All rights to Naruto belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

"Man, I gotta piss!" Naruto cried as they made their way through the forest. Sakura sighed in exasperation, having heard that same exact phrase at least three times in the past ten minutes.

It had been a quarter of an hour since the exam started. Everywhere Sakura looked, all she could see was moss and trees and brush. It was not much different from the forests that Lee sometimes took her to for meditation, but as she felt before, there was a strange ominous feeling about it. She could tell that Sasuke was feeling it too. Naruto, on the other hand, was too busy controlling his bladder to notice anything around him.

"Pathetic." Sasuke scoffed. Although Sakura agreed to some extent, she felt an overwhelming urge to defend her best friend. She narrowed her eyes at Sasuke in a sarcastic way, one that could not be interpreted as hateful, but disapproving.

"Well let's see how you'd fare if you had to hold your bladder for minutes on end." At that, Naruto started to laugh, but then crushed his knees together for fear that something other than laughter would come out. "Naruto, just go pee, for goodness sake!" Sakura scolded.

"Whew! Thanks, Sakura-chan!" Naruto said as he turned around. Sakura blanched as she heard a pant zipper undone.

"In the bush, you moron!" Sakura yelled as she pushed him head-first into the shrub. She then shook her head in dismay. No matter how much she was fond of him, it didn't change the fact that he was an idiot.

They waited for a minute before the silence became too much for Sakura. Deciding to strike up a productive conversation with Sasuke, Sakura asked, "So what's our plan of action? If we keep running through the forest, we're bound to get tired soon. That would leave us vulnerable."

Sasuke nodded gruffly. "You're right, but there isn't much more we can do." He said as he crossed his arms. "All of the teams entered from different spots in the forest, but it isn't big enough that we will not meet each other." Sasuke looked up to the sky. "The canopy of the trees is so extensive that the sunlight is barely coming through. It is as if it was night already." He concluded. Sakura nodded absently, knowing that he was probably just talking to himself.

There was a faint rustling in the bushes and a faint flash of yellow before Naruto appeared again, scratching the back of his head and looking relieved. Sakura sighed and shook her head; Sasuke's eyes narrowed at him. Naruto seemed to notice this tense behavior and immediately locked eyes with Sasuke. "What's wrong with you? It's like you are about to launch a coup d'état on me." Naruto grumbled.

Sakura's eyes immediately widened.

"So I see you two have teamed up against me." Kakashi said looking at Sakura and Naruto. He then looked over at Sasuke. "What about you, Sasuke? Are you planning to stage a coup d'état?" He asked the Uchiha. Sasuke didn't respond.

"A coo day…what?" Naruto whispered into Sakura's ear. Sakura just shushed him.

And they immediately narrowed.

That was not her Naruto, and it seemed that Sasuke had reached the same conclusion.

Whoever it was, they also had issues with their transformation. The Naruto in front of her had his weapon pouch on his left leg, despite the fact that he was right-handed. It was like that Naruto was a mirror image: a transformation of what someone else perceived from their side.

Sasuke was about to charge, but before he could take one step forward, Sakura discreetly intercepted him. Sasuke looked shocked at her actions, and she could not tell whether it was because she stopped him from attacking or she actually figured out that Naruto was a poor facsimile. Kami help him if he thought the second one.

Sakura shook her head furtively, as if to not alert the blonde imposter of any movement. She then looked over at the person who was disguised as her friend and gave him as small smile. "Are you feeling better now? I expect less whining." Sakura teased, although she lacked the bite she usually had when bantering with him. The blonde in front of her just smiled, one that would not characterize Naruto's jovial nature. This one looked forced as if it was brought about by convention instead of feeling.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke asked quietly into Sakura's ear. Sakura met his eyes in her peripheral vision, but did not answer. She could not risk the imposter finding out about their perception. The fake Naruto approached.

"What's wrong with you two? We have to get going!" Naruto yelled boisterously. At least the imposter got his loudness right, Sakura thought, irritated.

"Let's go then!" Sakura said as she motioned him along. Before she got too far, she turned her face over her shoulder and tacitly told Sasuke 'Follow behind him.' Sasuke nodded slowly.

They could not go too long without finding Naruto, for they did not know whether he was in actual trouble or not. From what she saw, the people in the genin in the examination hall looked as though they were ready to kill, which she was sure they were. She could not help the sense of dread that overcame her at the thought of Naruto dead, but she quickly shook her head to rid herself of that idea.

"Oh, and Naruto, you forgot something." Sakura said with a bright smile on her face as she turned towards the fake-blonde. He smiled back.

"What would that be, Sakura?" He asked.

Just then, Sasuke took his metal wires and flung them around the imposter; however, before they could completely incarcerate him, he vanished, with a faint whistling sound following his disappearance.

"I'm surprised. You two found me out faster than I expected." A voice said to their right. Sasuke and Sakura turned towards the figure that stood before them: a man with an oxygen mask over his face. However, the thing that caught Sakura's attention was the four vertical lines on his Hitai-ate. The Hidden Rain? Sakura asked herself. She knew that they were a relatively new village, and were already considered to have some of the strongest genin in the Five Nations. They had to be careful around him.

"Where is Naruto?" Sakura asked, taking a kunai out of her pouch and flicking it around her finger.

By the way his cheekbones raised, she could tell that the man before her was smiling sinisterly behind the mask. "You won't have to worry about him. You'll see him soon, where you're going." He said.

"Sasuke…" Sakura said slowly, not taking her eyes off of the opponent. "I know you can handle this guy alone. I'm going to go after Naruto." She said.

"Hn. Bad idea." Sasuke said. Sakura was about to protest, thinking that he was implying that she couldn't do it. "You shouldn't go off alone; all three of us will be split up." Sasuke concluded.

"If something's happened to him, it's going to be our fault. I don't know whether you care what happens to him or not, but he is our teammate. He's my friend." Sakura retorted. It was then that the Rain ninja grew impatient and charged at them, particularly at Sasuke. Sasuke immediately blocked him with this kunai, and Sakura took this chance to escape.

"Not so fast, little girl." The Rain ninja said as he noticed her sneak passed him. However, before he could do anything, Sasuke blocked his way. He gave one final nod to Sakura, who nodded back.

"I trust you, Sasuke. Be safe!" She said before leaving.

The Rain ninja's eyes narrowed, mirroring Sasuke's glare. No words were exchanged before he charged at him with his own kunai, intending to get a streak of the neck. However, Sasuke was too fast for him, and quickly dodged before delivering one punch right to his face, sending his opponent flying.

I have to finish this quickly. Sasuke consolidated, looking at the shinobi in front of him that was already half-exhausted. Pitiful. He thought before he charged once more.

Sakura raced through the trees, trying to detect even the slightest trace of her blonde friend. She silently thanked Lee for all of the running he made her do in their training, otherwise her stamina would have immediately diminished. She felt an overwhelming sense of fear about the whereabouts of Naruto. She wouldn't forgive herself if anything happened to him.

Sakura heard a sound in the clearing next to her and immediately turned towards it. She flicked a kunai into her hand and stealthily made her way through the tops of the trees, trying to keep herself as concealed as possible. It was then that she saw Naruto create two shadow clones of himself, who both used their hands to propel him into the air as he descended on his opponent. While he was distracted, the two other clones skidded passed him with wire-connected kunai in their hands. In a single motion, they had flicked the kunai around the Rain ninja's torso and he had fallen to the ground, wrapped in the piercingly sharp black wire.

The real Naruto landed on top of the enemy with a proud look on his face. With the weight of the blonde boy crushing into his neck, the Rain shinobi blacked out from the pressure being put on his vertebrae. Naruto then waved to his two clones while he said something incoherent to Sakura. However, that did not bother her.

She was absolutely astounded by his victory. There was no doubt in her mind that he would win, because he had the competence to do so, but she had never seen him come up with such a well-executed plan in such a short time since she had known him. A wide smile broke out across her face at his achievement. It seemed as though she did not actually have to do anything at all, and Naruto was going to be fine.

Just as she thought that, she saw another shinobi creep up behind Naruto as she basked in his own accomplishments. Before Naruto could even conceive anything about the situation, Sakura had pumped all of the chakra she could into her legs and accelerated herself towards the enemy.

"Dynamic Entry!" She screamed as her leg came upon the Rain ninja's head, effectively crushing him into the ground and a relatively deep human-sized impression in the forest floor.

Naruto had jumped back from shock and quickly scurried away from the small ground debris that flew about. Sakura leaped back and skidded to a stop next to Naruto, who she gave a little wink to. This prompted a wide grin from him.

It appeared that her presence was needed after all.

"That was awesome, Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed as he threw an arm around Sakura's shoulders. "Thanks for coming to find me." He said.

"Anytime." She said as she ruffled his hair with the arm that was not around his waist.

Then, a groaning sound protruded the silence of the forest. It seemed as though the shinobi that Sakura had knocked down had not passed out completely, much to Sakura's disappointment. However, she was more than happy to note that he was having trouble regaining his balance when he stood.

Once their opponent had managed to stand up, he wiped a small trace of blood from the side of his mouth before spitting on the ground in disgust at them. He then cautiously made his way over to his constricted friend, who did not seem to be getting up any time soon.

"You win this time, Konoha." He said maliciously as he attempted to hoist his teammate's larger body over his shoulder. Before he had a chance to leave, however, Sakura called out to him.

"Hang on! What scroll do you have?" She asked, remembering their objective. The Rain ninja scowled, but then reached into his pocket to reveal a Heaven scroll, the same as the one they had.

Crap, it's not the one we need. Sakura thought with annoyance. However, she tried not to let it show.

"Throw it over, and don't try anything funny." She ordered, stepping a little bit closer to get within the projectile range.

"But Sakura, don't we already…" Naruto attempted to ask, but Sakura immediately cut him off. The Rain shinobi complied and threw the scroll of to her, which she caught with both her hands.

"We'll remember this." Their opponent said as he leaped into the trees, taking his teammate along with him.

"Please, like that scares us." Naruto said cockily as he dismissed the threat. He then turned to his rosy-haired friend. "Why'd you take the same scroll as ours, Sakura-chan? That's not going to get us anywhere." Naruto said.

"I know, but there is a chance that those guys have friends from their village that they might have told what scroll we have if we declined theirs. We just have to play it off that we have both right now so that we are not an immediate target." Sakura reasoned.

"Damn, that's smart." Naruto said as he nodded in approval. "Hey, where's the teme?" Naruto said as he looked around.

"He was handling another one of those Rain guys when I left him. We should go check up on him." Sakura said. Naruto nodded compliantly, and with that, they both disappeared from the plain into the trees.

The met up with Sasuke a few minutes later, and upon seeing his unharmed state, Sakura breathed a sigh of relief. She wondered if Naruto was also relieved by this fact, considering the fact that he would never show any affectionate emotions towards the Uchiha.

"It seems as though transformation is a main tactic in infiltrating and eliminating the team." Sasuke said with a hand on his chin.

"Well then, how're we supposed to tell when it's the real us or a phony?" Naruto asked with his arms crossed.

"We need to come up with some sort of password or code that will distinguish us from other people; something that only we know about." Sakura explained.

"I have one." The Uchiha murmured. Sakura and Naruto leaned in closer to hear him better. "Ask 'Ninja Song: 'Ninja Chance'. The answer is 'The chance to sneak up when a large number of enemies are making a scene. The quiet place has no secret hideout. It is important for the shinobi to know the right…" Sasuke tried to finish, but he was cut off by the impatient blonde.

"That's a shit password if I've ever heard one. No one would be able to remember that, believe it!" Naruto said indignantly.

"I think that's kind of the point, Naruto." Sakura said with a sigh.

Sasuke, who looked absolutely peeved with the interruption, quickly turned his eyes to her. "Do you have it?" He asked.

"The part you have said so far, yes." Sakura replied. "However, I agree with Naruto when he says that it is too long. If we keep using this password, then the enemy will eventually catch on. Other people have even greater memory capacity than we do."

"Then what would you suggest?" Sasuke asked. He was genuinely curious to see if Sakura had come up with a better plan.

A smile stretched across Sakura's face as she reached into her pouch. "Huddle in, boys." She said.

Their team was off again, racing through the trees with a look of purpose to cover up the fact that they were practically wandering around blindly. Sakura looked down at the bandage wrapping around her wrist, one that resembled a messily-prepared version of Lee's. Both Naruto and Sasuke had one around their wrists as well; the right one, to be precise. She had to make sure to incorporate as many specific variables as possible to make sure that it was a fool-proof system.

Suddenly, a burst of strong wind knocked them all from the trees, and Sakura was sent flying before she hit the ground with a large thud. She immediately saw black spots cloud her vision, but she refused to pass out in such a critical place. Especially because of the fact that there was an enemy close by.

She got up in one fluid motion, but immediately regretted it when she felt dizzy and started to lose her balance. Once she had become one with her senses again, she looked around the plain, only to see that Naruto and Sasuke were nowhere in sight.

I must have gotten separated from them. Ugh, why do these things always happen to us? Sakura lamented within her mind.

Stop complaining and get a move on. Inner said unhelpfully. Sakura would have given a snarky reply if it wasn't for the rustle of the bushes next to her. Sakura immediately brought a kunai into her hand as she narrowed her eyes at the bush, ready to fling the projectile at anything that might pose a threat.

She saw black hair appear out of the bush, looking at her with the same calculated and wary eyes. "Sakura?" He asked.

"Sasuke." Sakura said with relief. However, she then grew tense again as she remembered that It could be an imposter. She immediately held up her right wrist to show her bandage wrapping, and Sasuke held up his as well.

"Strength." Sakura said, putting her hand down.

"Strength." Sasuke parroted with a nod. Sakura's eyes narrowed as she threw the kunai towards the one she knew was the imposter.

She tried to make her system as simple as possible, and something that no one would be able to figure out if they had been overhearing. The white bandage was just for show, to get the enemy to think that it was the only part of her identification process. However, there was more to it: along with showing the bandage, the person had to state what they desired the most. Each member of their team knew each other enough to know what they wanted. Sakura was strength, Sasuke was revenge, and Naruto was Hokage.

However, once they had encountered an imposter the first time, they had to make a mark on their bandage. The next time a friend or foe showed up, they would show them the bandage, and if the other person had a mark on their bandage, they had to say the word of the person who went after them when they introduced themselves to Kakashi. So it went Naruto-Sakura, Sakura-Sasuke, and Sasuke-Naruto.

Okay, so it wasn't that simple, but it was a much harder code to crack than Sasuke's (dare she say it) dumb incessant password.

Sasuke hissed at her, making her jump a little. A puff of smoke then appeared around the imposter, and she had to cover her face to avoid it getting into her eyes. When she finally unveiled them, she let out a high-pitched shriek. She would have been worried if someone heard her if she was not in the situation she was in.

In front of her was no man. The imposter was thirty-foot tall snake.

Sakura quickly gathered her wits and dodged the quick swipe of the tail that came towards her. The tail came upon her once more, but this time from above. She gripped her kunai and dodged again, this time jamming the knife deep into the snake's tail. Although she could feel the snake's tough exterior, she could see that she had made some sort of impact on it.

The snake's expression turned even more menacing as the serpentine yellow eyes glowed with malice. Sakura felt a shiver run down her spine. Never before had she encountered such a creature, and she had only ever fought people her size or at most a foot taller. She had no idea how to take out a snake!

She decided that the best plant of action was to take to the trees. It would be much harder for the snake to follow her if it had to slither through the maze of trees. Although she knew this would probably take her farther away from Sasuke and Naruto, her life was on the line.

With this in mind, she zipped into the cover of the trees. She stayed close to the ground, knowing that the higher up she was, the easier it was for the snake to get to her.

It seemed as though the trees proved no obstacle for the reptile, as it massive body knocked down the trees that she thought would be her salvation. In a quick motion, Sakura dove into the underbrush and hid there, trying to formulate her next plan of action. The serpent seemed to stop a few meters behind her. It surveyed the area for an unnatural flash of pink. Sakura had read many books about snakes and knew that she could not hide for long: there were certain snakes that were ultraviolet-sensitive, and they would be able to spot her even through the bushes. She condensed her thoughts into two choices: stay and fight, or run away as quickly as possible.

Both situations seemed unlikely to be in her favor.

Sakura took the riskier decision. Her body was trembling and she could barely form coherent thoughts, but she knew that if she tried to run away, she would eventually have to encounter the snake because of its superior speed. It was best that she tried to fight at that moment rather than after she had exhausted all of her energy.

She stood directly in front of the snake, and the two of them had a stare-down for a few moments. Sakura's eyes then darted towards the trail of green blood that the snake was leaving behind, which made her cringe a little. She was truly up against a monster.

The purple reptile then bared its long fangs at her, making Sakura's eyes widen so much that tears appeared. Crying in this situation was not optimal, but she could not help how scared she was. She took a few deep breaths and thought about her teammates.

I have to get back to them. I can't die here. I won't die here! She repeated to herself over and over again. Taking the initiative of the fight (since she wouldn't have been able to dodge if the snake did), she pushed all of her chakra into her feet and sprung herself up, and then off another tree, and then another. She played a kind of pinball with the snake. While not at a lightning speed like Lee could have done, Sakura had diverted its focus.

Once she saw that the snake had started to get distracted with its target's lack of location, Sakura sprung off a branch directly over its head and drove her kunai down the long of its back. She felt some of the green fluid of the snake enter her mouth, and she quickly coughed it out in disgust. However, this made her lose her momentum, and she fell to the ground right next to the snake's tail. She felt her ankle twist painfully, and she knew that she would probably be unable to stand.

The snake made a dissonant sound of pain before whipping around to face her. Apparently, her efforts had not been enough to take out the snake. Sakura backed up as much as she could until her back hit a tree. She started to hyperventilate as the reptile closed in on her with the intent to eat her alive. She saw that its movements were immensely slowed, but she had no room in her mind to be proud about that fact.

Thank you Naruto, Lee, Sasuke. You guys have taught me so much. Forgive me for not being stronger. Sakura thought as she closed her eyes and waited for the snake to engulf her.

However, it never did.

"Eight Trigrams: Vacuum Palm!" She heard a familiar voice call above her. Her eyes completely snapped open as she saw what looked like a burst of wind knock the snake completely over and into one of the tall pine trees adjacent to it. A figure then landed on a branch on a tree above it, looking at it with a scowl as it disappeared in a burst of smoke.

Hyuuga Neji.

His pearly eyes then took to her, his scowl replaced with an aloof expression. Once he saw that she was relatively fine, he turned to leave.

"Hang on!" Sakura called out to him, making him halt. He cocked his head towards her to show that he was listening. "Why…why did you help me?" Sakura asked, still trying to get over the adrenaline-high she had.

Neji let out a tsk as he turned to face her. "You're a kunoichi from Konoha. Despite this being a competition to see who will become a Chūnin, it is inexcusable to let someone die when you could do something. Besides," he started as he turned away from her, "I still need to prove to you how everyone's life is determined by destiny. Your destiny is to live a civilian life, and it does not sit well with me if you die without learning the difference between those who are born to be shinobi and those who are not. That is my reason." Neji said.

Sakura was about to call out to him, but he had already disappeared, probably to get back to his team. Even when he's doing something good he's still a jerk. Sakura thought derisively.

She tried to stand, but the pain in her left ankle reminded her that it had to be tended to before she started moving. The sprain wasn't too bad, she concluded, and she could still walk on it. However, she would have great difficulty and her speed would be significantly decreased.

Once she had finished wrapping her ankle, she limped as quickly as she could through the trees to try to find her teammates. She didn't dare call out their names, because it would alert other contenders that she was alone. She just had to find them on her own then.

Luckily, her search did not last for too long, as a blonde head emerged in front of her, with a black-haired individual leaning motionlessly on his shoulder. There seemed to be a kind of purple fuming exhausting from his neck, and he looked to be deep in pain.

"Naruto! Sasuke!" Sakura yelled as she moved towards them. Naruto tired eyes snapped towards her and he drew a kunai. However, there did not seem to be any time for skepticism.

She showed her bandaged wrist that had a tick mark on it. "Revenge." She said quickly as came up to them. "Naruto, what happened?" She asked frantically. It seemed as though Naruto was in worse shape than she was, for he was panting heavily and his eyes conveyed his exhaustion.

"Lady…Grass…b…" Before Naruto could even finish the word, he also passed out, falling on Sakura and taking Sasuke with him. With both of their weights combined, Sakura toppled over and became crushed under them.

"Naruto! Sasuke!" She cried as gathered both of them in her arms, looking around for a safe place to hide. "Don't worry boys, I've got you." She said as she cradled both of their heads.

For the first time, she truly had no one to rely on. She was completely alone.

Thank you all so much for reading this chapter! Also a big thank you to all of you who gave me your condolences. It truly warms my heart to hear that so many people care. I can't tell you how much your guys' support means to me.

Please review and tell me what you thought. There wasn't a direct NejiSaku moment in here, but it wouldn't make sense if they had any kind of affectionate connection at this stage.

As always, I hope that all of you are having a fantastic day wherever you are. See you guys next time!