"Born to Die"

Chapter 6

"Chunin Exams ~ Part 1"

Disclaimer: Ya, you wish.

Introduction: AAAHHH! Please don't kill me! Dead authors can't write any more! Hello my very angry readers, I am really sorry for the almost month long interval I took to write some of this chapter and the next one. Lets just say I had a lot of shit going on in my life (aka, equestrian international exchange to Tokyo so I was in japan for almost two weeks.) and had rarely a moment to myself. But, no matter! I introduce to you this! I will also be cleaning up my other chapters and adding an intro chapter soon so bare with me please!

Now for Quote time, with uncle Mo~

"Funny thing about the past, if you try and put it behind you it'll just bite you in the ass, but if it's always on your mind then it clouds the future, the only way to get rid of it is to stop running and face your past, and then turn around to meet your future."

~Me!

"Pick the day. Enjoy it – to the hilt. The day as it comes. People as they come… The past, I think, has helped me appreciate the present – and I don't want to spoil any of it by fretting about the future."

~ Audrey Hepburn

"Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future."

~Paul Boese

(One more!)

"What you need to know about the past is that no matter what has happened, it has all worked together to bring you to this very moment. And this is the moment you can choose to make everything new. Right now."

~?

Emerald eyes flared in anger as they watched a boy clad in green spandex fly back from the force of a punch delivered by two Chunin, and thankfully land in the arms of his brown-haired Kunoichi teammate.

Their third, coffee haired, pearly-eyed shinobi teammate narrowed said pearly eyes in irritation, 'kami-sama, why does my team have to be so annoying?' he thought silently before his thoughts momentarily wandered to his second Kunoichi teammate. "Where the hell is sakura? I thought I specifically told that little pink haired girl not to be late!"

"Oh!" Said girl's Inner hissed, sarcastically cringing at the punch, "That was a nasty punch!"

The pink-haired shinobi growled at her inner in disgust, "That's our teammate we're talking about! Aren't you worried?" she barked.

Her inner shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly, "I would be but this is Lee we are talking about, Remember? Pretty self-explanatory if you ask me."

Sakura smirked lightly, "You mean us right?" and laughed before finally giving a reluctant groan of submission under her inner self's murderous glare.

Kemuri snickered to himself, "Chunin exams, definitely not what I thought they would be." He mused sarcastically. His enormous 8-foot tall muscled body quivered in response to his rider's chakra flux as he watched her annoying teammate get punched back. 'Big mistake.' He thought to himself, chuckling at the foolish Chunin who just sealed his fate for the day.

"Psh, Don't kid yourself. Delicate little girls don't belong here, so you better go home and play with your dolls." One of the chunin's spat before joining his comrade in a triumphant laugh, oblivious to the steaming threat just floors beneath them.

"HELL NO! HE DID NOT JUST SAY THAT!" Sakura's Inner roared, clawing at the thin barriers of her sub-conscious cage as if she could escape and take her revenge.

"Oh but they did." Sakura replied, her sub-conscious voice was cold and chilling while her emerald orbs narrowed in anger toward the Chunin.

"And!" Her Inner continued, obviously not yet done ranting, "They insult us with this pathetic excuse for a Genjutsu!" She roared, waving her arms around as she gestured to said Genjutsu.

Sakura growled, feeling the effects of a headache already, "Inner, just shut up. This Genjutsu isn't actually that bad. If your tiny, stupid brain remembers we have been hanging out with Hinata and Kurenai-Sensei lately, not to mention Kurenai-Sensei's crazy Genjutsu." She hissed, hinting to her inner that the conversation was over.

"Psh, Whatever. Talk to you later." Her inner snorted before sauntering back to her 'happy place'.

Sakura sighed in relief before remembering why she had even argued with her inner in the first place, "Oh yes, that's right. Chunin-assholes messing with my team." She hissed inwardly, her body beginning to tremble with pent up rage as she growled out her distaste loud and clear for the world to hear.

"And another thing-" The Chunin stopped his ranting and froze like everyone else on that level when a deep, feral and deadly growl sounded out. Reminding him much of a pissed-off leopard just waiting to leave you mangled and bloody beyond recognition.

Everyone felt a sudden chill creep up their spines at the sound that foretold pain, all but the now somewhat smug members of Team Guy, A very-lazy Genin, and his blond teammate.

Said Team's pearly-eyed member, Neji Hyuuga sighed in irritation, "Finally! Took her long enough! And what happened to keeping a low profile?" he thought, referring to his absent team member who had finally decided to show up. TenTen sighed with relief and dropped Lee unceremoniously, thinking "Thank Kami-Sama! Now I can get Kemuri-kun to take care of Lee for me!" While Lee could only try to interpret the slightly horrified expression that graced most everyone's faces while mumbling "No! Gai-Sensie I have failed you!"

Shikamaru and Ino sent one another a glance, both conveying the same message. "It's Forehead time!" Ino thought, smirking with glee at the thought her best friend had finally shown up.

Shikamaru on the other hand sighed lazily before shooting the two unsuspecting Chunin a glance that said, "Well, It's been nice knowing you!" which received an audible gulp from both.

Sakura silently shifted, drowning in the fabric of her silky, black, cloak before looking down at her nin-horse's anxious grin. "Ready to show em' what you can do Pony boy?" she asked telepathically, stroking his withers to calm his jumpy nerves.

Kemuri's muscles quivered excitedly with anticipation underneath the girl as he gathered chakra in his feet, "Finally, show time. You are always hogging all the spotlight." He answered back.

Sakura laughed silently before turning her chin up slightly to face the two- still very confused – Chunin that stood two floors above her. She absent-mindedly snaked her fingers around a clump of Kemuri's thick, blackened mane before leaning forward and whistling loudly- translated, it meant 'go!'

The Nin-horse neighed darkly before releasing his chakra and allowing his bloodline to take effect. Flames engulfed his mane and tail, running down his spine and hind legs but never burning his rider. His muscles bunched, and quivered as then propelled the pair up in one fluid movement to the second story of the building in front of them. Landing both right in front of two Chunin who were currently scared stiff.

Sakura snarled in disgust as she jumped off of Kemuri's back, pinning one of the Chunin to the wall with minor difficulty. She chuckled darkly from the safety of her hood, "Tell me, Oh wise Chunin. Why are you underestimating this Kunoichi when shinobi rule #21 clearly states that one should never underestimate an opponent, hm?" she hissed, the Chunin she held had long since gone rigid with fear.

Reactions varied widely from the Genin and Chunin that were there, most confused and somewhat frightened, others sported smug grins that reflected their pity for the Chunin. While one was left completely, and utterly confused as he watched a fiery horse and it's rider seemingly attack two (albeit annoying, and somewhat hostile.) harmless Chunin.

His inner demon growled, "Kami, you are dull brat." He breathed, referring to his blond vessel, "What Shinobi rides a freaking Nin-horse in Konoha other than-"

"SAKURA-CHAN!" Naruto yelled, his energetic voice sailing over others as his blue eyes sparkled with the excitement of seeing the pink-haired Kunoichi again.

Sakura growled involuntarily as she heard Naruto yell her name out for the entire world to hear, "Well, now we know what day he missed at the academy." Inner groaned.

Sakura mentally rolled her eyes, "Ya, like all of them."

"Now if you would be so kind as to dispel this pathetic excuse for a Genjutsu." She started, releasing the her grip on the threating kunai before walking back to head up the group of upcoming genin, "We will all be on our way." She said, her tone something between bored and disgusted.

Many eyes widened in surprise as they realized they were under the effects of a Genjutsu, those not included were obsidian, pearly, and minty green.

Neji huffed and then mumbled "show-off." quietly under his breath.

Inner puffed up her chest victoriously, "Well what can I say I'm just that- Wait a minute!" she cried, glaring daggers at the Hyuuga who stood smirking next to her.

"K-K-Kai.." One of the trembling Chunin whispered, his body betraying its mind as it trembled slightly in fear. The other, only emotionally scarred Chunin quickly grabbed his companion before dashing off- no doubt to the nearest hospital for some mental guidance.

Sakura snarled and then growled victoriously before elbowing Neji, "na, your just jealous." She whispered sarcastically, and then turned to follow the rest of the Genin who by now had begun the walk up the stairs.

"Oi, Forehead!" Ino called, catching up to the now smiling sakura. "Way to go, I think you just mentally scarred those two for life!" she said, punching her pink haired friend playfully.

"Served em' right to!" TenTen yelled from the top of the stairs, and then darted into the classroom to avoid an ecstatic Gai-sensei.

Sakura giggled softly and then turned to one of her best friends, "Hey Pig, you do realize Sasuke's up there? All alone and probably just looking for someone to talk to?" she said, watching as Ino's face lighted up and she dashed off.

Her Green eyes danced merrily for a moment before someone 'accidentally' bumped into her, "HAHAH! Man, Uchiha is screwed!" said person yelled, laughing boisterously in her ear. The sound of an unzipping jacket was followed by several yips and barks of approval.

"Well, Well, Well if it isn't Kiba himself. Been a while huh?" She asked, leaning against the railing of the staircase as she watched both boy and dog.

Kiba grinned, "Yup, in the flesh. Haven't seen you in action yourself for a while, Miss-Pinky." He replied, crossing his arms across his chest with self-proclaimed victory.

Sakura's left eyebrow twitched for a moment before she smirked, whistled, and then plucked a happy Akamaru from atop Kiba's head. "Hey buddy." She coed, tickling the puppy's stomach sweetly, "It's been such a long time! Here, I got something for ya!" she said happily, pulling a large piece of jerky from her pocket and handing it to Akamaru.

"HEY!" Kiba whined, drooling slightly at the jerky that Akamaru had, "How come he get's his belly tickled?" Sakura looked at him critically, eyebrow rose in question. He sighed and then pointed to the jerky akamaru was finishing, "So, you just carry that around all the time or what?"

Sakura laughed lightly, "Eh, sort-of. It's a habit I picked up from the days with Hatake. You know how he summons nin-dogs right?" she asked, cuddling Akamaru for a moment before placing him atop her head.

"Ya."

"Well, Pakkun isn't exactly the most motivated individual so a little jerky never hurt his enthusiasm." She said, chuckling nervously as Kiba laughed whole-heartedly- and then stole his dog back.

"Well, you should swing by the shelter later Sakura. Hana's been asking about you lately." Kiba said, "I think she's still trying to convince you that you should trade Kemuri for a nin-dog."

Sakura raised an eyebrow, "As if. I love your nin-dogs Kiba but no way in hell would I trade Pony boy for one. Never mind the fact he would hunt me down and tan my hide for even thinking about it." Sakura said, slinking into the exams room as to go unnoticed by the many Sensei's at the door.

"Plus, your dogs drool, and smell. Kemuri bathes himself daily." Inner stated proudly.

"Well, still drop by the shelter later. See Ya!" Kiba yelled, and then joined the fray of already mixing Genin.

Sakura laughed, "Alright, later Dog-breath!" she yelled, and then turned around and found an empty desk to watch the sweet, chaos from. Shouts and Cries sounded everywhere from her peers as they re-united, most were insults flung between competing shinobi but a rare few were greetings.

"C'mon Neji! I think I see a specialized kunai!"

"Wait? What-"

"Watch out akamaru! Slow down geez!"

"Bark-Bark! *Jump* Munch! -Munch!"

"NO! My chips!"

"bzzzzzzzzzzzz"

"O-Ohayo Naruto-kun."

"Hey Hinata-san. Teme say hi to Hinata-san!"

"Hey. Hn, dobe."

"Teme!"

"Dobe.."

"TEME."

"EEE! SASUKE-KUN!"

"Damn it… get off!"

"IT'S BEEN SUCH A LONG TIME! MISS ME?"

"Ugh, troublesome woman."

Sakura grinned as she looked in the direction of said shinobi. "Shikamaru!" She called out eagerly, trotting over to his side with a big, goofy, grin.

Shikamaru nodded toward her, "Hey Sakura, long time, no see, eh?" He greeted lazily, leaning back in his desk to watch the ensuing chaos.

Sakura rolled her eyes playfully, "Sure Shika, because a week is a really long time." She said, watching the pineapple-haired genin's eyes go wide for a minute as he remembered the experience. "Remember, you, me, Ino, Choji, Asuma-Sensei, Anko nee-Chan and that hilarious fight between whether we get Dango or Barbecue?"

Shikamaru chuckled, "Yes, I remember you troublesome women. I remember that we ended up getting Dango after your troublesome sister came and you ganged up on Asuma-Sensei." He replied, hinting about Anko's sudden surprise appearance.

Sakura blushed bright red for a moment, scratching her neck sheepishly, "Ya, uh sorry about that." she apologized, slapping Shikamaru's arm when he laughed at her.

"H-hello S-Sakura-chan." Squeaked a timid voice. Sakura turned around to see the Hyuuga heiress standing shyly behind them.

She smiled warmly, and patted the remaining space on the desk next to her, "Hey Hinata, come join us." She said warmly. Hinata smiled before quickly scurrying over to her pink-haired friend.

"So, h-how is Neji-kun doing S-Sakura?" Hinata asked, her stutter fading in the presence of her best friend.

"Being even more of a stuck-up, snot-mouthed, rich kid than before. I want to pummel his snobby ass into the ground on a daily basis." Inner deadpanned as Sakura glared darkly at her and she quickly slunk back into the farthest corner of her sub-conscious realm.

Sakura laughed and casually rolled her eyes, "Ah, you know. Just as much of an arrogant ass as always Hinata." She teased. They both quickly broke out into a fit of giggles, grasping the desk for a moment before Shikamaru coughed.

Sakura glared momentarily at the boy who dared disturb their fun before she hopped up onto the desk next to Hinata, twirling a kunai she had brought. "So lazy bones, you actually going to try to do anything on this test? Or would that be to troublesome?" she taunted, smirking at the lazy genin.

Shikamaru sighed, rolling his eyes before he hoisted himself up in the chair, "Well I-"

"INO GET OFF!" Sasuke yelled, trying to remove the crazy, relentless blond attacking him.

"BUT SASUKE-KUN!" Ino whined, desperately clinging to the younger Uchiha like her life depended on it.

"HAHAHA! TEME!" Naruto cried, clutching his cramping side as he laughed uncontrollably.

Sakura snickered for a moment, "Oi, Kami-Sama help us all." She breathed, earning a giggle from Hinata and a chuckle from Shikamaru. Because men don't giggle.

Shikamaru sighed heavily, "How can you be friends with such a troublesome women?" he asked, shaking his head in irritation as his teammate attempted to wrestle Sasuke into a hug- again.

Sakura shrugged, "I manage. Pig may be a pain in the ass, but she's a darn good friend." She said casually, looking on with a mix of amusement and irritation as Sasuke dodged yet another one of Ino's failed attempts at a hug.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow in question, "S-Sakura, aren't you going to h-help Sasuke-San?" Hinata asked, watching the two, somewhat unfamiliar ninja.

Sakura looked at the two with a somewhat malicious smirk, "Na, I think Sasuke-kun can handle this one." She said, adding the tease of a suffix to Sasuke's name. Both laughed at Sakura's expression, which was torn between tearing Ino off the boy half-heartedly, and rooting her on.

Suddenly Hinata stopped laughing and tugged on Sakura's arm lightly, "Sakura, w-who are those n-ninja?" she asked, gesturing to three Konoha ninja who had just entered the room.

Sakura turned and looked, her face immediately twisting into a scowl, "That's Kabuto's team." She snarled, the deadly flare in her chakra made itself known to both Hinata and Shikamaru, as did the deadly grip she now had on her left shoulder.

"Hey troublesome woman, what's wrong?" Shikamaru asked, watching the three shinobi with wary eyes.

Sakura growled deeper, " I don't like that- that snake." She hissed, watching the silver-haired shinobi with intent to kill. Hinata shivered slightly but activated her Byakugan, scanning Kabuto for any abnormalities and noticed his high chakra level.

"Sakura I-isn't he a bit o-old to be taking the c-Chunin exams." Hinata asked nervously, cowering unconsciously when her friend snarled again.

"Hmph, Yes he is. Bloody bastard's failed the test six times already." She growled, finally tearing her eyes away from the genin and taking a deep breath she ground out, "Let's just say Kabuto and I are not exactly friendly with one another."

Shikamaru gave her the 'go on' look and she complied, "there's just something off about him. He always smells of poison and snakes to me. Even Kemuri thinks he's weird." She said, a distant look in her eyes.

"Well, he is the son of the chief medic. So smelling like poison shouldn't be to troublesome." Shikamaru offered, a bit uncomfortable at the sight of his friend then.

Hinata opened her mouth to vouch for the Nara when Sakura cut her off, "Promise me something okay you two?" she asked, her tone suddenly sounding scared as her grip on the clothed shoulder tightened. "Stay away from him, just try? For me?"

Both nodded, "Alright, you troublesome woman." Shikamaru said, his eyes warm with understanding.

"O-Of course Sakura." Hinata chirped, hugging her friend lightly.

Suddenly everyone sensed several new chakra presences enter the room, one strong enough to cause even the relentlessly attacking Ino to stop. "Alright Brats. Ibiki Morino, proctor for the first part of the Chunin exams." Came a gruff voice, one that demanded attention. "Well? Everyone grab a test and then take a seat! NOW!" he barked, watching as the entire genin class scrambled to grab a test before finding their seats.

Sakura quickly said her goodbye's and then grabbed her test, "alright, seat seven, aisle three." She mumbled, searching the rapidly filling seats for her own. "Seat seven, aisle three. Seat seven, aisle three. Ah here you-"

"Hey Sakura-Chan!"

"Seat seven, aisle three. You have just shot to the top of my kill list." Her inner seethed, staring with vengeance upon the poor piece of oak.

Sakura sighed, and took her seat. "Hey Naruto." She said, waving at him before glancing around to find Sasuke to her left, Naruto at her right, Neji in front, and Gaara behind her. "Well, it could've been worse." She thought, writing down her personal information at the top of the page.

"Ya we could be between Sasuke and Itachi Uchiha." Her inner said, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

Sakura bristled inwardly, "hey! You know that's not in any way funny!" she growled, effectively silencing her inner self.

"Alright Brats. Here's what's going to happen. You'll have exactly forty-five minutes to answer the first nine questions. After that you'll be given fifteen minutes to answer the finale question." Ibiki started, his eyes darting around the room.

"Weird" Sakura thought, quickly growing suspicious of the inner working of the test.

"Anyone caught cheating will be given three chances." He continued.

"Weirder." She thought again, definitely growing aware of the ruse.

"And then kicked out, with their entire team!"

Sakura smirked, "And, Bingo!" she thought. Inwardly patting her self on the back for discovering the secret ploy.

Her inner groaned, "What is it now brainac?" she asked, rolling her eyes at her outers rare moment of stubbornness.

Sakura glared at her inner, "You know!"

"Humor me."

Sakura huffed, "Simple, this isn't really a test of smarts. It's really just designed to weed out the weak ones that don't have the guts to win. I could probably botch the whole test and still pass easy." Sakura said triumphantly, and then sunk into her seat for an hour of relaxation.

"GO!" Ibiki yelled, watching with maniacal pleasure as several genin began to resemble his interrogation victims.

Shikamaru yawned, and taking sakura's lead leaned back into his chair lazily and began to take a nap.

Gaara began to make his attempt at answering questions, but in the end used his sand's 'third eye' to get the answers off of Ino, who had used her mind justu on a genin from the mist.

Temari and Kankuro answered their fare share of questions before resorting to Gaara's sand answers to finish off the paper.

Choji was to pre-occupied with his bag of limited-edition barbecue flavored chips (that sakura had snagged for him) to take even one look at the test.

Kiba had sent akamaru out to scout the competitions papers and quickly set to work, writing down the somewhat reliable information akamaru relayed back to him.

Shino similarly sent out his bugs to get him the answers.

Hinata did the best she could but got stumped on answer #7, so she caved and albeit nervously engaged her Byakugan and copied the rest of them from an Iwa ninja in front of her.

Lee was still in the medical ward, which meant he was excused from the first part of the exam no matter how many times he deemed it 'un-youthful.'

TenTen passed her fan between Neji and herself, writing the answers on the back.

And Neji, a but unnerved at first that his pink-haired teammates lack of effort engaged his own Byakugan and copied his answers from Kabuto's page. Figuring if he had really taken the test as many times as Sakura had said, then he should at least know the answers by now.

Fifteen minutes into the test, Naruto had begun visibly trembling with anxiety, "Ah! These questions are like, impossible! Believe it!" he shrieked inwardly. His palms were hot and clammy, and his forehead was wet with sweat as his nervous blue eyes darted around the room, finally settling on Sakura's paper only to find that it was-

"Empty?" he thought, completely dumfounded once again. Naruto had been positive that Sakura was the smartest person he knew, so why wasn't she answering any of the problems?

Sakura cracked a minty green eye open, aware of the stressed presence growing beside her. She was greeted with a Naruto that looked like he was in the middle of a panic attack, and that greatly unnerved her.

"Geez, what's his deal?" her inner asked, eying the blond boy suspiciously.

Sakura growled at her Inner, "Shut up, you know him he's only good in real life situations. Not tests. He probably freaked and looked at my test." She bit back, pushing her Inner self away for a moment.

Quickly she averted her now calm and re-assuring green eyes over to Naruto, and mouthed an "It's fine." To her blond teammate as quietly as she could. Naruto's blue eyes became drowned in relief and he quickly assumed a position not unlike Sakura's or Shikamaru's.

Sakura sighed, and was just about ready to resume her attempt at a nap ten minutes later when Kankuro raised his hand, "What?" Ibiki growled, obviously unpleased with the foreign Nin's disruption.

"I have to use the Restroom." Kankuro said, somewhat bluntly. Ibiki sighed and motioned toward the door with a nod of his head. Kankuro grinned, hopping up from his seat before he strolled toward the door but took a sudden detour near Sakura's desk.

Her minty green eyes narrowed in curiosity, "just what are you thinking Kankuro?" she wondered, somewhat amused.

Kankuro strolled by, innocently enough when he suddenly brought his hands together and formed a string of hand seals while muttering some foreign phrase. Sakura, too caught up in her somewhat perverted friends sneaky mission failed to notice her paper burst into ashes, something her Inner conveniently did notice though.

"Ha-ha! Kankuro you Dumbass!" she shrieked, laughing at the poor boy's wasted effort.

Sakura grinned, slightly amused as she noticed the small pile of ashes on her desk. "True that Inner. He could've just looked at the paper first, he would've had his work cut out for him." She pointed out, snickering to herself.

Ten minutes later Kankuro strolled back into the room, walking nonchalantly down Sakura's aisle. "And now to exact my revenge." Sakura thought, giggling a little to loud as Sasuke's head snapped in her direction with a 'what the hell are you doing?' look on it.

Sakura smirked, and quickly brought her index finger to her lips in a 'shh!' manor before allowing her eyes to drift to Kankuro and back. Quickly she performed five simple hand seals and muttered, "Crystal style: Crystal needles." Pressing her hand lightly on the ground.

Sasuke watched on with a slight curiosity, "What is she doing?" he thought, following the now lightly glowing trail of crystal with his eyes.

Moments later, Kankuro came crashing to the floor, "What the-" he groaned out, quickly stumbling to his feet in time to notice Sakura shooting him a sly grin. "Well played." He thought, somewhat admitting that he had it coming as he sauntered back to his chair.

Ibiki sweat dropped, and then quickly re-attained his impressive stature, "All right Brats, Times up. Time for the Final question." He yelled, effectively gaining the attention of the Genin.

"Now, I'm going to give you brat's a chance to leave now because if you don't get this question right, then you will fail the entire test, and- *pause for dramatic effect* You will have to stay Genin forever." Ibiki said, watching as over half the remaining Genin shivered visibly under his threat.

Sakura could almost groan, "Ooh, I'm so scared." She mumbled, receiving an interesting look from both Neji and Gaara who had conveniently happened to hear her. Ignoring the slight blush that blossomed on her cheeks, sakura watched as several Genin got up and left the room.

"Good, less of them to deal with when the real test comes." Her inner thought, sticking a childish tongue out at the retreating cowards backs.

Naruto's voice snapped Sakura out of her Inner musings, "Hey, umm-" he wondered out loud. The pinkette watched with a mix of worry and interest as he stood up, but she knew there was no way he would ever consider leaving now. Right?

Suddenly Naruto slammed his fist down on his desk, determination pooling in his cornflower eyes as he did.

"Of course he wouldn't leave, this is Naruto- Duh!" Her inner yelled, fist-pumping for the Blond.

"I won't give up! I don't care if I have to stay a Genin forever!" Naruto shouted, effectively taking the entire genin class by surprise. "I'll never give up because that's my shinobi way! I'll become the Hokage one day! -"

"Believe it." Sakura whispered, timing her words exactly with Naruto's as he shouted them loud and clear for the entire world to hear. She couldn't help the proud smile that danced across her face as she watched him hold true to his words. "Naruto will be Naruto." She thought, her smile growing wider at Ibiki's obviously annoyed face.

Nine Genin quickly shuffled back to their seats, empowered by Naruto's performance. Sakura scowled at the only downside to her blond friends show of valor. Ibiki coughed, catching the attention of the remaining Genin once again as he glared darkly at Naruto.

Naruto grinned like an idiot before giving the signature thumbs up, and then was pulled none the too lightly back to the earth by Sakura by his pant leg, "that boy still doesn't know when to take a hint." She mused, watching as Naruto whined about her being to harsh

"Well, Everyone who is still in this room-" Ibiki started, looking over the alarmingly high number of remaining shinobi, "You have passed!"

The entire room erupted into a chorus of whines and protest as sakura smirked, "Surprise, Surprise." She thought, chuckling at the sense of Déjà vu. Suddenly she felt a familiar chakra approaching at rapid speed, a very familiar chakra.

"Is it-?" Her inner thought before groaning simultaneously with her outer self.

"Thins are about to get real interesting." Sakura mumbled under her breath, counting down the seconds slowly on her fingers.

"3, 2, 1." A small explosion rocked the room as purple fog rolled in, and finally faded out to reveal a somewhat crazy looking Kunoichi with purple hair, and rose-quartz eyes.

Ibiki groaned, "Anko, your early."

Sakura glared at him slightly, "Thank you captain obvious." She muttered under her breath, quickly turning her eyes back to her nee-Chan with curiosity.

"Alright Maggots, Anko's the name, and I'm the proctor for the second part of the exam!" Anko shouted, glancing around the room with a slightly crazed look in her eye. "Meet me at the forest of death tomorrow, 12:00 sharp! And don't be late!" she shouted, effectively causing over half the remaining genin to squirm uncomfortably in their seats.

Ibiki sighed, "Alright then, you're dismissed." He said, watching as the young ninja stampeded out of the room as fast as possible.

Anko smirked, "Wow Ibiki, you've gone soft. But I promise you I'll pick off over half of them tomorrow!" she taunted, poking his head in an annoying manor as he groaned.

"Sure thing Anko, just try not to kill all of them." He muttered, and then poofed away in a swirl of leaves.

Anko grinned victoriously and then turned to face Sakura, "Hey Pinky, hope you didn't forget training today. Meet you at our spot in five okay?" she asked, raising a slender eyebrow in question.

Sakura's minty green eyes lit up, "Course I didn't forget nee-Chan! Make it four!" she replied, licking her lips with a mock hunger in her eyes for battle as Anko chuckled and then poofed away in a slightly purple haze.

Sasuke's eye twitched slightly when he heard Sakura call Anko her 'nee-Chan', and unconsciously scowled at her. "It's not fair, why does she get to have a family?" he thought, glaring at the back of the pink-haired girls head.

Sakura turned around, sensing Sasuke's angry aura and looked at him. "Oi, Uchiha! Cat got your tongue?" she teased, smirking at him. Naruto burst into laughter and Neji sighed, walking behind his pink haired teammate.

"Hn, so where's your precious team sa-ku-ra?" he asked, practically spitting the words out at her in a fit of emotion. Sakura's cheerful attitude immediately disappeared as her face went blank. "That's what I thought, annoying." He said, turning to walk away.

"Which one?"

Sasuke stopped, dead in his tracks and turned back around the meet Sakura eye to eye. "What?" he asked, daring her to repeat her question.

Sakura narrowed her eyebrows lightly, "I asked which one?" she said defiantly, and Sasuke answered her with a glare. "Because the way I see it, I've got two teams right now." She continued, taking a step toward him daringly. "I have an elite team of prodigy ninja." She started, gesturing lightly behind her towards Neji who smirked.

Naruto lowered his head and went seemingly unnoticed, " oh-no, Sakura-chan. What have we done to you?" he thought, silently devising an escape plan from the heartbreak that was sure to ensue.

"And I have you guys, I have my broken boys." She said, her voice a bit softer. Naruto's head immediately shot up and even Sasuke couldn't help but stare dumbfounded for a moment. Neji on the other hand understood his best friend completely, and knew she wasn't choosing one team over the other but she was shouldering the burden of both.

She drew a shaky breath, noting the presence of Kakashi in the doorway and continued, "I'm sorry I left you guys on your own, I'm sorry I left my family on their own." She said, unable to meet their eyes for a moment. "Teams, never leave their ninja behind, and I left you. I promise, I haven't given up on you guys yet though."

Naruto was close to tears, and Kakashi could only feel his heart pang with familiarity. "She sounds just like Rin." He thought for a moment, before feeling his heart sink. "What have I done?"

Sasuke stared, shocked at Sakura's forgiving nature. "What? She's apologizing to us? No! She's supposed to be angry and mad at us!" he thought frantically, unable to sort out his own emotions. In his own confusion he could only find one emotion he did recognize, and that was hate. "No! You're supposed to hate us!" he shouted, startling all but Sakura in the room. "Why do you keep forgiving us when we kicked you off the team! We abandoned you!"

Naruto's blue eyes widened in shock before he rushed forward, "Sasuke! What the heck!" he yelled, worried that their third teammate would never forgive them after this. Even Kakashi couldn't resist stepping into the room.

"No, Naruto it's okay." Her melodic voice said, drawing the blond ninja's eyes up to her own. The three boys of team seven were shocked to find a pool of unrestrained emotion in them.

"She's not even trying to hold back her emotion, she letting it go freely?" Kakashi thought, staring down at the girl with sorry eyes.

Sakura smiled softly, "I'm not going to lie, it broke my heart when I heard you had expelled me from the team. But it made me realize that no matter what we will always be Team seven and you will always be my boys." She said, her voice hurt yet courageous at the same time.

"I realized it was a test for our bonds, and it made me realize that I couldn't give up on you guys. I now know that I'm going to have to fight to protect our bonds, to protect our friendship, our family. But I don't mind, and I know I may not be strong but I'll still try. After all that's all we really can do, is try and hope for the best." She looked down, smiling to herself for a moment.

"You don't have to agree with me, but know that it's your own words and actions that determine what happens to us now okay guys? I've made my decision to keep fighting for something that happened for a reason, now you need to make yours."

Naruto could only gape at this girl, "S-Sakura-Chan?" he whispered, blue eyes watering slightly when she smiled at him. He returned the smile ten-fold and allowed a tear to escape his eyes, "I'm going to keep fighting Sakura-Chan! Believe it!" he said, wiping at the tear with his sleeve.

"Just know though, that Team Guy has become just as much my family now as well. You have them to thank partially for my sanity." She chirped, noticing that Neji had slunk out of the room long ago. "Good, and know something else. We're going to have to fight against the world to preserve what we know, but the best part about it, is that we'll be fighting together against the world."

Sasuke couldn't take it anymore, barely able to restrain his own slightly watering eyes. "How can you forgive us? How do you forget what we've done?" he asked, unable to meet her wounded green eyes.

Suddenly her felt her small, warm hand on his shoulder and met determined spirit. "Because Sasuke, Shinobi who disrespect the rules are trash, but shinobi who abandon their team are worse than trash. Remember that."

Kakashi's head shot up, his eye widened with surprise and guilt as he watched Sakura walk out of the room. She stopped next to him and smiled ever so slightly, "Isn't that right, Kakashi-Sensei?" she whispered, and then turned to leave the room alone.

The three sat in silence for a moment, all-trying to process what had just happened. Naruto's blue eyes sparkled with determination, "She really believes in us, all of us huh?" he thought out loud, daring to lift his head and look at Sasuke.

Sasuke couldn't deny the fact he cared for her, as a teammate and as family. All thoughts of revenge, and killing Itachi were buried for a moment as his heart fluttered. "Hn, I guess your right Dobe." He breathed and then strolled out of the room with Naruto, both lost in the clouds.

Kakashi trembled slightly, shell-shocked before teleporting to a familiar memorial. "Obito, Rin. What have I done?" he asked, tracing their names on the stone absent-mindedly. Rain began to trickle down from the sky, but no clouds appeared.

Sakura arrived at the training grounds, soaked to the bone from the rain as she and Kemuri walked slowly up. The Nin-Horse, both incredibly proud and worried about his companion.

Anko trotted over to the pink-haired girl, and without warning pulled her off of her perch and into a tight hug. They both stood there for a moment, tears melting with the rain. "I'm so proud of you Sakura." Mumbled Anko, her voice muffled by pink hair in her face.

Sakura drew a shaky breath, "I-it was so hard. It h-hurt so much, but I-I feel better now." She sobbed, sandwiched between her sister and her Nin-Horse now.

Anko gently set the girl down, "Sakura, you know showing emotions is dangerous for a Ninja." She said, her voice suddenly turning stern.

Sakura looked up, her eyes suddenly glistening with pride, "Anko nee-Chan, can I ask you something?" she asked suddenly, startling the purple-haired jonin who nodded. "I-I think I want to be a different kind of Ninja, I don't want to die inside." She said, absent-mindedly wandering to the edge of the Hokage monument.

Anko gasped slightly, the nine and a half year old sounded very strange at the moment. "What do you mean?"

"Hmm, I think I'll keep my emotions, and I think it won't be so bad. After all, I could've never done what I just did without them." She said, still staring out into the rain. "Ya, that sounds nice. I'll let people say what they want, but I'm keeping my emotions, I'm going to be a Ninja with feelings Anko-nee chan. Just let the world watch me."

Anko smiled, almost sadly at her little sister. "And that's why I believe you can change the world Sakura, you have the heart to do it." She thought, walking up beside the girl to stare at the rain with her.

"Hey! Sakura!" all three beings turned around to see TenTen running up the gentle backside slope of the mountain, followed by a quickly gaining Lee and Gai. Of course Neji was already at the top, concealed by the trees.

Sakura smiled, and waved to them before turning to Anko. "I forgot, I invited the team to training today? Is that okay?" she asked sheepishly, a twinkle in her eyes.

Anko laughed and nodded a yes before the girl was tackled to the ground by a green blur, "Ah! Lee get off!" she shrieked, shoving konoha's green beast off of her.

"Sorry our youthful blossom!" he said, seconds away form crying anime tears when Sakura laughed. Team Guy and Anko began to discuss training, all except for Neji who was still 'missing' so Sakura slunk away from the group.

Quickly she hopped into an old Pine tree and sat next to the Hyuuga prodigy, watching the rain with him for a moment when he suddenly engulfed her in a light hug and whispered, "You're the bravest of them all, Sakura."

Sakura snapped out of her shock hugging him back lightly before they released, "Think's Neji. You always seem to be looking out for me from the shadows." She whispered, sincere thanks conveyed through her eyes. "Now C'mon, or Anko's gonna send those slimy snakes of hers to hunt us down again!"

Neji and Sakura both shuddered, the latter despising snakes especially and they quickly jumped down form their tree, and joined the Specialized Jonin, Youthful Sensei, Miniature green beast, weapons mistress, and leader of the Nin-horse clan for training.

Though Sakura, considerably relieved at finally confronting her team still felt uneasy. She still felt watched, and was smart to think so as two pairs of eyes watched the team hungrily, or specifically Sakura.

End Note:

Phew-ee! It's finally done!

I ended re-writing the entire chapter so that's about 40 pages worth of writing people! All right tell me what you think about this and I know that it's a bit unbelievable of sakura's nature but trust me. That's what makes her special, it's her own little kekkai-genkai in a way. Anyway worked really hard on this chapter and the next should be up tomorrow morning or tomorrow night, no promises though! But more reviews do help!

AND, PLEASE IN YOUR REVIEWS TELL ME WHAT PICTURE I SHOULD DRAW NEXT IN COORDINATION WITH TH STORY, AGAIN VISIT MY DEVIANT PAGE FOR THE PICS!

Till next time~