A/N:

Sorry this took a while :) Thanks again for the reviews guys, I really appreciate it!

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, the main character would be back in action by now! And Sasuke would be Naruto's slave.

Claimer: Kari and Kita belong to their respective owner, me.

Jikan to

Against the clock

 She laughed and walked over to him, forgetting all about her pain and concentrating solely on his big grin. His smile made everything bad seem unimportant.

"Are you sure there are enemies left?" Sasuke asked as they hurtled through the trees. He adjusted Kari into a more comfortable position, taking note of the tightness of her grip and the rate of her breathing to judge whether her health was worsening. She was holding rather tight, which reassured him, yet could hear the pain in each breath she took.

"Yeah, I'm sure of it. You just need to think a little to understand." Kabuto replied. "In a jungle battle like this or in a forest, do you know the best way to fight?" Kabuto asked.

"No…" Sakura admitted as Naruto pulled a puzzled face. Kita was perched on his shoulder, having been limping since their run in with the Oto-nin and not really up to a load of running.

"The goal of the examinees is the tower at the centre of this forest." Kabuto continued. "That means that on the last day, the easiest place to get a scroll is around that tower.

"I get it! So we're going to lay and wait!" Sakura cried, understanding his logic. "That means were going after the teams that have both scrolls and are heading for the tower."

"That's one-third correct" Kabuto agreed.

"Huh?"

"That means you're not the only one thinking that. People who thought of the same idea should have set traps around the tower" Kabuto explained.

"I got it!" Naruto cried. "That means there are lots of enemies there waiting for us!" A competitive smirk spread across his face. "It's more exciting when there's a handicap. I look forward to it! All we need to do is beat those guys, get the Scroll of Heaven and we're out of here! Dattebayo!"

"Iie, that's still only two-thirds correct." Kabuto corrected.

"So what is the remaining third?" Naruto asked confused.

"We have to think of the 'collectors' who appear in exams like this." Kabuto said, a frown darkening his face.

"Collectors?" Sakura repeated confused.

"Even if the tower is really close, you're still not safe in this exam" Kabuto explained. "This special situation gives birth to them. In other words, if they meet an unexpected enemy, they keep extra scrolls and give one to the enemy in exchange for going free, or by giving friends who are in the same village a scroll they need, they can gain information to get through the remaining exams quicker, or crush those strong ones who will get to the third exam." He paused for a moment. "As you've probably figured out by now, they're pretty strong. They are the worst enemies you can meet since they are never satisfied."

"I see, I get the reason you came to us" Sasuke said with a smug smirk. "You're afraid of them too right?" Kari's sore eyes finally fluttered closed as she rested her head against the back of Sasuke's neck. Sasuke could feel the heat tingling his skin from her fever and noticed her grip loosen so her hands were just lightly resting on his shoulders. He hoisted her up a bit further so she was more secure as a scowl set onto his face. He was getting more concerned the longer it was taking.

"Hai, but another disadvantage is Kari-chan's poor health. She's in no condition to fight and on top of that she's tiring you by having to be carried." Kabuto added.

"It's not her fault" Naruto immediately cut in. "She's just caught something, she'll be fine after a rest. Besides, it's not like she's Chouji's size eh Sasuke?"

"Still, it will be better if we switched her onto different people after a while, Sasuke you should give her to Naruto and give your back a rest." Kabuto said.

"She's not heavy" Sasuke said in a rather monotone voice. "And Naruto-dobe will drop her."

"HEY!" Naruto cried offended.

"And she's asleep" Sasuke added, giving Naruto a glare.

"Another half hour, then you'll switch" Kabuto said decidedly, a silence falling upon them as they hurtled through the trees, a pained grimace spreading across Kari's half-conscious face.

Night fell, the silhouette of the tower almost black against the dully lit full moon.

"Sa, there's the tower" Kabuto said, as they all paused for a break. Kari had been switched to Naruto, her shallow ragged breaths barely audible to his keen ears. Even Naruto, as ignorant and dim-witted as he tended to be, could see she was very ill and was becoming more and more worried. "This is where things get crucial."

"Then let's go!" Naruto cried with a half-hearted cheer. Kari's eye's shot open as the others became aware of a noise in the clearing.

"An enemy already?!" Sakura cried, spinning round to where she heard something. In a flash, Naruto sent a kunai shooting narrowly past her bubblegum pink locks and hit something with a disgusting, squelchy, thud. That something; turned out to be a humungous centipede that was nearing the side of the gigantic snakes team seven had come to loathe.

"Oh? It's just a centipede" Naruto said simply. Sakura shivered, goosebumps spreading across her skin.

"It's huge, those legs are just creepy" Sakura groaned, inching closer to an unphased Sasuke. Kari slid off Naruto's back and threw up her stomach juices, having not been able to successfully keep anything down. Naruto pulled her hair out of her face and rubbed circles across her back, asking if she was alright. Everyone was surprised to say the least by this helpful behaviour.

"Naruto-kun" Kabuto said, turning to him. "I want to avoid careless actions and unnecessary noises from here on out. If we go through this forest making noises like an elephant it's the same as signalling to everyone that we're coming. We will receive a passionate welcome." Naruto nodded unnerved, as Kari sat down (a fair amount of distance away from her vomit) with a rather ungraceful flop. "And as well as that, if Kari can get more rest and regain a little more strength, that's sure to come in handy. We will hide and move as slowly as time allows." There was a chorus of quiet "okay"'s from Kari's team, Kita crawled onto her lap and Kari lifted her into her arms, irritated by her exhaustion and lack of strength. She frowned and closed her tired eyes.

"Something feels wrong…" Kari said in a hoarse croak, getting the others attention.

"It's because you're ill Kari-chan, don't worry, it'll be over soon" Sakura reassured.

"I'll take Kari-chan from here. I'm nowhere near as tired as you three and we've still got a fair way to go." Kabuto said as he approached the wolf-kunoichi. Kari's ears shot back, her eyes narrowed to a glare and a growl rumbled in her throat as he went to lift her.

"Kari." Sasuke warned. She turned her eyes to him with a look of mild betrayal. "It's the only way we'll get through this exam. If there was any other way, we'd use that." Sasuke said with a serious tone. "Sakura can't carry you can she? Kita certainly can't—"

"Kita isn't small!" Kita cut in with a slight huff.

"Even so, Sasuke-kun's right. Kita-chan has a limp, I or Naruto can take her." Sakura said. Kabuto went to touch her again but she leaned away.

"Kari!" Sasuke said with a slight harshness to his tone. Kari gave him a look of disgusted defiance. It shook him, even if he didn't outwardly show it, and the Uchiha fell silent.

"Oi, Kari-chan" Naruto said, crouching in front of her, a goofy grin on place, obviously blissfully unaware of the tension between Kari and the others. "The sooner we finish the exam, the sooner we can go get ramen together, and the sooner you can get better." Naruto's eyes shone with genuine concern "I don't like seeing you hurt Ookami-neechan, when you're hurt I'm hurt." Kari's face softened with guilt. "Don't worry, Kabuto's a nice guy. And if he's not and he hurts you in any way, I'll beat him into the ground, promise you, dattebayo!" Naruto said with a grin as he placed a hand on her head, her ears shooting up at his touch as the first true smile any of them had seen in a good while spread across her face.

"For you then" she said with a slight giggle. She linked her little finger with the pinky of his spare hand. "It's a promise though; Kitsune-niisan doesn't go back on his word!"

"Up you go then" Sasuke said, breaking their tender moment and gripping Kari on the sides of her rib cage and hoisting her to her feet.

"Temee!" Naruto said with a childish scowl that made Kari giggle again. She wasn't able to stay steady on her feet due to light-headedness and fell back onto Sasuke, who had to hold her up by her upper arms as her weight was pressed onto his torso. He grumbled something incomprehensible and looked away. Kabuto stood in front of her, bending down slightly, ready to take her onto his back. Sasuke felt her muscles tense and gave both her arms a light squeeze. She seemed reassured, and was grudgingly helped on.

Kabuto observed from the high points in the trees to where everyone was, seemingly impressed. Kari had managed to copy his cloaking technique much to his surprise, Sakura was walking as quickly and quietly as she could through the tall grass, Sasuke was swimming underwater through the river, with a bamboo as a makeshift snorkel. Naruto however, was tangled up in vines, as Kita looked at him hopelessly. They travelled this way for a couple hours before meeting up again.

"Okay, we'll go this way" Kabuto said as he peered through a device that gave a rough measurement of the distance of an object. They kept moving, time difficult to guess without the sun in the sky. Naruto stopped and stared puzzled at a piece of string that was dangling in front of his face. Kabuto secured Kari with one hand, hoisting her weight more to the right and touched Naruto's shoulder with his left hand. He motioned for them to look up, and when they did, they saw bodies across the branches, kunai and shuriken sticking out of them, covered in dried blood.

"A trap?" Naruto wondered aloud as Kari struggled to keep her eyes open. 'Don't let your guard down, don't let your guard down, not for an instant" she kept repeating to herself. This was something Neji had told her many times, usually before he broke through her pathetic attempt of a block and sent her falling to her behind. Her eyelashes brushed her cheeks before her eyelids raised again, mental curses streaming through her mind.

"Yeah, it gets more intense from here on out" Kabuto agreed, beginning to walk again. Kari mentally groaned. His walk was smooth and steady and was slowly lulling her to sleep. How much longer would this take?

Naruto looked up at the trees, looking at the corpses as he slowly passed them. Not paying attention to where he was going, Naruto tripped over a hidden wire. Kari's eye's shot open before Naruto even began to fall.

She shot off Kabuto's back and darted towards Naruto, whom kunai were flying at from all directions, he let out a startled cry just as he was about to hit the ground and momentarily closed his eyes. Kari grabbed him around the middle, wings shooting from her back creating a feathery shield.

"Kari-chan!" Naruto cried in alarm, as she dropped him and went to reach for one of the kunai embedded in her wings, shoulders, or back. She'd managed to avoid a large percentage of them, but in her current condition, she misjudged her speed and timing, unable to get completely out of harms way in time. The weapons were rather shallow though, so it could have been a lot worse.

"Kari-chan!" Sakura cried, rushing to her side.

"Don't fuss, it's not that bad" Kari lightly scolded, flinching as she went to pull one out of her left wing, a light trail of blood sliding down her snowy feathers. Kabuto went to assist her, seeing she was having trouble reaching but was immediately cut off. "Don't touch me" Kari hissed.

"Baka, they need to come out" Sasuke said as he grabbed the handle of the kunai Kabuto was going to get and yanked it out. On reflex Kari's wing shot into him, knocking him over. Sasuke was rather irritated (and just a little embarrassed) by that, but mentally marvelled at the strength of her wing.

"Okaasan's hurt?" Kita questioned with worry. Kari gave a pained smile and placed a hand on her cubs head.

"I'll be fine Kita-ko" Kari reassured as Sasuke yanked out a shuriken without warning, her tail bristled, but her wings were tense from the pain and remained still, they weren't completely healed from their battle with Orochimaru and their were still traces of tree bark here and there.

"I told you it was going to get more intense from now on" Kabuto said, pushing up his glasses. "Luckily, those wounds aren't too deep and didn't go near any of your main organs. There were one or two that may have scraped your kidneys, but seeing as your movement isn't too bad it looks like you don't have any damage to your spine" Kabuto assessed. Due to Kari's foul mood, fuelled by Sasuke yanking out the rest of the weapons none too gently, it took every ounce of her self control not to smack the living daylights out of the irritating bespectacled ninja. "If one of you can help her back onto—" Kabuto went to bend down so she could climb on his back but Sasuke cut him off.

"You've carried her for hours, you should take a break." Sasuke said as he watched Kari's tail twitch, fur bristled. "Besides, her temper is looking thin." Sasuke hoisted her onto his back, Naruto pushing her steady. "Let's go."

For a couple more hours they padded on towards the tower. But no matter how fast they walked, they didn't seem to be getting any closer. Perspiration clung to their skin, they took deep ragged pants of air, every muscle aching. Finally Sakura fell to her knees.

"I can't go any further" she whined, rubbing her sore ankles. They were beginning to swell.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto cried, stopping at her side.

"How long have we walked? The tower isn't getting any closer at all." Sakura panted, holding herself up by her arms.

"It looks like its right in front of us… it's weird." Naruto said.

"Oi baka" Sasuke said, shifting Kari. He tightened his hold for a second trying to get a response. "Are you alright? Hey."

"It seems like we're already inside someone's 'passionate welcome'." Kabuto said, looking around. "See? Look over there" he said, pointing behind Naruto and Sakura.

"Is that…?!" Naruto shrieked, seeing the centipede he had killed hours ago. "What's going on?! Dattebayo!"

"No way!" Sakura cried in disbelief.

"Genjutsu." Sasuke said, glancing around. His eyes narrowed as he remembered something Kari said earlier at this exact same spot; "Something feels wrong…" She felt it from the beginning, yet they were so quick to dismiss it as her poor health.

"So it seems" Kabuto agreed. "I was totally fooled. It seems that we were tricked into walking in circles in a very careful manner."

"We're being watched" Sasuke said. He gave Kari another nudge, she should be able to find them, but she still didn't respond.

"They most likely want us to waste our strength and were planning a surprise attack when we tired, also when Kari-chan was unconscious so she couldn't alert us to them coming. She was so quick even in her ill health to notice the kunai from the trap, her senses and reflexes are amazing." He glanced at her. "I doubt she could even wake, let alone be able to assist us now."

"Then we're already playing to the enemies plan" Sasuke said, still nudging Kari in attempt to make her stir. Any movement at all would reassure him, she'd been silent for the last hour or two.

"Ja, they might attack us soon" Kabuto agreed. The trees began to creak as figures began to materialise out of the trunks and branches. They were all identical, black-clad ame-nin with bandages over their eyes and a gas mask covering their mouths. They advanced from all sides, surrounding Kabuto and team Kakashi. Kita growled and backed up to Sasuke's leg, close to her mother.

"They're here" Sasuke said with a smirk.

"This is a good handicap, dattebayo" Naruto said with a confident grin.

"What's going on?" Sakura asked nervously.

"There's a lot of them, and they're all replications" Kabuto said. One of the replications chuckled.

"Like a mouse in a trap."

"Urusai! Dattebayo!" Naruto cried, lunging at the nearest clone, but to everyone's surprise, Naruto's fist went through it like it was some sort of thick runny goo. Another clone rose out of the indent Naruto's punch had made, holding two double-ended kunai. "What's going on, dattebayo?" Naruto cried as he got up.

"Sharingan!" Sasuke cried. "Naruto!" he cried, pulling out shuriken and slicing the clones arm off. The clone instead turned to him, throwing the other kunai directly at him. Sasuke found himself paralyzed with a numb pain, worst in his neck. He felt Kari shudder behind him, her dull eyes opening a fraction.

"Sasuke! Kari-chan!" Naruto cried in alarm. Sasuke felt a downwards pull on his shoulders as Kari flipped over him, pushing him down, the kunai streaked passed her arm, leaving a nasty cut on her shoulder. She landed roughly on top of Sasuke as she glared at her bleeding shoulder.

Wrong timing again…!

Kita rushed forwards and jumped up, grabbing the double-ended kunai in her mouth.

"Hey, Kiba-kun" Kari questioned as they headed through town, Akamaru on Kiba's head, Kita on Kari's shoulder. "Do you think I'll be able to teach Kita to be a nin-wolf? I mean teach her to use a kunai or something?" Kari asked. Kiba shrugged and grinned.

"Me and Akamaru are developing our own style, he trains and fights with me. Okaachan and Oneechan use nin-dogs on missions, so I don't see why you can't have Kita learn some cool moves." Kari reached into her pouch and pulled out a kunai.

"Hey Kita-ko, hold this" Kari said, holding it up to the young cub. Kita tilted her head to the side and pawed at the weapons handle. "No, no, in your mouth like this!" Kari explained, putting it in her mouth. She then held it up to Kita who held it securely in her jaws. Her little tail wagged with glee. "You practice with that Kita-ko! You'll be a great nin-wolf in no time!" Kari cried, clapping her hands. Kiba laughed and placed his hand on Kari's head.

"There's no doubt you're her Mom" Kiba cried with a large grin, Akamaru barking in agreement.

Kita held the kunai tightly with her sharp teeth. This was her chance to protect her Okaasan and make her proud! And that's exactly what she's going to do! Kita sped into battle, cutting ame-bunshin ankles and shins as she went. Even if she wasn't the biggest, baddest ninja, she could still help!

Sasuke stared up at the sky, unable to move a muscle. Kari was laying still on top of him, her long, golden hair like a blanket covering them both. He wasn't sure if she was still awake. With a strong will he made a huge effort to try and move, only to be met with a burning pain in his neck. Kari let out a pained gasp and rolled off him, grabbing hold of her burning curse mark as her body shuddered violently with each wave of pain.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura cried, helping Sasuke sit up.

"Seeing as Kari-chan got hurt, does that mean they're kage bunshin with real flesh?!" Naruto cried in confusion. "Demo, demo, kage bunshin should disappear if they're hit cleanly. Since they don't disappear are they really illusions? Which is it?! K'so!"

"It's useless! Stop!" Sasuke cried, one hand grasping Kari's shoulder as she writhed in pain. "They're just a genjutu created by the enemy" Sasuke panted, squeezing Kari's shoulder to try and calm her down. Her ears were back, her eyes dark and wide, blood sliding from the corners of her mouth.

"Demo…! Kari-chan's wound is real!" Sakura cried, glancing at the blood stain blossoming beneath Sasuke's palm.

"Iie, Sasuke-kun is right" Kabuto cut in. The enemy is most likely hidden somewhere and they are attacking from someone else while matching the illusion ninja's movements. This makes it seem as though the illusions are attacking us."

"Then I'll find the idiots hiding in the forest throwing knives at us and go beat them up, dattebayo! No one hurts Kari-chan!" Naruto cried.

"Matte Naruto-kun!" Kabuto warned. "In this situation, the source of the real knife is hidden, so we can't figure out the enemy's exact location. Do you understand now? That's their tactics. According to my data, those who are weak at taijutsu prefer to attack like this. The real enemy won't come out until we can't move at all. Listen up, minna. We can only dodge the enemy's attack right now."

"Yosh, if you're planning on doing that…" Naruto said, readying his kunai. Real kunai flew at them and they dodged and blocked, Sasuke lightly kicking Kari out of harms way, unable to do more due to his restricted movement.

"There's no end to this!" Sakura cried in exhaustion as they all panted. Kita was standing close to her mother with the kunai still in her mouth, her mouth was sore, but she refused to give up. She managed to deflect a kunai aimed at her Okaasan, cringing at the horrible vibrations that rang through her mouth giving her a headache. She turned and pawed at her mother's shoulder.

"Okaasan will get hurt if she stays here!" Kita warned, her voice muffled by the weapon in her mouth. She continuously nudged Kari as she slowly and unsteadily got to her feet.

"I'll just…" Naruto said, making a hand-sign.

"Stop, Naruto-kun" Kabuto warned. "Don't waste you're chakra, there's no point in attacking them."

"If we get rid of all the illusions at once, the enemy can't attack during the time they return back to normal, seeing as they're going to reveal their position. Kage bunshin no jutsu!" In a puff of smoke, an army of Naruto-clones appeared, attacking the ame-bunshin's. But as quick as he pummelled them, they reformed.

"Sasuke-kun, what should we do?" Sakura asked.

"That idiot, we have to fight too." Sasuke cried.

"But…"

"Yeah, he can't handle this situation alone" Kabuto agreed.

"Kari" Sasuke instructed, his eyes glancing to her. "You stay—" he was cut off when she shot into battle, pulling out her twin katana. "I said stay there baka! Agh, baka-onna! Come on Sakura!" Sasuke cried, following in Kari's footsteps and rushing in.

Dawn broke and Team 7 and Kabuto were driven to the ground, either on knees or backsides. All Naruto clones were destroyed; Naruto himself sent sliding on his back over to where the others were. The ame-nin finally showed themselves, walking out of the bushes.

"How lucky" one of them mused as the illusions melted away. "You." He said looking over at Sasuke. "You're the one that injured my left soldier right? I finally found you. You wasted our time. How lucky, I can finally get revenge." He said as he raised his kunai. But to his surprise, Naruto smirked.

"Like a mouse in a trap." Sasuke's voice said from the bushes.

"It went well, Naruto" Sakura's voice said happily.

"What did they do?" the ame-nin cried looking round. His eyes widened when he saw Kabuto, Sakura, Sasuke, Kari, and finally Kita. "That can't be! When did they…?!"

"You baka's finally showed yourselves damnit." Naruto made a handsign and the Sakura, Sasuke, Kari and Kabuto around him, poofed into Naruto clones.

"What? Did this kid…? It can't be!" The ame-nin cried.

"I used Kage bunshin to set up this little trick, dattebayo" Naruto explained. He rose to his feet. "So I could pretend to be everyone from this team… except Kita-chan, I wasn't too sure how to transform into her…"

"Once Naruto undid his replications the four of us hid, Kita had slid into the bushes when Kari ran to attack and found your location and chose a safe distance for us to hide without alerting you." Kari beamed with pride at her clever little wolf. "We then waited for you to reveal yourselves. Hn, a genjutsu master fooled." Naruto went to stand up but fell to one knee. "Naruto! You used up too much chakra, I'll do the rest" Sasuke said with a smirk. However, disobedient as Kari, Naruto delivered a punch to the ame-nin, sending them flying like dominos.

"I'm not going to let you take all the good parts like that" Naruto puffed.

"What a kid, he can still move after all that" the ame-nin said in awe.

"We're not in an unlucky situation yet" another one of them said, as they all made identical hand signs. "Time is running out… We'll show you our jutsu now; Ninpou; Oboru bunshin no jutsu!"

'Hazy replications' Kitai's voice immediately answered. Kari's eyes widened in remembrance. That's right… I was in that chamber… In a poof of smoke many copies of the three ame-nin appeared.

"Kage bunshin?" Naruto asked.

"No they're just normal replications." Kabuto replied. "But they must have some sort of tactic planned out. Be careful!"

"If they're just replications there's only one real one." Naruto said. "I'll beat up every one until I hit the real one."

"Baka! That's just a waste of energy!" Sasuke cried.

"I told you not to interfere!" Naruto cried before rushing towards the army of ame-nin. Kari shot past the others until she was beside Naruto. He glanced at her and smirked. "Let's do this!" She smirked back and nodded.

"Naruto it's impossible!" Sakura cried. Sasuke prepared to jump out but froze when he was hit with a wave of pain, at the same time Kari stumbled grasping her curse mark as she fell to her knees. Naruto sent punches at every ame-nin he saw, but he just went straight through them.

"Naruto-kun, stop!" Kabuto cried as he too joined Naruto. Kita was slicing through the illusions legs with her kunai, but so far had hit nothing solid.

"Is every single one of them a fake is it an illusionary technique again?" Sakura cried. Sasuke glanced at Kari, if he tried to use his Sharingan, they would both suffer pain, but if he didn't they would just be fighting blindly. Kari looked round at him as she panted. She managed a small smile.

'Go for it Sasu' her voice called through his mind. He ignored the irritation of being called Sasu, and focused his chakra.

'Kari get back to me and Sakura!' There was a slight hint of blue as Kari pooled chakra into her weak legs, she shot backwards until she reached Sasuke and Sakura, the glow of chakra disappeared and she fell to her knees.

"Sharingan!" Sasuke cried. At once, all the replications turned to blazes of chakra. He looked around but saw no one solid. His vision blazed white as he cried out in pain holding tight to his shoulder. He fell to his knees as he panted through the pain.

"Sasuke-kun! Kari-chan! Sasuke-kun don't use your Sharingan anymore!" Sakura begged. She could see Sasuke's 'bruise' blazing a fiery orange colour, she looked over at Kari, but she had pulled her hitai-ate round her neck since Neji had left, saying her ears were too uncomfortable.

It was to hide that mark… Sakura thought, finally realising. "Kari-chan!" Sakura cried, almost in tears as Kari shuddered in pain again curling up into an almost fetal position. Hearing Sakura's shout, Naruto looked round worriedly.

"Don't lower your guard!" the ame-nin cried with a kunai raised. Kabuto hurtled into Naruto, pushing him out the way, the kunai grazing his knee.

"Kabuto-san!" Naruto cried, he glared at the ame-nin "Chikusho!"

"Stop Naruto!" Sasuke cried. "No matter how hard you try, the real one isn't in those replications."

"Then where's the enemy going to attack from?!" Naruto shouted back. "If they are normal replications, the replications themselves can't attack us!"

"If we knew that, there's no need for us to work this hard! This is the enemy's plan!" Sasuke shouted back. He looked round at Kari. Her eyes were half closed and she was laying horribly still, apart from a violent twitch every minute or so. She had once again lost all colour in her face, the blood smudged across her lips sharply contrasting her snow white face. "Kuso…" Naruto fell to his knees exhausted as Kabuto struggled to sit up.

"It looks like they've reached their limit" an ame-nin stated. "How lucky…" it jumped towards Naruto, kunai in hand.

"Tsuchi…" Kari whispered. Sasuke glanced at her before his eyes widened. The ground?! Sure enough, the three ame-nin slowly rose out of the soil behind Naruto. Kabuto looked round, but his reactions were too slow and a kunai whipped straight across his face sending him flying and his glasses shooting elsewhere. They approached Kabuto but froze at the intensity of his glare. Kari shuddered as Kumouri cackled with glee.

'Bloodshot eyes, bloodshot eyes, blood lusting eyes! Bloodshed, bloodshed!!' Kari groaned and clamped her hands over her ears, but it only made it worse.

The ame-nin were caught off guard by Naruto's foot painfully colliding with their skulls and once again they were sent like dominos, falling to the ground.

"Don't let your guard down was it?" Naruto said mockingly.

"Arigatou Naruto-kun, you saved me!" Kabuto said smiling.

"That was great Naruto!" Sakura called as Naruto plopped down on his backside. Kari's pain seemed to have lessened; now she just seemed exhausted. Sasuke glanced at her, or more specifically, where her curse mark was hidden. His brow furrowed and he slid his arm underneath her shoulders to pull her into a sitting position. She sloppily smacked his arm to show her displeasure and propped her upper body up by resting her chin on her knees. Hell she felt so sick…

"Ne! Kari-chan come here!" Naruto called happily, waving to catch her attention. Kari laughed and slowly walked over to him, forgetting all about her pain and concentrating solely on his big grin. His smile made everything bad seem unimportant. Sasuke watched her unsteady movements, seeing straight through her ignorance. If she doesn't get medical attention soon… "I was great wasn't I?" Naruto cried as she hugged him tightly and he pulled her into his lap.

"Hai Kitsune-niisan" she said with a tired smile, his chin resting on the top of her head.

"Well I had to protect my Ookami-neechan, ne?" he said with a laugh. She smiled and closed her eyes. "Heeey! No sleeping yet! We've got to go get celebratory ramennnn!" Naruto whined lightly hitting his head against hers. Kita jumped into Kari's lap. "And Kita-chan kicked rain-nin butt! Dattebayo!" Kari smiled and rubbed Kita's ears.

"Okaasan's proud of you Kita-ko" Kari said gently, making Kita's tail sway, her eyes shining with pure adoration.

"Come on, let's get our scroll!" Naruto said with a grin. Kari nodded and he supported her as they walked over. Sakura smiled sadly, Naruto was always fooled by a brave face, Sakura wiped her left eye, ignoring the tears that were slowly building up. She must be in so much pain, yet she smiles through it so not to worry us…

"Were you injured?" Kabuto questioned, looking at Sasuke, his eyes fixed on the cursemark. "That looks like a big bruise." Sasuke immediately covered it.

"It's nothing." He said. "It's her we should be worrying about." He said as he looked over at Kari who was smiling and laughing with Naruto. Sasuke felt an unexplainable twinge of emotion at that. He makes her smile and laugh so easily…

"We found it!" Naruto cried in delight jumping up and holding the beige scroll high. "Look! It's a Scroll of Heaven!" He flipped open Kari's pouch and placed it inside, next to the navy earth scroll.

"Great!" Kabuto congratulated with a smile. He didn't notice Sasuke suspicious glare, but Kari did and her smile faded slightly. It's about time…

"Come on Kari-chan! I can smell the ramen!" Naruto cried excitedly. Sasuke hoisted her up and pulled her arm over his shoulder. "Hey! It's my turn to carry her!" Naruto whined. "Tell him Kari-chan!"

"Kari-chan is sleeping, please leave a message." Kari mumbled, taking her arm from Sasuke and just using the whole of him as a leaning post.

"Ne?" Naruto questioned as Kita climbed up his back and settled herself on his head.

"Let's go guys!" Kabuto called. Kari grumbled something vulgar and put Sasuke's arm round her shoulders and began trudging along. Naruto cried something about ramen and marched ahead.

"Baka, you're the one who needs help walking" Sasuke said as they walked at the back. Sakura was telling Naruto off for being too loud, the two of them walking a couple of feet in front with Kabuto.

"Your shoulders are too high" Kari replied. She'd been walking along with her eyes closed, limping on her left leg. "I should learn to sleep walk… You can get Sakura to help you if you want." Sasuke grunted something along the lines of not wanting to be touched up, but Kari wasn't really playing attention.

"You walk wonky anyway" Sasuke grumbled. She sighed and put her arm around his waist. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Using you not to walk wonky" Kari said, her head fell onto his shoulder and her walking slowed.

"Baka" Sasuke said with a smirk, steering her straight as she started swaying to the left. He wasn't too sure how she could walk when she was sleeping, but it was her after all. He went to switch positions so he could support her better, but when his left hand went to her waist he was met with a wet substance. He pulled his hand away, putting his arm back over her shoulder and looking in alarm at his palm.

Blood?

"Baka, we're here" Sasuke said, giving her shoulder a squeeze. She ignored him and started sliding towards the ground. Sasuke hoisted her up again and gave her a light smack on the head.

"Ite-e! Headache!" Kari whined, holding her pounding head. She turned to glare at Sasuke.

"You look like shit." He commented. She huffed and headed up the stairs, successfully tripping over half way up.

"Okaasan!" Kita cried, bounding down towards her. "You need to awake-walk now!" Kari sighed and walked up the rest, stumbling twice. They reached the top and Naruto immediately went to support her, giving Sasuke a glare.

"Tch, have her" Sasuke said leaning against the wall next to the door.

"You're late."

"Gomen, I ran into some trouble" Kabuto replied, turning to two similarly dressed shinobi that seemed to be his team-mates.

"Demo sa, demo sa, thanks to you we got both the scrolls, dattebayo!" Naruto said cheerfully.

"Iie, it was because of your hard work." Kabuto said. "Especially that last move, it was incredible Naruto-kun!" Naruto chuckled in delight. "Well, we'll go through this door. Good luck to us all. I hope you heal quickly Kari-chan" Kabuto said as he and his comrade's turned to the door next to the one Naruto was standing in front of. Naruto opened the door, breaking the seal and led them inside. Kari suddenly froze, catching their attention.

"Daijobu Kari-chan?" Naruto asked. She turned and looked at the wall, her eyes an eerie blood red. The wind picked up in the room, whipping their faces.

"It's nothing…" Kari said turning and walking ahead.

"Kari-chan?" Naruto asked, "Hey! Wait up!" he called rushing after her. Sasuke's eyes narrowed.

What was that?