Sun streaming though the open window prickled across Sakana's eyelids, waking her. She sat up and stretched slowly, glancing at the clock on the wall - 8:15, perfect timing. She swung out of bed and went to the bathroom to freshen up, coming out fully dressed and ready to go. Sakana locked her room and headed to the hotel's entrance where both Baki and Gaara were already waiting.

She noticed that Temari and Kankuro's shoes were gone, and seeing her confused expression Baki said, "They went to get some breakfast. They should be back soon."

She nodded and leaned back against the wall to wait. Her gaze drifted as she thought about the upcoming exams, but even without any conscious thought involved her eyes finally settled on Gaara. She instinctively fingered the necklace he had given to her, rough and cool in her hand. Had he made it? Could he really like her like that? She felt a slight blush rise to her cheeks as she thought about it. For a while now she'd had a bit of a crush on him, but he'd never shown any indication of liking her back until now.

Shortly after Sakana's arrival, Kankuro and Temari appeared.

"Here Sakana-chan, I got you some raisins!" Temari called, tossing her a bag.

"Arigato, Temari-chan!" Sakana said, catching it. Raisins were one of her favorite foods, along with natto and dango.

"Okay, we're all here. Let's get going," Baki said.

Sakana ate her raisins while she walked, and soon they arrived at a tall building with a sign that read "Ninja Academy" and bore the symbol of the Hidden Leaf.

"I can't go in with you, so I will see everyone afterwards. Good luck," Baki said before disappearing.

Sakana looked at all of her teammates, and after a slightly uncomfortable silence Gaara took the lead as they all walked into the building together. They were supposed to be in room 309 on the third floor. The first thing she noticed as they reached the second floor was a genjutsu someone had cast on one of the rooms to make it look like 309. It didn't fool any of her teammates of course and they walked directly past it up to the real 309. They entered and found a room full of parallel desks all facing a chalkboard at the front, while the wall to their left was mainly windows. There were only two other teams there that, like she and her friends, hadn't been tricked – one from the Land of Sound, the other from the Land of Grass. Sakana immediately went and sat near the row of windows, looking out across the already bustling village streets. Doing this calmed her nerves, which were steadily growing more jittery. Slowly more teams trickled in; the last being made up of Sasuke, Naruto, and the pink-haired girl from the day before. She told Temari that she'd be right back and walked over to them.

"Hey, I'm sorry about yesterday," she said sincerely.

Sasuke's POV

Sasuke and his team had barely arrived when they were approached by the petite sand kunoichi who had literally run into him yesterday.

"Hey, I'm sorry about yesterday," she said, addressing Naruto and Sakura. "I hope that Konohamaru is alright."

Sakura spoke up. "Its okay, no one was seriously hurt. I'm Haruno Sakura, by the way."

"Nice to meet you Sakura-san, I'm Mizuko Sakana."

"Mizuko…that's an odd name for a sand ninja," Sasuke thought to himself.

"And I'm Uzumaki Naruto!" Naruto said loudly next to him.

Sakana smiled at him then turned to Sasuke. "Your name is Uchiha Sasuke right?" she asked.

He nodded, eyeing the girl more carefully than he had the other day. Sakura was right; she was like a petite female form of himself - they had the same dark hair, pale skin and dark eyes. She reminded him of his mother. But she was shorter than even Naruto and seemed younger than him, too.

"I don't mean to intrude, but I was wondering what that symbol on your shirt stood for," she asked him.

He paused, wanting to tell her it was none of her business, but almost unconsciously he found himself saying, "It's the symbol of my clan, the Uchiha…I'm the only one left in Konoha."

"Oh, I'm very sorry… I shouldn't have asked…" Sakana said looking down, a faint blush on her cheeks. She seemed about to say something else, but was interrupted by the entrance of a tall, muscular man dressed all in black.

"My name is Morino Ibiki and I'm going to be your worst nightmare!" he shouted, glaring viciously across the room.