Yes, it's a little short, but I hit a block for the next bit of story. I know the general bit that happens next, just couldn't start it so while I have the chance I'm going to this posted.

So, it's the 2nd exam, of course, and Naruto and the crew are going to run into some trouble. We all know that Gaara's 'stalking' her, so what's going to happen.

reviews are welcome; flames will be used as compost.

notice-ff style, disclaimer no jutsu!

It was a beautiful, bright, sunny, and cloudless day. It was warm and inviting, and many hopeful genin were eagerly awaiting the start of the second portion of the chuunin exams. Few were more excited, if apprehensive, than team sevens Naruto. Having a better knowledge of the inner workings of Anko's mind she was warier than most (certainly much more wary than she'd be if someone else was in charge of the exam but still excited to advance to chuunin.

"Alright runts, here's where we'll be doing the next portion of the exams, Konoha's 44th battle training zone. Of course," she chuckled, "we like to call Konoha's very own Forest of Death!" There was an eerie shiver that passed through most of the crowd. The name was, after all, quite ominous. Naruto just cringed.

"For this exam, the goal is the get to the center, with your team intact, and a special surprise!" She gestured to a tent a little ways away. "Each team will be given a scroll in the booth over there, like these two." She took two different scrolls out of one of her large pockets. Your goal will be to obtain which ever scroll you don't have and bring them both to the tower.

"That means that, at most, only half of us will make it," Sakura whispered to her team mates, anxiousness keen in her voice.

"Yeah, well, I'm sure we'll be fine," Naruto whispered back. "I'm just glad Anko nee-chan isn't going to be a part of the exam after all!"

"Okay, and as a final step before entering, each of you needs to sign one of these wavers"

"Huh? What waiver," someone asked. Anko chuckled.

"It's a waiver taking away Konoha's responsibility for your death." Several people gasped and others began yelling…until Anko gave them the glare of death that her enemies, and also Naruto, the hokage, and especially Iruka, knew very well.

"It's called the forest of death for a reason: it's dangerous! You have to realize now that people can die in these exams, and especially that you can die as a shinobi. This may be the first time you've actually put your life on the line, but it will by no means be the last. If you're not willing to put it all on the line for your team and village, you need to quit being a shinobi now." She looked around on the now somber crowd before smiling again.

"Alright, now that that's been said we'll pass these out to your teams and you'll hand them in at the booth when you get your scrolls."

"Guys, are we going to be okay," Sakura asked. Naruto looked at her, concerned.

"You alright, Sakura-chan? I mean, it's not like we haven't risked our lives before." Sakura shook her head.

"It's not that; it's just, well, yeah we've faced death before, but think about all the people we're going to be fighting. They'll all be desperate to win, to do anything they have to. Zabuza and Haku? They were different. Better, but different. Desperation drives people to do crazy things." Naruto scratched her head.

"Well yeah, I guess so but we're a team, aren't we? We can take on anything that comes our way. Between my e and you, girl power will win over!" Sakura couldn't help but laugh, gratitude in her eyes for the lightness her teammate exuded. She made all their burdens light. Even Sasuke managed to smile.

"Alright then," he said, "are we ready?" Naruto turned her wide grin to him.

"Believe it!"

So they signed the waivers and turned it in their get their scroll. Before they left for their gate assignment, Anko grabbed her shoulder.

""Hey, be careful, alright? And watch out for that Gaara kid; I can almost smell the bloodlust coming off of him." Naruto nodded.

"Don't worry; all the pranks we've pulled, I can avoid him when it comes up. Don't worry, I won't fight him." The Kunoichi patted the girls shoulder gratefully.

"Alright; good luck sis."

Gaara watched the exchange with disgust as team seven was given their gate assignment. His sister was being foolish, trusting these people. No one was trustworthy; no loved anyone but themselves. He would teach her better. Though wouldn't that be expecting her to trust him? Why should she trust him that he would keep his word to mother? This was trust, wasn't it?

Gaara shook his head. No, it was survival. Working together nothing could stop them. Trust could extend that far, yes? Of course. When it was survival, meting out their existence on the world, they could trust each other. He would show her that.

Shaking his head again to get rid of the lingering headache, the sand siblings took off to their gate and awaited the signal to begin, Temari and Kankurō following their younger brother's lead as he immediately took off in the direction team 7 was in. Not they knew where he was headed just yet.

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"Okay, now that we're a little ways in, we need to come up with a plan." Naruto and Sakura nodded, the later shivering over the scream they'd just heard.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea," Naruto replied, though she was itching to get going and finish the test. She was full of confidence that they could get it done in the first day; just forget the other 4!

"We know from the start that there's 13 and 13, heaven and earth. Most teams will probably attack first and ask later, but some will try and play it safe, seeing what scroll the other team has to save energy for fights they may actually need to do." He looked over at Naruto.

"How many spare scrolls do you have?"

"Eh?"

"How many scrolls do you have?"

"Ummm…give me a sec…" Naruto pulled off her pack and fished into one of her pockets.

"Looks like, six scrolls." Sasuke picked up three of them, holding them up.

"We can use these as distraction," he said, "for any of the teams that ask first. We may even be able to lull them into false security if they have an earth scroll, and tail them before attacking them at night."

"Wah? But that would take forever!" Sakura rolled her eyes.

"It's just a backup plan Naruto. Hopefully we get a scroll before then and can use our 'fake' scrolls to pawn off an unwanted attention." Naruto pouted for a moment.

"Whatever. You guys can start making the scrolls," she said, pulled out a set of ink and brushes. "I need to use the ladies room." She wandered off behind a tree, grumbling and 'psycho snakes' and 'wasting time.' Her teammates rolled their eyes as they set to work. A few moments later Naruto came out from behind the tree.

"Whew, that felt good! Are you guys ready to go aga-" Before she could finish her statement, Sasuke flew across the gap, slamming his fist into her face. She impacted against the tree, groaning as she settled on her rear.

"Ow, hey, what was that for?" Sakura looked on bewildered.

But, but Sasuke and Naruto are…why did he hit her? Sakura moved to stop Sasuke from further injuring her friend, but Sasuke held out an arm.

"That's not Naruto-chan."

"Eh?" Sakura looked between her two teammates, confused for a moment, eyes widening when she saw what Sasuke had from the start.

"Where's Naruto? Tell us now!"

"What," questioned the fake. "What are you guys talking about?" The ninja froze in the sight of Sasuke's frozen gaze.

"No tricks looser. If you don't tell us where she is, I'll tear you limb from limb." Sakura looked at him in awe. He, he really does love her, doesn't he… She looked down sadly. I, I wish someone would feel like that for me. Just then the henged shinobi switched back to their true form, wearing a dark yellow body suit and mouthpiece.

"I, I, she's alright, I swear!" He had planned on waiting until he could knock them out and steal the scroll, or fighting for it, but this Uchiha (he could see the crest on his sleeve) was going to kill him. He could feel it. "She's, she's just over here!" Sasuke held up a kunai as she shifted to keep himself between the rain nin and Sakura as she moved to where he claimed their teammate was being kept.

"Naruto!" Sakura moved quickly to untie and ungag her fellow Kunoichi as Sakura spared a glace from the corner of his eye to check on her.

"You see, she's just fine! Now I'll leave-" he was interrupted in the midst of his movement as Sasuke sped in front of him.

"I don't think so," he said, slicing forward and drawing blood from the other nin's chest.

"Gah," he cried out, jumping back. "What the heck! I gave her back; what are you doing?" Sasuke's sharingan showed as he attacked again.

"None of us can let up for even a second in this place, and you attacked my teammate. At the very least, getting rid of you will lower the competition."

"No, no wait! I don't even have a scroll!"

"But your team does."

"But, but it's a heaven scroll! What you do have?" The rain nin revealed the secret in a last ditch effort to get away. This Uchiha was too fast, and he could see the other nin coming in to support him. Three on one was not good, especially when he'd had no time to set up a good genjutsu. Sasuke smirked, and the shinobi waved between hope and dread.

"So, heaven scroll, eh? So that means you need an earth scroll." He lifted his kunai. "So do we." His opponent smiled warily.

"So, no need to fight, right?" Naruto laughed, having overheard the last bit as she and Sakura caught up.

"No need to fight? If you guys get an earth scroll before we do, it's that much more work we have to do."

Crap…

"Shadow clone jutsu!"

…double crap.

An few minutes later the rain nin was unconscious and bruised. Sakura had to drag her off of him before Sasuke started tying him up.

"We don't need to kill him," he'd said. "And if his team has to waste time finding him, they'll be out of our way until we find a scroll, and then busy distracting other teams once we do." So they tied him up after Naruto vented her anger on him for having seen her while she was doing her business. Sasuke made a mental note to be very careful on future missions not to walk around haphazardly. He liked his face the way it was. After putting some distance between them and the tied up nin, Sasuke signaled another pause.

"What is it this time?" Sasuke motioned for Naruto to calm down.

"I was thinking, some groups here may very well be infiltration type teams. Such a team would have been perfect for the first part of the exam, like that last guy we fought."

"Speaking of which, how did you know it wasn't me?" Sasuke blushed. He was not about to mention that there was a cute freckle just behind her left eye the rain nin had missed.

"I, um, it just felt wrong," he said lamely. Naruto and Sakura both raised their eyebrows, but each kept quiet. Naruto didn't want to call him out because of Sakura's feelings, and Sakura didn't want either of them to think she'd been spying.

"So, Sasuke-kun, what do you think we should do." Sasuke grinned, blush dying down.

"We come up with a password," he said simply. "That way if any of us are ever separated for a time, we can ask for the password and be assured it's really one of our teammates." Both girls nodded…until he recited the password. Naruto cringed, wondering what she'd done to him to deserve the torture of such a crazy password. Before she had a chance to really complain, however, there was an explosion and they had to scatter. Naruto looked around frantically as she evaded the explosion, but there was no sight of Sasuke and Sakura. She slapped her forehead. They must have hidden, just like they did back when they took the bell test. She, instead, had hit the trees, the explosion pushing her even further through the air.

"Great, now I have to get back to them and try and remember that stupid password that that stupid teme had to come up and with and…" Further words were cut off as a shadow loomed over her. Slowly Naruto looked up, one word coming to mind.

Crap…Anko nee-chaaaaan! Okay, three words.

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Temari felt the air tense and saw a change in Gaara's eyes. She almost gasped as he suddenly picked up the pace.

"He, hey, Gaara, wait up!"

"Keep up," was his only reply.

"Hey come on man, what's the rush?" This time Gaara spared a glance back for his brother, left eye still closed.

"Our sister just got swallowed by a snake." A shiver worked its way down both his siblings back, and they sped up.

"Lead the way." Gaara rolled his open eye at their antic of actually caring, but at least he knew they wouldn't slow him down. He went full speed. Any slower and he might not be able to keep his promise.

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Naruto gasped for air as she clawed at the inside of the snake. Nothing she did made a difference. She wasn't even scratching it! In retrospect, she supposed it wasn't Anko who put the snakes in. After all, those snakes wouldn't attack Naruto. They all knew better; Anko would kill them if they hurt Naruto. A small viper learned that the hard way when Anko was introducing her to some of her favorite snakes when she was seven.

The throat squeezed her even tighter, forcing the air out of her lings.

"I'm-not-gonna-die-like-this!" She pushed with all her strength at the throat's wall, propping her legs up to give her space and brought her hands together.

"Shadow clone-waaah!" Sunlight spilled in as a gap appeared in the snake's esophagus and Naruto came tumbling out. Agh, bleag, this is disgusting! It's gonna take forever to get this out of my hair!" She paused in her ranting as she realized she wasn't alone, and that someone had to 'ave cut the snake open. Her gaze drifted upwards to two smiling faces and one stoic one.

"Hey, how's it going sis?"

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"Ah! What are you guys doing here? Wait a second…you're calling me that now too!" Naruto ran her hands back and forth through her hair in frustration. "What is up with you guys! I'm not your sister! I was born here in Konoha, my was from Uzu and married my dad here in Konoha; I've been here all my life!" Kankurō raised his hands defensively.

"Whoa, slow down. We're not saying you weren't born in Konoha. We know you were. Mom ran away back she was pregnant with you-"

"Stop trying to sell me on this story! I know its bull, so leave me alone!" Temari and Kankurō looked at each other, both at a loss.

"It doesn't matter what they've told you," Gaara said. "I still remember mother holding you in her arms and making me promise to protect you. Were it not so, I would have killed you already, even with the death you share that body with." Naruto, back turned to the sand sibs as she'd been preparing to leave and find her team, stiffened, head slowly turning around.

"Wh, wh, what did you say?" Gaara lazily pointed to her face.

"You were not born with those whisker marks. I know this because I saw you. The next time I saw you, you where whiskered. The kyuubi attacked the night you were born, and you were made into a jinchuuriki, just like me." Temari and Kankurō gaped.

"Wha, what? But, but mother left just so that that wouldn't happen to her!" Temari jumped the frozen Naruto, crying.

"I'm so sorry," she said. "If, if I had known, I would, I would have found you sooner! I, I would have left. I'm so sorry we couldn't be there." Naruto wasn't sure what to do. The older girl was just so…genuine. She knew a lot of people treated her like she was clueless (and granted she was in a lot of things) but she'd made sure, after Mizuki, that no one would trick her like that again. Gaara...Gaara had no emotion, so she assumed he was lying. Temari? She was crying; she was really crying? But, but jii-san had said…and her mother's headband…it was true, wasn't it? These guys just had something mixed up. And, after all, Gaara looked the same age as her. How should he remember whether she had whisker marks when she was born or not! Slowly, she pulled the other girl off of her.

"Look, I still you guys are out of your minds, but I have to get back to my team-"

"You're coming with us." Kankurō visibly twinged at Gaara's response as Naruto glared over.

"What?" Her voice was dangerous.

"You're coming with us. You belong in Suna, away from Konoha. It's my job to protect you, so that's the way it is."

"Like heck! I'm staying right here and there's nothing you can do about it." Sand instantly wrapped itself around her, holding her tight.

"Gaara! Stop it!"

"Hey man, that's outta line!" The red head ignored them both.

"You are coming home with us; nothing will stop me from my promise." Naruto continued to struggle for a moment before responding.

"If you don't let me do, I swear to you, I'll be the one to make you break your promise. One day, when you're not looking, I'll kill myself you hear me! Better dead and slave to some delusional maniac like you!" Gaara looked at her, somewhat impressed, somewhat annoyed. He waved a hand, dismissing his sand.

"Fine, we'll do it your way, but you'll learn how little trust you can have for these people soon enough."

"Whatever; I'm going." She dashed off through the trees. Gaara sighed.

"Time to go," he said, and they took off after her.

She, she'd just like Gaara, but, she's happy. How come? What was so different here?

Oh man, Gaara's going to go crazy if this keeps up. Don't know what they told sis, but if she'd just believe us I'd feel a lot safer around Gaara.

*sigh* She'll understand soon enough. For now I just need to keep her safe from herself.

So, how was that? Gaara's getting a bit more involved than he was before, but MAN, look who he's gonna be up against. That's why it was so hard to write the next part. Not sure how I want it to go down yet. Hope ya'll liked the changes, though.

Also, Temari and Kankuro are being more open in their beliefs of Naruto being their sister, who is becoming very confused. Will the drama never end?

Come back next time!

and please review!