Naruto sat in the large open field practicing

another Jutsu. It had been two weeks since the wave mission, and he had nothing to do but train.

He had jumped from the D-Rank section of his manuscript up to the C-Rank section. He had gotten his flash step to a comfortable level for now, but he would continue to work on it, Wind style: Air canon, that was the Jutsu Naruto had begun working on, but he quickly realized that if he wanted to utilize this attack properly he would need to increase his control of chakra. The last two hours of each training session were spent meditating and tree climbing.

But today Naruto would have to cut it short. He had a team meeting coming up, and he didn't want to be late. He quickly wrapped up the last of his tree climbing and ran to the local park. His disappointment spiking upon noticing that Kakashi wasn't there yet, Team seven sat in silence for several hours until a loud poof made them look up.

Their conversation was short-lived as Kakashi was summoned via letter. Naruto sighed and began walking back to the training field, he had two hours of training to make up, "Put me down you weirdo!", Naruto looked up as he rounded the corner. A tall boy wearing what appeared to be a cat onesie suit held a small boy by his scarf. Naruto stopped and inspected the odd duo, a girl with dirty hair split into four separate buns stood impatiently tapping her foot. Naruto quickly took note of the headband around her neck, Naruto inspected their outfits some more, odd is what he would've called them even by his standards.

The girl wore a strange light purple garment and fishnets that seemed to extended further on the right leg than the left. A large fan was wrapped around her back and a deep red sash was wrapped around her waist. "Put the boy down." Naruto said sternly. The cat boy looked over at Naruto and smirked, "or what?" The boy asked as he tightened his grip on the boy's scarf.

In what appeared to be an instant, Naruto closed the distance between himself and the boy and wrapped his hand around the cat boy's wrist and squeezed.

The cat boy winced and grudgingly dropped the boy. Naruto slowly released his wrist, "From your headbands, I'm assuming you're sand nin."

The girl nodded, "I'm Temari and this idiot is Kankuro, our brother is nearby.", Sasuke watched from a nearby tree with interest before speaking, "And why would a bunch of sand nin be in the leaf?" he asked. Kankuro and Temari looked at the small tree, Kankuro scowled and rubbed his wrist, "Another nuisance" he said loudly. As he reached for the large bandaged bundle on his back, "Come down here, you little squirrel.". Temari placed her hand on the boy's shoulder, "Stop. That's enough".

"Shut up" Kankuro said as shoved his sister and grabbed the bundle. Naruto's head snapped up and to the left, while sasuke slowly looked over to the large branch next to his own.

A tall, imposing figure stood upside down with his arms crossed. His gray eyes cold and distant, the air grew heavy and Naruto and Sasuke began to sweat. Both unable to move, the force of this red-headed boy's power seemed to wrap its hand around everything.

The street they were on seemed to go quiet, no singing birds, no rustling leaves and no wind. "Kankuro…that's enough." the boy said. Sasuke felt his panic increase, "He snuck up behind me and I didn't even notice" The Uchiha thought.

The red head's gray eyes became ablaze with fury as he looked around at the source of the problem. "You pathetic fool…it annoys me that you'd lose control over a silly little quarrel like this. Has your memory failed you?, have you forgotten why we're here?"

Kankuro looked down and felt his mouth go dry. "Gaara, you don't understand that litt-"

"Shut up…lest I kill you where you stand," Gaara said as small pieces of sand began dancing around him wildly. Kankuro quickly apologized, "You're right Gaara, sorry I was out of line".

Gaara looked over at Temari, who looked down and muttered an apology, "What?"

"Were sorry Gaara." She said a little louder.

Gaara suddenly vanished and reappeared behind his siblings. "Let's go", "Wait…why would a bunch of sand nin be roaming around the leaf?." Sasuke asked. Naruto looked at Sasuke, "They're here for the chunin exams."

Before sasuke opened his mouth, Naruto seemed to answer his next question, "A test of skill between every major village and occasionally smaller villages. It also acts as a like show of friendship or neutrality.", Sasuke nodded and looked back at the sand team. "What's your name?"

"Kan-"

"Not you weirdo the red head." Sasuke replied quickly, Gaara said nothing for a second, His stare hardening at the tone of voice Sasuke used to speak with Kankuro. "Gaara." The boy said simply. He didn't care enough to listen to Sasuke's answer and began walking away.

Sasuke and Naruto quickly reunited with Sakura at Mito's bridge. Naruto listened to the flowing river and gently tapped his foot on the ground, Sakura sat across from him trying to make conversation with Sasuke.

They weren't really waiting for anything more like spending time together, a suggestion that was surprisingly brought up by Sasuke, Sasuke answered Sakuras question with short two or three word answers that seemed to be pre-planned.

"So Sasuke, I was thinking me and you should hang out alone and without Naruto in a…an uh, public dining area of sorts." Sakura said nervously. Sasuke looked at her impatiently for a second before answering, "Are you asking me on a date?" Sasuke asked.

"Who said anything about dates?, I was just asking you to hang out with me and only me." Sakura replied quickly, Sasuke stared at her for a second before his eyes wandered over to Naruto, The blonde didn't seem to be paying attention to their conversation. Sasuke thought for a moment, if he said yes then she would never ask this silly question again, if he said No then she would.

"Sure…meet me at the benches outside the academy at…hmm, 3:30 this upcoming Saturday." Sasuke replied, He watched with concern as Sakuras face turned bright red as she began nodding and walking away. Kakashi watched this interaction and practically burst into laughter at Sakuras reaction. He grabbed the small steel cards in his pocket, and body flickered off the beam and onto the bridge.

"Hey, guy's no time for chit-chat, but I've nominated you guys for the chunin exams." He said as he handed out the small cards. "I know this is sudden, but I think you guys are truly ready. Report to room 301 tomorrow at precisely 4:00 pm, no later than that, you got it?."

Sakura felt a large pit open in her stomach. She looked up at her two teammates and frowned, she couldn't see the eagerness, but she could feel it. "Is this too much for me?…forget Sasuke and Naruto, I probably wouldn't be able to keep up with Ino" She thought as she placed the small card into her small leather travel bag.

Sasuke looked back. "Are you alright?", Sakura quickly looked up and forced a smile, "yeah, just thinking."

Naruto looked at the card and slipped it into his pocket. He would have to ramp up his training.