don't know about this." Makuro said uncertainly, taking a deep breath. He could feel so many emotions and chakra levels around him that it was rather daunting. The sheer amount of power in certain persons standing around him made him seriously consider his own mortality. He wasn't Sato. He knew he was expendable.

"You can't have second thoughts about this now, Kuro!" Shinri said quietly. A change had come over the snake ninja in the last few moments. The usual sneer wasn't on his mouth, and he seemed more docile than before. Was he perhaps actually nervous about going into the forest of death?

Not a chance. Shinri clenched and unclenched his fists, and drew a deep shuddering breath. He was possibly more anxious to get into the 44th training ground than even Sato.

Then all at once it happened.

Satora's perception of reality was suddenly throw into extreme slow-mo, every color flashing to its opposite on the spectrum as her Tasogare powers were involuntarily bought to bear in defense. The girl gave a startled cry as her powers sprang to life, flaring up a brilliant flash of dark energy that blocked a searing kunai that had flown out of no where. The blade was of course deflected, and went spinning off into the unknown while Sato was left standing there, confused.

The ninja that had been lounging around Sato leaped back in alarm as the tendrils of withering shadow reached out for them with greedy arms. The pure chakra coming from the girl flickered and died, but still left many of the genin on edge. Because of her spastic defensive reflex, the chakra Sato's powers had summoned for her was way overkill, resulting in a large violently sparking explosion of shadows.

Sato whirled around, curse scars emitting a fierce orange light, her eyes glowing white. She took note of the kunai that had been thrown her way, buried into the ground nearly to its hilt. That had been a hard throw, and if it wasn't for her powers acting out on their own, she would be dead on the ground with a kunai through the back of her skull

"Who did it?" She snarled in a feral voice, crouched, ready for another attack. Her Tasogare powers were a last sort of safety net for any attack-the fact that she hadn't perceived the knife on her own made her even angrier. The nearness of it all scared her.

Sato found only surprised and wary faces staring back at her, three of them being Kakashi's cell 7. She felt Makuro take her hand and give it a gentle squeeze that said, 'take it easy.'

The orange on her arms faded to yellow, then to green, and then there was no more glow. Sato relaxed slightly, but still kept scanning the crowd. Makuro released her hand, but still kept his close.

"Sorry…." A smooth voice snaked over the rest of the assembled genin, and came to Sato, who immediately stiffened at the familiarity, "Must have sssslipped..'
Three ninja shouldered their way through the crowd, which parted like the red sea to let them through. Shinri felt another chill run up and down his spine as he stared at the Grass ninja disguise Orochimaru had come up with. The other two Kusa ninja stayed a safe distance behind their master.

Orochimaru grinned sickly at the three Yoru genin from behind his wide rimmed hat, and his tongue snaked out over his serrated teeth. It kept coming, shooting out like a gunshot. Sato was immediately on her guard, ready to leap at the fiend, but the long black thing merely wrapped itself around the kunai, and snapped it back to the hand that had sent it.

"So sorry, you know how it is." Orochimaru took a step closer to the three teens, and slipped the kunai back into the folds of his Grass ninja robe, "I hope you can forgive me.."

Sato's jaw dropped. She shut it with a snap, and then opened it once more. For once in her life she was totally speechless.

Shinri stepped in front of his fellow cell member, and fixed Orochimaru with a venomous glare, shoving his hands back in his pockets.

"Clear out, you Kusagakure freaks. I'm not in the mood for anything like this, and neither is she." Shinri glanced at Sato. Somehow the look he shot her gave her the strength she needed to stop looking like a gaping fish out of water, and more like a ninja from Yorugakure.

"Yeah." She snapped, her voice shaking only slightly, "Get out of here before I go serious Tasogare on your hineys.."

There was a murmur, a ripple of motion from the spectators as they either whispered urgently to their cell members, or took a step back. Sato saw the effect of what she said, and decided to play it out to her advantage. Orochimaru might have been playing with her in the beginning, but she knew he wouldn't dare stick around if she tried to fight him here out in the open. He wasn't a fool; he knew he couldn't afford to face her without blowing his cover.

One look at Makuro confirmed it-Kuro had been formulating a plan along the same lines. There was an unspoken agreement between the two of them. It was time for a display of power.

Sato shot her arms out to the side, screaming unnecessarily, her entire body going up in sparking dark fire like she was some bizarre candle. Makuro ducked behind her, and let loose with dozens of linen strips from his person (which Sato cloaked in her ethereal flames) that completed the slightly realistic illusion of a lesser demon coming up from the underworld.

The crowd saw a possessed Tasogare ninja glowing with pure chakra, sending out antenna and feelers. It wouldn't have held up under scrutiny, but for the moment it was the scariest thing they could come up with.

Orochimaru wasn't fooled either, he knew there was no jutsu behind what Sato and Makuro had done, but he also knew it was time to go. Sato saw he and his cohorts vanish back into the crowd, and she let her rabid energy go, flickering back into her arms.

At the same time, Makuro drew back all of his linens in one smooth motion. He was left adjusting his goggles innocently as the genin spectators gasped and took multiple steps back.

Shinri turned on his heel, and penetrated the two of them with an unreadable look. Disdain? Grudging respect? A faint grin? Maybe a little of both.

"Did you see that?" Sakuro cried from the middle of the crowd, her hands jumping up to her mouth in surprise. Her eyes were wide in fear, "That was-was-"

"A complete sham." Sasuke said coolly, glancing at Sakura, "You couldn't see through that? It was an intimidation technique to get those Grass ninja off their backs, there wasn't any real demon there.."

"Oh, of course!" Sakura laughed weakly, and ran her fingers through her hair..

Naruto was frozen. What he had just seen, sham or not, was an incredibly display of power. He knew enough to realize that those flames he had just seen were pure chakra energies. Who knew what kinds of jutsu's that chick could come up with if it only took a raw, untamed blast to scare a crowd..

"Alright, alright!" Anko shouted angrily, coming out nowhere. She vaulted over the crowd, and landed lightly in front of the gate, sending a reproachful look at the three night cell members. She clasped her hands behind her back, and tossed her head, "No more of that, or everyone involved will be disqualified before things even start! Are you all ready?"

"Just open the gate already!" Someone hollered. There were shouts of approval, and pretty soon the entire company was throwing some variation of the phrase at the young proctor.

Anko looked disgusted, "Alright, you want the gates to open? On your marks then, kids.."

She raised an arm in the air, and everyone tensed.

"Get set….."

Shinri's breathing was becoming even more and more haggard. He was ready..oh, so ready..

"GO!"

Anko dropped her hand, and was gone in a puff of smoke. The gates flew open with a harsh, shrill scream that was echoed by countless battle cries. Dozens upon dozens of ninja flashed past the night cell all on their bounding, prancing way to a probable death…