Sorry about the wait, it's been a rough week for me, work-wise. Hopefully, the next chapter won't take nearly so long. Can't make any promises, though.

Standard disclaimer applies.

Chapter 12: Acceptance

The boy with the red hair continued to stare at the two inhabitants of the Leaf, while his brother cast nervous glances between Keiko and his own brother. Her arm instinctively tightened around her brother. The tallest boy was the first to speak.

"Gaara, what are you doing he…" he trailed off as the shorter one's sleep-deprived eyes suddenly glared at his brother, murderous intent radiating off of him.

"Kankuro, do not forget your place. I have little enough patience for you as it is." With his brother sufficiently cowed, the Suna nin's attention returned to the two Leaf inhabitants. The killing intent subsided, but even Konohamaru could still feel its lingering effects.

"We are here to participate in the Chuunin exams as representatives of Sunagakure. It was not our intent to cause any trouble. Once again, I ask for forgiveness on my brother's behalf."

His words were pleasant enough, but Keiko couldn't shake off the chill running down her spine. There was something in his voice that unreasonably frightened her, like an unspoken threat. It seemed to strip away her ability to speak. Thankfully, the red-head released his gaze, and Keiko's unknowingly tense shoulders slumped, her relief evident.

"Come, Kankuro." The shorter one waved to the other as he pivoted, his back now facing Keiko and her brother. The taller boy did not hesitate in following his sibling, trailing behind him as they turned a corner, disappearing from view.

Keiko was proud of herself in many ways. She was a Sarutobi, descendant of a noble ninja family. She was a competent genin, capable of holding her own in a fight. She was afraid of some things, but that fear never overwhelmed her, never took control of her. She hadn't faltered when she stood face-to-face with the boy from Suna, but she knew, deep within a part of herself that she did not want to acknowledge, that she had just met one ninja that she would never want to fight.

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The two genin and jounin entered the administration level of the Hokage tower. All around them, shinobi and kunoichi from different nations, larger and small, were gathered a small set of booths. Each booth had the symbol of one of the participating villages hanging next to their partition. Naturally, the Konohagakure booth had quite a large group of individuals around it. Fortunately for the new arrivals, they weren't registering as Leaf-nin. They strode over to the desk in front of the booth, approaching the man sitting behind it.

"Country of origin?" The man looked bored out of his mind.

"Lightning."

"Number of genin participating?"

"Two."

Two slips of paper left the man's hand. "Please take these and fill out all pertinent information inside the booth. When completed…" he yawned. "When completed, return the forms to me. Thank you."

The jounin nodded as she picked up the papers and handed them to her two students. Ushering the two genin into the booth, she turned to see that the Konoha booth did not have such a desk. All the individuals in that area were already holding similar sheets as the ones she handed to her students, passing through the booth relatively quickly. Guess their teachers already handed them out.

They slipped passed the curtain into the enclosed space. Both genin took seats at the table in the middle of the area, while the jounin stood in front of the curtains, tapping her left foot impatiently.

"Hurry up Kaizo, Sai. We need to leave quickly. Naruto is waiting for us."

Both boys could hear the anticipation in their sensei's voice. And who could blame her? It had been a couple of weeks since they saw Naruto, the longest they had been apart since the formation of their team. The hands' of the two genin began to scribble faster.

It took five more minutes for Sai and Kaizo to fill out the form. With a flourish, they completed the signatures of the aliases, and handed the papers to Megumi. The three exited the booth, and another group entered. As they approached the desk of the Leaf ninja handling Kumo registration, more Konoha nin, along with a spattering of other dissimilarly associated shinobi arrived from the lobby of the Hokage tower. Many were in their late teens, but a few were close to the age of her own students.

A finger tapped her on the shoulder. "Sensei, we're done here."

Megumi nodded absently to the blond-haired boy, motioning for them to follow her. "Come on, let's go see Naruto."

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"Yosh! Finally, Gai-sensei has acknowledged us for the chance to prove ourselves worthy of Chuunins! Come, my comrades, our youth will spur us to glory!"

Tenten rolled her eyes at the tirade, while Neji right eye twitched at the other boy's antics. "Lee, be silent. You are attracting attention."

Tenten just sighed as Neji's words fell upon deaf ears. Rock Lee was already running towards the Konoha booth, seemingly desperate to place his form in the hands of the woman sitting at the desk in front of it. She just shrugged her shoulders and turned to the Hyuuga next to her. "Doesn't he know Gai-sensei has to be here to confirm our applications?"

Neji shrugged his shoulders, his eyes moving over to the booths handling the foreign participants. They were late, it would seem, since there were increasingly more entrants leaving the area than arriving, leaving only two dozen ninjas in the registration area. Tenten followed his example, staring out into the crows while they waited for their exuberant instructor.

Her vision landed on the booth directing the sign up of ninja from Kumogakure. There were only seven people within that vicinity, and three of them were just handing in their entry forms. With their backs to the Leaf booth, the three Kumo nin didn't notice Tenten's lingering stare. Her eye's focused on the two genin; she couldn't shake the feeling that she had seen them from elsewhere. Her eyes narrowed as she concentrated on the two familiar strangers, trying to drag the relevant memory from the recesses of her mind. So caught up was she in her actions, that she flinched in surprise when Neji's hand fell upon her shoulder. She turned to her teammate, who just jerked his head behind him. There she saw Gai-sensei, shouting the 'glories of youth' for all to hear. Neji turned and walked off in the direction of their spirited instructor, motioning for Tenten to follow. She turned back to the ninja she had been studying, only to catch them disappearing out the exit of the Hokage tower. Shrugging off the nagging feeling of familiarity, she hurried to meet with her sensei.

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The next day…

Sakura would be the first to say that Sasuke would rather train than do anything else, especially go out with her. She may idolize, admire, and even love the Uchiha, but she was no longer the kind of person who would lie to protect her feelings, not even to herself. So it came to no surprise when she saw the boy practicing on one of the designated training fields. What did surprise her was that Naruto was with him.

Sakura didn't plan on seeing either of them that day. In fact, she meant to go see Keiko for a little training of her own. Her taijutsu had grown by leaps and bounds; even Itachi-sensei was proud of her progress. Well, all he said was, "Better," but even that was an accomplishment. Still, she wasn't as good as either Keiko or Sasuke-kun, and with the Chuunin exams only a few days away, she wanted to change that. It was disappointing that Keiko had her own training regimen that her grandfather was guiding her through, but Sakura could understand why Keiko declined her offer to train. After all, who in their right mind would pass by training from the Hokage himself? It left Sakura without a partner, but she resolved to practice on her genjutsu techniques. Any practice was better than no practice. When she arrived at the training ground, the sight of the two boys in question was not what she expected.

Sasuke and Naruto were deeply engrossed in their spar, not noticing Sakura's presence as she approached the field. The two were sweating profusely as Sasuke delivered a kick to Naruto's abdomen, forcing the blonde to back away from his opponent. As his foot fell back to the ground, Sasuke pivoted, sending a kick with his other leg, catching Naruto in the stomach before he could react to it. The boy tumbled onto his back, but Naruto rolled with the strike, returning to his feet, launching himself back towards Sasuke from his crouched position. Sasuke wasn't entirely prepared for Naruto's quick recovery, and only managed to twist his shoulder into the path of his challenger's incoming punch. The force of the blow caused Sasuke to stagger a little bit, but he quickly recovered. His hand reached into the pouch on his belt, and pulled out a kunai. Naruto mimicked his movements, a kunai in his left hand. Suddenly, Naruto's kunai flew from his hand, head straight for the Uchiha, who retaliated with a swarm of shuriken. Naruto ducked under the hail of metal, while Sasuke used the weapon in his possession to fend off Naruto's attack. He then threw said weapon at his opponent, and predictably, Naruto ducked under the attack. Sasuke's hands blurred through familiar hand seals.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu! (Fire Style: Grand Fireball Technique)"

The expansive ball of flame rushed towards Naruto. At such a close range, Sakura was quite surprised that Naruto was able to completely dodge the jutsu. Still, it put him in an ideal position for Sasuke to strike. With a quick running jump, the Uchiha boy planted his knee into Naruto's abdomen, propelling him to the ground. He skidded across the earth, pushed by the force of the attack. When his momentum dissipated, Naruto moved to get up, only to find Sasuke by his side, kunai against his throat.

"Yield."

Naruto sighed, raising a hand in acceptance. Sasuke got up from his kneeling position, pulling Naruto up along with him. The blind boy began to pat himself down, small dust clouds wafting from his backside. It was then that the two noticed Sakura's presence.

"Hello, Sakura-chan. What are you doing here?"

Sakura snapped out of her reverie, remembering why she had come there in the first place. "I thought I'd get some training done." She turned to Sasuke. "But if you guys are using it, I-"

"We just finished," Sasuke interrupted.

"Oh. Well, do you want to train with me, Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke shook his head. "I can't. Family business."

With that, he headed off in the direction of the Uchiha compound. Sakura absently watched as Sasuke's figure became smaller and smaller, realizing that the feeling rejection that usually came with a refusal from Sasuke wasn't as strong as it once had been. Oh, it was still there, of that she had no doubt, but it didn't bother her as much as she thought it would. Well, might as well get started. Sakura sat down on the ground, and began practicing her hand seals, the words of her first genjutsu passing through her lips.

"Magen: Jigoku Kōka no Jutsu (Demonic Illusion: Descending Hell Technique)."

Sakura could feel the chakra passing through the channels that lined her body, traveling to each of hands. With each hand seal, the chakra molded around her, threading through the air.

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Naruto felt the intricate pattern that Sakura's chakra created, passing around him with incredible precision. The genjutsu was useless against him, since he wasn't actually seeing anything, but he was still impressed by her control. Only Itachi-san had a comparable level of accuracy when it came to guiding chakra.

"You're pretty good at that, Sakura-chan."

It came to a surprise to Sakura that Naruto was still there. Still, the compliment was nice to hear. "Thanks, Naruto." Then, as if she realized something unpleasant, she frowned. "How did you even know what I was doing? It should have caught you if it worked."

Naruto walked over to her, sitting down beside her. "I'm not sure if it did, actually. I'm not really good with genjutsu myself. But it doesn't seem to affect me. At least, the ones that require eyesight to activate don't." He felt the grass give way to the weight of his body, a natural cushion against the hardness of the

Sakura stared at the fuzzy surfaces of Naruto's eyeballs. I can't even imagine what it's like. A ninja used all of their senses to a great degree, but vision was always considered the paramount tool of a ninja.

"It's not nice to stare, Sakura-chan."

Sakura whipped her face forward, redness emerging from her cheeks. She changed the subject, ignoring the embarrassment of being caught.

"Well, if you aren't affected by it, how am I supposed to know if it's working?"

Naruto shrugged. "Maybe practice those that don't need vision. Or practice something else."

Sakura's lips pursed, taking in Naruto's words, before shaking her head. "Thanks, Naruto, but I need to practice my genjutsu; it's my trump card." She blew a wisp of hair out of her face. "Besides, who am I gonna fight in the Chuunin exams who's…" she hesitated, unsure how to phrase her question. "Well, like you."

Naruto's hand rose to the back of his head, a trait Sakura deduced as a sign of nervousness or embarrassment. "Well, you're looking at somebody like that."

Sakura's eyes narrowed. "What are you talking about? Only sanctioned ninja are allowed to…" her eyes widened with Naruto's sheepish smile. "No way."

"Yeah, Hokage-sama made me a genin yesterday."

"But how? It's only been a few weeks."

"I thought it was strange too, but they said I was 'a special case.'"

A special case? What's so special about Naruto? Sakura put it out of her mind. If the Hokage believed Naruto should be a citizen of Konoha, then who was she to question it. Besides, Naruto's been nothing but trustworthy since I've met him. A smile emerged on her face.

"Congratulations, Naruto. I'm happy for you." Naruto grinned back at her. Sakura grabbed his hand, pulling him up to his feet and dragging him away from the field.

"Sakura-chan, what are you doing?"

Sakura looked back at him. "You're a Konoha nin now, Naruto. We should celebrate. That's what friends do when something good happens, right?" She turned back around, her hand tightening around his own as assurance. She didn't wait for an answer. If she had, Sakura would've seen the guilt that etched itself into Naruto's features.

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Danzo glanced at his surroundings. The office of the Hokage was to his liking; Spartan, mostly devoid of useless things. Ninja are not creatures of comfort. It was a lot like his own office at 'Ne' headquarters. He turned his attention to the only other occupant o the room. He did not dislike the man, but he was too soft as a Hokage. A great ninja, Danzo would even admit that the Sarutobi was better than he was at the shinobi trade. But his duties as Hokage are marred by his compassion. That's why Danzo needed to pull the strings behind the scenes.

"Hokage-sama, may I ask about the boy?"

The Hokage nodded absently. "He was accepted into the Konoha ranks. He will also be participating with Team 7 in the Chuunin exams, as you suggested."

Danzo's visible eye crinkled, but that was the only sign of acknowledgement he gave. "He will make an excellent tool of Konoha, that Jinchuuriki."

And an even better medium for my devices.

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Once again, sorry for the long wait, but work along with writer's block was hurting the quality of my story. I hope it up to par. Until next time.