Chapter Six

Ichikawa Keiji grinned down at the small group he had been assigned. He remembered when Haruno Hikari had first tested into the academy. She had been the first person to attempt something like that since Kakashi-san. He remembered that she had held a lot of promise in the way of shinobi and he had expected that she would do well at it. As it turned out she didn't do well, she excelled. She hadn't even been in the academy for a full year before she graduated and was assigned to the youngest team of genin Konoha had ever seen.

It was amazing to think that he had the chance to see it again. Surely the younger Haruno was just as talented as her older sister. Perhaps even more so, since she did have five more years of schooling then Hikari had. Keiji was sure that this was going to be an interesting test.

Sakura gulped as she stood outside of their examination field. It looked like the acrobatics course only a lot bigger and a lot harder. A small amount of sweat appeared on her forehead and she quickly wiped it away. She didn't want the others to know that she was nervous. Not that she shouldn't be. As far as she knew she was the only person in the graduating class that had never made it to the end of the course.

She glanced quickly at Sasuke before she faced forward again, biting her lip and fiddling with her fingers. She really hoped she wouldn't drag him down. She didn't want to be the reason why Sasuke didn't pass.

"Alright," Keiji said. "The rules are simple. You have to make it across the course, grab one of the scrolls on the shrine and make it back. Whoever doesn't complete the course or get a scroll fails. Any questions?"

Silence.

"Alright then, a whistle will blow and then you may begin. You have one hour."

The three kids all stiffened, listening hard for the whistle.

The whistle blew.

"GO!"

With that command Sasuke, Sakura, and Ami disappeared into the maze of obstacles.

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Sakura shrieked as she just barely dodged another kunai that had been aimed at her skull.

Despite the high hopes Keiji had for the pink haired girl at the beginning of the test, it was now obvious to him that this girl was no where near the level of her sister. Not even when Hikari was seven.

Still, he did note that when she had a chance to actually think she managed to do much better in the course. It was when something took her by surprise that she had problems. But even then, regardless of her slightly poor physical state, her ability to think of effective plans on the fly was nothing short of remarkable.

Sure she may not have Hikari's strength yet, but that can easily be learned later. And if that amount of strength was combined with her vast intelligence she would probably become one of the best konoichi Konoha had ever put out.

On the other hand, Wahiawa Ami was a completely different story. Her physical abilities and mental capacity were good, on the level that any genin would be expected to have upon incitation, but is was very easy to sense the malice she held for the other girl.

So far she didn't seem at all concerned with the object of her given 'mission' as she had been spending all of her hard earned talents setting up extra traps and a trick path to confuse and manipulate Sakura into failing the exam.

The other girl had so far managed to avoid any thing dangerous, using her quick mind to pull herself from close shaves more then once, and her natural skepticism came in handy as she paused to confirm which path was the right path.

He was sure that at the conclusion of the examination Ami would be very put out to learn that she had a rather large hand in raising the Haruno girl's over all score.

Sasuke, however, seemed to be progressing rather slowly for someone of his grades and reputation. According to his teachers he was both sharp minded and very physically capable. He easily breezed through the acrobatics course at the age of seven with only Uzumaki Naruto and Nara Shikamaru as his team. He passed every written exam with flying colors and has been known to put handicaps on himself during practicals and physicals simply to increase the challenge.

So it wasn't hard to understand why Keiji was so confused that he was even lagging behind Haruno Sakura.

Every now and again he would pull ahead of her only to pause for a few minutes, in which time, she would pass him. This continued for the first hour and fifteen minutes with all three of the exam participants merely three quarters of the way to the shrine with only forty-five minutes to recover a scroll and return to the starting point.

Keiji frowned in thought as he watched Sasuke pause once again.

If he didn't know better he would almost think he was…

It suddenly hit him and Keiji wanted to smack himself in the forehead. It seemed the former Uchiha had done it again. Only this time the handy-cap he had chosen wasn't one that was wholly self-inflicted. The time he was taking to pause, Sasuke was using to disarm most of the heavier traps that Ami had laid out for the other girl.

Keiji smirked a bit but he hid it behind his hand.

It seemed as though Sasuke had a bit of a highly unconscious crush.

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Sasuke scowled as he stopped to disarm another trap that Ame--or whatever her name was--girl had been setting up for Sakura to trigger. It was stupidly done too. The traps that she set weren't completely obvious, but they were obviously not done by the examiners. To one such as himself, it was mere child's play, but he could imagine that for someone not completely up to physical standards, like Sakura, they would cause a bit of a problem.

It wasn't like he was doing her a favor. He just thought it was unfair for Ame--or whatever--to tip the scale. After all, there wasn't anyone running around rigging the test against her.

Although as he stopped to disarm another trap, Sasuke had to admit that he would be lying if he said he wasn't tempted.

"Sasuke!" A surprised voice called out. "Look out!"

Sasuke's eyes shot up in surprise and he just barely managed to dodge what could have been a potentially lethal attack on his unsuspecting head.

"Are you alright, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked, her face pale and her voice breathless from fright. "I'm really sorry. I didn't see that trap in time and…um…what are you doing?"

For a second Sasuke thought about saying nothing, and then he thought about lying, but in the end he decided he really didn't care.

"Ame--or whatever--has been setting up extra traps."

"Oh," Sakura said. "I thought a few of them looked a bit to pathetic to be done by real ninja."

Sasuke inwardly smirked at the pink haired girl's unknown jibe. She could be rather snide when she wasn't actually thinking about it.

"Hn."

"So now what?"

Sasuke just raised an eye brow.

"I mean," Sakura said. "Do we split up or can we continue on together or what? It didn't say anything in the rules against working together did it?"

Sasuke shrugged again but instantly regretted it as a previously unknown cut opened on his left shoulder.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura said. "You're hurt!"

"It's nothing," Sasuke said. "Just a scratch."

"Still, if you don't treat it, it could get infected."

"Well I didn't exactly think to bring a first aid kit today."

"That's true. Today was supposed to be physicals not practicals." Sakura bit her lip. "Well, I could try out that new jutsu I learned but I've only ever used it to heal chipmunks and squirrels."

The corner of Sasuke's lip twitched only just, but he managed to keep his normal stoic look as Sakura shoved her finger in his face.

"Now you better not move around." She said. "This is hard enough as it is and I would hope that you behave better then a chipmunk."

Before Sasuke had the chance to respond, not that he would, Sakura began a short set of seals and her hands quickly began to glow a dull pink. He watched in fascination as the split skin of his shoulder painlessly stitched itself back together under her careful fingers.

"There!" She said as she finished. "Good as new. You can thank me now."

"Hn." Was Sasuke's response but Sakura only smiled; not having expected an expression of gratitude anyway.

"So do we split up?" Sakura asked with a frown, clearly not liking the idea.

Sasuke shook his head as he turned to leave. "Why bother."

Sakura beamed and quickly picked up her steps so that she could walk beside him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ami blinked in surprise when she arrived at the shrine to find, not two as she had expected, but three scrolls sitting lazily on the stone platform. She quickly shook it off as she reached down and picked up one of the scrolls.

Sasuke had probably decided to take his time since he was sure to pass anyway.

She sighed dreamily as she pictured him boldly striding through the forest as the traps all went off behind him. Each weapon missed him by only a hair but he never showed his concern.

She sighed again. Oh yes, he was just that cool.

Jolting from her day dream Ami shoved the scroll into one of her pockets before turning to leave. She had only taken a step, however, when a thought occurred to her and she quickly spun back around to grasp one of the remaining two scrolls which she chucked, as hard as she could, into the forest far behind the shrine.

Ami smirked as she left the shrine behind, positive that, even if her traps failed to stop her, Sakura would still have no chance of passing this exam. After all, even if he was taking his time, Sasuke was bound to arrive long before that Haruno idiot even made it half way.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Once they had joined forces Sasuke no longer had to bother with disarming the traps. Instead he simply pulled Sakura out of harms way as they swiftly leapt from branch to branch. That way they were able to make much better time.

Until Sakura collapsed from exhaustion anyway.

Sasuke sighed as he finally managed to persuade the Haruno girl to climb onto his back. She really needed to work on her endurance.

Sakura blushed as she felt Sasuke adjust his grip on her legs before he began moving once more. She had tried to protest, saying that she was heavy and there fore it would be dumb for him to carry her only to end up with both of them tired. Sasuke had just rolled his eyes at that and when she had suggested that she just stay behind a rest for a bit he openly called her stupid.

"We only have thirty minutes left." He had said. "I thought you wanted to pass."

So now, here she was, perched on the back of the former Uchiha Sasuke as he raced through the woods in an effort to beat the clock.

Not that she was exactly enjoying it. She was far to tired to take the time to enjoy the fact that The Sasuke was actually carrying her because he wanted to. In fact, the idea of a very long nap was very appealing to the girl right then.

"Oi." Sasuke's voice snapped Sakura from her lethargic state and she straitened a little. "Don't fall asleep. Dead weight is harder to manage."

His voice was tight and Sakura imagined it was hard for him to admit to any sort of failing, regardless of how small it was. Not wanting to bruise his ego any more then his admittance had already done she simply nodded and proceeded to stimulate her mind by reciting all one hundred and eighty one ninja sayings backwards in her head.

'Number 981: A shinobi will always fulfill the mission regardless of the cost to ones physical or mental state…gee,' she thought. 'That makes me feel better…'

Shaking it off she continued. 'Number 980: A shinobi will respond completely to all commands given by their superior, both spoken and unspoken…'

She had only made it to number nine hundred and sixty two when Sasuke stopped in front of the shrine that held the scrolls.

"Forty point zero two seconds."

Sakura nodded. "Alright." She said, and her eyes drifted gently closed as she leaned back against a tree.

Sasuke paused for just a second to watch as Sakura's eyes drifted gently closed before he spun on heal and reached the shrine. He stared for less then half a second before he cursed loudly as he glared down at the only one remaining scroll.

End Chapter Six


Kaliea: Sorry it's taken so long for me to update. So many things have been happening lately and I really just don't have the time, nor the desire I need to make it happen. I'll try to do better but I can't make any promises. At least, not for a while.


Review Answers:

Emy-chan-tan-fan: I'll do my best.

slstmaraudersjple: I'm glad you like it. And while it may take a while, I will always update. I'm not a quitter, just a procrastinator ;)

mak0-ch1: As I told Emi-chan-tan-fan, I'll do my best.

grim reaper sakura: I hope you liked this chapter. I know it took a while, but I hope it was worth it. There wasn't a fight between Ami and Sakura but it still was okay right?

BermyChicks: I would love to have you call me Kaliea-chan! And as for the 'real team pairings', no. It's not. The real pairings won't be posted until after the announcements for the over all exams have been made. Trust me, you'll be pretty surprised at the results I'm sure.

Suki dah Turdle: Aren't they though?

Anonymous: Thanks, I didn't even know I put it on there. Hopefully I'll get a few more readers now.

Dragon Man 180: I would have too. I actually thought about it for a bit but then I thought that Ino busting in being Ino would be more practical. Best friends always tend to ruin stuff like that ya know. As for Ami…well, you'll see.


Kaliea: Thanks so much for your reviews. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Let me know either way kay? Till next time, ja ne!