It was nearly two hours later that the Night cell managed to get to the tower. They had been running low on daylight and energy in the end, even getting lost once or twice before Kuro set them on the right path. Even now as they stood in the shadow of the guard tower, they were fast loosing the sun. Dusk was settling over the forest, and all three of them were glad to be done with this part of the exam. Every obstacle that had been placed to trip them up was carefully avoided, thanks to Makuro's Kekkei Genkai. All the same, he could not steer them clear of their fatigue. The fact was that they were all hungry and tired.

Yoake was waiting for them at the bottom of the tower, and she didn't look all that pleased. Their sensai was wearing her Yorukage robes, which suggested that she had been meeting with the Hokage.

"Please don't say anything, sensai!" Sato said as the three of them strolled up to her, "I'm famished, and I need sleep. Give me a pillow and a bowl of ramen, and I will tell you anything that you want—in the morning!!!"

To Makuro's surprise, Yoake pulled from the folds of her yorukage robe a steaming bowl of ramen, and a feather pillow, and handed them over to the girl without a word.

All the randomness of that moment was lost on Sato. The girl actually laid down on the ground with a pillow under her head and a bowl of ramen next to her. Makuro and Shinri had a few seconds to marvel in the strangeness of their world before Yoake beckoned to the pair of them to follow her as she

"I was in the observatory." She said in a low voice, looking very severe, "And I saw you three coming in like the devil was on your heels. Now, I know both of you are the tactical, analytical types, so I assume that you wouldn't have come in against direct orders unless there was a drastic emergency. So.." Yoake nodded, "Let's hear!"

Makuro gave a careful look back at Sato's still form. She had either fallen asleep very fast right there in the middle of the clearing, or was very good at pretending. The linen-clad ninja returned his attention to his sensai.

"It's a long story, Yoake." Kuro muttered.

Yoake scowled, "Can't be that long, you were barely in the forest!"

Makuro told his sensai everything about the confrontation between Sato and Itachi. What details he did not know for sure he surmised using his unfailing logic. After his tale was finished, Shinri dived into his account of his meeting with Kisame and Itachi before Yoake could even digest what had been told to her by the last one. When both boys were finished with their accounts, they stood back and waited for Yoake's verdict

Yoake looked very stern for a few seconds, then she shook her head and said in an even tone, "This certainly changes everything."

"To right it does." Shinri rowled, arms crossed across his chest, "What are we going to do about it?"

"I don't know yet." Yoake pulled off her Yorukage's hat, and ran her fingers through her hair. It was a habit she had, one that she only exhibited when she was under duress, "You played it as well as I thought you would, Shinri, but for gosh sakes you should have known that there's no way to sneak up on Itachi."

Shinri shrugged, "What else could I have done?"

"Personally I wouldn't have stuck around as long as you did, Shinri." Yoake admitted, giving her head a small shake, "Like I said, you did well. The only thing that might come back and bite you is the fact that you backed Itachi into a corner. He won't like that, which—"

"Might complicate things even more." Makuro finished grimly.

"Exactly." Yoake looked around her rather nervously, "We'll talk about this more in Yorugakure. You three are the second team to come in, give me your scrolls, and you can go home—"

"WHAT?"

Sato sat straight up, upsetting the bowl of ramen, spilling it all over the ground. She didn't seem to care, and her mouth was wide open. There was no trace of sleep in here eyes now they were alert and blazing.

"We weren't the first team to get in? T-that's impossible!" She exclaimed.

Kuro felt that he had to agree. Tactically they had the definite upper hand among their fellow genin in the competition. There was no team that would have been able to best them, and he felt no pride in those words.

He sent a quizzical look to his sensai. Yoake looked midly amused and annoyed at the same time. It was the same look that had been on her face when the three of them had shown up.

"Surprised are you, eh? I was too, actually. Suna's cell got here three hours before you did. It's a new record, they shattered the last one by at least six hours. They've gone home to Sunagakure already. "

"Well that ruined my day." Sato muttered mutinously, looking at her bowl of spilled ramen. Weather the girl was talking about being bested in the exam, or her capsized food, none of them would ever know.

Wordlessly Shinri handed over his heaven scroll, and Makuro fished his Earth scroll from out of one of the many pockets on his robe.

"Good." Yoake said, taking the scrolls, "Go home and get some rest. I'll have to do some serious thinking about all of this… I'll see you all in the morning."

"Anything changed about the third part of the exam?" Shinri asked, trying to get the conversation back onto a level he was comfortable with.

"Actually, yes." Yoake nodded, "The procters of this exam are expecting more genin than ever to make it out of the forest alive, and to weed only the best out there will be a preliminary round for the third part of the testing."

Pause…

"Preliminaries?" Sato asked quietly, sitting up even straighter, "We didn't expect that, did we?"

"We weren't expecting most of the things that have happened since we launched this plan!" Makuro said darkly, also crossing his arms across his chest, "I still stand by what I said before—"

"We know what you said before, Makuro!" Yoake said a little impatiently, "And yes, yes, we see all along that you were right. Now, if you would kindly save the gloating until I can think of a way out of this..that would be wonderful."

Sato gave a small excuse for a smile, "Can't wait to see who I'm paired up against in the preliminaries…"

Yoake penetrated the girl with a hard stare that was contrasted sharply by the gentleness of her voice, "Satora.. are you alright??

"Yeah, as I'll ever be." Sato shrugged. She looked as tired as any of them.

"Go home, that's an order." Yoake said, "A mission, if you will. Two days, my friends. Be in Konoha in two days, meet me by the north gate. Rested and ready to fight, if it so please you.."

"Where will you be?" Kuro asked.

"Don't worry about that, just get out of here." Yoake snapped.

Sato shrugged, and looked over at her teammates. She slowly got to her feet

"Shall we go, guys?"

Shinri nodded, as did Makuro. There was a puff of smoke, and the three of them were up and away.

Yoake smiled to herself, and called, "Not so hopeless now, are they Kakashi?"

The lean ninja materialized from the shadows without a word, hands in his pockets.

"I suppose so. How did you know I was there?"

"I'm Yorukage, Kakashi!" Yoake said wryly, "Someone is almost always spying on me."

Kakashi bobbed his head, "It is to be expected. I have to admit, your cell seems to be working together a lot better. Times of trial tend to unify even the most bitter of enemies."

Yoake sighed, and cocked her head, "I suppose you mean Shinri and Sato?"

"None other."

Yoake frowned, "Seeing Itachi really shook Shinri up, I could tell. Sato was on edge too, and I think the only reason she survived that meeting was because Itachi needs her alive almost as much as we do. I should have expected that Uchiha would show his face again, I just never imagined that he would have the raw nerve to actually make a move on her right here, right now."

"He's Itachi." Kakashi said simply, "He can do almost whatever he wants to do, and we will either never know, or be powerless to stop."

"Right. Anyways, like I was saying, there seemed to be an uneasy truce between the two of them. Shinri and Sato, I mean." Yoake gave a small grin, "Finally, they were able to put their petty differences aside, at least for the moment. Do you know how long I have been trying to pound that into their heads?"

Kakashi gave a humorless laugh, "Watch, when you go back to the Village Hidden in the Night, they will have killed each other!"

Yoake shook her head, "I hope not, but I don't think that will happen. All three of them are too tired to even bicker. How is your cell doing?"

"They had a run-in with Orochimaru." Kakashi's voice remained calm, though Yoake could tell this alarmed him quite a bit, "They managed to escape with their lives, though. Barely."

Yoake closed her eyes, and sighed, "I am starting to think that none of this is worth it. Makuro was right-there are too many questions left unanswered, too many all to plausible scenarios that might come to pass…and none of them really have any answers."

"The answers will come to you, Yoake!" Kakashi said simply in his typical logic.

Yoake slowly shook her head, and pulled her Yorukage's hood back on, "Things are really going to start popping once the third part of the exam comes to past. You think we're having problems now, wait ti'll later!"

"I can't wait." Kakashi said rather darkly.