Chapter Seven
"Oi."
Sakura wrinkled up her nose with a light groan as she slowly began to wake.
"Time to go?" She asked groggily.
"Here."
Not really caring that he was speaking so abruptly, Sakura gently took the scroll Sasuke had held out to her.
"Did you get one too?"
Sasuke turned and offered her his back as he responded. "Hn."
Not really sure if that was a 'yes' or a 'no' Sakura just did as she was silently ordered and climbed onto the other boy's back.
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Naruto grinned in triumph as he proudly held his scroll over his head in a sign of victory.
"Ne, ne! Iruka-sensei! Did you see?"
Iruka bit back a chuckle as he looked up at the hyper blond from over his clipboard.
"Yes Naruto. I see. Congratulations."
Naruto's eyes grew wide. "D-does that mean I pass?"
"Pass? Well, yes. I suppose that does mean that you passed—."
"Woohoo!" Naruto shouted as he spun around to face his two 'teammates'. "We did it!" Without thinking he lifted Hinata and spun her around quickly before setting her back on her feet and racing over to pound Chouji heartily on the back.
Hinata's eyes were wide and dazed as she stared blankly after Naruto. Finally what had just happened registered in the girl's mind and her blood rushed viciously to her face, coloring it a dazzling shade of cherry red.
Noticing Hinata's unnatural color, Naruto quickly raced over and waved his hand in front of her face.
"Are you alright Hinata-chan?"
Hinata squeaked in surprise at the question and her face darkened even more.
"Oi, oi." Naruto's brow furrowed in concern and he pressed the back of his hand against her forehead like he remembered his mother doing for him many times before. "Do you have a fever?"
Unable to take any more blood to her brain Hinata's body did exactly what it needed to cool itself down.
Naruto shouted in alarm as he caught Hinata on her trip to the ground.
"Wahh! Iruka-sensei! Help!"
Chouji just bit back a laugh as he finished off his bag of chips and pulled out a new one.
"Better then the cinema."
"IRUKA-SENSEIII!!"
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Ami was surprised when she returned to the starting point and found that Sasuke had yet to arrive. In confusion she turned to Keiji and planted her fists firmly on her hips.
"Oi! Sensei!"
Keiji frowned at the girl's nearly feigned respect but brushed it off for the moment with the decision to make a note of it later.
"What is it Wahiawa-san?"
"Where is Sasuke-kun?" She tossed her short black hair from her face as her eyes flashed in annoyance. "I know he must have already finished. Did you send him back to the Academy?"
Keiji cleared his throat in an attempt to remain civil before he responded to the blatantly rude girl before him.
"Sasuke-san has not come out yet. In fact, I believe he met up with Haruno-san and the two of them are making their way here together."
Ami's face grew red. "Sasuke-kun and forehead girl are together!"
Before Keiji could put in another remark Ami did a complete 180 and ran swiftly back into the woods.
Keiji just sighed and radioed one of the back up jounins, Yotaro, to make a quick report.
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Sasuke was beginning to tire. Not that he said anything about it of course, but Sakura still knew. His steps weren't as sure and he tended to look a bit longer then necessary at obvious traps, as though assuring himself of where he was to avoid. His breaths didn't come in gasps but for him, the slight labor she could detect cried out far louder then the heavy pants of a normal person would.
Sakura bit her lip a little, debating. Should she risk hurting his pride and tell him she could walk now? Or should she just let him go on carrying her?
Inner Sakura didn't even blink as she loudly screamed out her desire to be carried.
(It's not everyday you get held by THE Uchiha Sasuke!)
'Sasuke-kun isn't an Uchiha anymore.' Sakura reminded her inner voice. 'And besides, if I want to pass this part of the exam then I should at least walk out of the forest on my own.'
Her resolve set Sakura gently tapped Sasuke on the shoulder.
"Sasuke-kun?"
Sasuke was just about to 'hn' in response when an angry howl caught both of their attention. Sakura's eyes went wide and her hands gripped Sasuke's black shirt tightly as the former Uchiha skidded to a sudden stop.
Sasuke's eyes widened just a fraction as he saw an object pelting in his direction. For a moment he thought that it would hit him but he soon realized that it was too high to have been aimed at him. Without a moment's thought his arm shot up and he grasped the object centimeters before it would have impacted against Sakura's completely vulnerable face.
Grasped by shock, Sakura didn't even notice when Sasuke lowered her to her feet and reached his free hand into his pouch to secure a weapon to use against the shadowy figure emerging from the brush. Seeing this, Sakura finally managed to shake herself from her shock in time to grasp for a weapon of her own.
"Forehead Girl!" Ami shouted as she finally pushed her way through the brush. "How dare you!"
Sakura's eyes widened and she reached out a warning hand. "Wahiawa! Wait—!"
But the warning came too late. Ami's foot sunk deep into the ground triggering a trap that released seemingly an endless supply of old puppet nins.
Sasuke glared at Ami who was blinking wildly in shock. "Idiot."
Ami flushed in embarrassment before she two reached for a weapon as the three 'teammates' were forced back to back.
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Ichigo hummed softly to herself as she sat along the edge of the P.F.T field waiting for the last two teams to arrive so the practicals could be scored. After fifteen minutes of waiting (and only twelve remaining of the two hour limit) Hitowari Niku, Sakurai Daisu, and Kinakawa Minami stumbled into view, each holding their scrolls high in the air in triumph.
Iruka gave them all congratulatory smiles as he quickly jotted down some notes on his clip board.
"Well, it seems like the only team left is Ichikawa Keiji's team with Wahiawa-san, Haruno-san, and Uchi—I mean, Sasuke-san."
A surprised murmur rushed through the on lookers as the anticipated first of the class appeared to be about to come in dead last.
"Oi!" Naruto shouted from next to his parents. "What the hell is taking the Teme so long?"
"Naruto!" Kairi scolded as she slapped her son on the back of the head. "Language."
"Aw, come on mom! Live and let live right?"
Naruto sulked as he was forced to accept Kairi's stern frown as a very loud and resounding 'NO'.
"He has got a good point though," Kyo said as he rested his chin on his wife's shoulder. "Sasuke and Sakura's team should have been back long before now."
Kairi shrugged. "Maybe they just had a bit of a problem getting along with that Ami girl."
Yotaro, who had over heard, grinned slightly at the irony. 'You have no idea.' He thought as he remembered the report Keiji had asked him to give to Iruka. 'No idea at all.'
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Sasuke scowled in annoyance as he heard Sakura cry out from having taken yet another kunai to the shoulder. Between her and Ami he was practically being skinned alive just trying to keep them in one piece. Had it just been him he would have no problems working his way through the continuous wave and out into open area of the starting clearing.
Unfortunately he couldn't leave the two of them on their own. He just knew that he would get some pretty lousy marks for abandoning two weakling girls.
Of course, despite his irritated inner ramblings, he had to admit (grudgingly) that compared to some of the other girls in their class the two of them were actually performing rather well. The didn't have anything on Tenten, Yotaro's little sister, who had graduated the year before, but then again, not many Kunoichi did.
Still, to be fair, while her weapon skills were significantly below Itachi's best friend's little sister, Wahiawa was putting in a rather good effort herself. She had managed to take down at least eleven of the on coming puppet nins (nothing compared to his twenty-seven of course) and was swiftly dealing with her twelfth.
Unfortunately though, thirteen seemed to be Ami's very unlucky number as, while she was dealing with twelve, thirteen came up from behind her and stabbed her just below her ribs. She screamed in horrified pain which earned her the attention of her two teammates.
Sasuke cursed and quickly finished his number twenty-nine puppet while Sakura struggled to do the same with her number six.
Just as soon as both Sakura and Sasuke arrived at Ami's side Sasuke whirled around and formed several quick seals. Taking a deep breath Sasuke quickly released his jutsu and a searing heat licked at their bodies as Sakura quickly covered Ami's vulnerable body from any stray flames or debris as the puppet nins began to burn.
"Hurry." Sasuke said as he pulled out an extra kunai. "I'll hold them back."
Sakura nodded and turned to face Ami. Her fingers shook slightly from nervousness and fear but she did her best to push it back so that she wouldn't make a mistake in healing the nearly unconscious Ami.
Sweat poured down Sakura's face as she struggled to push back her fatigue to heal Ami just enough to stop the bleeding. With her chakra reserves not up to where the should be that was the best Sakura could offer until they managed to escape and find a medical nin.
"Okay Sasuke-kun!" Sakura said. "I'm finished!"
"Hn," Sasuke said as he disposed of his number thirty-five and quickly spun around to lift Ami into his arms. "Move it."
Nodding an affirmative Sakura pushed herself up into a run; ignoring the painful throb of her ankle as she twisted it slightly with her haste. Every now and again she would reach into her weapon pouch and attach an explosive tag to the end of a kunai and toss it hard behind her head. The explosions were never to far away from where they were running but Sasuke and Sakura steadfastly ignored them as they raced for the exit.
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"Haruno Hikari!" Keiji said. "You are in strict violation of Academy Rules by preventing me from interfering!"
Hikari shrugged. "Maybe, but if you were to interfere now then all three of them would fail the exam by default. And since Sasuke has to be able to care for himself now I can't exactly let that happen."
Keiji's face grew dark as he made another motion to go around her. "It won't matter whether he passes or fails if he's dead!"
Hikari rolled her eyes. "Relax. There is no way that Sasuke would die or let either of those other two die." She grinned. "You worry to much."
Keiji's glare didn't waver as he looked down at his watch. "There's only two more minutes left. They won't make it in time to pass anyway. Just let me—."
"No can do Keiji-kun," Hikari said. "Besides. It really isn't necessary."
At that moment three figures burst from the tree line and exhaustedly collapsed to the ground.
"See?" Hikari said. "And with one minute forty-seven seconds to spare."
End Chapter Seven
Kaliea: Hiya! I hope you all enjoyed that! Don't forget to review!
Review Answers:
grim reaper sakura: So how did you like that fight? Wasn't exactly between Sakura and Ami but it was kind of because of them.
hot-ninja-babe: What will be done about the scrolls will be explained further in the next chapter.
Slstmaraudersjple: Ami doesn't hate Sakura so much as she's really jealous of her. Actually, that's how I see it with all of the girls that are mean to Sakura. I personally think it's because they find her natural exotic beauty and relatively sweet disposition as a threat.
Suki dah Turdle: She is fangirlish, but I'm sure she'll tune it down a bit after this chapter. Maybe.
Dragon Man 180: Heheheh. We'll see. For now I think getting stabbed in the back is bad enough.
Kaliea: I hope that you all enjoyed the chapter. Thanks so much for your reviews and I hope you'll drop me another. Till next time, Ja ne!
