V

Chuunin Exam

Part 2

A/N: Your probably wondering why I never respond to my reviews. My parents are a "bit" overprotective so I'm not allowed to email anyone don't I know. (insert eye-roll) So I'll answer my reviews at the end of this chapter! Oh, and um I got a review saying that my idea is lame, I'm not mad or anything but I'm asking you if you think my plot is bad, next time could you give a bit of advise so I could change it and make it better?

Also! I'm thinking of doing a pairing, but I'm not sure... These are the choices, Sasuke, Naruto, Sai, Neji, Garra (though I would need a bit of help on that one) and Itachi. Maybe Deidara too. So which one would you like?

Recap: "My alias is Cat, it is not Sakura, Sakura-chan or Saku-chan. I'm your next examiner. It seems that there is still 45 contestants left… I'll be cutting that down to 21 at the most. It is also possible that only 1 team may pass my exam, so I advise you to be ready."

She then swiftly turned and called out, "Follow me, we're going to the Forest of Death."

Naruto's eyes widened as he cried out, "What! Again?!!!!"

Sakura coolly turned to look at him. She blinked and smirked, while giving a rather chilling laugh.

"Ah…are you afraid? You should be."

Good luck children!!! Inner crowed evilly.

When the group arrived at the Forest of Death, Sakura stopped and turned to gaze at the 45 contestants. She blinked calmly as she said, "In this exam, at the most, only 21 of you will pass. For the idiots here who can't do math, that's the equivalent of 7 teams. Each of your teams will get a scroll with the number of a specific team. Each team will get a word that only your own team will know. To pass this exam, you must find the secret word from the team on your list and get to the tower. The first 7 teams to arrive at the tower with their necessary word will pass. To put it simply, this is a test of survival, interrogation, tracking, and endurance. You have only 5 days to complete your task and arrive at the tower. If one of your teammate dies, then your whole team is disqualified. Also, your whole team must arrive at the tower, with your scroll, before you can pass. Any questions?"

The poor contestants looked around at each other wearily. Then Sasuke raised his hand. "How can we know which team is which?"

Sakura coolly turned to him and replied, "When each team comes into that enclosed area", she pointed at a small stand that was hidden from view due to a thick black curtain surrounding it, "you will get your word, your list, and your armband." At this she pulled out a bright white armband with a number on it in bright red. "This armband is how other teams will be able to know which team you are. There's a "special" jutsu on it, so if I were you, I wouldn't even try to take it off or cover it."

With that being said, Sakura gracefully glided over to the stand. Looking at each other, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sai followed. When they got into the tent. They were given a scroll which had the number 9 written on it. Next, they were all given an armband that had the number 7 on it in red. Finally, Sakura pulled out a sheet of paper. "This is your word." She said while holding the paper up for them to see. In black ink was the word HEAVEN. After she showed all three of them their word, she quickly destroyed it by tossing the piece of paper into the fire.

Naruto, Sasuke and Sai then walked out of the enclosed area and saw that everyone was staring nervously at them. Sasuke smirked while Naruto grinned rather evilly. Sai just gazed at them curiously. Their scroll was in Sasuke's pack because he was the least likely to lose it.

As the teams got their necessary information, Sasuke was looking carefully around for team 9. Then he saw them. A group of leaf genins, they should be easy to deal with, Sasuke thought. Then all the teams were lead to their own gate, at exactly noon, the gates creaked open. Team 7 immediately headed off towards their destination, team 9.

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Sakura was getting rather thirsty. She knew that she would have to drink soon. Even though she wouldn't get tempted for human blood, Sakura knew that if she didn't drink, something bad might happen. It was lucky for her that vampires, especially royals, didn't have to drink a lot. She only had to drink once every two months.

Carefully, Sakura reached into her pocket and brought out her supply of blood tablets. While making sure that no one was looking, Sakura quickly swallowed two of the pale pink tablets.

Suddenly, a Jounin came running in, precipitation glistened on his brows.

"ANBU Cat-sama!!! We have trouble. Two Akatsuki members have just entered the Forest of Death!!!" He panted.

Sakura looked up in surprise. The Jounin found himself feeling slightly relieved when he saw how calm and unworried she looked.

"Which members?" She asked softly, her expression bored.

"Uchiha Itachi and a former mist shinobi, Hoshigaki Kisame I believe!!"

Sakura blinked lazily as she replied, "I see, please inform Hokage-sama about this and tell her that I will deal with it."

"Hai!!"

Sakura frowned. She was sure, almost positive that they were after Naruto…again. A smirk rose on her face at the thought of how shocked the Akatsuki would be after she was through with them.

With that thought in mind, Sakura quickly changed into a black tank top, black biker shorts, and a simple short white skirt over that. Then she tied her headband around her waist and covered her ANBU tattoo with white bandages. Do to her shortness, and pink hair, Sakura looked like an innocent, little, weak genin, which was exactly what she wanted. Quickly masking her own chakra, she dashed into the forest.

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Naruto, Sasuke and Sai had found their group of genins with ease. They had stupidly lighted a fire to cook fish that they had caught. Sasuke, Naruto and Sai on the other hand had replenished their own energy with energy bars. The three of them had already had been attacked by a team, that team had been all knocked out with ease. To make sure that they wouldn't be able to complete the exam, Naruto destroyed their scroll.

"Akira-kun! Here you go." The female of the team chirped while handing a boy with pale silver hair a fish. The boy accepted the food coldly without bothering to look up. Sasuke found himself thinking that the scene looked quite familiar.

"Yuri-chan! That's not fair! I'm your twin, but you always give him the food first!" The third member of the team wailed. He was on the short side with short brown messy locks, and large brown eyes. The girl, his sister, he was talking to looked a lot like him except for the fact that she was a girl and her brown hair was long.

"Well too bad! Suck it up Yuki." The girl replied. Yuki scowled and huffed childishly.

Sasuke drew a kunai and with a flick of his wrist he shot it into the clearing where the genin were. Sai and Naruto immediately flashed over to the two boys and slammed them against a tree. The girl, Yuri, screamed when she saw the kunai, in Sai and Naruto's hand, against her teammates necks.

Just for the heck of it Naruto had changed his blue eyes to red and had grown his canines a bit, he assumed that scaring them would work the best. Sai had his fake smile on his face that for some reason sent a shiver down everybody's spine. Finally, for the grand effect, Sasuke suddenly appeared out of nowhere in front of the girl, his Sharingan on. His face emotionless, he harshly asked, "What is your word?"

The girl's face was one of terror; she was frantically looking at her teammates, as if pleading for their help.

"Tell us, or I'm afraid my shirt will get blood stains." Sai said cheerfully. Naruto raised his eyebrows and stared at Sai, his expression said, what the hell? Sai just gave Naruto a confused look.

Sasuke watched as the girl screamed desperately, "I'll tell you! The word's Leaf, please, I told you so please let them go!"

"You're lying. I'll give you one last chance to tell us the truth." Sasuke had seen with his Sharingan her involuntary sideways glance at her teammates, and the slight shifting of weight. These were all the signs that he had needed to know that she was lying.

Naruto watched with pity as Sasuke broke the girl with his unwavering stare. Just then, his own captive, the girl's brother yelled, "Don't tell them Yuri-chan!"

Hn. We're wasting time, let's get this over with… Sasuke thought.

"Naruto, kill him, he's being to loud, and we only need one hostage." Sasuke ordered.

The girl screamed in terror, "No! It's Falcon! Our word is Falcon!!!!!!"

Smirking in triumph, Sasuke knocked her out, and if on cue, Naruto and Sai hit the pressure points of the two boys. Sai then pulled out the genin's scroll from the weapon pouch of the silver haired boy, and quickly destroyed it. Sasuke took out their own scroll, and with one of Sia's brushes, wrote the kanji for Falcon.

With their work completed, the three of them headed off in the direction of the tower.

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Sakura sprinted at an amazing speed through the forest. The wildlife wisely left her alone, and the plants seemed to clear a path for her. Frowning in concentration, Sakura was able to predict how far away the Akatsuki were from her former teammates. She guessed that they were about 7 minutes away. Luckily, thanks to her speed, Sakura would make it to her teammates first with 3 minutes to spare. Following Naruto's distinct chakra signature, Sakura steadily went on.

When Naruto's chakra signature stopped moving, she guessed that they were stopping to rest, or maybe they had some opponents. What ever the case was, it was good for Sakura in the end because it would be difficult to go through with her plan if they were too close to the tower. She could easily imagine one of the examiners suddenly blurting out, "Hey, your not a contestant!" No, it would be far easier the farther from the tower.

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When Sakura arrived at the clearing where Sasuke, Naruto and Sai were resting, she quickly jumped down in front of them. Not even bothering to give an explanation, Sakura quickly ordered, "Naruto, Sai, Sasuke, you are to act like I am actually a contestant in this test. You are to act like I got separated from my team, and are trying to pry our word out of me." With that, she quickly made a few hand signs that turned her pink hair black and her green eyes blue.

Just then, Sakura suddenly faked an expression of fear, while whimpering, stuttered, "I-I really d-don't k-know. Please… I d-don't know!" At the last word, Sakura made her voice rise in fear, and her eyes fill up with tears. She trembled on the ground, her back pressed up against the trunk of a tree. To say that Naruto, Sai, and Sasuke was confused was an understatement. They were flabbergasted, shocked and bewildered.

Sakura gave them a quick glare. Sasuke had no idea what was going on, but he decided to play along. He pulled out his katana and held it next to her neck, as if he was about to slit her throat. He had his Sharingan activated, but his expression was one of boredom. Sai and Naruto gave a mental shrug, before getting into action as well. Sai was leaning against a tree with his famous fake smile in place, while Naruto was crouched down on the ground, playing with a kunai.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5… Sakura counted mentally. 4 more seconds until they arrive4, 3, 2…1!!! They're here! Right on cue, two cloaked figures materialized from the shadows. All three of he boy's heads shot around to stare at the two figures.

"Akatsuki…" Sai murmured. Naruto was glaring furiously at the duo; his eyes were red as a low snarl escaped from his throat. Sasuke, to Itachi's faint surprise, was stoic, and seemed unaffected.

The two S-ranked criminal missing-nins' attentions were drawn suddenly to the figure of a girl when she gave a pitiful whimper of fear, but they lost interest quickly when they saw that she was no threat.

"Itachi" Sasuke said, his voice impassive.

"…" Was Itachi's response.

"We came for the Kyubi. Leave him, and you'll live." The elder Uchiha finally said.

Naruto gave another low growl, but then suddenly Kisame fell to the ground unconscious.

For the first time in many years, Itachi was surprised enough for him to actually show it. His eyes widened slightly at the figure of Kisame on the ground. He turned to his three opponents and saw that even they seemed shocked and perplexed but the sudden turn of events. How? Itachi wondered.

Out of nowhere a sudden beautiful, sweet, innocent voice chirped, "Hello!"

The girl… Itachi thought as he gazed at the short, slender, beautiful female. In front of his eyes, she suddenly began to change. The black seemed to fade from her hair, leaving pale pink, and her blue eyes, suddenly became green.

"Naruto, Sasuke, Sai… Stay out of this." Sakura ordered.

She cocked her head to the side, a fake, gentle smile on her lips. Then without warning, she suddenly attacked. Her smile was gone now, leaving behind an unaffected expression of utter boredom. She was moving at an incredible speed, but with the Sharingan activated, and with his own impossible speed, he was able to react fast enough to replace himself with a log. The log had an exploding tag attached to it that promptly blew up in her face causing her to fly back a bit. When the smoke faded away, Sakura smiled and gently tapped the ground with her foot.

The forest floor tore apart, and Sakura was able to sight a faint flash of black and red before it disappeared. Of course, Sakura had no trouble finding him again. Even if he hid his chakra signature, she could still smell him, hear his heart beat, and see the slight rustle of leaves that shivered scarcely from the carbon dioxide he let out of his nose.

Sasuke, Naruto and Sai had jumped up into a tree when the exploding tag had detonated, and now were worriedly sweeping the destroyed ground with their eyes.

"There! Over there! I see her!" Naruto loudly whispered to the others when they spotted Sakura. Strangely enough, her cloths were ripped and burned in certain places, but she herself was untouched. Sasuke was debating with himself on whether or not he should go after Itachi. Unlike before, he wasn't a rash fool. Sasuke knew that Itachi had an advantage because Sasuke was already tired from training furiously that morning with Naruto, so even if he did fight Itachi, he wouldn't be able to win. Sasuke also knew that he was on probation, if he decided to ignore Sakura's direct order, he knew that it would be bad on his part. But at the same time he also knew that his… brother… would come for Naruto again, so if he stuck close to him, he would get a chance at Itachi again.

Cursing angrily, Sasuke finally decided that he would stay out of the fight unless Sakura was in trouble, or if she asked for assistance. If he attacked now, Sasuke may lose the chance of winning back Konoha's trust, which would ultimately end up being his loss. If he losses Konoha's trust, he wouldn't be allowed to go on any missions, and it would be a waste to just attack him now. If he did attack now, Sasuke knew that Itachi would win.

Sakura calmly tossed a kunai at where Itachi was hiding. When he caught it effortlessly with only one finger, he realized the mistake he had made. Somehow, she had placed a Genjutsu on the kunai without him realizing. Itachi quickly dropped the kunai when it suddenly became a arm, but it was too late on his part. The arm grabbed his wrist, while it's sharp nails dug into his skin.

Taking his free hand, Itachi slashed the arm, but saw to his surprise it explode into a flurry of wings. Pale white moths fluttered in the air while chains wrapped around his ankles. Itachi knew that he was in a Genjutsu, but he didn't know how. His Sharingan told him it was all an illusion, but for some reason it couldn't break it. It was as if she was constantly renewing the jutsu, but that's impossible… He thought.

Then the white moths were circling him. Every time they flapped their wings, a small amount of fine white powder puffed off their wings into the air. Through instinct, he knew that the powder was dangerous; breathing it in was not an option for him. Making hand signs that were too fast for even Sakura to notice, Itachi made over a hundred different ways of breaking Genjutsu, in less then 1 second, but none of them seemed to work. He needed more time, but time was running out. Then it suddenly struck him. Clever. He thought. Itachi had to admit it her jutsu was ingenious.

Sakura watched curiously as Itachi slowly closed his eyes. Then suddenly, he snapped them open, revealing a strange and different type of Sharingan, the Mangekyo Sharingan. Her eyes widened with surprise when black flames suddenly appeared destroying her double poison moth summoning, and dispelling her Genjutsu.

He figured it out? Just as I suspected, he's powerful, and intelligent, an IQ to rival Shikamaru perhaps?

He had figured out that her moths were not part of the illusion. They were very much real, and it was because of them that he was caught the Genjutsu in the first place. Sakura's "Double Poison Moth Summoning" was a special jutsu that she had created. This jutsu had two different kinds of moth. Half of the moths were poisonous, and the white powder they gave off was the poison, but the rest of the others were illusion moths. Not that they were illusions, the illusion moths were just as real as the poison moths, illusion moth was just a "nickname". They looked exactly the same as the poison moths but the white powder they gave off were fake, but what they really did was send out high pitched sounds, that humans can't hear, which would confuse the brain, creating a Genjutsu.

Itachi knew that at the rate the battle was going, he was going to lose. The elder Uchiha had lost quite amount of chakra because of his last attack. Kisame was still knocked out cold, and amazingly enough, the girl didn't seem to have depleted in chakra at all. With no choice, he came to the decision of retreat.

Without warning, Itachi suddenly threw a few shruikens at her. Sakura's eyes widened in surprise when the sharp metal stars suddenly appeared in front of her; they where thrown too fast, she couldn't dodge.

With a thunk, the shruikens hit her, but they just bounced off. There wasn't a single scratch on her. The truth was, Sakura's body had an absolute defense like Garra. Over her skin, there was an invisible thin barrier that absorbed all of the attack done on her, but at the same time, there didn't seem to be any difference in her skin. Her flesh was still soft and warm because out of habit she kept her heart beating, and the barrier was part of her, it was part of her skin. You could say that the barrier allowed unthreatening things past it, but it blocked everything threatening, including needles.

Itachi, Sasuke, Sai, and Naruto stared at her in shock. Sakura gazed blankly at them.

What is she? The four males wondered.

It seems they found out… Inner mumbled, stating the obvious.

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Animemistress209: Thank you for being my first reviewer!!! You can't imagine how happy I was when I got your review!

Mayumi Crescent Moon: Thank You!!!! I love NejiSaku parings too! But I'm not sure how I would be able to fit it into this story... Any ideas?

Uchiha Babe: Thank You!!!! I tried to be a bit original, I'm glad someone likes my idea.

Pinky101: Thank You for your reviews!!! You inspired me to write more!!

Silent Kunoichi aka. Fiona: I love the PAMS idea. Can I use it too? Oh yeah! Thank you for your review!!

Narutocraze1233: Lol! I don't really know where the Texas idea came from... It just came...weird... Anyways! Thank you for the review!!!!

FakeCompassion: Yay!! I'm glad you like Suki and Kamui! I got the idea for Kamui's name from X/1999! I love that name too!!! Thank you for reviewing!!!

Gemgembo: Thank You!!! I'm really happy you liked it!!!!

Ravenuchiha: Thank You!!!!! I'm glad you like her!! I hope I didn't make her seem to weird.

Night'sBullet: Wow! That's an idea. Do you want werewolves? Oh, and Thank You for the review!!!!!!!

Luka1Sakura: Well thanks for the review anyways. I'm wondering, maybe next time, if you read this message that is, if you would maybe give a few ideas. Saying that the ideas lame is sort of open-ended...