When the six of them woke it was early afternoon around 1ish they thought "We should eat then pack up" Mamori suggested once late lunch was bubbling away over the fire, rabbit meat and potato stew, no one dared disagree with her.
"How exactly are we going to get the earth scroll we need" Sasuke creased his brows, concerned that they might not have anymore time, their perception of time was distorted in the Forest of Death and they feared another attack.
Sakura scrunched her nose up in thought "Seek out another team, there's still the rest of today and two more days left after that, with our sensory skills we can find weaker teams to steal from" Sakura finally said after several minutes.
"Yeah and with our decoys laced with her specialty genjutsu if the idiot who finds it brings it back to his teammates then all of them will be caught in Sakura-chan's illusion" Mimori smirked remembering the rain ninja.
Naruto, Sasuke and Asagao shuddered "Okay as for getting to the tower, I think we should probably follow the most watched path and keep distance from one another, seeing as technically we aren't suppose to pair up" Asagao pointed at the map.
Looking around warily as he did so "It's the best we can hope for isn't it" Naruto frowned still afraid that they would never make it to the tower in the center of this horrible forest with all it's creepy crawlies and a Sannin trying to kill them to.
Mimori gave him a sad smile "Probably Naruto-kun, we could all end up dying here in this forest, and our bodies may never be found if that happens, but we can't give up that little hope either" the younger Senju twin reminded gently.
Raising all of their spirits as they ate lunch once it was deemed done "Follow our lead" the rosette nodded seriously situating her pack on her shoulders and with a deep breath the lot of them were off, intent on finding a weaker team to nick their scroll.
A couple hours later Sakura began leading them in a different direction away from the path, left with no choice the boys followed until the six of them came to a stop "Did you sense something Sakura" the lone raven among pink and blondes asked out of breath.
She nodded and raised a finger to her lips, while passing chakra and scent suppression tags around for them to activate, before pointing below them "Sound Genin huh, how do you propose we get their scroll" the younger Haruno twin questioned.
"Watch Asagao-kun" the older Senju twin cackled under her breath and reached into her pouch grabbing the decoy heaven scroll that had been made, then passed it over to Sakura who laced her specialty genjutsu over it.
Then when it was returned she cocked back her arm and threw the scroll as hard as she could, while they hid in the shadows of the tree and watched "Even if a scroll appeared before me like that I would never pick it up" the blue eyed blonde grimaced.
Fearful especially when the genjutsu activated trapping the Sound Genin in a horrific nightmare then they dropped to the ground, searched through their pockets and came away with an earth scroll for Team Seven.
Both Heaven and Earth scrolls collected for each Team, "Now we go double time to reach the tower and stay on the path no matter what" Mamori straightened as they jumped into the tree's again, leaping from branch to branch to reach the safest path in the forest.
Until they were on it again, keeping a distance from each other as they pushed themselves beyond their normal limit "I think we should stop for the night, it's to dangerous to continue otherwise" Sasuke said when they took a quick break to catch their breaths.
Away from the monitors that littered the path allowing the proctors to spy on them and their progress no doubt "Agreed, who knows what will happen, plus in daylight it's be safer to reach the tower" Mimori nodded her agreement.
"Great and we'll still have two days to rest up and regain our strength and inform Shisui-sensei your sensei and hopefully Hokage-sama of who we encountered" Asagao reminded with a scowl, he'd been close to death and his sister had been traumatized by the damn man.
They huddled around a small fire, grilling fish this time for a simple meal "Don't you think it's to dangerous to sleep here to" Naruto shuddered feeling like he was being stared at, though he was sure it was just his imagination.
"We'll set up plenty of traps Naruto and have our summons on the lookout for trouble, no fire though" Sakura assured gently patting the blonde on the hand before staring around her sternly, she wouldn't be swayed from that decision.
Thankfully though no one argued with her and soon after eating dinner, traps of all kinds were set up around their camp, along with shark and bear summons being summoned yet again to keep watch for the night over the six genin as they slept.
Even though they still felt exhausted after waking and found themselves on their fourth day of the survival round and they all knew they had to reach the tower no matter what that day while avoiding danger as much as they could.
Decision in mind they munched on apples and sipped on water before packing up and taking off into the forest on the safe path again, half a mile away from each other, pushing themselves past their limits.
By the time it was nearly noon the tower was in sight and the two Teams sighed in relief knowing they were going to be safe for the first time in almost four whole days "See you on the other side" the rosette of Team Nine waved when they were stood in front of a door with their number on it.
"Yeah let's just hope nothing else happens" the lone raven of the group scowled, just glad that nothing had happened that day and they'd managed to reach their destination with no further trouble, like nearly dying.
Seems Sakura had scared off Orochimaru with that little tactic of hers, making a decoy scroll and it really had been his fault for eating the thing which allowed her to basically blow him up scroll and all, he probably had to recuperate.
She nodded seriously twisting the knob of the door in front of her "And don't forget to tell Shisui-sensei" the older Senju twin reminded with a frown, peering over her shoulder warily just in case, fearful that they might still be attacked.
"You don't have to worry Mamori" the blue eyed Haruno twin assured, there was no way they were going to lie to their sensei about something like that after all, Orochimaru sneaking about in the Leaf Village was a capital alert for them.
Mimori blew out a breath ruffling her loose bangs, the bun had come undone during the day and her hair was a complete wreck "Guess we'll see you inside" the younger Senju twin laughed sheepishly as the door closed behind them.
"Let's just get in already" the blue eyed blonde huffed, skin crawling and feeling completely paranoid just by standing there outside the tower where anyone could still attack them and steal their scrolls, with that they headed in and the door shut behind them.
~With Team Nine~
They found themselves in a room that had a chalkboard and one of the girls sighed in frustration, completely fed up with the Chunin Exams at that point "What does it even say" Mimori huffed irritated so far.
"Something about putting heaven and earth together" Mamori offered as she read the text on the board, not really looking it over to thoroughly and looking around trying to figure out what exactly they were supposed to do now.
Meanwhile the boys two rooms over were trying to do the same as Sakura tapped her lip in thought, staring hard at the chalkboard "Maybe it's talking about the scrolls, I think we have to open them now, together" Sakura suggested.
Reaching down and undoing the bandage wraps before ripping the tag off her calf to unseal their heaven and earth scrolls, Mamori and Mimori watched curiously as Sakura walked to the center of the room, snapped her wrists and unrolled the scrolls.
Until they crossed over each other, completing the seals written inside "That's a summoning seal" the younger twin pointed out as it started glowing and they readied themselves, gripping weapons and settling in defensive positions.
"Kami what now" the older Senju twin coughed when an explosion of smoke disrupted their vision, it made them no less alert as the smoke filled the room and they feared that it was another trap and maybe they'd even failed the exams.
Sakura grit her teeth and swiped her hair out of her face angrily "Asuma-sensei" the rosette gasped when familiar chakra brushed against her senses and then the smoke dissipated to reveal their sensei, cigarette hanging from his lips unlit and grinning at them pride in his brown eyes.
The waterworks began then and Asuma scratched his head in confusion "Okay what's going on why are you crying Sakura" Asuma frowned concerned for his students as even Mamori and Mimori shed a few tears.
"Just so happy to see you Asuma-sensei, we thought we were going to die in that forest, what with bloody Orochimaru after us and Sasuke to" Mimori guessed the reason why her teammate was crying and practically inconsolable.
Asuma felt fury boil in his veins at the news "Yeah we encountered him on the first and second days Asuma-sensei, he separated us from Sakura-chan and tried to bite her" Mamori explained further still not understanding the reason why the man had wanted to bite Sakura or Sasuke.
"Did he bite you Sakura, please tell me he didn't, what about Sasuke" the raven haired Jonin crouched at his students side, looking her over worriedly and the Senju Twins were glad that they'd stopped the Snake Sannin from biting Sakura.
Who shook her head "No, Mamori and Mimori got him away from me and I blew up the decoy scroll he ate when he tried to bite Sasuke" Sakura rubbed her eyes, calming down a little bit not really talking about what else Orochimaru had done.
Petting her and rubbing her all over her body like she was something precious, it made her itch to take a bath and rub her skin raw to get rid of that still disgusting feeling "Good, good right then, congrats on making it through the forest, just head through that door and rest up" Asuma praised.
Relieved that his students were okay, though he didn't know about the boys of Team Seven, he was just glad that the girls were alive and not dead even after having two encounters with Orochimaru, he watched as they headed through the door before body flickering off.
And soon every Jonin knew that Orochimaru had infiltrated their village no Jonin was more furious than Fugaku Uchiha though as his youngest child had been targeted by the Snake Sannin for his Sharingan and began coming up with ways to protect the village even more.
Meanwhile the members of Team Seven were finally let through the door and met up with the members of Team Nine "Shisui-sensei didn't meet us, Iruka-sensei did cause of Naruto, but we let him know anyway" Asagao said attaching himself to his sister.
Her eyes looked red and puffy but he could understand the relief she must have felt seeing her sensei after almost four long days "By the way how long did it take you to figure out that dumb riddle" Naruto sulked unhappily.
"There were missing bits and pieces of it and only thanks to studying did we figure it out, what about you" Sasuke crossed his arms as they found a cafeteria in the building they were in and entered it, the smell of food making their stomachs rumble.
"Not very long actually just a couple of minutes, Sakura-chan was the one who figured it out so fast after all" the older Senju twin explained looking around warily, there was very few teams situated in the cafeteria and none of them looked friendly.
Except for Team Eight and with their trays headed for their table "Geez of course you would get the riddle super fast" the younger Haruno twin groaned, put out but glad that they'd all managed to survive the forest despite that person running about.
Just thinking about Orochimaru made his skin crawl as he remembered the insanity in the man's gaze and the glee when he thought he was going to bite Sasuke and get away scott free "Of course Asagao, harsh curriculum remember" the rosette snorted lightly.
"Mind if we sit here" the lone Uchiha of the group asked when they neared the table Team Eight was sitting at, just as on edge as they themselves were and staring warily at a team of genin from the Hidden Sand Village.
They were just off and Sakura resolved herself to stay away from them to, that made it five people on the list to avoid by that point "So how long have you three been here" the younger Senju twin questioned of the members of Team Eight.
All of whom jolted and became even tenser than before "Night of the first day" Kiba grimaced, eyeballing the red head from Sand before focusing his gaze on his fellow genin and former classmates determined to ignore the Sand Genin for now.
"Yikes and at least you didn't run into a bloody maniac like we did you know" the blue eyed blonde of the group huffed and glanced around still paranoid that despite them being safe in the tower now Orochimaru was still going to attack.
Kiba stared at them in confusion "M..Maniac wh..what do you m..mean Na..Naruto-kun" Hinata stuttered twiddling her fingers all the while and hardly able to look her crush in eyes while talking to him and asking him a question.
"We had two run ins with the Snake Sannin Orochimaru, he tried to kill us all, nearly did to" Mimori explained seriously in a whisper to the other genin of their generation, not wanting them to be uninformed of the situation that was happening.
A thrill of fear crawled down all their spines "How did you manage to survive then, why because if he's here you shouldn't be alive" Shino frowned in confusion, lost on what was going on anymore in his village.
"Sakura-chan tried to blow him up as he ate a scroll that looked like our earth scrolls with the explosive seal drawn onto it" Mamori smirked viciously and shoved some curry into her mouth hungry after the hell they'd been through.
Disbelief filled their faces "And we were healed by a genius idea that Sakura, Mamori and Mimori came up with" Sasuke piped in, pulling out the smaller version of the healing scroll he'd been given, and showing it off to Team Eight.
Who stared in confusion "It's a healing scroll, I made small ones and large ones, then we sealed our medical chakra into them, thanks to those, Asagao didn't die and we all got healed properly" Sakura explained.
"Yeah, yeah if not for those we really would be dead or at the very least still unconscious" Naruto nodded his head furiously slurping down ramen like it was the last meal he'd ever get, not really but he was starved for ramen after these past few days.
"Exactly and hopefully the Jonin will find that bastard and either kill him or capture him to be executed" Asagao crossed his arms, not very hungry and pretty much just picking at his food until his sister gave him a stern glare, only then did he eat until he couldn't anymore.
Afterwards they left the cafeteria behind and found shower rooms to wash up and for those that had them change into clean clothes "Oh of course you three brought clean clothes" the Uchiha grumbled feeling gross in his filthy clothes despite showering.
"I probably should have warned you and Naruto to bring a couple changes" the younger Haruno twin laughed awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck, in fact he should have reminded himself of that fact and his sister was crazy over-preparing like she had.
Though it still hadn't stopped Orochimaru it had been enough to get them through the survival round of their exams "Lucky for you then I nicked some clothes from your dresser Asagao, though it won't suit your styles Sasuke, Naruto, they'll fit so go change" the rosette that was his sister giggled.
Holding out three pairs of his shorts and shirts, along with unmentionables, his cheeks burned in embarrassment and quickly grabbed a set of clean clothes and vanished into the shower room again to change.
"Nothing's sacred for you is it Sakura-chan" the older Senju twin laughed realizing that Sakura had actually pilfered her brothers dresser for clothes and unmentionables, Sakura grinned and shook her head with a laugh.
While leaning against the wall opposite the shower rooms waiting for the boys of Team Seven to reappear "Course not why would it be when her best friends are boys, Suigetsu, Kimimaro and Haku" the younger twin snickered in amusement.
Of course Sakura wouldn't be shy about pilfering through a boys dresser or handling their unmentionables not with three male best friends and having grown up with them "Seriously though when did you have time to do all this" the blue eyed blonde asked.
When the exited the shower room for the second time in twenty minutes, she patted his arm and explained in a nonchalant way that had them floundering, Sakura was probably the best thing to happen to the Leaf Village with her genius.
Questions asked and answered they wandered the tower looking for something to do and found a library to sit and read for a long while until the six of them got hungry again and headed off to the cafeteria where they sat with Team Eight again before finding a room and going to sleep.
A day later the survival round came to an end with less than half the genin who'd passed the written exam arriving at the tower in the center of the forest "Congratulations on passing the survival round all of you that made it here today" Hiruzen praised.
Surrounded on all sides by Jonin "Before you all get to go home there will be a preliminary round of sorts to determine the final round contestants" the Hokage began and gestured to the Jonin standing in the middle of the arena type room.
"You will fight each other and the winner of each fight will be participating in the final rounds, of course not all of you have to participate in the preliminary rounds and your matches will be determined by the electronic board up there, I am Hayate Gekkou, everyone up to the stands that will be participating" Hayate coughed after introducing himself.
Many of the genin scrambled for the stands, some going to the opposite side, dropping out of the preliminary rounds, one such genin was Kabuto and Sakura narrowed her eyes on him as he stood beside a man that gave her the same creeps that Orochimaru did.
Was it possible that it was Orochimaru, deceiving them with the appearance of a sensei and was right among them in distance of the Hokage, Sakura felt panic welling up on her and she nearly screamed when a hand settled itself on her shoulder.
Heart beating harshly against her ribs, Sakura craned her neck to spy her sensei and he gave her a reassuring smile "Don't be so scared Sakura, everything will be fine" Asuma soothed having sensed her mini panic attack.
When she looked in Kabuto's direction again that man was gone and she wondered if she hadn't just imagined him "Right I know Asuma-sensei, ooh I think the matches are starting" Sakura nodded before eyeing the board as it started up.
"Ugh why me first is this some kind of karma for being bad in a past life or something" Sasuke groaned in frustration as his name was the first to pop up, against a genin he didn't even know, Sakura pat his shoulder and then sent him down into the arena, his opponent on his heels.
It wasn't a pretty fight that was for sure as Sasuke got his ass beat viciously until he managed to gain the upper hand and fight back with taijutsu, seeing as he was nearly out of chakra thanks to his opponent and his freaky ability to steal chakra from another person.
But in the end Sasuke won and was declared the winner of the first preliminary match "Gonna use one of these do you mind" the Uchiha huffed pulling out one of his smaller healing scrolls, Sakura waved her hand, and then he stuck it to his chest and unsealed the medical chakra from within.
A flash of green light later and his minor injuries were healed, every Jonin barring Shisui and Asuma in the stands turned their heads to eye Fugaku's second son more specifically the scroll that was removed to reveal an unfamiliar seal before it was rolled up and tucked away again.
"Can someone explain what the hell that was" Kurenai of Team Ten frowned in confusion, never having seen such a scroll before or the seal and was admittedly confused like the rest of the Jonin in the stands were.
Shisui curled his lips up into a grin "Healing scroll, Sakura-chan, Mamori-chan and Mimori-chan came up with the seal, tested it repeatedly and then Fugaku-sama patented it in their name" Shisui chuckled as he explained.
Jaws dropped, "Then why aren't they hitting the markets, something like that could be used for the benefit of the village" Kurenai frowned deeply, were the girls that selfish as to deprave the village of something that could be useful to other medics coming and going.
"Now, now Kurenai it takes time for that, Fugaku-sama has only just asked permission from Hokage-sama to sell them in the markets of the village after testing the popularity in the Uchiha Compound" Shisui raised his hands.
Apparently this was news to Sakura, Mamori and Mimori as well because they looked at Shisui with wide excited eyes, that news meant that soon they'd be getting their first royalties for having come up with the idea and allowing Fugaku to patent it in their name.
Kurenai huffed still a little irritated that not everyone had been informed about the healing scrolls but backed down "You guys are crazy" Ino whispered inching her way over to the girls of Team Nine to stand next to Sakura.
Especially as the next match started up "Probably mad to Ino-san, but at least it works and soon everyone will be able to buy them in the village" Mimori quipped before focusing her attention on the match happening below them.
It was brutal and bloody as Shino plugged the holes in the Sound Genin's hands with his kikaichu, so when the Sound Genin tried to use his wind jutsu, it tore his arms to shreds, the Sound Genin screamed in agony before passing out from the pain, then he was taken away by medics.
Sakura felt sick "Hold up, how did they get two scrolls so fast after we took their earth scroll" Asagao frowned in confusion as he spotted the other two Sound Genin just waiting for their names to pop up on the electronic board.
They probably cheated somehow but none of them had anyway to prove it, only a gut feeling to be honest "No point in wondering Asagao-kun" Mamori shrugged, wary of the Sound Genin just as much as she was wary of the Sand Genin, plus Kabuto.
That put more people on their list to avoid at all costs, Sakura gripped the bar tightly in her hands as the next fight started between one of the Sand Genin "When do it think it will be our turn" Naruto sighed growing bored with waiting.
His teammates shrugged and Shisui rolled his eyes wrapping the boy over the head with his knuckles "Don't rush it Naruto and just be patient" the Uchiha snorted impatient himself but better at reigning himself in.
Suddenly he caught Sakura going rigid out of the corner of his eye and he knew Asuma had noticed as well, she wasn't watching the fight and she kept glaring…when their gaze focused on what she was seeing as well, fury boiled in their veins.
A young girl from Grass with bright red hair and ruby eyes was being tormented by her own teammates, to their disgust they were biting the girl, then just as suddenly their attention was on Sakura again as her face turned white in anger.
Before she took a deep breath "Oi aren't you going to stop her" Kakashi hissed at Asuma as she began marching her way over to the Grass Genin, determination in her gaze and looking completely furious with the red haired girl's treatment.
Asuma knew he should stop his student but found himself not really caring as she expertly extricated the young girl from her teammates sides and brought her to safety "Stay put" the rosette stated simply, glaring at the boys of the girl's team.
Making sure the redhead was protected on all sides "Er.. uh okay" the ruby haired girl nodded shyly unsure of why she was being protected all of a sudden, nobody liked her and all they wanted to do was use her ability.
And here comes along someone who just wants to protect her, that made her wary, but at least she was away from her teammates for the time being, no doubt they were furious and she knew she should at least try to get back to them, but she couldn't find it in herself to care right now.
Sakura flashed the quiet girl a brilliant smile that blinded everyone in the near vicinity "I don't think now's the time to be smiling Sakura-chan, it's your turn" the silver haired Jonin she was familiar with pointed.
Viridian orbs raised to the electronic board and found her name up along with, her gaze shifted to the side and met cerulean "Gu..Guess we aught to go h..huh" the Yamanaka Heiress shook, afraid that she was about to meet her end.
Even if they were on slightly better terms, Sakura was way out of her league "Kick Yamanaka's ass Sakura-chan" the blonde of Team Seven cheered only to get smacked over the back of his head by Sasuke.
Pouting, he quieted down to watch as Ino and Sakura headed down to the arena, Hayate staring between them "I hope this fight is actually entertaining" Neji Hyuga scoffed having been bored thus far with the previous three fights.
"Hey watch it Hyuga, Sakura-chan could and would kick your ass" Mimori snapped irate with the arrogant boy and he'd only spoken once in the entire time they'd been gathered in this arena room for the preliminary rounds.
Down on the floor Ino and Sakura stood apart from each other "Right then let the fourth match of the preliminaries begin" Hayate brought his hand down and the two girls jumped back gaining further distance from one another.
Those watching were on edge feeling the tension in the air "What are you waiting for Sakura" Ino gripped a kunai tight in her hands, not afraid to admit that she was afraid of her opponent who had five times more experience than she herself did.
"For that Ino" Sakura appeared behind her the moment she'd allowed the girl to see her fear and was kicked clear across the arena to skid painfully face first across the floor, Ino sat up gingerly and then rose on shaky legs.
Lunging kunai pointed at her opponent with deadly intent "Why you little forehead girl, if you don't take me seriously I'll be the one kicking ass today, not you" the Yamanaka Heiress spat angrily reverting to childish antics and name calling like before.
On a warpath because she hadn't gotten to make the first move, Sakura grinned and struck out with two fingers, disabling Ino's wrist "What did I tell you about name calling Ino" the rosette tsked cartwheeling out of the way.
When a fist came dangerously close to her face "Regardless of that don't take me lightly" Ino grit her teeth and forced herself to calm down, she didn't want to lose right away because she lost her temper like an idiot.
Sakura was good at hiding her feelings and gave another fake smile silently baiting Ino with it "Oh yeah and what are you gonna do if I don't Ino" Sakura snickered throwing her own weapon to knock the one thrown at her out of the air.
And dropping to the floor when Ino lunged at her again, sweeping the girl's feet out from underneath her in the next moment and was on her feet in five seconds flat, "Then I'll do this and this time you won't be able to protect yourself from it" the blonde snapped.
Growing angrier and angrier while Sakura was merely curious, watching as Ino cut her hair and then threw down the strands "It's not going to work whatever your doing Ino" the pinkette raised a brow just waiting.
It was seemingly her downfall as chakra caught her and held her in place then her opponent called out a weird jutsu name, Sakura frowned when all she felt was a little tickle while nothing else happened except for Ino slumping to the floor and the chakra that held her in place fading.
"Told you didn't I, that it wouldn't work" Sakura shook her head and walked over to the girl to tie her hands and place a kunai to Ino's neck just waiting for whatever jutsu Ino had used to run it's course and for Ino to wake up.
When Ino did she was extremely confused "I don't understand" Ino frowned as the match was called with Sakura ending up being the winner as she'd run herself ragged, completely out of energy and chakra, it having been Sakura's plan all along to have her wear herself out.
Sakura looked like she didn't understand either as they headed back up into the stands where a break was called allowing them to relax and refresh themselves before the next match pairing was decided on.
Temari vs Tenten and so on and so forth, some of the genin from other villages were brutal, like the Sand Genin and the other two Sound Genin, Mamori and Mimori got paired against the other Grass Genin and won their matches as well.
Naruto won his match to against Kiba, who sulked and poor Hinata she was carted away on a stretcher if it hadn't been for quick thinking on Sakura's part the girl would have died from cardiac arrest and Lee, he was the worst off.
And Asagao had his match against the redhead as they learned her name was Karin, he won making all members of Team Seven and Nine in the final rounds until every genin had participated in the preliminary rounds.
"Okay everyone that won their match down here now" Hayate ordered waving them down and when they were all gathered made them draw lots, Sakura vs Neji, Sasuke vs Gaara, Mimori vs Naruto, Mamori vs Asagao and Shikamaru vs Temari vs Dosu.
That was it and now they were allowed to go home with a month to improve themselves, Sakura let out a relieved sigh as Asuma body flickered them out of the forest "Who's gonna train us Asuma-sensei" Mimori asked tiredly.
Looking completely exhausted not that anyone blamed her, Asuma looked down at his students "Ah I'll train you in turns for the month, three hours everyday for each of you, staring with Mamori" he finally admitted.
Having thought long and hard but truthfully he hadn't been able to come up with any Jonin that would be capable of teaching his students better than he could, even if there was Raido, the girls were better off under his teachings.
"Great that's wonderful sensei, see you tomorrow" Mamori waved grabbing her sister by the hand and dragging her off, while Sakura stared after them worried before glancing to her sensei one more time and hurrying off to home, ready to rest and relax like Asagao was no doubt doing.