Chapter Seven-

Gaara watched Uchiha fight, rather badly, with one of the other Leafs whose name he did not care to know. Maybe he wasn't worth it after all. His opponent seemed to be able to suck the chakra out of a person, but besides that he was weak. Gaara watched listlessly as Uchiha was slowly weakened every second. He didn't know why his opponent was playing with him. He should just kill him. It wouldn't be that hard. All he would have to do was pull out his kunai and lodge it in his throat or he could slice his heart open or…

Uchiha disappeared. He blinked and then suddenly he was right in front of his opponent and he kicked him hard in the chest. His opponent was thrown into the air and a second later Uchiha was behind him. He saw his mouth move but he couldn't hear what he was saying, because Uchiha's blonde teammate was yelling at him. What a loser. It looked like the blond had gotten hurt, because the back of his jacket was ripped and was stained with blood, but Gaara couldn't see any cuts.

Uchiha kicked his opponent in midair, but the kick was blocked. He kicked him again, hit him, and then punched him downward until they were just about to hit the floor. Uchiha slammed his opponent straight into the floor. Gaara raised his non-existent eyebrows in surprise. Maybe he was worth fighting after all.

The next fight was between a Sound and a Leaf. Neither of them were very good and the Leaf ended up wining when the Sound blew his own arms off. How weak. Gaara was bored already.

Kankurou was next and Gaara didn't even bother paying attention. He had seen his brother's puppets before and had completely lost any interest in them whatsoever. However, he did start to pay attention when it appeared that his brother's neck had been broken.

"Ch. How useless."

Unfortunately, his brother was not dead, but had switched places with one of his puppets. Damn.

The next fight was between two of the Leaf Kunoichi. They sparred for a bit and the blonde one kept yelling at the redhead to do something instead of just dodge her attacks. The redhead didn't say anything, which infuriated the blonde even more. Gaara watched in utter boredom as they fought. Until the blonde girl finally lost it.

"Will you just fight me, already, you FREAK!"

Naruto narrowed his eyes at Ino's last statement. Okay, so Sasumi was a little weird, but that gave Ino no right to call her a freak. He clenched his fists in anger and Sasuke's questioning look didn't go unnoticed by him. By her next actions, it seemed that Sasumi didn't quite like what Ino had said either.

Sasumi was not in a good mood, she had spent the last few days in forest full of enemies, not to mention deadly animals, poisonous flora, and Orochimaru. And the fact that the only time she had slept was after she was cursed didn't make things any better. So she was tired, her arm was throbbing painfully, and was now forced to fight that Yamanaka girl. At first, she had simply dodged her attacks. Her pride wasn't going to let her lose, but at least she should win without arousing too much suspicion. If only she could think of an inconspicuous way, because she really didn't need any more people suspicious of her, she already had enough too deal with. Yamanaka Ino wasn't pleased that that she wasn't doing anything, and even more aggravated when she couldn't land a hit on her. She yelled at her a bit and finally it was too much for her. And then she said it.

Sasumi shouldn't have gotten mad. She should have just ignored the comment. But she was feeling horrible and the curse was taking all her self-control to hold back. So she let go. She let out all the anger of being useless in their missions to the unfairness of life in general. But the main reason she did it was that Yamanaka Ino reminded her of that girl. She even dressed like her and wore her hair the same way. And that scared her.

A burning sensation traveled up from her already aching arm and spread across her entire body. She wouldn't realize until later that her body was covered with black markings.

Her first hit landed under her opponents chin throwing her upward. Then she kicked her in the chest and Yamanaka Ino hit the wall with a scream, blood trickling down her chin. But Sasumi wasn't finished yet. The blonde stood up shakily, spitting out blood. In a second Sasumi was before her, her arm moving on its own to grab her by the throat and slam her into the wall again.

"Take. It. Back!" she snarled.

She came back to her senses and attempted to remove her hand from her throat. But instead her hand tightened and her opponent struggled weakly, still coughing out blood. The people in the stadium were yelling, but she didn't and couldn't stop.

"What the hell is going on? I can't control my body!"

She tried to move her hand, but it was no use. Her body was wired with too much power and it couldn't cope. Finally, she focused on moving her bad arm, ignoring the pain spiking up the limb. She closed her fingers around the arm that pinned her opponent to the wall and pulled hard. Slowly, her hand was pulled away from Yamanaka Ino's throat and both girls fell to the floor. Her right arm moved against her will and she pinned it to the floor with her bad arm, ignoring the urge to scream. No matter how much she tried her right arm wouldn't stop struggling to break free and her self-control was slowly crumbling under the increasing pain. So she did the only thing she could, she released the arm and raised her left arm high above her head and brought it down with a crack.

She shook slightly and hunched over, both arms now rendered useless. She couldn't seem to get enough oxygen into her lungs and her head was spinning. She barely registered Naruto's yell and the fact that both of her teammates had jumped down from the balcony. She only felt one person's stare. She turned her head slowly are stared right back into his eyes. She felt a strange prickling in her eye, a sign that they were beginning to darken. When she got the chance, she was going to kill him.

"Get out. Or I'll expose you," she thought, "Orochimaru."

He seemed to get the hint and quickly left. She relaxed completely then and fell backward, only to be held up by her sensei's knee.

"Sasumi, what…?"

She moved her eyes slowly to look at Naruto, who was staring at her seriously. She was kind of surprised; she had expected them to be scared of her. Apparently they weren't. She didn't answer him, but continued to breathe in and out, waiting until her breath slowed down. She heard the examiner announce her victory and then the medical crew and her sensei tried to get her to come with them. She ignored them all and stood up shakily, cursing her body for its weakness.

"Sasumi, where are you going?"

"The hospital," she said, slightly surprised at how even her voice was.

She left them standing in the middle of the stadium floor, every single person in the room staring at her back. She took the crowded roads, aware that Orochimaru could be watching her. She ignored the stares of the villagers. She reached the hospital and asked for Hanada Michiko. The woman came out shortly.

"Sasumi-san, what happened?"

She inwardly sighed, "I have a problem, Hanada-san."

Kakashi stared at the retreating back of his student. He supposed he could always seal her arm later. What bothered him more was that she had broken her own arm to stop it from moving out of control. She hadn't even flinched, much less cry out. He glanced at the Hokage who was looking after her seriously. He, Naruto, and Sasuke, moved back up to the balcony as the exam moved on, but he could tell they weren't really paying attention.

In the beginning, when they had first all been on a team together, they hadn't been close at all. Sasuke and Naruto hated each other and Sasumi ignored them both and vice-versa. He wondered what cause them to become so close.

They did get slightly involved in the fights when the Hyuuga cousins began their fight. Kakashi made a note to never, ever watch a fight with Naruto again. He wondered briefly, if anyone could make Naruto shut up. Somehow he doubted it. When it was Naruto's turn to fight, Kakashi wondered if he actually had any energy left to fight with, after all that yelling. But then he remembered that Naruto had a huge amount of stamina. Naruto's fight against the Inuzuka boy was very…random. It was basically them running around throwing attacks at each other, at least in the beginning. Kakashi had to say he was impressed with Naruto's timing and strategy. He had to admit that he wasn't exactly expecting Naruto to win.

And then there was that Sabaku no Gaara kid. What was that sand jutsu? He had never seen anything like it and he had been to the Wind Country on occasion. He felt bad for Gai's student; the boy apparently would never be able to be a shinobi again. The remaining contestants were paired up for the next fight, which would take place in a month. Naruto was to fight the Hyuuga boy and Sasuke, Gaara. If he didn't train Sasuke he would end up the same way as Gai's student. And besides, he could teach him Chidori. He'd have to find someone for Naruto and Sasumi would probably have to forfeit because of her broken arm. She would be up against that Temari of the Sand and he doubted against that powerful fan of hers she could win. Even if she used the curse seal's power.

The second the preliminaries were over he was planning on talking to Sasuke about training only to find that both he and Naruto were gone. He knew where they were, though. He walked over to the hospital and asked for Yamaki Sasumi.

"Third Floor, room 356," the man at the front desk told him, "Please act appropriately."

He walked up two flights of stairs and looked around for room 356, but he needn't have bothered.

"SASUMI, WILL YOU TELL US WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!"

"You moron, this is a hospital! Shut up or they'll throw us out!"

"B-but she-"

"Uzumaki-san, I don't know what happened, therefore, I can't tell you."

Kakashi walked in to see Naruto and Sasuke standing around Sasumi who wore a cast and was sitting up in bed, a book in her lap.

"Kakashi-sensei, do you know what happened?"

"Yes," he said wearily, not looking forward to explaining things.

Naruto and Sasuke looked at him expectantly.

"Well, I'm assuming you met Orochimaru, right?"

Sasuke nodded, but Naruto seemed confused.

"Huh, Orochimaru? Who's that?"

Sasuke glared at him, "Remember that guy who attacked us with the snakes."

"Oh, you mean that weird cross dresser guy?"

Kakashi blinked, "Cross dresser?"

"Yeah, I totally thought he was a girl!"

"I'm not going to ask," he thought. "I'm not going to ask."

"Right. Well, he cursed Sasumi and that caused her body to spin out of control."

"Oh. And her arm…" Naruto trailed off, looking at Sasumi.

"I had to break it," she said emotionlessly.

There was a pregnant pause.

"How is Yamanaka Ino-san?" She asked, her face betraying no emotion as usual.

"She'll be okay. A couple of her ribs are broken, but nothing permanent." Was it just his imagination or did Sasumi actually look a bit uncomfortable?

"Also, I need to seal up that curse seal, otherwise you won't be able to use your chakra." Come to think of it, the only time Sasumi had ever used her chakra was when they were climbing trees in the Wave Country.

"It's already sealed," she told him.

He blinked in surprise as she withdrew her chakra for about a minute, without losing control of her body.

"Who-" he began but the doctor, who looked strangely familiar, walked in and told them that visiting hours were over and that they had to leave.

As soon as they left the hospital, he told Sasuke that he would be training him and to meet him tomorrow. He also introduced Naruto to Ebisu, who would be training him. Naruto apparently already had met him and called him a 'closet pervert' and said something about a 'Harem no Jutsu.' Kakashi didn't ask. He really had no interest in knowing.

Michiko quietly closed the door behind her.

"Thank you," Sasumi-san said softly.

"Now will you tell me what happened?" Michiko asked impatiently.

The red-haired girl gestured to her right arm, which hung in a sling at her side. "My arm was broken and I don't trust anyone else but you."

Michiko had to admit that that comment made her feel very nice.

"Was?" She asked, frowning slightly.

"I healed it," Sasumi-san said, "But I don't want them to know that I can."

Michiko blinked in surprise; the girl could heal herself too. That was a very powerful skill, and involved great chakra control.

"This has something to do with your Kekkai Genkai, doesn't it?"

Sasumi-san nodded.

"Alright, I won't ask anymore about it."

"Thank you," the girl said again.

"What about this Yamanaka Ino girl?"

The girl didn't say anything for a while, as if she was trying to figure out what she was going to say.

"You know the Chuunin Exam is going on," It was not a question. "She was my opponent. I-" she paused again, "I went a bit…hard on her."

Michiko briefly wondered if a bit meant a few broken ribs, what did going all out mean?

"Do you need anything?" she asked her. Without waiting for an answer she said, "I'll go get you some food."

She knew the Sasumi-san wouldn't ask for anything, so she would just have to guess what she needed and get it without asking her. As she was in the kitchen, she remembered that Sasumi had been reading a book before she came in. She also remembered the last time she was here she saw her reading a lot of books. Maybe she could get her something to read while she was at the hospital. On her way back from a local bookstore Michiko wondered if this was how a mother acted about her child. Then Michiko did something that she had not done in almost ten years. She smiled.

Orochimaru sat on the top of a building, thinking of what his next move should be. Marking Sasuke-kun could wait until after he defeated the Leaf. Orochimaru was confident that with the help of the Sand, his forces could break through the Leaf's defenses. However, defeating his old sensei would be a problem. Disguised as the Kazekage, Orochimaru would have no problem killing him when he wasn't paying attention. But Orochimaru wanted him to pay attention. He wanted the entire world to know that he could beat Sarutobi in a fair fight. He would have to be extra careful, who knew what kind of tricks were up the older man's sleeve. But he could not fail, everything was leaning in his favor and the Sand wouldn't know he had betrayed them until it was too late. And then no one could stop him from taking Sasuke-kun's body. Smirking evilly, he disappeared, leaving no trace that he was ever there.

Sasuke deactivated his Sharingan and hunched over breathing heavily. He had been training for more than a week. and he couldn't even get the basic form of Chidori. Kakashi assured him that this was normal and that it would take a long time for him to prefect it, but Sasuke couldn't help but feel a bit put out. It wasn't like he expected he would complete the jutsu in a day, but he thought he could at least form it after a week. However, if he could kill Itachi with this Chidori, then Sasuke supposed he could stand here for years.

"A few more times, Sasuke," Kakashi said, "You're getting better, but it will take time."

Sasuke scowled and complied. Naruto had passed the preliminaries as well and there was no way that Sasuke was going to be beaten by him, though he had to admit, Naruto didn't have much of a chance against Hyuuga Neji. Sasuke gritted his teeth and put all of his energy into making the jagged chakra coming out of his hand turn into a ball. To his surprise, for a second, it actually did. However, he had exerted himself too much and this resulted in him falling to the ground, breathing harder than ever.

"Good job, Sasuke," his sensei said, his mask stretching slightly show that he was smiling, "Now take a break and then do it again."

Despite the fact that Kakashi was going out of his way to help him, Sasuke really wanted to throw something at him.

"Ero-sennin, will you look at what I'm doing!!"

Naruto glared at the frog sennin's back, scowling angrily. Why were all his teachers such perverts?

"Go on, brat. I'm watching."

"No, you're not!" he yelled childishly, "You're watching those girls over there!"
"I'm watching both of you."

"Liar! You're such a pervert!"

When the sennin didn't answer Naruto tiptoed behind him and whacked him hard on the head.

"You little brat! What the hell was that for?"

"Pay attention to me!"

Ero-sennin glared at him, "Brat."

"Pervert!" He retaliated.

"All right, let's see what you can do."

"Yes!"

Naruto jumped back to his original spot. He concentrated on pulling all his chakra out.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

In a puff of smoke, a tadpole appeared.

"Heh, heh, heh…"

"BRAAAAAT!"

Oh shit.

Yamanaka Ino groaned and pulled her blonde hair out of her eyes for the billionth time that day. She was seriously thinking about getting it cut.

She was bored out of her mind. Sure Shikamaru and Choji visited almost everyday, but most of the time she sat in bed staring at the wall. Having broken ribs sucked ass. For one she couldn't slouch and two, well, she was stuck here. Ino didn't blame Yamaki that much. After all, the point of the tournament was to knock out your opponent…All right, so maybe she had developed a tiny grudge against her. At least until her sensei explained a couple things to her.

Asuma-sensei had told her that Yamaki had some sort of curse put on her during the second part of the exam and that she couldn't control her own body, which made Ino feel kind of bad for calling her a freak. She lay back down on the bad, getting too tired of sitting up straight. Her parents had come to visit her, but her father was too busy doing missions and her mother ran the family flower shop, so they only came once. Her father was proud of her for making it that far in the Chuunin Exam and consoled her by telling her that he had taken the Chuunin Exam four times before passing. Her mother, on the other hand, was horrified. It was understandable, after all, her mother wasn't a ninja, but her mother's nagging got annoying after a while. So Ino was closer to her father than her mother, what was the big deal? Actually a lot of people thought she didn't have a mother at all because her supposed lack of femininity. Hell, she had long hair and wore the skimpiest outfit a Kunoichi could get away with. What was not feminine about her?

Okay, maybe Ino didn't act like the model subservient young girl. Even as a Kunoichi, she was loud, out-spoken and aggressive. A lot of people told her to quiet down or to act more lady-like. She tried it once; well, she got tired of it real fast. Now, if someone told her that she would just punch him or her right in the face…or something like that.

Damn. Now she was in a really bad mood and had nothing to take her anger out on. Or not. The door opened and she was just about to yell at the nurse to go away when she realized it was not the nurse at all. Ino pulled herself up, wincing slightly. It was Yamaki. She was wearing a sling and had cast on her arm. Her eyebrows furrowed slightly, how had she broken her arm?

"What do you want?" Ino asked her, not keeping the annoyance out of her voice.

She then realized that yelling at her probably wasn't a good idea.

The red-haired girl bowed slightly, "I'm sorry, Yamanaka-san. Please forgive me," she said emotionlessly.

Ino blinked in surprise. Yamanaka-san? People called her father and mother that, never her.

"No, that's fine," she said, laughing nervously, "I kind of deserved it…" she trailed off.

There was an awkward silence.

"Hey," she said, not exactly sure what she was going to say, "Why don't we just put this behind us, ne?"

The other girl blinked in surprise and then nodded slowly.

"Let's shake on it," she said, sticking out her hand and smiling.

The girl tentatively reached out her non-broken arm and shook her hand. As she drew her hand back Ino suddenly got an idea. Her mother was going to freak, but Ino didn't give a damn.

"Oi, Sasumi, can I ask you a question?"

"Yes…"

"How do you get your hair like that? I mean, I've been wanting to cut my hair for a while and I really like your haircut."

"…Well, I usually just cut it when it reached my shoulders or my bangs get in my eyes."

"I hate when my hair gets in my eyes," Ino complained, "It's so annoying."

Sasumi just nodded.

"Hey, do you think you can cut my hair?"

"…Okay."

"Yes!" She yelled, completely forgetting to keep her voice down, "You're the best, Sasumi!"

The other girl's small smile didn't go unnoticed by Ino.

A/N: The eighth installment is done! Okay, about Ino. She's the type of person (at least in this fic) who does stuff before she thinks. Basically why she calls Sasumi a freak is that she's spent the last five days in a forest and she just wants to get her fight over with and Sasumi isn't letting her. She loses her temper. It happens people. Hell, even I would call Sasumi a freak! …Actually, no, I wouldn't, because since I made her up I know she would kill me. Anyway, next chapter: final part of the Chuunin Exam and the war with the Sand, I think. To my wonderful beta: You're awesome, this fic would not make sense without you!