A/N Hello fellow FF Members and Visitors alike! This 9tailsfox2 with Chapter 24 to Escape! I am really, really, really, really, really, really sorry about taking so long to update this. It is not a matter of lack of muse, it was a matter of distraction. I got into reading and once you stop writing, it's hard to get back into it, but I finally got this chapter done! Please stay through the end I'm sure you will enjoy it!

"Let the Chuunin Exams begin!" Anko threw down her arm and the gates opened and allowed everyone to move forward.

Once Team 7 was in the forest, they smirked at each other and used the bush to hide themselves and placed their clones in plain sight and continued on. They did not need to talk to each other for the formation as they already knew the formation to take when they trained. Hanabi was in the back as she had the Byakugan, Naruto was up front as he had the stamina for an upfront tackle and Sasuke was in the middle so he could circle around flank the enemy while Hanabi charged up the side. It was a simple Pincer Tactic, simple but effective.

Naruto signaled to Hanabi to begin using her Byakugan occasionally. No need to use up a lot of chakra on the first day.

The first hours were traveled in silence then all of a sudden a scream was heard. "AAAARRRGGGGHHHHHHHHH!"

Hanabi was surprised as she tripped and fell and closed her eyes seeing that gravity was pulling her towards an unhealthy amount of thorn bushes.

Naruto quickly turned around, jumped to the branch Hanabi tripped on, dropped down and hung from one hand on the branch and used the other to catch Hanabi's foot. "You ok Hanabi?"

Hanabi opened her eyes and looked around and sighed in relief. "Yeah."

Sasuke walked over to Naruto as he pulled Hanabi up. "Naruto, we have to keep moving. It appears that the other teams are not the only threats we have to worry about."

Naruto raised an eye brow. "What are you talking about?"

Hanabi sighed in irritation. "Please tell that you have not noticed the overgrown bugs and predators that lie in this forest."

Naruto scratched his head. "No not really, I was more concentrating on looking for other teams to fight."

Hanabi looked at Naruto skeptically. "And you're the one leading us? Baka…"

Naruto groaned as he let his head down. "I get your point, I'll pay attention more."

Hanabi smiled and looked towards the direction they were heading. "Good… I'll signal my clone the ok to continue for a minute before they intersect the team a kilometer ahead."

Naruto smirked as he shivered in anticipation. "Alright, our fist rock and it hasn't even been an hour yet."

Sasuke nodded as he waved his hand for everyone to continue. "Well for any of that to happen we have to continue… now."

Team 7 jumped into formation in the bushes as Hanabi singled Clone Team 7 to continue as the originals followed behind.

As Hanabi said, their clones intersected with another team, who stopped and chased after their clones. They were in an arrow formation, the male in the front being the shortest with a buzz cut black hair, and the female on the left was the tallest of the group with green waist length hair and the male on the right had red spiked hair with the tips being black. The one in the front smirked. "Hine, Hitsujin, it's the weak kid in orange, shall we attack?"

Hine, the female thought about it for a moment and shrugged her shoulders. "Why not? I'll take the orb, Hitsujin, you take out the Uchiha and Umo, and you take out the Hyuuga. Got it?"

Without another word, they immediately attacked. Umo immediate struck clone Hanabi in the neck, effectively knocking her out. Clone Sasuke and Naruto immediately stopped when they heard their clone team mate grunt. Hitsujin went to punch Clone Sasuke in the face, but was blocked and was about to get tackled by Clone Naruto when he was shocked Hine's Ninjutsu. That small distraction allowed Hitsujin to pull out his sword and get a mortal draw off on Clone Sasuke. Clone Team 7 laid defeated as Hina approached Clone Naruto. "You two search their bodies for any supplies, they won't need it anymore."

When the team bent over their Clone's 'unconscious' bodies to loot them Sasuke gave the signal to attack. They had made the decision to knock out or at least immobilize two while they kept the other able to talk. For Hanabi it was easy take Umo out while Sasuke kneed Hitsujin in the back so hard, he thought he heard a couple of bones crack possibly even break. Naruto on the other hand put a kunai to Hine's throat. "We will be taking you rock thank you very much."

Hine's eyes widened in surprise as she felt the sharp cold steel against her throat threatening to spill blood at a moment's notice, and suddenly she realized, after a look of course, that her team mates were incapacitated, so even she managed to escape, she could not leave them behind.

Naruto bent down and whispered into Hine's ear. "So I'm not going to dilly dally and dance around the elephant in the room. The location of all the blood in your body in the next few minutes will be determined by how you answer the next question. I don't think it will be healthy if it is on the ground no?"

The whisper was soft, but Hanabi was close enough to hear the dark tone Naruto was setting. She was confused as to why he was acting like this and actually slightly scared. Hanabi gulped down the part of her, at least until they had the rock.

Sasuke on the other hand was surprised by Naruto's sudden change in character. What the hell? That is not Naruto. Oh, but it is. It is Naruto's Dark side. Everyone has a dark side to them. Even little Hanabi over there has a dark side to her. It just hasn't been fed at all yet. Much like you have been feeding me for quite a while, until you stopped a couple weeks ago. What the hell are you? Your dark side. The longer you ignore me, the weaker I get, so I decided to make my presence known. Leave me alone! Ha! Leave you alone? Even if I do, I will be there like thorn on a rose. But I will make you a deal, if you can kill your… our brother, I will leave you alone. I don't believe you! Get away from me! I have friends here! They will always be there for me, but they can't be there if I'm out wasting my life trying to kill someone! Hahahahaaaaa. You say that now, but in the future, you will succumb to my will and we will then become one. Together, we will be powerful. Way more powerful than you can even imagine. And you don't even have to speak to me. All you have to do is to kill him.

The last two words echoed through Sasuke's mind, leaving him with a chill down his spine. Sasuke looked at his own hands, to make sure that he was in his own body. He surprised to see that he was shaking, badly. Wh-What the hell was that? That presence… conscience, whatever it was, felt like my frequent dark thoughts recently. Is what that thing said true? Is there really a dark side to everyone? Did mine become so strong that it developed a mind of its own? Or was this simply a Genjutsu cast by the enemy? No, my Sharingan would have automatically detected it at least…

"Sasuke-Kun…"

Sasuke snapped out of his thoughts and looked up, or at least tried when he realized the he was already looking up, lying on the ground, probably because he collapsed as some point in his conversation with his self-entitled 'Dark Side'. Sasuke looked towards the source of the voice and felt something slide off his forehead as he saw Hanabi looking down at him, concerned. With a grunt, Sasuke managed an 'I'm fine…'

Naruto shook his head as he kept his watch. "No you are not. You have been out for an hour. At least we got the stone from them."

Sasuke shook his head. "Hey, why did you suddenly start acting like that?"

Hanabi looked at Naruto then at Sasuke. "To sum it up, really good acting… He decided a threat in such a tone could be most effective against that group of has-beens. We are more concerned about you. You started sweating, breathing hard and finally collapsed. Naruto managed to get the stone at that time and then we took you and we hid here."

Sasuke nodded. "I'm sorry, but… It's complicated."

Naruto sat down, obviously bored on watch. "Hey, you can tell us anything. We're your friends."

Sasuke looked at the two of them. "If I tell you…" If you tell them anything, I will make your life a living hell until I bend you to my will! You can't do that I ignore you completely and I could do that by locking away in the deepest parts of my mind! Do that and I will most certainly grow and flourish! Your best bet is to deal with me constantly in your head! Now think before you make your decision… "If I tell you, you two will have to tell me why you guys are no longer together."

Naruto scratched his chin. "That's a tough one Teme-Kun."

Sasuke was confused. "How? Just tell me?"

Hanabi tried to put it into words. "Well… you see… It's not that we don't want to tell anyone. No, the exact opposite… It's that we can't tell you, not even why can't tell you."

Naruto thought about it for a moment. "Hmmm, how about we show him."

Hanabi suddenly looked scared. "But…"

Naruto put a smile on his face. "It's ok we don't have to if you don't want to… Nabi-Chan." All of a sudden, Naruto was being shocked by what appears to be a seal on his forehead.

Sasuke's eyes widened in surprise, "What the hell is happening!?"

Naruto dropped to the ground, in pain as the seal finished its business. Naruto looked up and frowned. "That happens if we get more intimate than holding hands and of course holding hands."

Sasuke couldn't speak at that. "Wh-Who did this?"

Hanabi kneeled next to Naruto and looked at him, wanting to hold him more than ever right now. "We can't say who Sasuke-Kun."

Naruto got up after he managed to shake off the pain that most recently coursed through his body. "We can't because of these stupid seals. But, when I find him, I will kill him!"

Sasuke looked at the two feeling sorry for the two, wishing he could help them out. But as it stands he is useless to this new information. He couldn't do anything, but he knew of one person that could help. "You two might not be able to do anything and neither can I, but there is the Hokage who can help."

Naruto's teeth grounded in anger as his fist clenched up in anger. Hanabi looked at Naruto helplessly, wishing she could tell him that the one who sealed them was an imposter. The signs of anger Naruto gave off did not go unnoticed by Sasuke and his head reeled with what that could possibly be mean. The most prevalent meaning was the worst case scenario he could think of. But he needed to know. "Wait… Why are you so angry at the Hokage?"

Naruto stared darkly into Sasuke's eyes. "I can't tell you why I'm angry."

What Naruto said pretty much confirmed Sasuke's suspicions, "So, the Hokage was the one who sealed you two?"

Naruto was about to open his mouth when Hanabi spoke up. "No he did not do it. I know the Hokage would never do that. Besides, I activated my Byakugan right before we were knocked out."

Naruto's eyes widened. "So… what you are saying is…"

Hanabi shook her head. "I'm not saying anything or rather I can't say anything more than that."

Sasuke grumbled. "So it was an imposter…"

Silence was all that was needed to confirm everything. "Hanabi-Chan, do you think the imposter is in the seat right now?"

Hanabi shook her head. "I doubt it… Whatever the case is, you have to tell us what has been bothering you."

Sasuke placed his hand over his right eye. The two words 'living hell' echoed his mind. Yet, even if he did not say anything, he suspected that he will still have a tough time dealing with this so called 'Dark Side'. He though it better that his friends would know why he cracked. He made his decision. "Where to begin… I… I have a voice in my head."

Sasuke went on to explain how it all started, with simple dark thoughts, which got increasingly worse and these thoughts turned out to be a separate entity wrought by the festering hatred he had inside him for the latter half of his life. The explanation even included the idea that everyone has a Dark Side to them.

During the silence that ensued the talk left Sasuke to his thoughts again when he felt a strange presence in his mind. I told you if you said anything your life would be a living hell. Although you can save yourself right now. There is a part of your mind you can escape to where I can't reach you or even know what you think for that matter, but if you do confine yourself there, I'll have your body all to myself. Think carefully of what your next actions are. Sasuke's Dark Side left as Sasuke dropped to his knees, shaking.

Hanabi immediately went to Sasuke's side to support him. "Sasuke-Kun, are you alright?"

Sasuke shook his head. "My Dark Side… he told me of a way to escape, but if I did, he would have full control of my body. I think he's planning a full out mental attack on me."

Naruto growled in frustration. "Your 'Dark Side' couldn't have possibly picked a worse time to do this!"

Sasuke grunted as he got up and looked at Hanabi. "Thanks."

Hanabi backed off and nodded. "No problem," She looked out to where Naruto was looking, trying to see if anything was happening out there.

Naruto started thinking. Silence… Silence is a contradiction, and yet at the same time it is agreeable… a times, for silence is the sound for the lack of sound. In certain times like these, silence is appropriate and sometimes, it speaks louder than any word anyone can possibly say…

As Naruto was deep in surprisingly philosophical thoughts, Hanabi on the other hand was thinking about recent events, pertaining to the recent secret sharing. I guess Sasuke-Kun is still troubled by his past. Plus, whoever killed my sister back then is still out there. If anything, I'm betting that same person is the one who is trying to ruin our lives. It's sad really, when our past should be left alone and no to be dwelled in, we find it catching up to us, chasing us… There is no escape from the past. When it is time we all have to face them, each of us to our own past. Ruto-Kun and I against whoever is trying to ruin us… and I can't forget about facing Neji in a Clan Fight either. Then there's Sasuke-Kun, the way his own mind is attacking him, he will be driven to fight his own brother. He will leave, I just know it. There is nothing Ruto-Kun or I can do about it. As for the seals, I'm surprised that we didn't die for revealing the secret, maybe it did not detect that we managed to communicate the secret to someone… I doubt it though… maybe whoever put the seal on us needs both of us alive… It's too confusing.

Hanabi looked up at Naruto and frowned as her heart started painfully beating as she successfully fought back the tears in her eyes. I know I thought this many times before, but I deeply wish I was holding Ruto-Kun right now. Kami know I really need it. I feel so close to breaking down and yet we have to keep going!

Sasuke on the other hand had much darker thoughts, much thanks to his Dark Side. Hmhmmhmhmhm… Hahahaaa! GHAHAAAHAAHAAHAAAAA! Are you ready Sasuke-Kun!? I have just thought of an awesome way to torture you! Shut the hell up and get out of my head! Never! And besides, don't you want to know what I have in store for you? I highly doubt that whatever you could possibly do to me would get to me. Foolish statement. I am already getting to you, and I'm not even trying! I can't wait for the attack to begin your inner turmoil will be delicious! Keep yapping, I will find a way to get rid of you! Fine! Be that way! Just do your tests or whatever, it's not like it won't be long till I can dine on your agony! Sasuke ignored the last statement and began working out a way to best complete the Second Exams. With 20 rocks…

Hanabi was the first to break the silence. "Guys, we should start moving again, we sat still for way too long."

Naruto simply nodded and was about to make his clone.

Sasuke put up his hand. "Wait before we continue, we have to discuss on how to continue first. Our first concern is getting enough stones to even ensure that pass for when get to the tower. Then once we have enough, we have to actually be concerned with reaching the tower itself, without losing any of our stones. The second part is easy. Go as fast as we can, avoiding any teams possible. The Byakugan will make sure that will happen."

Naruto groaned as he sat down to watch again. "So Teme, what about the amount of stones we need?"

Sasuke grumbled. "I'm terrible at math. I'm hoping one of you could help me. There are twenty teams that have one stone each. The 7 teams with the most stones win, with order of arrival becoming the second priority. What is the minimum number of stones we need to pass?"

Hanabi smiled at this. "I'm great at math! Let's do this by process of elimination; if each team comes in with one stone, then there would be twenty teams, the seven fastest passes. If each team were to come in with two stones, which is how much we have right now, then that would mean we have a seventy chance of winning, assuming that other teams don't get more stones for themselves. For every team that passes to have three stones, there would not even be seven teams."

Sasuke had a look of confusion on his face. "What do you mean?"

Hanabi smirked. "You can only put three six times into twenty and that would leave two stones. So only six teams can come in with three stones while the seventh would only have two, which again is how much we have right now."

Naruto's face brightened up at this. "So what you're saying is, to guarantee us a win, we need one more stone?"

Hanabi nodded. "Yes, as long as we get to the tower before the fifth day is over."

Naruto smirked as he turned to his team mates. "So? What are we waiting for?"

Team 7 looked at each other and with a silent understanding, they made their clones and got into formation and headed towards the tower, of course on the lookout for any other team.

The rest of the day went by without much incident as Team 7 settled down to make camp.

Hanabi and her clone set out to find some food, while trying to keep her team mates within her Byakugan range. Anything she found had to be fruit or can otherwise be eaten cold as a fire can attract unwanted attention, enemies and those who lived here alike. Naruto's job was to set up make shift tents, being the one who survived in the woods most often. Sasuke set out to make traps, which ranged from alarm to attacks or even both, which made good use to his Sharingan.

When Team 7 was done with their tasks, they had a secure location with the tents allowing an easy exit and quick reactions in mind. Hanabi split what little she managed to find in the forest among her team mates. Most of the berries she saw were either poisonous or unknown, but she did come across some fruit. They had already accepted that more likely than not, they would go hungry most days in the night.

Sasuke's eyes widened as he realized something. "We need a code word."

Naruto and Hanabi have eyes on him and nodded as they sat in a circle. They knew that one of them could be impersonated. So Sasuke started drawing in the dirt as he began explain his idea. "I was thinking that we could have codenames for each other. Hanabi, you will call yourself Eagle, seeing as you have the Byakugan. Naruto, yours codename would be Army, considering the amount of clones you can produce, as for me, I will be called…" Avenger… Come on it's a perfect codename! "I would be Hawk, being the first one that strikes in our formation."

By the time Sasuke was finished, he was done drawing in the ground and what he wrote was; 'Hanabi=Ibanah, Naruto=Oturan, Sasuke=Ekusas, the real codenames'. Sasuke looked into his team mates' eyes to see if they understood the message. With a nod he wiped the dirt, leaving no trace of what he had written. "Memorize them well, because the moment we get separated, if we do, the next time we meet up, we might really be enemies."

Naruto yawned as he stared listlessly at his bed. "I'm tired I'm going be heading to bed now."

Sasuke dead panned. "What about watch?"

Naruto waved his hand at his clone. "You, you're on watch."

Hanabi was about to say something then thought about it. Wait a second a clone would be the best alarm one could use. With the sudden rush of memories, it would make sense if one would wake up should it pop. Hanabi smirked as she told her clone the same as Naruto did.

Sasuke groaned as he directed his clone on watch as well.

With Team 7 Clones on watch, the originals began their fitful sleep. Well it was fitful considering the fact that everyone in the forest was their enemy and their whereabouts were very much unknown, but even with this fact known. With the traps and the clones set up, they were able to slip into sleep.

Sasuke quickly opened his eyes has he heard footsteps approach him. Witch a hand on his kunai. They must have taken out the clones! But wait, that would have woken us all up. They must have avoided detection and traps. Whoever it is, he or she is good. Keeping his breath steady he waited until the footsteps were right next to him until he sprung up and put the kunai on the intruder's throat. Until he realized that the intruder wasn't an intruder after all. The footsteps he heard were coming from Hanabi herself. "Hanabi-Chan, what are you doing?"

Hanabi looked down, clearly upset. "I can't take it for much longer. I need to be held, kissed, and loved. Ruto-Kun can't do any of that, not with that seal anyway. I… I love Ruto-Kun so much. The reason I can say these things is that I'm outside of the seal range."

Sasuke looked at Hanabi and closed his eyes. "Hanabi, you are only 8 years old, you are not supposed to be in a relationship like that at all, and yet, you two seem perfect for each other. Even during the later days in the academy, everyone thought either you two were already together or you two were going to wind up being together, despite their disposition towards you."

Hanabi held her legs and put her face to her knees. "I… I don't know what to do."

Sasuke frowned. "I'm not the correct person to ask for help about this. You should ask Jiraiya or Tsunade. They might know how to deal with this, or at least someone who knows how to deal with those seals. As for a temporary fix, I don't know either. Best offer I can give is continue holding hands, at least that way you are always in contact."

Hanabi looked up, tears welling up. "Thanks for trying… I… I think I should go back to sleep."

Sasuke nodded. "Night."

Hanabi walked towards her sleeping area as she yawned. "Night."

Sasuke slipped back into dreamland for a few minutes before getting a tingling feeling throughout his body. 'Living Hell' once again softly echoed in his mind and suddenly woke up again, this time shooting straight up. Damn, I'm really having a hard time sleeping. What's wrong with me?

Sasuke suddenly felt arms around him, and was suddenly tackled, which really took him by surprise. "Wha-?" When Sasuke looked down, he saw who tackled him. "Ha-Hanabi-Chan! What are you doing!?"

Hanabi looked up and smiled. "I told you, I needed to be held, kissed and loved. Naruto can't do that for me anymore."

Sasuke's eyes widened. "Hanabi-Chan! Please! Don't do this to Naruto."

Hanabi sighed and put her hands on Sasuke's chest. "I already broke up with him."

Sasuke shook his head in surprise and shock. This has to be a Genjutsu! With that he made the appropriate hand sign to release himself from illusions and shouted, "Kai!"

Hanabi shook her head as she began stroking Sasuke's face. "Baka. Do you really think that this is a Genjutsu?"

Sasuke growled in anger. "What is your real name?"

Hanabi giggled as she done a few jabs, to make sure Sasuke would not get off or be able to kick her off. "My real name is Ibanah. Now, Sasuke-Kun, I want you to relax."

Naruto finally stepped out of his makeshift tent, with a dark look to his face. "Teme. You stole her from me. She broke up with me to be with you."

Hanabi looked up at Naruto. "That isn't true! I broke up with you so I could be with someone else, without cheating."

Naruto growled. "WHAT!?"

Hanabi sighed. "These stupid seals won't even let us hug each other! I need to be loved Naruto!"

Naruto balled up his fists so tight, his palms were bleeding. "I'm going to fucking kill you Hanabi. You just shred my heart apart, there is no love left anymore, only hate. I'm going to kill you, and then you Sasuke."

Sasuke shook his head quickly. This situation is escalating quickly. I don't even know how to handle this and I can't even move. Best I can do is call out for help. Damn it! What the hell is happening!? "HEEEELLLLLPPPPPP!"

Hanabi shook her head. "If you don't love me anymore, then that's fine, the seals won't let us anyways. So I forced myself to stop loving you."

With that, Hanabi leaned down and all Sasuke could feel was lips on his lips and arms around him. This can't be real, this can't be happening. Worst part is I can't even move. Damn it! Why is this happening!

Naruto's teeth grinded and took out his kunai. "You fucking bitch! I thought you loved me!"

Sasuke couldn't move or speak all he could do was think. That is definitely not a Naruto reaction, but for some reason, I could believe that this could happen. But this kiss, it feels so real, the love coming from it, real. What is going on!? Oh Kami! Please stop this!

Naruto walked toward the two and immediately cut Hanabi's throat, ripped her off of Sasuke and started stabbing her repeatedly in different places. "Traitor! Bitch! Whore!"

Sasuke started crying, seeing this happen, and feeling the blood soak in his hair. Stop this! This can't be real! But it isn't an illusion! I-It's actually happening! I still can't move! "STOP IT PLEASE!"

Naruto stopped stabbing Hanabi and turned to Sasuke. "And you! You were my best friend, you fucking asshole!"

Sasuke felt the kunai to his throat. "Pl-Please d-don't."

Naruto smirked. "If you want to live, run. Run with your tail between your legs. Let your hate grow strong, let it be your strength, so that next we meet, you will be able to kill."

Sasuke's eyes widened. "Th-Those words."

Naruto laughed. "They're not exact, but similar enough. But even now, do you think you're worthy? You have grown weak. We are stronger than you. It's time to cut those ties."

Sasuke growled. "No! You guys are… were my friends. But I will not let this incident harm my memory of you two!"

Naruto sighed. "Then I guess you have grown weak." With that, the kunai was plunged in Sasuke's chest, ribs, kidneys, etc…

Sasuke's vision began to darken as Naruto's face seemed to be replaced by Itachi's. But he knew it wasn't Itachi's face, it was Naruto's. Is this how my life is going to end? We were such good friends? How the hell did it lead to this? Sasuke remembered when he first met the rest of Team 7, their missions together, their outings, training and stargazing. Everything he remembered were shattered and in pieces, but they were there and getting harder to recollect as he began fading into an empty void, never to return. As of this night, Hanabi Hyuuga and Sasuke Uchiha have taken their last breaths.

Sasuke was suddenly pulled away from that darkness when the words 'living hell' echoed his mind for what was probably not the last time as he shot up from his makeshift bed. "Aaaahhhh!" Sasuke found that he was sweating and breathing really hard while shaking almost violently. Finding that he couldn't trust himself to speak, he resorted to his own thoughts. That nightmare… it felt so… it was so real. Are you sure it was a nightmare? Sasuke's eyes widened in surprised then narrowed with anger, then hate. Of course it was nightmare! You put it there! You are smart, too bad that it is working against you right now, or otherwise, I wouldn't be able to use your fears against you. Get to the point already! Oh, impatient are we? Very well, if you insist on knowing how you will break, I will not with hold that information from you. I will give you that nightmare every time you sleep. In the case it doesn't get more effective, or even less effective, I have plenty of others lined up. Like I said, your life will be a living hell. Well, I think this is where we part… for now. Dammit! Why am I torturing myself!?

Naruto suddenly peered into Sasuke's makeshift tent. "You yelled?"

Sasuke sighed. "Sorry, I had a nightmare… I…" What if what Hanabi told me last night sets Naruto off? No, I have to tell them what happened, Naruto won't get mad at Hanabi for that… I hope. "I will tell you two over breakfast."

About an hour later, Sasuke was done telling Team 7 of his nightmare and how his Dark Side plans to use it to destroy him within. By the end of it, Sasuke was in tears. "I'm so scared. I'm trying to act tough against this, but even after one night, I can't handle this."

Hanabi frowned. "It is certainly a problem, but I still must thank you for the talk last night, and it got me thinking, Naruto and I should talk with someone about our predicament."

Yes, Sasuke, even explained what Hanabi said last night. Naruto took that pretty well, considering the fact that he felt the same way.

Sasuke nodded and sniffed. "So, you are considering taking my advice… Dobe, you are so lucky to have Hanabi-Chan as your girlfriend. She even called you Ruto-Kun without hesitation. That proves how much she still loves you."

Naruto smiled as he scratched the back of his head. "I feel the same way Hanabi, I really do."

Hanabi smiled and stared at him. "I'm happy then. I only regret that we can't express our feelings."

Naruto sighed in frustration. "I know. Well, aside from our personal problems, are we all set to continue to the tower? If we are fast enough we could make it by tonight or tomorrow morning. From there, we could get help for our problems."

Sasuke nodded. "It would be preferable if we were able to pass by a team with a stone already."

Hanabi looked around their campsite. "We have to clean up first."

With that, Team 7 did clean up and made sure to leave no traces behind and started off in the same formation.

It was day 2 of the Chuunin Exams and Team 7 was already planning on heading straight towards the tower, hoping to bump into any team along the way to take their stone. They only needed one for an assured pass, either that, they had to be the first ones there with only two stones. Either way, they had plenty of time to make it. Personal problems aside, they were confident that they would pass, that is until Hanabi unexpectedly stopped.

Naruto and Sasuke stopped as well and turned to look at Hanabi, who was visibly shaking.

Immediately the two were at her side, Naruto being the first to speak, "Hanabi, are you alright!?"

Hanabi just gulped in fear. "Th-The chakra on the guy right there in the clearing, his chakra is huge… but aura it has… it-it's evil."

Sasuke was confused. "What are you talking about?"

Naruto growled as he put Hanabi on his back. "We have to get out of here!"

Hanabi's eyes widened. "Oh no! He's looking straight at us! There's chakra coming out of his gourd! It's carrying sand!"

Naruto and Sasuke immediately shot out of there unfortunately their legs were snagged in the quickly approaching sand. Team 7 was then dragged to the sand Shinobi.

The female sand Shinobi sighed in frustration. "Gaara! Isn't this enough!?"

Gaara glared at his team mate. "Temari, Kankuro, this applies to you as well, shut up."

Temari immediately went pale as Gaara gave his attention to Team 7. "I knew I smelled pray."

Hanabi was shaking, her Byakugan now deactivated. "N-Na-Naruto… I-I'm scared."

Naruto went to comfort Hanabi but found that his body being surrounded by sand. What is happening?

Hanabi started crying louder. "Naruto! Stop this guy! Please! This sand, it's not letting me move!"

Naruto shook his head. "Me neither!"

Sasuke on the other hand threw a kunai at Gaara, only to be stopped by a wall of sand. "Dammit!"

Naruto and Hanabi were suddenly lifted in the air as more and more sand were piled around their bodies as what felt like much like a coffin. Naruto looked down and noticed Gaara's palms facing outward.

Sasuke looked on in horror, unable to help. "N-Noooo. Let them go!"

Temari looked at Sasuke and shook her head. "We're sorry, once he gets started, we can't stop him."

Sasuke knew it was going to happen as he fell to his knees. "No…"

Hanabi tried struggling to no use. "Pl-Please spare us…"

Naruto knew this might be the last chance to say something as tears began falling down his face. "Nabi-Chan, I love you very, very much."

Hanabi sniffed as tears of her own fell. "I love you too Ruto-Kun."

"Sand Coffin!"

"Getsuga!"

Right before Gaara closed his hands, Naruto and Hanabi were by what appeared to be twisters and were thrown to the ground. The rest of the sand that was not obliterated by the technique imploded by what appeared to be violent and probably an insane amount of pressure.

The two twisters settled down on the ground in front of them.

Naruto's eyes widened as he realized who rescued them. He, along with the rest of Team 7 shouted his name in surprise. "Kiba!?"

A/N Alright! What did you guys think of this chapter? I was planning on leaving off at 'Sand Coffin' but that would have been way to cruel. I really can't rightfully say "I'm back bitches!" As I might continue being distracted, but I'm glad I finally updated Yay! But I think I after this, it will be easier for me not to be distracted. Nothing much else to say but...

Don't forget to R&R. This is 9tailsfox2 signing off!