A/N: Chapter 4 of Before the Beginning.

Chapter 4: Taking on the exam

Sasuke and Sakura turned around slowly. Before them were ten lower level academy teacher. Sakura cursed out the blond boy in her head. Swiftly she reached into her pouch and pulls out three small balls and throw them onto the floor. Smoke rises from the balls covering them. Sakura grabs Sasuke hand, inside she's smiling with glee, and takes off towards the trees with him in tow. Pushes chakra through their feet they stayed on the trees as they escaped their attackers.

Sasuke stared at the pink haired girl before him with wide eyes. It was a known fact that Haruno Sakura always escape her attackers during the exams. People talked saying she would make a good escape artiest. But seeing her in action took the black haired shinobi in trainee by surprise. The way she quickly took action catching the non ambush off guard was the telling of a real ninja.

Minutes passed. Sasuke was finally rewarded his hand back after asking for it a little roughly. He glanced around him periodically but no signs not ambush was in sight. His eyes widen as it dawned on him. He turned to look at his pink haired team member.

"Sakura..."

KLANK KLANK KLANK

The sound of their feet hitting the tree branches. His words hung in the air.

"Yes?" Sakura voice sounded. She turned her head left to right looking around her.

"What was in those smoke bombs you threw?"

Sakura turned to him. A smile on her face. "You know just a little bit of ...my secret mixture."

Sasuke missed a step. "No I don't know! You didn't tell me anything substantial."

Sakura gave him a toothy grin. "A magician never reveal her techniques."

KLANK KLANK KLANK

It was quiet for a minute.

"Sasuke..."

Sakura words hung in the air.

"Hn."

It was quiet again. Sasuke turned his head to Sakura.

"You didn't inhale any of the smoke did you?"

"No."

"And none got on you right?"

"Sakura you were standing right next to me. You no none got on me."

Sakura nodded her head. "Jus...Just making sure."

KLANK KLANK KLANK

"What was in that mixture Sakura!"

Sakura lets out a laugh. She landed on a branch. Pushing more chakra into her feet she shoots of the branch putting distance between her and Sasuke. Sasuke quickly maneuver his body as the branch he was to land on have broken due to Sakura.

"Sakura!" He shouted as he pushed himself to go faster.

MEANWHILE

Out of the ten lower level academy teacher only four was smart enough to get out of the way of the blast. The other six were on the ground screaming and groaning. They moved wildly as they scratched themselves relentlessly.

One teacher stepped forward. "Which one of ya'll taught that girl how to make bombs."

"I believe it was the bomb teacher over there clawing his eyes out," said a monotone woman as she stepped closer to him. She pushed her glass up over her face her expression never changing.

"ITCHY...SO ITCHY...MUST SCRATCH...IT'S IN MY EYES."

"You would think he'd know to get out of the way," she added unnecessarily.

"It looked like we came in a middle of a team planning. If my memory serves me correct then I'd say it was the Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, Ex-Hyuuga Hinata, and Uzumaki Naruto."

The woman nodded her head. "Yep that's what the data says."

The man shook his head and whistled. "Did you see the other two though? What's your assessment on them?"

The woman pushed her glasses up on her face. "From the looks of it our ambushed didn't work out so well. The blond, Uzumaki, seemed to know we had appeared before we even finished with the Shunshin."

The man pulled out a notepad. He flipped through the pages. "Aha!" he exclaimed as he came to the one he wanted. "It is rumored that Uzumaki has heightened senses like an Inuzuka maybe even more so."

"So he probably heard or smelled us coming," the woman added. The man nodded his head.

"What's interesting enough is that the other girl in the group seemed to spot us before anyone," the man spoke.

The woman looked up at him, eyes wide, "Really," her nonchalant tone didn't show how surprised she was.

"Yep," he nodded, "her body was already in position to run. It was like she was just awaiting orders before taking off."

"That was the Ex-Hyuuga heiress. It seems even without the Byakugan she can still spot stuff."

"HELP COUGH COUGH I NEED TO SCRATCH!"

"You think she may be a sensory type?"

"Could be. In her file it says that no one could ever sneak up on her...ever," the woman answered.

Scream and coughing filled the area as their less intelligent comrades continued to scratch themselves bloody.

"What do you think was in the smoke bombs she made?" the man asked his woman partner.

She glanced at the other academy teachers before her. Pushing her glasses up on her face the artificial light hit the glass hiding her eyes, "I'd say it's a mixture between coughing powder, itching power, and from the looks of it something to stop motor function."

"I CAN'T SCRATCH ANYMORE PLEASE SOMEONE SCRATCH ME!"

"So what's the plan boss?"

The man sighed cursing his luck. "Lilly! I want you to seal those sox failures up and take them to the nurse. Have it be known that we have a team in play. The team will be awarded for the take down of six academy teachers however, note that it was Haruno that did the taking down. Hurry up back!"

"Rodger sir!"

"Jim and Dawn! You two will be coming with me. We have some little kids to track down."

Naruto stopped. Looking around he deemed this a perfect area to start up camp. Smiling he turned to his female partner and gave her the thumbs up. She took out some scrolls from her pack and handed them to him. Biting his thumb to draw blood, the blond genius opened the scrolls and spreaded his blood onto it. With a small puff of some the material he needed to set up the camp appeared. Without the exchange of words the two team mates started on different projects. Naruto started to dig in the center of the campsite while Hinata laid down bed rolls. She thought about using tents but quick vetoed that idea. Not only were they not here for long, only eight hours in their day who would really go to sleep during an exam, but also because the fact that tents were impractical in enemy territory.

Naruto finished digging his hole. He set up the fire pit and started the fire. Quickly going through the hand seals needed, he caste a jutsu to rid the air of smoke. He fell down on one of the bed rolls Hinata laid out. A grin on his face.

He turned to look at Hinata who took up a seat next to him. "You sure you're okay?" he asked the girl.

Hinata nodded her head.

"I should have had a clone with you, you didn't have to watch our backs by yourself."

Hinata raised her hand to sign, *I'm never by myself* she told him.

Naruto let out a small sad chuckle, "That's right." It was silent. Naruto felt itchy. Something was going down. Shooting up to his feet the blond ran behind Hinata.

"Protect me Hinata-hime!"

"Naruto no baka!" Sakura shouted as she entered the camp site. She pushed up an imaginary sleeve. Balling her hand up into a fist she stalked up to the blond. A hand reaching out stopped her. Sakura eyes widen at the sight of Hinata standing firm before the blond menace.

"Oh come on Hinata he deserves it."

Hinata raised a brow.

"Please Hinata just one little hit."

Hinata cocked her head to the side as she thought about it. Naruto gasped loudly an exaggerated look of betrayal on his face. Smiling she face Sakura and shook her head. Sakura huffed loudly and kicked up some dirt on the ground.

"Fine," she said.

Sasuke shook his head at the antics of his team members. Team member...the Uchiha boy was not used to describing people like that. He never had any luck with team. A part of him was waiting for them to try and stab him in the back like all his other teammates did. He would be ready and foil all attempts at getting him out of the exam. A smaller part, however, was filled with hope. He hoped that this team didn't end up like all his other teams did.

"Now that everyone is here," the blond started getting their attention, "I'm going to tell you guys the plan."

"Finally," Sakura exasperated.

Naruto rolled his eyes. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a chalk board. "This is base," he said pointing to the picture in the middle of a fire with stick figures standing around it, "This is what we're protecting."

Sakura raised her hand. Without being called on she spoke, "Why are we protecting our base?"

Naruto growled. "Shut up and you'll find out!"

Anger burst through Sakura. She was about to stand up when Sasuke put his hand on her shoulder. All anger left out of her.

"Now as I was saying," the blond shot Sakura a glare, "we will be staying in this area and around it," he circled the area around the base, "we will not be finding people to attack..."

"Dobe were your ears clogged when the principal was speaking..."

"Who?" Naruto asked.

"The principal."

"Princ-a-what-now?"

"The guy who made that speech before the exam!"

Silence. Naruto eyes widen. "We have a principal..." Naruto turned to Hinata, "Hinata did you know we have a principal?"

Hinata nodded her head.

Naruto mouth opened. "Did everyone know about the principal but me!"

"So that's who that man was. Huh now I see why he was the one giving the speech to us. How come I never seen him before?"

He must have asked that question out loud because Sakura was in teaching mode. "Principal Yamaguchi stays hold up in his office. He only see those that work in The Academy..."

Outside The Academy a purple haired woman spat out her dango. Fire shown in her eyes. The saying don't shoot the messenger was lost on her as she changed the chunin throughout the village.

How dare the Hokage make her an assistant sensei to a group of snot nose brats.

"...he reviews cases of students that wants to skip ahead and those that are about to be expelled," Sakura continued ignoring the shiver going down her spine, "I do wonder why he's always in his office though?"

"I would like to know that too Pinky dear," Naruto spoke as he walked around the camp fire, "However, while finding out we have a principal was extremely fascinating," he drawled coming to a stop, "WHY THE FUCK DID YOU BRING HIM UP," he shouted while pointing at Sasuke.

Sasuke glared at the blond before him. "Because Dobe, we are rewarded points based on how many people we take out. How can we take out people if we're stuck around this camp fire?"

"I agree with Sasuke," Sakura spoke, "If we wish to acquire the highest score then we will have to take out as many people as possible..."

BOP

A piece of chalk fell from Sakura forehead. The pink haired girl stopped talking as she processed what just happened. Realizing that Naruto just threw something at her, her quietness was now due to focusing on ways to kill the blond before her.

"You guys don't grasps thing easily do you?" The blond asked. He hid behind Hinata as he could feel the shadows of death coming from Sakura.

"And just what aren't we grasping baka," she seethed through clenched teeth.

"The...principal..."Naruto paused, "Wow it's weird saying that" shaking his head he got pack on track, "The principal did say that taking people out award us points however our goal isn't to gather points."

"And just what is our goal dobe," Sasuke asked.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Our goal is to survive dumbass. The points are just a red herring."

Hinata held up a sign. It was a chibi form of her with a bubble forming from her mouth. Inside the bubble was the question, "How Naruto-kun?"

Naruto grinned. "I'm glad you asked fair lady."

Sakura and Sasuke groaned.

"You see," the blond started pushing black glasses up on his face. Both high ranking academy students stared with wide eyes at the glasses that came out of nowhere.

"The goal of this exam is just like every other exam," he spoke with an accent, "We are to survive until we are the last one standing. Going out purposing looking for people to fight is counterproductive to actually surviving. That is why the notion of getting point is a red herring."

Sakura eyes lit up, "I see what you're saying. If we were to go out and find people to fight we'd be losing energy and if someone find us and attack us when we're low on chakra and stamina then we'd be taken out easily."

"I agree with Sakura," Sasuke stated. Sakura beamed.

Naruto jumped from behind Hinata. He pointed a finger at Sasuke. "But that's my point Sakura is saying so it's me you agree with!"

"Hn," Sakura grunted, "Still agree with Sakura."

Naruto turned to Hinata with tears in his eyes. "Why does this duck agree with pinky but not me when I brought up the point?"

Hinata patted Naruto on the shoulder in a 'There there' type of way. Sighing, the blond rid himself of the tears in his eyes and turned back to his teammates. He continued, telling them of his plan and the best way to make last team standing. With no more complaints from the most...vocal...of his teammates the blond was able to get through everything quickly.

"Is everybody ready?" Naruto asked.

Hinata looked around. Finding what she was looking for she tapped the blond on his shoulder. He turned to her. Hinata raised her hand and signaled. People were watching them. Two in front of them and two behind them. Naruto signaled back. Hinata nodded her head and reached into her pack.

"Since we have some time before the plan starts let's show our tools to know what we are each working with," Naruto ordered.

He gave his two teammates that weren't informed a pointed look. As they watch Hinata take out a bow and arrow realization flashed quickly in their minds. Without letting the watchers know what they were up to they did as they said.

"I only have a few kunai a couple of shuriken and a few different tags," Sakura stated. She pulled out her materials showing everyone. Her green eyes landed on Sasuke. "It would have been so cool if we were able to grab some backpack don't you think Sasuke?"

"Hn," the black haired boy grunted. "I have about the same amount as Sakura minus the tags."

Naruto eyes widen comically, "You guys knew there was going to be an exam today, how come ya'll didn't come more prepared?"

A tick mark appeared on Sakura's head. If there was one thing she hated it would be people questioning her intelligence. And Naruto just so happened to be questioning her intelligence almost every time he opened his mouth.

"The standard pouch for shinobi is not geared to hold a lot of items just the essentials," Sakura shouted.

"If you got a problem of what be brought..."

Naruto snorted, "Or what you didn't bring...

Sasuke glared at him, "If you got a problem of what we brought then tell us all you got with you."

Naruto grinned. "I'm glad you asked." He took off his pouch and opened it. Turning it upside down, the blond placed a little portion of his chakra into the pouch. Twenty kunais and shurikens fell out along with fifteen tags, a brass knuckle, blank scrolls, a few solider pills, thirty senbons, and five ramen packages...all beef.

Green and black eyes widen.

"How were you able to fit all of that in a standard shinobi pouch?" Sakura asked in masked amazement.

Naruto smirked, "What makes you think this is a standard pouch?"

While they were having their conversations Hinata was watching the people surrounding them. Slowly they were making their way towards her teammates. They had to hurry or they really would be ambushed. The closed eyed girl brought her bow towards her, testing the string. Sakura caught the movement out the corner of her eye.

"Is your pouch the same as Naruto's Hinata?" the pinky asked, "Is that where you placed your bow?"

Hinata smiled but said nothing.

"Sakura!" the blond shouted, a tick mark on his head, "Hinata can't speak stop asking her questions."

A tick mark appeared on Sakura's head, "She knows sign languages doesn't she!" While it was phrased as a questions, the other three knew it wasn't. They all saw Hinata sign before.

"Tch," Naruto spat, "But do you know sign language?"

Sakura paused. She didn't.

"Cures me for destroying that other me," she thought angrily.

"I didn't think so," Naruto added, "Stop making Hinata uncomfortable."

"Or what?" The pink haired girl challenged

"Or you'll get booted off the team making your contract with Sasuke void!"

Sasuke perked up. Oh, he so wished his pink haired forced team mate would continue making the mute girl uncomfortable.

"Fine I'll stop," Sakura sighed in defeat. "But I'm curious, we never had an archer class in this school, does Hinata know how to use a bow Naruto." She directed the question to him since she couldn't ask Hinata.

Hinata smirked internally. This is what they were waiting for. It amazed the ex-Hyuuga how Naruto could goad people into doing what he wanted them to do without their knowledge. Both she and Naruto were unsure how natural Sasuke and Sakura would act if they knew they were being watched. Naruto took a gamble when he let them in the loop, unknown to their other team mates however the blond had another plan. He planned for them to each show what they had so Hinata could bring her bow out without their watchers batting an eye. To the watchers it would be like a team comparing their resources instead of Hinata brandishing her bow by herself. Now they just needed someone to ask about her skills. How could a blind girl with no training from The Academy know how to shoot an arrow?

So Naruto purposely riled Sakura up as she was the most likely of the two to ask questions. And not only did the Watchers, who were still moving the same as before, not know of their plan but their own teammates were unaware that they just unintentionally helped them out.

"Why don't you show us what you got Hinata," Naruto asked. His face was set to normal for him, a grin, but inside it was more feral.

"Oh how the fox can catch the rabbit," he thought with a laugh.

Hinata picked up an arrow with a red it. Small words were etched into the arrow unseeable to normal eyes unless really close. She set the arrow on her bow. Concentrating she decided to pick off the targets that were in front of her. They were weaker than the group behind them. While she could have got the stronger ones it was unknown if they would actually go down with her attack. However she knew that the weaker ones would be hit with it.

She pulled back on the bow. Turning it to the side a little so she wasn't aiming in their directions completely. She placed chakra into the arrow before letting it go. It flew through the trees passing everyone up before settling on one closest to the Watchers. It landed with a thud. Everything was quiet in their little bubble.

A second later

BOOOM

A large explosion took out the two watchers in front of them. Thrown off, the ones behind them were kicked out into the open by two clones of Naruto. The leader gathered himself together first, sending a round house kick in one clone direction. It was a direct hit, dispelling that clone.

The second watcher took longer to get together but he too was able to dispel a clone with a kunai.

It was now four against two, the odds were in the genin hopeful favor.

Naruto quickly sent chakra into his pouch, with quick speed all his items flew back into the shinobi pouch.

Sakura grinned her eyes flashes between her normal green and a darker shade of green. She cracked her knuckles, twice on each hand. With a battle cry she shot off towards the man on the left.

Sasuke and Naruto engaged the leader on the right.

Hinata stayed behind supporting both Naruto and Sasuke as well as Sakura fight with her bow and arrows.

The first battle of the newly formed group as begun!

What is the Other Me nonsense Sakura is talking about?

Is Hinata a sensory type or does she has the Byakugan still?

Just how are the genin team formed and is Sasuke going to regret signing those contract?

What is Naruto goal in forming a team with Sasuke, Hinata, and Sakura?

And just why does Principal Yamaguchi stay in his office all the time?

All of this and more will be answered upcoming chapters.