An: To thank the reviewers I'm giving out this little Valentine. Although I don't know if I'll be able to get a chapter off next Thursday. I'll do my best. Again thanks for the reviews your humble author S.o.t.A.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and I'm doing this for fun not profit.

Chapter 15: Friends?!

Anko was reclining on a couch waiting for the Hokage to show up. Thankful the pain from the curse seal was fading. She was just about to close her eyes again when one of her chunin proctors barged into the room.

"Anko, finally where the hell have you been? We haven't seen you since yesterday," the chunin said.

"Something came up. What do you want?" she said rather irritable her impending nap was interrupted.

"I thought you would want to see this," the chunin said putting a tape into a VCR.

On the television a team of genin was shown entering the tower. Anko leaned forward the idea of taking a nap quickly forgotten when she saw the time on the tape. "What the hell," Anko exclaimed, "You're telling me a group of genin from Sand beat the old record by a little over two and a half hours."

"Looks that way"

"There's no way those guys are at genin level. Look closer," Anko said turning away from the screen.

The chunin did as instructed but couldn't see what it was Anko was referring to. Turning to Anko who had gotten up and was looking out a window he said, "What should I be looking for."

"The red headed kid, he doesn't have a single scratch on him," she said seriously, "What could Sand be playing at by sending ringers like that to the exams?"

"Perhaps they are trying to end their run of genin failing them," said the wizened voice of the Hokage. Turning to the chunin he said, "You may leave us now."

"Yes sir," the chunin said grabbing the tape and leaving the room

"Sir…" Anko began only for the Hokage to stop her by holding up his hand.

"First, I would like to know what it was you were thinking running off to face Orochimaru by yourself," the Hokage said sternly. "I have half a mind to take you off of active duty and have you sent to the Yamanka's for a psyche evaluation."

"Sir, I…," Anko started but didn't finish seeing the Hokage wasn't going to except any excuses. Unable to meet his eyes she said, "I'm sorry sir. I let my emotions get the better of me."

"I'm glad you can accept that," the Hokage said kindly, "But please try and remember Anko, you have nothing to prove. There is no call for such a rash action on your part. Unless you honestly thought you could defeat a man that I'm not even sure I could."

"No Sir," Anko said downcast.

Trying to lighten the mood the Third said, "Too bad, I was hoping I would be able to hand over the title of Hokage to you if you did." Seeing Anko smile he continued, "Now what do you have to report?"

"I'm afraid not much," Anko said all business, "I came across him in the forest, and he appeared to be trying to regenerate his disguise which seemed to have been damaged in some battle from before I found him. I tried to defeat him, but the Curse Mark began causing me pain. He informed me he had his eye on someone but he didn't say who. He also said not to cancel the Chunin Exams unless we wanted to incur his wraith due to him having people from his village in them. So I guess that blonde brat was right on the money about those Sound genin working for the bastard. Have you been able to learn anything from them, sir?"

"I'm afraid not yet," the Hokage answered, "Ibiki has just begun working on them by isolating them and depriving them of sleep. I'm glad it appears Orochimaru isn't aware they were already defeated and captured. That gives us the advantage. With any luck he'll believe the forest proved too much for them."

"If the bastard even cares what happened to them," Anko said the pain from her fragmented memories easy to hear in her voice. "How should we precede, sir?"

"We'll continue the exams, in hopes of letting him think everything is going according to his plan," the Hokage informed. Anko nodded her head at that so he added, "As for you, take the remaining time to recuperate Anko. I have little doubt that soon we'll all need to be at full strength."

Leaving Anko to take a well deserved nap the Hokage made his way through the tower. As he made his way out of the tower he hoped that Naruto wasn't the person that had attracted his traitorous student's attention.

Haku didn't show it but he was nervous. After finding this warren he had been watching over Naruto. Unfortunately, Naruto hadn't so much as twitched since the battle with Orochimaru. Although his vitals were fine he couldn't find what was wrong. Going off of what Sai said Orochimaru had struck Naruto's stomach to render him unconscious, he was beginning to fear that the blow had actually been a means of screwing with the seal that contained the Kyuubi. He had of course seen it over the years, but even after studying seals a little bit in his free time he was no closer to actually understanding it. All he could hope was that he would awaken soon, considering it was almost night time. If not in the morning he would have to carry Naruto to the tower. That would make them easy pickings for the teams that were waiting to ambush the groups that had scrolls and were making their way to the tower.

Haku looked at the other person sharing the small den with him, Hinata may be trying not to show it but he was sure she at least suspected who Ronin truly was. It was the small almost passing glances she continued to send the blonde's way that gave that tidbit away. It looked as if she was constantly debating or trying to convince herself one way or the other. She had taken the first watch after they found this area, but as soon as it had ended she had made a beeline straight for the hollowed out tree they were using for shelter. He could tell she wanted to ask him straight out, however she probably figured there was a reason for why if it was Naruto he hadn't said anything. But it didn't make the temptation any less Haku supposed.

Seeing that it was almost dark and figuring she was the most trustworthy, even if it was putting her right in temptations path Haku said, "Would you mind watching him for me while I gather some herbs I saw that may help?"

Hinata quickly shook her head no while saying, "I don't mind." Getting up Haku went and informed Sai, who was now on watch, where he was going.

Once alone Hinata stared at Ronin unabashed now that his partner was gone. She just couldn't help it. It had to be Naruto. As she watched the blonde-boy she noticed that while she had started as far from the sleeping boy as the tree allowed she had slowly but steadily inched her way closer till she was kneeling right next to him. Being this close a little voice inside of her began whispering, "Do it."

Arguing with herself internally she replied to the voice, "I can't that would be violating his privacy."

But the voice wasn't satisfied with that saying, "Come on, you weren't concerned about his privacy when you tried peaking with the Byakugan now were you."

"That was different," she tried to defend.

"The only difference is now you would have to get your hands dirty so to speak," the voice quickly countered. "Now do it. You want to know don't you?"

"Yes of course," she thought," but what if he wakes up or finds out and gets angry at me."

The part of herself she was arguing with didn't have an answer for that. Figuring that settled matters until the voice suddenly replied, "Well if it is Naruto he would never get angry at us for wanting to know if he was okay and if it isn't then who cares if he doesn't like you."

Giving in to temptation, Hinata decided once again for the sake of her sanity she had to know so she began to reach for the blonde's face. She noticed that her hands were trembling as she did so. She was just about to touch him when she heard, "I'm back."

Giving a small 'eep' in surprise she was only thankful that her back was to the entrance of the tree as she was sure her face looked quite guilty with her kneeling stance suddenly going ramrod straight and eyes wide in panic.

Noticing Hinata so close to Naruto and worried that something may have happened will he was gone Haku asked, "Is everything alright he didn't suddenly get worse did he?"

"No," she said quickly then more softly added, "No, he still hasn't moved."

"That's something I suppose," Haku said.

Getting up from her kneeling position Hinata said, "Excuse me I'm going to get some fresh air."

"Okay," Haku said glad he was wearing a mask considering the smile on his face; he supposed he should have known better then to leave Naruto with the girl. It appeared he had arrived just in time to prevent her from removing the wraps around his face.

Looking at the unconscious Naruto he thought, "It looks like you had a greater impression on her then you realized Naruto. Especially if you go by the fact that she seems to have the same fashion sense as you."

Outside the tree Hinata was berating herself for the missed opportunity. "Darn it," she thought kicking a small pebble, "Why couldn't I be more decisive?"

Finally after she calmed down she thought, "In the end it's a good thing Haku came when he did. I shouldn't have been weak like that and should trust that if Ronin is Naruto he'll tell me when the time comes."

"You seem agitated, is everything alright Hinata?" came the even voice of Shino.

"Turning to the Aburame she said, "Yes, I'm fine now."

"May I ask what it is about this Ronin that has you so flustered?" Shino asked his voice still as even as ever but to her showing his concern.

Blushing a little in embarrassment she said, "Is it that obvious?"

"Not really I suspect that of everyone here, only Haku and I are truly aware that Ronin seems to have captured your attention," Shino said.

Looking at the hollow tree she said meekly, "I can't shake the feeling that he's this boy I used to admire." Regaining her composer she said, "But I came to the conclusion that it doesn't matter at the moment. Is there something else you wanted to talk to me about, since it isn't like you to seek someone out to pry into their inner workings?"

"Your assessment is correct," Shino said then pointing in a direction added, "I thought you would want to know Kiba and the rest of Team Seven appear to be on their way here."

"Well at least we know they are alright," Hinata said but then asked, "Do you think it is a reason for concern?"

Taking a moment to think about what Hinata was implying he said, "I do not wish to think that Kiba would try and take advantage of our weakened condition, however we must accept that due to us being down to you, Haku, and Sai being the only uninjured among us and the fact that they lost their scroll it would be remise of us not to consider they plan to take ours."

Accepting that they may have to fight their friends she said, "Go tell the others to prepare just in case, we'll go with the idea they don't mean us harm but be ready in case they do."

A short time later Team Seven appeared and found Hinata, Shino, and Ami waiting for them. "Alright, you guys must have sent that freak packing," Kiba said entering the area. Noticing his friends were keeping their distance he said, "Hey what's the matter?"

Shino elected to be the one to reply saying, "We want to know your intentions."

"Come on, you don't think we would attack do you, after you helped us out back there?" Kiba asked a little hurt his friends would think him capable of that.

"We do not think you would willing attack us Kiba, but we cannot speak about your team and you would be inclined to side with them," Hinata said while eyeing Sasuke, although she did catch the hurt look on Sakura's face.

Sasuke though said, "See Mutt they're fine. Can we stop wasting time and start finding scrolls of our own now?"

"Yeah sure," Kiba said, "Thanks again guys." Although it did hurt a little that they thought they had come to attack he guessed he could understand their being cautious. Due in part since Sasuke had brought the idea up, but surprisingly Sakura had been the one to shoot it down. With a little more heat to her voice then she had ever used when addressing Sasuke before, it almost sounded like disappointment to him.

Before Team Seven could leave Sakura asked, "Where's Ronin's team? I thought you said they were here Kiba."

"They should be, they probably are waiting in ambush in case we planned to attack." Guessing that remaining in hiding served no purpose now, Haku and Sai made their presence known.

Glad to be proven right Kiba said smiling and thumbing his nose, "See the nose knows."

But not seeing the boy she wanted to Sakura asked, "Where's Ronin?"

Haku said, "Ronin has been injured and is resting."

"Can I see him please?"

Haku gave an after you gesture and then indicated she should head to the hollow tree. Hinata watched as they both disappeared into the tree. She wasn't sure what to make of that, while she knew Sakura had met Ronin before her technically. She had never seen the pinkette worry about a boy other than Sasuke before. Had she moved on from her crush on Sasuke and if so had she set her sights on Ronin? Hinata felt a pang of jealousy at that idea. The feeling hit her and it hit her hard.

"Maybe I should go and check on them to make sure she isn't up to something," she thought to herself despite the fact that Haku could probably handle anything devious Sakura would have tried. No if she was being honest with herself it was just an excuse to find out what sort of relationship the two had.

Before she could act on that thought, she heard a voice coming from a tree to her right, "So it would seem the rookies are gathering." She froze when she heard her cousin Neji speak. He was the last person she wanted to run into in this competition. Looking up at the tree she saw him standing there looking at them with his Byakugan active. Behind him were his teammates a genin clad in green and a girl with two buns in her hair. Considering her and Neji haven't said more than a few strained sentences to each other over the years she had no idea what the two were capable of.

Activating her own blood ability she saw that her cousin's team only had the Earth scroll. Since he had already scanned them she had no doubt that a fight was inevitable. Apparently Sai came to the same conclusion saying, "If you have come for our scroll, your plan of attack seems to be quite foolish considering you are heavily outnumbered."

Haku and Sakura had joined the others outside when they had heard Neji begin speaking. In reply to Sai's comment on his tactic he said, "Perhaps, but that is only if all of you fight us. The way I see it two of your teams have a complete set of scrolls while one has none. So what about it Sasuke Uchiha, help us defeat them and one set of scrolls is yours. It should be easy enough considering both teams are not at full strength."

Surprising everyone it was Sakura that said, "Forget it."

Sasuke looked at Sakura like she had grown a second head saying, "What are you talking about that is a perfectly reasonable offer."

But Sakura stood her ground saying, "We can't just ignore that they got hurt helping us Sasuke." Looking back to the hollow tree she continued, "Ronin and the others got hurt helping us," her voice then gained a harder edge as she looked at Neji saying, "we should repay the favor."

Kiba grinned at that saying "Alright you heard her Sasuke we're helping."

"Don't be sentimental about this," Sasuke said trying to get his teammates to see reason, "At most we can get from defeating these guys is one scroll, but if we help them we can get the pair."

"That might be but it would do you no good," Kiba said, "Because I won't cross the finish line with you if that was how we got them. I think you've forgotten what Kakashi said about those who abandon their friends and comrades. Besides for a guy who wants to go around looking like he's strong you sure are going about it in a weak way."

Sasuke grit his teeth at that but admitting Kiba had a point said, "Fine, but don't come whining to me if we fail the exams."

"That's more like it," Kiba said grinning ferally.

Before Kiba could attack Hinata said, "Please withdraw cousin, I do not wish to fight you."

Dropping from the tree Neji said, "That's too bad really, the thought of putting the Main House in its place was one of the more attractive reason for deciding to participate in the exams." He then took a step forward and grinned when he saw Hinata take a step back. He frowned though when the boy in the white and red mask stepped in front of him just out of striking distance.

"Perhaps I might make a suggestion?" Haku asked

"What?" Neji said glaring at the boy.

"Well as my teammate suggested you are outnumbered and while you may be confident in your ability to win against us. You must also realize that even should you do so you will sustain damage therefore making you easy picking for someone else to in turn defeat you."

Intrigued Neji asked, "So what are you proposing?"

"A one on one battle between you and I," Haku said, "If you win you can have our scrolls, if I win you in turn give me yours."

"That would gives me the advantage since your bargaining seems to make it so Team Eight keeps there scrolls," Neji said, "What makes you willing to sacrifice your own chances of passing for them."

Shaking his head Haku said, "You cannot defeat me. Your eyes hold to much hatred. You do not understand what it is that gives a person true strength."

"And that is?" Neji asked. Sasuke also felt like knowing considering it was the exact opposite of what his brother told him to do in order to gain strength.

"True strength only comes from the desire to protect those precious to you," Haku said. Neji just scoffed at Haku's idea of where strength came from, Sasuke also had a hard time not rolling his eye at the boy's statement.

"Very well, I except," Neji said while moving to an open area away from everyone.

Haku just followed suit followed by Sai who whispered, "Why are you doing this we could take them with numbers."

Smiling under his mask Haku said, "Perhaps due to Ronin being unconscious I am filling in for his usual reckless behavior. Also, numbers aren't everything while we may triumph in the end to many people would get hurt in the process."

"Very well," Sai said surprising Haku.

"Are you beginning to understand what it means to help others?" Haku asked.

Shaking his head no Sai said, "No this is no clearer than anything else you two have done since entering the forest, but I can't argue that despite Ronin ending up unconscious events haven't gone as horribly as I thought they would. I don't expect this to be any different."

Smiling under his mask Haku thought, "It's a start."

Lining up opposite of Neji both boy's assumed a stance. Haku knew that he had to stay away from Neji, that close range taijutsu would play into all of the Hyuuga's strengths. He could only hope that the boy would fall to his far range attacks as he thought, "Naruto must be rubbing off on me to go for a stunt like this."

"Are you prepared to see you were fated to lose this day," Neji said activating his blood inheritance.

"Sorry I don't put much stock in fate," Haku replied.

Both boys then stared each other down before Haku decided to get things started with a barrage of senbon. Much to his disappointment and concern none of the needles hit and the Hyuuga had even snatched one out of the air and threw it back. Dodging the senbon he found Neji was quickly closing the distance, needing to create some distance Haku jumped back away from the Hyuuga throwing senbon. They didn't stop him but they did slow him down, using the moment he had bought himself he created two water clones.

"A poor choice the water clones do not possess the same chakra as you and easily stand out," Neji said easily dispatching them.

Seeing how close he was Neji said, "It is over for you. You are within range of my technique."

And you are within range of my," Haku countered.

Neji abandoned the eight trigrams upon hearing that instead pulled a kunai attempting to stab Haku with it. Haku countered with one of his own and said,"Now you are the one who's chosen poorly."

Glaring into the mask Neji said, "So long as I tie up your hand we are in a stalemate."

"I'm afraid you lost," Haku said while making one handed signs and forming Ice needles from the moisture in the air.

Tenten screamed, "Look out Neji."

"I know Tenten,' Neji said and attempted to jump away only to have Haku grab onto him. "Are you mad we'll both get hit by this jutsu you fool?"

"Yes, but we will probably survive and you will no longer be in a position to threaten my friends," Haku said his voice showing his determination.

However, before the attack could connect Lee charged in kicking both participants apart and escaping as the needles shot forward. Tenten let out a breath of relief at seeing her teammates unharmed. Instead of thanking Lee, Neji said, "Do you have any idea what your actions cost us Lee?"

"Yes I do Neji, however he was prepared to take you down with him." Lee answered earnestly, "I could not stand by and allow that to happen. From the moment he caught you the fight was a draw even if we each kept out scrolls we would still be at a disadvantage the next time we fought if you were incapacitated."

"Tsk, fine," Neji said walking away.

Walking up to Haku, Lee pulled out the Earth Scroll his team had saying, "Here this is rightfully yours due to my interference in your match."

Nodding his head Haku said, "Thank you," while taking the scroll.

"I am the Leaf's handsome green beast, Rock Lee."

"It is a pleasure to meet you Rock Lee, I'm Haku."

"Please do not take this the wrong way, but I hope to do battle with you later in these Chunin Exams."

Accepting what Lee said as a complement Haku said, "Of course, you seem to have a unique strength about you."

Fire burning in his eyes Lee thought, "Gai-sensei you were right my strength does burn with the fire of youth if such a strong opponent can see it."

"Come on Lee let's go," Tenten called out.

"Right, until we meet again Haku," the green clad genin said running off.

Sasuke came stepping up to Haku saying, "So all that talk about being stronger was just that talk huh."

"Not at all," Haku said, "I meant ever word; hatred does not make you stronger. I did beat a Hyuuga in close combat after all because of the length I was willing to go to protect my friends."

"You're a naïve fool," Sasuke said unable to explain why Haku philosophy bothered him so, but he figure it must be because Haku's way of looking at things assumed he was weak.

"Hey chill out man," Kiba said grabbing a hold of Sasuke's arm. "We're all on the same side here."

Smiling at Kiba, although he couldn't see it, Haku said, "Here," tossing the scroll at the Inuzuka

Kiba surprised asked, "You're just giving it to us?"

"Consider it thanks for remaining true to your friends in Team Eight," Haku said.

"Thanks man," Kiba holding out his hand said, "I'd like to consider you guy's in that count too."

Taking the outstretched hand Haku said, "Yes, I would like that as well."

Sai asked, "Would it be okay to call you Dickless now?"

"What? No you asshole," Kiba then looking at Haku asked, "What's wrong with your friend he doesn't seem quite right?"

"I'm not sure, I don't think he had a lot of contact with people," Haku answered. Sai just stood there with his fake smile on, not showing any sign of whether or not the conversation bothered him.

Sasuke ignored the scene and addressing Kiba and Sakura said, "Let's go, we need to hurry and find a team that has the Heaven scroll. We still have two days and we'll probably need every minute of them."

Kiba acknowledged what Sasuke said with a nod and said his good-byes to Hinata and Shino. Sakura approached Haku saying, "When Ronin wakes up can you tell him thanks for everything?"

Haku nodded saying, "Of course." She then waved to the others and followed after her team.

The next morning came with a happy surprise as Naruto had awakened shortly after everyone else did. Haku had filled him in on everything he missed while he was sleeping. Hinata had been happy to see the blonde recover, but when Haku mentioned that he had never seen the blonde take so long to recover from such a minor injury she could tell her and the others' presence made him uncomfortable. She excused herself and kindly maneuvered everyone else out so they could talk. She was tempted to use her bloodline ability but remembering her vow to wait until he told her himself she refrained.

Once Hinata and everyone else had left them alone Haku said, "I believe she is beginning to suspect your secret."

Naruto thought he meant the Kyuubi and grabbed his stomach. Haku seeing Naruto doing his nervous habit whenever the Kyuubi was mentioned said, "I meant your other secret, I believe she suspects your real identity."

"Well hopefully after we complete this test and the third I'll be able to tell her and Sakura the truth," he said leaning against the tree.

Seeing Naruto hadn't returned to his normal level of energy despite having slept for so long he said, "How are you feeling, you look a bit off?"

"I feel off, it's hard to explain like my chakra is all over the map from high to low," Naruto said apparently in a low moment.

"Then I suggest that we do not delay any longer and make our way to the tower," Haku suggested.

"Sounds like a plan," Naruto said but then his stomach gave out a growl, "on second thought how about after breakfast."

After breakfast the trek to the tower was relatively easy considering they traveled as a group. Either any of the teams that they believed had been laying in ambush around the tower had somehow missed them or they decided taking on a group of six was not the best way to go about getting a scroll. Once at the tower's base they saw there were a bunch of doors and they corresponded to the gate you entered to get into the forest.

Just before they entered their door Naruto turned towards Hinata saying, "Uhm…Hinata."

"Yes Ronin," she replied hoping he would tell her what she wanted to hear.

Having her stare at him with such hopeful eyes his mind went blank at what he was going to say so he lamely said, "Love the jacket," then entered the door.

Hinata stood there for a minute her cheeks burning red before whispering, "Thank you," and then joined her own team in entering their door.

Once inside Haku read the riddle that was visible aloud and Sai told them they needed to open the scrolls and combine them. Although whether he already had that information or figured it out from the riddle they couldn't tell. Doing as Sai said they were surprised when the gruff voice of Zabuza said, "It took you three days to get here. Do you know how much money I lost betting you would be the first team to make it to the tower?"

"It can't be much since you're always broke," Naruto said.

"Well lucky for me, you weren't careful with that little frog wallet of yours," Zabuza said holding up a deflated Gamachan.

Naruto looked like he had a few choice words for Zabuza but Sai said, "Well I think if Dickless and Ugly hadn't decided to fight with Orochimaru we could have made it."

Zabuza eyes widened at that as he took in Naruto and Haku, "What he's here? What were you two morons thinking tangling with the likes of him? The whole reason I joined this stinking village was so he couldn't get at us."

"Well if it's any consolation I don't think he knew we were here," Haku said, "He seems to be targeting Sasuke Uchiha."

"Well he knows we're here now," Zabuza said. "I'll tell the Hokage about this when I see him."

"Also, can you tell him Orochimaru placed some kind of seal on Ronin that seems to be messing with his chakra," Haku said.

"Yeah no problem," Zabuza said making his way out of the room just before he left he turned back adding, "You two did good, and since you're not dead I guess I can include you in that pale face."

"Yeah we totally rock," Naruto said pleased at receiving Zabuza's praise.

Team Seven arrived at the tower on the fifth day of the exam. They had come across and defeated several teams unfortunately none of them had the missing Heaven scroll they needed. Sakura once more found herself doubting herself due to how little she actually contributed during those encounters. Luckily for Team Seven they had come across Kabuto on the fourth day, who had asked for their help in reaching the tower in return he would let them in on a strategy that would help them in securing the scroll they needed.

They had traveled most of the night before realizing they had been placed in a genjutsu that had caused them to travel around in circles. They probably would have continued doing so if not for Akamaru who had noticed they crossed a tree he had previously marked. During the battle with the genjutsu copies that the three Rain-nin had conjured, their opponents had once again underestimated the small puppy. Who had sniffed out the real ones and then marked them making it easy for Kiba to locate and defeat the trio.

So with even a puppy contributing more than Sakura had during this exam her confidence was pretty shot. Especially after she did so well during the first test, but all it proved was she was an excellent student. Her confidence hadn't been helped any when the scrolls summoned Kakashi and he explained the meaning of the passage behind him and used her as an example of needing more Earth. He did use Kiba as the example of Heaven but she suspected it was just to rile the Inuzuka up a little bit. Kakashi then led them into a room with the other passing teams. She was surprised that Kabuto hadn't joined his team yet when her eyes fell on the similarly dressed genin of his team.

After Kabuto's scrolls had summoned some random chunin to explain the meaning of the First Hokage's passage he had told them to go on a head a moment to give him a moment to rest. As soon as they left the room he said, "I'm surprised you didn't mark Sasuke. Does this mean he didn't measure up to your high expectations? I suppose I can understand that considering he has yet to unlock the Sharingan."

"Not at all Kabuto," Orochimaru said who was leaning against the wall behind him. "Unfortunately the opportunity passed me by. Besides it may be due to his not having unlocked those magnificent eyes which will ultimately make him come to me of his desire for power."

"Still I wasn't impressed. I'm surprised he managed to defeat Team Dosu as he is now. Did you call them off?" Kabuto asked pushing his glasses up his nose.

Narrowing his eyes Orochimaru said, "I was not able to locate them to do so. That is your next task; locate them for me would you?"

"Very well, what should I do once I find them?" Kabuto asked his voice getting colder.

"Oh, I will leave that for you to decide, I'm sure you'll handle it perfectly," Orochimaru said chuckling as he disappeared.

Anko watched as the final member of one of the last teams to arrive at the tower entered the arena where they would be holding the preliminaries. She remembered standing here herself years ago as the Hokage explained to the genin how the Chunin Exams where just a nicer way of holding war between the allied countries. She had been so full of herself then and though she and her team had been invincible. Of course that was till Orochimaru had thrown them to the side, he had given her teammates the curse seal when he had given it to her. To date she was the only known survivor of the accursed thing, although she had no doubt he had perfected it by now. So lost in thought was she that she didn't notice that the arena floor had been cleared until the electronic board had begun flashing names although she did notice that one of the competitors had quite. Looking at her clip board she saw that his name was Kabuto, she didn't know why but something about that one bothered her. Especially since he had already taken the test seven times, maybe she would look more closely into his past later.

Sakura felt a small hitch catch in the back of her throat when she saw her name appear first, which turned to sudden dread when she saw the name of her opponent. She couldn't believe that she would have to fight Sasuke.

The proctor Hayate said, "The first match is Sakura Haruno vs. Sasuke Uchiha."

Sakura looked at Sasuke, who just scoffed at who he had to fight, as they made their way down to the arena floor. Sakura took up a position in front of her crush, while the time with him may have exposed some of his flaws she still admitted to having strong feelings for the boy. But the way he was looking at her right now made her feel so very small. She looked up at the balcony looking for some sort of comfort and found it when her eyes landed on Ronin who gave her the thumbs up sign. She smiled at the simple gesture until she heard Sasuke say, "Give up."

Looking away from Ronin's kind blue eye she turned to meet Sasuke's cold onyx ones. Apparently deciding that she didn't hear him he said,"Give up Sakura, there's no point in me even wasting chakra on this fight."

"Sasuke I…" she started the hurt of being thought of so lowly evident in her voice.

However she was cut off as Sasuke stated, "You can't honestly think you have a chance of beating me Sakura." Looking up at his team he said, "Even Akamaru contributed more to our passing this test than you did."

Hearing her own doubts about herself thrown in her face from the boy she had wanted to look upon her with favor for so long Sakura was about to do as he suggested until she heard, "Don't do it Sakura, you can take his ass. I believe in you."

Looking at the balcony she saw Ronin looking at her trying to give her confidence with just his eyes. All she could whisper was, "Ronin…thank you."

Sasuke also looked to where the outburst came from and for some reason he wasn't surprised that it was the blonde sponsored-nin. Addressing the blonde nuisance Sasuke said, "Mind your own business, this doesn't concern you."

Sakura watched as Ronin turned his eyes to Sasuke and saw his blue-eyes hardened as his gaze met Sasuke's. Looking down on the last Uchiha he said, "What kind of crappy teammate are you? You, shouldn't be trying to tear her down to make yourself look good, but helping to build her up, you bastard."

Zabuza put his hand on Ronin shoulder saying, "He's right brat butt out."

Shaking his shoulder loose Naruto turned towards his teacher saying, "No! I can't tolerate that. When I was just starting out and doing poorly Haku never once talked down to me and tried to make me feel worthless." Turning back to Sakura he said, "Show him your resolve Sakura, you can do it."

Hayate deciding enough was enough asked, "Well are you going to continue or not?"

"I'll fight," she said staring one last time at the balcony before getting in the basic academy stance. Sasuke slipped into his Interceptor Fist stance. Sakura put her mind to work trying to figure out a strategy. She knew from all her fights with him before that unless he respected your fighting ability Sasuke always charged in for the quick finish. He would wait for the likes of Kiba but when they sparred he always came in quickly to overpower her and she would always wait to accept that charge. Today would be different.

So as soon as the proctor said, "go." She was charging at Sasuke who was also running at her. She could see that he was surprised by that, by the ever so small widening of his eyes and slowing of his pace. Sakura then created two Bunshins of herself that matched pace with her towards Sasuke. Sasuke just snorted derisively as he reached into his pouch to pullout three kunai. Throwing them he knew only the real Sakura would dodge, when the one on the right dodged he corrected his course to close with it disregarding the other two. However he caught out of the corner of his eye that the middle Sakura although she didn't dodge the kunai had raised her forearm and took the hit on it. Quickly realizing he'd been had, he turned to her just as she put on a burst of speed using chakra.

She threw a punch hoping to catch him in the jaw, but Sasuke proved to be too fast as he caught it. Throwing another one with her free hand he caught that arm as well and then locked her elbows until the point that they felt like they would pop out of place. Leaning in close Sasuke said, "Did you honestly think that because that fool told you he believed in you that you would suddenly be on par with me."

Sakura shook her head no saying, "But if I just gave up I would never move past this point."

"You still haven't," Sasuke said coldly, "All's I have to do is add just a little more pressure," which he then did causing her joints to groan in protest, "and I'll break your arms. Give up Sakura you'll never be anything but deadweight."

Up on the balcony Haku could see that the hand with which Naruto was gripping the railing his knuckles were turning white. He was probably about to have another outburst when Sakura said, "Your right Sasuke, I was deadweight, however even knowing I can't beat you I feel like I've gotten little stronger."

Then Sakura took a page from Hinata's ninja handbook and put one of her more unique features to work as she slammed her forehead into Sasuke's nose, resulting in a cracking sound that told everyone she had succeeded in breaking it. As Sasuke reeled back he released her arms, free she followed up her attack connecting with a hard right fist that rocked him. However he remained standing and when she tried to connect again he shot out a foot catching her in the stomach causing her to stumble back.

Not used to taking such a vicious shot, she froze in pain which was all the opportunity Sasuke needed to capitalize on. For Sakura it was as if time slowed down as Sasuke closed in on her. She could see the hit about to come but found her body unwilling to respond as the first hit caught her in her right eye. Time then seemed to speed up as Sasuke's follow up blows began to land. They hit with such fierceness and speed that they lifted her feet off the ground. He then delivered a kick that sent her flying several feet away.

She landed hard and she could see that Sasuke had already turned away from her as Hayate called the match. Before she blacked out her gaze landed once more on Ronin as she thought, "You think I've gotten a little stronger right Ronin?"

The medics loaded Sakura on a stretcher to take her to the infirmary. One of them quickly set Sasuke's nose and did some minor healing to it since he refused to leave wanting to gain some insight into the other fighters.

Sasuke then took his place with the rest of his team on the balcony; he ignored the looks from his teammates instead focusing on the glaring blond. Sasuke just smirked as he said, "What are you glaring at? It's your fault she didn't withdraw and save herself the embarrassment."

Naruto wanted to do what chibi Zabuza was telling him to do so bad right now, but instead he said, "Actually I think she did great."

"Clearly amused Sasuke said, "Then you must have been watching a different fight."

"No I saw it," the blonde said, "I saw a girl that many thought probably wouldn't even be able to lay a finger on you bloody you pretty good."

Not liking being reminded that Sakura did manage to break his nose said looking away, "Whatever, what do I care what a sponsored-nin thinks."

Now Naruto let the anger he was feeling into his voice as he took a step closer to Sasuke saying, "You should care because when we meet in the finals I'm going to show you the same amount of compassion that you showed her."

Scoffing at the threat Sasuke said, "you'll have to get there first loser."

"Oh, I'll get there," Naruto said then under his breath whispered, "believe it."

The electronic board began flashing again gaining everyone's attention. The first name to come up was Ami Fu causing the girl to smile, but when her opponent was revealed to be none other than her teammate Hinata she was ecstatic. She'd finally get to put the Hyuuga in her place especially since she had already put her ace in the hole in play.

The two girls made their way down to the arena floor. Hinata was confident in her ability to emerge successfully from the match. She was hoping to show Ronin what she was made of as well having been impressed with Sakura's own show of strength. To be honest she had expected her to quit rather than fight Sasuke. Looking at Ronin as she walked to the center of the floor she wondered at how close Ronin and Sakura were and if the blonde was giving Sakura strength like Naruto had given her. Of course, if Ronin was in fact Naruto that could be a problem for her so she hoped to use this venue to display her own might.

The proctor took up position between the two girls saying, "The second match is between Ami Fu and Hinata Hyuuga." Looking at both girls, and receiving nods that they were ready he said, "Begin," and stepped away.

Before Hinata could charge she went on guard when Ami smiled and said, "Somebody must be smiling on me to place you and me against each other."

"I don't know why you bear me such animosity," Hinata said calmly looking for her opening to attack. "But I can't allow you to defeat me here I'm afraid." She then felt a little jolt at the base of her skull and suddenly her body wouldn't respond to her.

Ami's face gained a menacing look as she said, "Ah yes, you probably can't have me slowing you down on your path to Hokage. Can you now?"

Up on the balcony Naruto's eyes widened at that as he thought, "Since when did Hinata want to be Hokage."

Hinata though squeaked out, "When…when did you plant the chakra needle on me?"

"When we were on the balcony but don't feel bad you weren't the only one, I've managed to get just about everyone up there," Ami responded causing all the Leaf genin that were on the balcony to reach for their necks now that she had made the chakra thread visible. Most of the genin found one although she apparently stayed away from Team Zabuza and Kakashi.

"That bitch!" Ino though when she found the needle in her neck, "It's bad enough what she did to Sakura and Hinata's friendship. But to be use such a cheap trick as planting these needles in us before the match even begun to ruin a person chances of a fair fight is really low. Why aren't they calling her on it?"

Anko stepped up to the Hokage and whispered, "Do you want me to call the match in favor of Hinata sir? It is a rather cheap tactic we could make this Ami Fu forfeit."

The Hokage said, "No while it is a move low in honor it does show foresight something a chunin needs. We'll allow it."

The sand team was by themselves on the opposite side so they didn't have anything to worry about Ami having planted a needle on them, but Kankurou was interested when the thread appeared thinking, "What is this some sort of Leaf Puppet Jutsu?"

Ami had continued to taunt Hinata saying, "Although I suppose a future Hokage should be ashamed of herself for being caught so easily. As if a white-eyed freak like you would ever be made Hokage."

When Ami said that Hinata's eyes grew large and it was as if a fog had been lifted from them. For just a moment a six-year old Sakura was standing there having said the exact same thing to her on that day in the courtyard. She was even standing the same way, Hinata finally understood what it was about Ami that bothered her from time to time when she spoke or stood a certain way. Then the she was overtaken by a white hot fury as she growled out, "It was you."

Ami though had no idea what she was talking about saying, "What are you talking about, bitch?"

"It wasn't Sakura that said those things to me in the courtyard when we were younger, it was you," Hinata said her eyes boring into Ami.

Ami sneered saying smugly, "Oh yeah I almost forgot about that. Although it has been my great pleasure to know I was responsible for driving you two ap…"

However Ami's taunt was cut short as she felt a jolt to the back of her neck eyes going wide in panic when Hinata reached up to her neck and removed the needle. Despite the connection being severed she still couldn't move so she said, "What's going on, how did you override my control."

Hinata activating her Byakugan said, "You talk too much and gave me too much time to counter your technique."

"But how," Ami exclaimed.

"I'm a Hyuuga," Hinata said getting into her stance," It was a simple matter to send my chakra through that chakra string to disrupt your motor controls."

She then quickly closed the distance between them and pulled her hand back. So much chakra was concentrating in her hand that Kurenai was about to jump the railing only to be stopped by Kakashi. Turning to the one eyed jounin she said, "She's going to kill Ami let me go."

"Have a little faith in your student Kurenai," Kakashi said calmly.

Reaching Ami, Hinata sent the palm thrust aiming for the center of her chest. However instead of sending the chakra into her body and destroying her heart she used it as a concussive blast that rocketed Ami into the arena wall smashing her into it so hard it left an impression of the girl as she slumped to the floor.

Hinata began walking out of the arena but stopped turning to the proctor saying, "You can call the match she isn't getting back up." She then left the arena floor for the infirmary; it was time she got her friend back.

Up on the balcony Naruto stood there wide eyed. Aloud he said, "Wow, girls can be scary.'

Haku just nodded his head. Naruto then whispered, "But man Hinata is so strong it isn't going to be easy to beat her out for Hokage."

"Perhaps you won't have to worry about that," Haku said considering the girl's love of orange and her apparent desire to become Hokage. It was easily apparent to see she held Naruto in high regard.

Naruto was confused by that and said, "Why's that?"

Haku just smiled and shook his head at how naive his friend could be in some areas so just said, "It doesn't matter," and then turned his attention to the flashing screen with Naruto following suit. Naruto smiled when he saw his name appear on the screen.

It then stopped on Chouji Akimichi causing the boy to swallow. Shikamaru put his hand on his friends shoulder saying, "Don't worry just stick to the strategy I gave you and you'll do fine." While Shikamaru couldn't possibly know who each of them would fight he did give his teammates a basic strategy for dealing with just about any opponent. For Chouji it was simple, rely on his partial expansion jutsu to keep his opponents at a distance while pounding them.

As Naruto made his way down the stairs he wished that the Hokage had been able to remove the seal Orochimaru had placed on him. Regrettably, the Hokage said its removal would have to wait until after the preliminaries, he said that he would have to battle with whatever handicaps that he had received from the forest. He said the reason had to do with politics, Naruto had only been in the village for a short time but he was really starting to hate politics. When he became Hokage he planned to outlaw them.

Hayate said as both boys lined up across from one another, "Third Match: Ronin vs. Chouji Akimichi." He waited for both boys to nod at him before saying, "Begin."

As soon as Hayate stepped away Chouji said, "Partial Expansion Jutsu Arm."

Naruto was surprised but he managed to avoid it as Chouji brought the giant hand down trying to smash him into the ground. When he began to retract the hand Naruto tried to close with him but Chouji set the other hand expanding towards him. Chouji was beginning to feel confident and was glad that he had done all that extra training after the Wave mission. Naruto tried to form several shadow clones but found his chakra was hard to mold also, Chouji didn't give him the time as he sent an expanded axe kick his way that he had to avoid.

Naruto was getting pushed back by Chouji attacks. He was now standing against the wall waiting for the next strike to come. When it did Naruto tried to get cute by jumping onto the expanded arm and running along it. But Chouji countered by shaking the arm just a little causing Naruto to stumble since he couldn't rely on his chakra to hold on. The Akimichi took that opening to expand the other arm catching Naruto dead on and smashing him into the wall causing some of it to collapse on him.

Ino began cheering for Chouji and Hayate was about to call the match but Zabuza shouted down, "Don't even think about calling this match."

Hayate said, "The boy took that hit dead on and didn't use a substation to escape. He'll be lucky to be alive let alone conscious."

But Hayate turned to the pile in surprise when it began shifting. Chouji looked at it disbelieving what he was seeing as he whispered, "He can't be human."

Pushing the largest piece of rock off of him Naruto stood up a bleeding disheveled mess. Looking at Chouji he said, "I'm afraid I can't lose here I said I'm going to the finals to pay back that bastard for Sakura." He then formed the cross sign again, praying he could perform the jutsu quickly this time.

Chouji was still too stunned to respond so Shikamaru called out to his friend, "Pull it together Chouji don't let him perform that jutsu." That did it for Chouji who pulled his arm back again for a punch, but unluckily for the Akimichi, Naruto's chakra appeared to be at a high point as suddenly the arena floor was covered in masked blondes much to the shocked disbelief of all the onlookers.

"Holy Shit," Anko exclaimed which pretty much summed up the feelings of everyone else as well.

From that point on it was only a matter of time before Chouji was overpowered by Naruto. He fought hard but was forced to submit when Naruto's clones managed to pin him. Naruto pulled his blade out and approaching the prone boy held it to the boy's throat. When Hayate made his victory official Naruto made his way down to the infirmary as the board flashed the names Tenten and Temari. He felt he had to apologize to Sakura for his words being responsible for her getting hurt.

Sakura awoke to find she had been brought to the infirmary. She wasn't surprised about that but that Hinata was sitting next to her bed. Smiling at the pinkette Hinata said, "How do you feel?"

"Horrible," Sakura said, "How bad is it?"

"Not bad your eye is swollen, and you suffered some bruised ribs," Hinata said then lightly added, "All in all I think you'll live."

"Oh," Sakura said, "I thought since you were here I was on my deathbed. " She had meant it as a joke but she saw the sadness pass through Hinata's eyes. Leaning up despite the pain she said, "It was a joke Hinata."

"I know about what Ami did to you in the courtyard," Hinata said quickly.

Sakura was clearly surprised by that revelation saying, "How, did Ino tell you?"

Hinata shook her head no and told Sakura about her match with Ami. As she finished she said, "I suppose my mind was always trying to tell me, I'm sorry I never listened to it."

Sakura said apologetically, "No, you had a right to be angry with me. Ami wasn't controlling me when I said those things about Naruto." Not able to meet Hinata's eyes she said, "You were right by the way I should never had said that about Naruto we did owe him our lives."

"Well I didn't have a right to hit you, so can we just admit we were both wrong," Hinata said then smiling continued, "I'd really like my friend back."

Sakura got tears in her eyes and said, "I'd like that as well." The two shared a hug which ended when they heard the door to the infirmary open. Sakura was the first to respond to the new presence, "Ronin!?"

Naruto said taking in the two girls, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you. I was just going to see how you were doing Sakura… I'll leave."

Hinata getting up from her chair said, "No, that's okay. I should get back to the arena." Taking in his current state Hinata asked, "Are you okay?"

Rubbing the back of his head Naruto said, "Yeah, I'm fine. I won my match, but not before ending up on the wrong side of an Akimichi's fist."

Hinata left the room but instead of going to the arena stood just outside the door thankful that as opposed to Ami's bed Sakura's was right near the entrance. Both Naruto and Sakura stood there for a moment not sure what to say to one another. Sakura was afraid that Ronin was here to vent his disappointment in how she fared in her match so she was surprised when he said, "I'm sorry you got hurt because of me."

Sakura looked at the boys eye's that showed the guilt he felt at her current state. Not liking that look in them having grown accustomed to the happy blue eyes she said trying to cheer him up, "It wasn't your fault. Besides your words made me happy, because of them I feel like I've become stronger."

"Did you find some of the answer that you were looking for?" Ronin asked his mood picking up with Sakura's statement.

Sakura nodded her head yes, "Thanks to you. I was going to forfeit the match but I would never have gone found out anything then," she said smiling up at him.

"I glad," he said smiling at her. Then looking at a clock hanging on the wall said, "I probably should head back up and find out who else passes this part of the exam. I'll see you around Sakura."

Sakura said before he turned completely, "I would like to thank you somehow, Ronin."

"You don't have to Sakura just being my friend is enough for me."

Smiling at what he said Sakura said insistently "Please, how about I buy you a bowl of ramen from that shop I saw you coming out of."

Not being able to turn down free Ichiraku ramen said happily, "Sure, how about tomorrow at lunch."

"Okay see you then," Sakura said before lying back down in the bed.

Outside the infirmary Hinata quickly made her way back to the arena lost in thought about what she just heard. While happy to have her friend back and to see her move past her more Sasuke oriented self, she was most definitely not pleased that she may be setting her eyes on this Ronin. She found herself in a predicament due to this revelation. She didn't want to take the chance of not doing anything and Ronin turning out to be Naruto, but at the same time found she was worrying about how making her own move for the blonde would damage her recently repaired friendship with Sakura.

Reaching the arena she had to make room for the medics who were carting her cousin's teammate Tenten to the infirmary. Climbing the steps she rejoined the remaining members of her team on the balcony.

Naruto entered the arena just as Haku was making his way down the steps of the balcony passing him. Looking up at the electronic board Naruto saw Haku was facing off against a Rock Lee. Wondering why his opponent wasn't following Haku down he saw a green clad genin bound off the balcony straight to the arena floor. Wishing Haku luck he continued up the stairs.

Haku was slightly nervous with having to fight this Rock Lee. Apparently his team was quite skilled to have come back from losing their scroll. Not to mention the boy seemed to be like Naruto in the energy department having jumped from the balcony in a hurry to begin. Taking up a position in front of the genin Lee gave him a thumbs up saying, "It seems we will be able to compare our strength even sooner than even I suspected."

Nodding his head Haku said, "So it would seem. I hope to match your expectations; nevertheless I hope you understand I cannot allow myself to be defeated here."

"Yes of course for I to cannot allow myself to lose here," Lee responded getting into his stance holding one hand out with the other behind his back.

"The Fifth Match is Rock Lee vs. Haku"

As soon as Hayate finished saying begin Lee took off closing the distance at an incredible pace. Haku managed to block but feeling the solidness of the blow jumped back before Lee could strike again. "That hit was amazingly powerful, but I don't think he used chakra to enhance it," Haku thought to himself as Lee stood there studying him. Haku decided to attack this time and found that Lee was also quite nimble on his feet able to easily match Haku move for move. While Haku was holding back he half suspected Lee was as well. Deciding to test that theory he began moving faster but found that Lee was having no trouble keeping up.

Jumping back Haku reached into his pouch pulling out some senbon and threw them. Lee back flipped away leaving a trail of senbon buried into the ground in his wake. Lee was about to attack again when he heard Gai say, "Alright Lee, that's enough you can remove them now."

Lee's eyes grew wide as he said cheerfully, "Really!?"

Giving a thumbs up Gai said, "Yes, you cannot afford to hold back against this opponent. I'll allow it." Reaching into the orange leg warmers on his legs he pulled out two sets of weights holding them up for a second. Releasing them Haku saw that they dented the floor.

Eyes going wide he looked at the boy thinking, "He was that fast with that much weight attached he must easily be faster than me without them." He was proven correct when Lee moved so quickly it appeared as if he disappeared. Sensing Lee behind him he tried to turn to block but the kick that Lee delivered to his face sent him flying. Haku vaguely became aware that his mask cracked when he felt the wind on his face. Landing several feet away he stood up and felt it as the other half of his mask dropped away.

Lee charged straight at him but when the other half of the mask fell away he stopped his fist inches from Haku's face. Suddenly bowing to the shocked boy, Lee said, "Please forgive me, I did not know you were a girl and would never have struck you in the face if I knew that mask was there to protect your angelic features."

Up in the stands Naruto began laughing uncontrollable and the few other that were aware of Haku's true gender did give a small chuckle. Red faced Haku said, "I'm a boy."

Lee clearly surprised at that revelation looked to Gai for advice who just shrugged his shoulders. Haku said embarrassed, "May we please continue the match?"

Jumping back Lee said, "Yes, of course, let us continue."

He then charged again throwing a punch that Haku allowed him to connect with. Flying across the arena he was surprised when Lee didn't follow up. Getting up again Haku asked, "Why did you not follow up?"

"You allowed that hit connect." Lee said surprised, "why?"

"When you stopped due to your misunderstanding you had the advantage it would have been unfair of me to take advantage," Haku said and then began forming hand seals added, "But I'm afraid I cannot give you a second freebie." The Ice mirrors began forming around Haku, he knew that he couldn't trap Lee inside of them with the green clad boy's speed but perhaps he could use his impetuous nature against him. He wasn't disappointed as Lee came charging into the dome sure that his speed could quickly get him out. But before he reached Haku the boy stepped into a mirror causing Lee to punch it to no affect.

Lee tried to escape but Haku appeared in his path hitting him into the center. Lee tried a different angle but again Haku appeared from out of one of the mirrors cutting off his retreat and scored a hit that returned him to the middle of the dome. Lee returning to his feet thought, "How is this possible his speed has once more reached my current level. Plus he is able to appear from any mirror cutting off any possible escape." Realizing his predicament Lee came up with a strategy, "It will be risky and I wanted to save it for the finals but I must use that jutsu."

Opening the first three gates, Lee began to glow with the power he released. Haku realizing with the power he now possessed Lee may be able to shatter his mirrors jumped out just as Lee attacked. Watching as the mirror cracked and shattered to reveal the fast approaching Lee. Unable to dodge he received several blows that send him bouncing around the arena as Lee appears where he hit Haku to send him in another direction before he can hit the ground. Finally coming to rest, Haku managed to get to his feet as Lee charged again. Taking a gamble he formed an Ice Mirror in front of him. Lee attempting to use the direct path tried to smash through it only to find himself trapped inside of the mirror. Lee then appeared to the onlooker as if he was stuck within it and unable to move. Haku approached the mirror then stepped in to the mirror appearing on the other side. The image of Lee changed looking like he had been struck by a blow. As Haku stepped back and forth through the mirror Lee's appearance got more and more haggard. Lee then appeared to lose consciousness thus closing the gates and resumed his normal coloring. The mirror then spited out the defeated Lee at Haku's feet. Hayate called the match and Lee was taken away to see how serious he was hurt while Haku waved the medics off.

Returning to his team Haku returned the nod he received from Zabuza signaling his job well done and the congratulations from Sai. Although he wished Naruto hadn't felt the need to give him a pat on the back seeing as his whole body hurt.

Haku looked on in interest as the next match was between Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame. The pair had apparently trained or fought against each other before as they were well versed in each other's techniques. The fight had only ended when Kiba and Akamaru had hit an Insect Clone of Shino's with their Fang over Fan attack covering them in the chakra draining insects thus ending the match.

The next match was also between two opponents that knew each other well as Shikamaru ended up facing his teammate Ino. The match to Naruto appeared to be kind of boring compared to the other ones with the two just trying to maneuver one another into making a mistake so they could capitalize on it with their family jutsus. It appeared that Shikamaru made that mistake when he commented on how much time Ino spent on her hair in comparison to her training. As if to make a point Ino cut her ponytail throwing it at the confused Nara before he realized he couldn't move from his current spot. However, as Ino tried to nail him with her jutsu she suddenly jerked her aim to the ceiling sending her spirit out with nothing to hit then Shikamaru revealed that he had used Ino's own chakra string, that she had hidden in the ponytail, as a means to get his shadow to the girl.

The next match had been between Kankurou and a Tsurugi Misumi, a guy from Kabuto's team, with the ability to dislocate his joints. That match had been even more boring than the previous one according to Naruto's way of thinking. But at least as far as the blonde boy was concerned mercifully short. The guy with the joints tried to hug Kankurou and squeeze him to death but unfortunately for the purple genin he ended up hugging a puppet that hugged him back knocking him out.

The electronic board began rotating but with only four contestants left there were only so many combinations to be had. The first name to appear was Sai's followed by Gaara's. Both boys made their way down their respective balcony's stairs. Lining up across each other Sai giving the smile that Naruto found so annoying do to its fakeness and Gaara who stood there arms crossed showing no emotion.

Although his outer demeanor didn't show it Sai knew just how much trouble he was in. Danzou's spies knew the boy in front of him was the one-tail's jinchuriki. He like the previous hosts had become unstable yet unlike them it had been much sooner in life. Perhaps it had to do with the assignation attempts that Sai had read about in the boy's files.

As soon as Hayate said 'begin' Sai watched as sand came shooting out of the gourd smashing into the pale boy. To the onlookers it appeared that Sai had been smeared all over the ground considering the discoloration on the floor and in the sand. This was shown to be false when Sai appeared standing behind Gaara only for the sand to in turn come around and smash into that Sai to. This happened several time till one of the Sai's that appeared dodged the attack throwing several kunai at Gaara. The sand returned to protect the red head, but much to everyone's surprise a Sai clone raised from af the discolored portion of the sand with tanto drawn swiping at the boy.

Gaara staggered back surprised that his sand didn't protect him showing a jagged scar along his chest where the blade hit which quickly reformed due to it only having been his sand armor. Figuring that the ink mixed with his sand had confused his automatic defense he discarded the discolored sand. Sai responded by sending several of his ink creations at Gaara his sand destroyed them but he had to discard it lest he leave himself open to a similar attack.

As Gaara sand got thinner and thinner Sai threw a kunai with a paper bomb attached. His remaining sand protected him from the kunai but it wasn't enough to keep the blast from affecting him. The blast threw him across the arena floor, into the pile of wall from the Chouji-Ronin fight. Lying on the pile his sand armor in tatters Gaara watched as Sai approached reaching behind his shoulder to pull out the tanto on his back. Just as Sai reached the pile of rubble, sand shot out from the bottom of it. The sand grabbed Sai by the foot picking him up and then smashed him into ground. Standing up Gaara revealed that he had converted his gourd into sand cushioning his fall and allowing him access to fresh sand that began covering him. Also his calm demeanor seemed to have cracked as with bloodshot eyes he extended his hand causing the sand to cover Sai's drawing hand and then crushing it causing the usually stoic boy to scream in pain. He then had the sand throw Sai across the room.

Gaara walked towards the Root member who was trying to crawl away leaving a trail of blood behind him. Sai knew this was the end so accepting that fate he turned to his soon to be killer without showing any emotion as was expected from those in Root. Gaara with a deranged smile sent a wave of sand planning to crush the boy, losing sight of him when the sand hit. When the dust settled he saw a wall of steel which turned out to be the flat of the Executioners Blade which Zabuza had used to shield him and the boys from the attack. Coming from behind the Swordsmen were a glaring Haku and Naruto who stared down Gaara daring him to attack again.

Turning from the crazy sand-nin Zabuza waved over the medics picking Sai up and placing him on the stretcher they held. If Gaara had been surprised at the interference then Sai who had been taught failures deserved to die was definitely. At the same time Gaara and Sai said, "Why?"

Turning from the pale boy so as to more address Gaara the Swordsmen said, "Because the kid despite being a pain in the ass is my responsibility. I'm not about to stand back and let you kill him so you can get your rocks off."

Gaara not liking that reason said, "He failed to prove his existence and deserves to die."

Naruto stepped forward saying, "It isn't for you to decide if his existence has worth because we think of him as a friend and teammate. So, if you want to kill him then come on but you'll have to go through us to get him."

Gaara looked like he was about to do just that until Hayate stepped forward saying, "Gaara of the Desert is the winner. Return to your spots on the balcony."

Sai watched his team return to the balcony as the medics carted him off to the infirmary. For the first time in his life he found himself questioning his teachings. Danzou had said friendship wasn't important yet if Haku and Ronin hadn't thought of him as friends he would be dead now. He hadn't been afraid of dying that fear had long been driven from him, but he had never really cared to go on living before either. Now suddenly he felt a strange desire to do just that. Was it the emotional response his training told him to expect from such a close call or was it from something else? Perhaps knowing that he suddenly had a place that considered him as something more than just a tool to be used and discarded. He would have to think on this. Looking at his ruined arm he figured he would be given plenty of time to do just that.

The Third Hokage watched the match between Neji Hyuuga and Akadou Yoroi with a smile on his face. He was glad the boys had bounded with their teammate but what truly had brought it about had been the look on Sai's face as he was saved. He knew the boy had been expecting to die but having seen the length's his teammates would go for him he was sure it would have a positive effect on the young boy. He then stood back and watched as Neji demolished his opponent. Apparently having the ability to steal chakra did you little good when your opponent had the ability to shut it down.

Once the final match had finished the Hokage explained that the winners would have a month to prepare for the final round and that they should use that time wisely. Hayate held out a bag from which the winners drew numbers that would match them against their first opponents in the upcoming exam.

Naruto smiled as he and Haku made their way to the infirmary to check on their teammate. He had just thirty days to get into real fighting shape. His opponent for the test was the strange bug user, and in the first match, no less. So as soon as he finished checking on Sai he was going to go have the Hokage remove the stinking seal from him.

Thinking about how the rest of the matches broke down Haku had gotten the guy that fought with dolls. Hinata would be fighting the shadow user. With Sasuke fighting Gaara, that would be a match Naruto wanted to see although he hoped Sasuke won because then he would get to honor his word of paying the Uchiha back for Sakura. The last match would be the blonde fan user against the other Hyuuga, as Naruto thought of him. Hopefully at the end of these thirty days he would finally be allowed to announce his triumphant return.