You guys all owe this chapter to my Eternal Rival Angellwriter. I cannot back down from a challenge. Angellwriter the next one is going to be a doozy. And you guys should all go read her story Following the Blind. It's Sakura and Sasuke. Sakura's a blind daughter of the Hyuuga clan that can see the future and uses it to help Sasuke achieve his revenge.
Naruto's inner prankster took control as soon as he entered the room. Hopeful gennin huddled in teams of three casting suspicious looks at the gennin from other villages.
He knew a little over half managed to pass this round due to his brashness. This time, now that he didn't have to worry about Sakura dropping out on his behalf, only the strongest would make it to the Forest of Death. But it would be fun to shake the confidence of the other gennins, and Ibiki Morino.
Naruto was handed a white test paper and giddily to his seat next to Hinata, this being the most and closest contact he had with his future wife since coming back. To her credit, the Hyuuga heiress did not faint, but she did duck her head stuttering too badly to say his name. He would work on her confidence. Sakura had Gaara and Shikamaru had Temari; there was no way he was going to be a fifth wheel.
The blonde didn't even glance at his exam when Ibiki yelled that their time started. Last time he had passed with only his name written in the top left corner because the only question that counted was the tenth one. This time he wasn't even going to write his name.
His eyes drooped, watching the second and minute hands make circles about the clock face. Last night had been the only chance all five time travelers had to meet up. Ultimately they had decided nothing, having spent more time arguing than plotting, and if left Naruto drained.
Kami, what he wouldn't kill to get a cup of coffee right now. And some ramen too. Both of them together. He would have to drag the rest to Ichiraku's after the second exam. Did they even serve coffee?
Sakura scribbled furiously, cramming more information than was necessary in the tiny boxes provided for answers. Years of being a medical shinobi had resulted in Sakura creating a coded shorthand. She had designed nine different plans to handle Gaara's reappearance in her life that she could put into effect without talking to him.
In short, they were all horrible. If she tried to ignore him she would only make it more awkward between them. And Sakura didn't want that. She genuinely like Gaara, he was an easy person to be with. She could be just Sakura and he was just Gaara.
But love was a different matter. Sasuke had stomped on her heart once, leaving her unsure if she could love again.
Sakura hoped she could. Life in this world would be awfully lonely if she watched the rest of her generation come to find love but found none for herself.
Ibiki had never been so annoyed and amused by a group of gennin. Five stood out in particular, which included Hatake's two students that Hokage-sama had asked him to watch closely. The boy's lidded eyes were fixated on the clock and the girl was warping the desk by drumming her fingers rapidly.
The boy hadn't even picked up his pencil, unlike his pink haired teammate that stopped writing within the first five minutes. Both now put on bored expressions.
His exam was supposed to shake them, not be an hour for nap time. At that thought he looked to the lone Nara sitting towards the back. He, too, appeared to have already finished or could not be bothered. With Naras both options were possible. He was making calf eyes at the kunoichi from Suna who giggled and winked back.
Flirting! In his exam! They were supposed to be quaking in their seats. He would have to make the tenth question harder.
"Now before we get to it I would like to go over the added rules for this question." Ibiki said as the final fifteen minutes began. First I will give you the question. Do not interrupt me while I do so or your points will be reduced to zero and you'll fail. At the end you will have two choices."
Ibiki released a minor amount of killing intent which had gennin shaking in their seats. The poorly disguised shocked looks on the time travelers' faces did not escape his attention and he mentally stored away their odd reaction.
"Your village issues a time sensitive mission." Shock morphed into alarm. This wasn't the tenth question. Ibiki had changed the tenth question. How could they foil Orochimaru's invasion if they couldn't guarantee their advancement to the final exam?
"You encounter the target, only it is in the hands of a team of jounin from a different village. Under no circumstances are you to allow the other team to abscond with the target. You have two choices: to continue the mission to retrieve the target, taking your chances against a stronger opponent, or you radio for backup and risk losing the target."
Silence answered Ibiki. "If you would choose the first option, if you would attack the enemy team, remain seated. If you would choose the second option and risk failure, leave the room. But know, should even one team member choose the second choice, then his teammates must leave as well. Missions are completed as a team so all members must pick one option. Those teams that pick the wrong choice will never be allowed entrance to another chuunin exam."
Sakura chewed her bottom lip. It was a situational question, similar to what happened to Team Seven during their mission to Nami no Kuni. They should have returned to the village for reinforcements once they learned Tazuna was being hunted by shinobi, but they had pushed on, facing Zabuza and Haku. Wasn't the mission priority? That's why Team Seven continued to protect the bridge builder. Was the right answer to fight the enemy for the target?
The two teams from Ame and one of Takigakure's teams walked out of the room.
"I'll ask you again. Your life is riding on this decision."
What were they supposed to do? The mission had to be completed, and there wasn't a lot of time to wait for reinforcements to arrive, but it was foolish to fight an opponent you stood no chance against.
A chair scraped as Naruto stood, strolling out the room confidently without a second glance. Sakura didn't even think before finding herself on her feet. She and Shikamaru had stood in unison, trailing after their Hokage. Gaara and Temari right behind them.
"Numbers thirty-one and ninety-two! Please exit the room."
Jaw clenched Sasuke stormed out. The blonde was leaning against the wall, one leg bent at the knee and propped on the wall, with Shikamaru and Sakura flanking him.
The door hadn't even closed behind him before he was shouting at Naruto. "What the hell was that, dobe? We're ninja. We have to finish the mission."
Two cerulean orbs pierced him. "You haven't learned anything from Kakashi-sensei. Always look underneath the underneath. Missions are failed every day. Konoha does not waste lives."
Sasuke opened his mouth to argue when the doors opened once more and Teams Eight and Gai joined them. Neji looked just as happy as he did.
In the end, ten teams waited outside the doors.
The window exploded inward. In a matter of seconds a woman with spiky purple hair and a tan trench coat stood before a banner. She posed in front of it, displaying her lack of modesty. "This is no time to be lying about. I am the examiner for the second test! Anko Mitarashi! Now let's go! Follow me!"
She finally looked out at the crowd of confused gennin. "101! Ibiki! You left thirty-one teams! What the hell happened to your insanely difficult psychological test that was going to weed out the faint hearted and weak?"
Ibiki ignored her accusing finger. "These are the teams that failed."
Anko stared at him perplexed as the gennin cried foul. The stages of the exam were finalized and agreed upon by the Hokage before they allowed gennin to sign up. Ibiki's was supposed to test their ability to gather information and their willingness to take risks. He had said that those in the room at the end of an hour passed.
How dare he change it on her? He ruined her perfectly dramatic entrance. All that effort into terrifying the gennin before she threw them into the Forest of Death wasted!
"Why did you go around and flip the choices for?"
"I didn't. I asked a completely different question."
Anko was baffled. Ibiki never made a decision without reason, but what reason could there be for completely changing the purpose of his exam?
"The Nara boy was flirting! Flirting!" Ibiki emphasized. "In my exam!"
The purple haired special jounin cackled, scarring many of the gennin. A gennin had gotten under Ibiki's skin. Kami she couldn't wait to go to the Jounin Station and tell everyone that a gennin had rattled interrogator Ibiki.
Well, if he was going to make some last minute changes, than so could she, dammit.
The double doors flung open again, revealing Anko Mitarashi. "I am the examiner for the second test! Anko Mitarashi!" she repeated. "I want all thirty of you to meet me at the Training Grounds Forty-four in an hour. Konoha, no helping the outsiders find their way. If you're not there on time you fail!"
The woman was gone in a swirl of leaves and dirt.
Ibiki stomped into the Jounin Station where the senseis of Konoha's participants were awaiting the results of the first exam, shoving three papers at Kakashi and Asuma.
The other jounin stared perplexed as Ibiki growled for them to read them. Kakashi shrugged. Then blinked. He couldn't understand a word on Sakura's. It was gibberish.
"Whose is this one?" He asked, waving the blank test.
"Uzumaki's." Kakashi laughed. It was just like Naruto to luck out. He didn't answer a single question. The boy didn't even write his name.
"When I changed the question the boy did even hesitate. Walked right out of the room without looking at his teammates." Ibiki raged.
"What does yours say?" Kurenai asked Asuma.
"Shikamaru wrote an essay on why Ibiki's exam was pointless and pointed out all the flaws in his method. Listen to this: This whole exam is poorly designed. With the length of time you spent harping on how cheating would cost points, and the fact that the questions were impossible for a gennin, whose only chased the Daimyo's wife's cat, to answer, it was glaringly obvious the purpose of the exam was to steal information. It would have been better to say explicitly that cheating would not be tolerated and anyone caught disqualified their team. Given that chuunin can take up to B-rank missions, any gennin that is too dense to realize the true test was to not get caught is a security risk to the village and should be stuck cleaning rivers.
"It continues in that vein for a while."
"Who knew Shikamaru had it in him?"
While Gai and Kurenai were amused, the two involved senseis were concerned. In the four months they had been teaching they had not knownNaruto to be strategic, Sakura to not take a test seriously, or Shikamaru to mock authority.
There was something weird about those three gennin, because this wasn't the first time the two senseis had seen them acting out of character. Kakashi had brushed it off, attributing to their maturing. Asuma convinced himself he was imagining things.
They clearly couldn't ignore it anymore.
Gaara, Temari, Shikamaru, Sakura, and Naruto converged in the hidden clearing in the Nara's forest. Naruto was pacing.
"Things have changed." Gaara said quietly. "The final question."
"That's not all," said Sakura.
"What do you mean?" Temari asked sharply.
"Earlier we saw Sai. Was he in the exams the first time? Did you guys ever come across him?" The two Sun nin shook their heads in the negative.
"But why has it changed?" Naruto demanded. "We haven't interfered in any way yet!"
"I think," Shikamaru said slowly, "that our presence here has caused ripples. No matter how hard we try, we can't hide the fact that we've changed. From their perspective, our personalities have done a complete one-eighty for no reason. This world is changing in response to our more mature selves taking the place of those that should be here.
"Look at it this way, time isn't linear. It can't be; otherwise Ibiki would have given us the trick tenth question. This shows that there are different lines it can follow. It would be too complicated to go into the concept of alternate or parallel realities. The point is; something caused Ibiki to change his mind."
"But what? And what else will change? Anko's already making changes to the second exam. How can we prevent our future from happening if we can't trust our past?"
"I think we should focus on the second exam. No matter what changes, we all need to make it through the forest." Temari said.
Naruto's face darkened. He wasn't all that concerned with passing the chuunin exams. He could be a gennin for the rest of his life. It was only a ranking, and it didn't matter with regards to becoming Hokage. The strongest shinobi became Hokage and he had already earned the title once. Naruto could wait a few years to get it again.
His sole focus was to eliminate Orochimaru before the bastard could sink his teeth into Sasuke, both figuratively and literally. And he would seek them out in the forest.
"Sakura and I'll handle Orochimaru. You three focus on finding the scrolls." He gestured for his four companions to move closer. One at a time he formed a string of hand seals and pressed two fingers to the palm of their hands. "Fuuinjutsu: Tsuiseki shīru!"
They watched mesmerized as black lines writhed on their hands, taking the shape of human.
"What is this?"
"It's a tracking seal." He explained. "It'll allow me to know where you are at all times and you to find me."
"I think mine has wings. Does that make you my guardian fairy?" Temari teased.
"Not a chance. This is just in case we get separated. If you need help just focus some chakra into it. The rest will flare and turn red. When we find Orochimaru it'll turn blue. Do not try to interfere. This is Team Seven's fight."
Naruto's confidence did nothing to booster Sakura's. Defeating Orochimaru would be no easy task, and it was Sasuke who had done it originally, after learning from and living with him for three years. And even he failed to kill him.
They had three and a half days to find the snake before he found them. The Forest of Death was huge. There wasn't enough time. Three and a half days was not enough to work up what they achieved in three and a half years. They needed a foolproof plan to catch Orochimaru and a few dozen back up plans just in case. They would need a miracle. . .
Or maybe they needed team work. "Shikamaru, Gaara. What gates did you guys start at? I have a plan."
Temari glared at the insane proctor, who did not react.
The entire forest was covered in a layer of snow. How the hell had she produced snow in the middle August? And why hadn't she warned them to bring warm clothes?
She lived in a desert, for Kami's sake. She was not dressed properly to spend five days traipsing through a forest in the snow.
Anko explained the rules of the exam, which thankfully had not changed, and passed around the waivers. Temari wondered, looking at the teams gathered, if there would be preliminaries this time. With only ten teams, the most that could pass was fifteen, and they had no plans to let anyone not from Konoha or Suna make it to the finals.
The gates opened and the siblings raced in, snow crunching beneath sandaled feet. Gaara replaced them with sand clones, unnoticed by Kankuro, who was afraid of being trapped in close quarters with his insane brother and therefore ran ahead of the two.
Gaara and herself, along with Shikamaru, were responsible for dealing with the other four teams and procuring their scrolls. The only problem Temari foresaw was making sure the last two scrolls found their way into the hands of Konoha's teams that lacked someone from the future.
Neither would accept if from them at this point, nor would they take it from Shikamaru. Shinobi did not take well to pity or freebies.
Sakura worried as Naruto gathered natural chakra. Slipping away from Sasuke had been easy, considering that he could spot an imposter in less than three seconds. Apparently, like the Byakugan, the Sharingan could not tell the difference between clone and caster.
She knew Naruto had mastered senjutsu, he had never tried it at twelve and he never had so much chakra. If he started turning into a stone frog there wouldn't be anything she could do.
Thankfully he had no problems. The duo had slipped through the foliage like a ghost, leaving no tracks in the snow for Sasuke to follow.
Once they were one hundred meters in Naruto sat crossed legged in the snow, closed his eyes and concentrated. After moments orange rimmed eyes snapped open.
"He's not here."
"What?"
Naruto climbed to his feet angrily. "Orochimaru! The bastard's not in the forest."
"Are you sure? He can hide his presence."
"Not from senjutsu. Everyone's chakra is a spot of light. One the size of Orochimaru's should have been obvious, but there's nothing. He's not in the forest."
"Does that mean he didn't join the exam until the third day?" Sakura pondered. "Or has the past changed again?"
The blonde shook his head. "I don't know. Let's catch up to the others." He hoped they had been more successful than he was.
Gaara, Temari, and Shikamaru did have more luck. Through a combination of Temari's blustering winds taking teams by surprise, Shikamaru's shadow attaching to theirs and locking them in place, and Gaara's sand, which could lift the scroll or threaten to crush a team unless they agreed to hand it over, they had already collected three scrolls.
They were suitably shocked to hear that Naruto couldn't sense Orochimaru. The issue of Sasuke aside, they could not prevent the invasion and the Sandaime's subsequent death if they could not deal with the snake now. All their plans hinged on Orochimaru dying in the Forest of Death.
"Let's just head for the tower. We have the scrolls we need. Your comrades have to earn their own way, we can't just hand them a pass. It's only the two teams from Ame. They won their scrolls last time so they can do it again. Otherwise, there's nothing we can do."
Temari had a point so they set out for the tower. Naruto took point and Temari and Shikamaru naturally gravitated towards each other, leaving her to take up the rear with Gaara.
The silence was awkward and stifling. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye to find him staring intently at her.
She was going to have to talk with him sooner or later. Perhaps it would be best to get it over with. At least no one else would be privy to their conversation.
Gaara waited patiently for Sakura to acknowledge him. Her nervousness showed in the paleness of her skin.
He had had time, isolated in Suna, to contemplate and thoroughly pick apart his feelings. The war was hard on everyone. No one came out the same as they went in.
Gaara hid it well, but it affected him to. He had been named Regimental Leader. It was his job to command the troops, place them on the battlefield, and he had ordered them to their deaths. Orochimaru's absence was disturbing. He had no desire to send the world to its end a second time.
Having Sakura beside him had helped. Maybe it was because she healed those lives he threw away and cried over those she couldn't save, but she understood his feelings. The regret and the determination to wake and do the same thing because the war had to be fought and it was idealistic to believe that there would be no casualties.
So, over the course of the last month, Gaara had come to the conclusion that his feelings for the pink haired kunoichi were real and not just a byproduct of war. They had spent many hours together, simply enjoy the other's presence and warmth, swapping tales of missions and talking about the differences in their two villlages.
Sakura had only been to Suna once, when her team had leapt to his rescue and she had saved Kankuro, but she said she would like to spend more time there. It was that moment, as they lay beneath the twinkling stars and she turned her ethereal face towards him and said "I'd love that," to his invitation that Gaara was struck by the multitude of his feelings.
He, Sabuku no Gaara, the Godaime Kazekage, was in love with Sakura Haruno.
It had been a novelty for him, growing up without love, and he wasn't going to let her go without a fight.
"Sakura."
"Gaara." She whispered.
"My feelings are unchanged." She whispered his name again. "I want you with me. I want to protect you when you can't defend yourself and trust you to always have my back. I want to be your strength."
Her emerald green eyes glazed over with tears. "I'd like that." She had overcomplicated it, looked into their relationship too much. At the end of the day, neither Sasuke nor Matsuri could ever fully understand them, and she didn't want Sasuke. He was her brother just like Naruto.
Speaking of, "You get to tell Naruto you're dating his sister."
Gaara smirked.
"Kukuku, isn't this an interesting collection of gennin. Three little leaves and two specks of sand. How did you come to be working together? This is a team test."
Naruto's eyes blazed as they locked on the snake peeling away from a tree. He released the full force of his killing intent and the Kyuubi's, taking delight in the momentary look of fear on Orochimaru's white face.
"Go!" He snapped at Temari, Gaara, and Shikamaru.
"But,"
"Now!"
Shikamaru was the last to leave, pausing at the edge of Naruto's vision. Naruto's tone softened. "Trust me, Shika."
The dark haired boy nodded. He had put his faith in Naruto when the man had saved their village from Pein. Naruto had never taken that faith for granted. On more than one occasion he rose up to face the impossible and walked away the victor. He had become a legend, his Hokage.
Shikamaru put his trust in Naruto and never looked back. So he would trust him to deal with the traitorous Sannin.
"Don't take too long, this is a timed test."
"We won't."
The battle that followed was like a choreographed dance. Blows were traded back and forth with the Sannin easily defending against the two time travelers. An extra decade of experience and significantly larger chakra reserves did not make up for their physical shortcomings.
The forest quaked and trees toppled under Sakura's fists. Naruto's Rasengans and Rasenshurikens tore up everything, snake summonings, trees, and forced Orochimaru to replicate his body and drop the shell of the Kusagakure kunoichi.
Ninjutsus clashed with great force, ravaging the surrounding area. Explosions sounded, metal clanged and blood splattered the ground.
"Your little friends will not reach help in time."
Naruto laughed coldly. "We don't need help."
Three water dragons condensed courtesy of Sakura, drawing up and arcing down at Orochimaru from three sides. He evaded with a simple substitution and the dragons slammed into a log.
The Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki was already on him cloaked in the orange flames of his Tailed Beast mode. Orochimaru's eyes had widened, long tongue swiping across his lips in anticipation. They boy was hiding his talents from Konoha. None of his spies had reported the ability to work with the Bijuu he held.
Perhaps he should give his seal to this boy instead? No, while powerful, he could not learn all the jutsus in the world without Sasuke-kun's Sharingan.
Green chakra extended from the girl's hand, sharpening to a point she wielded with ferocious accuracy. A medic nin like his Kabuto, using medical ninjutsu to kill as well as heal, she aimed for vital points and actually managed to hit his right thigh and left shoulder as she used him to flip over.
Immediately his movements slowed, the muscles cut. These brats were more annoying than he thought. They should have been unable to stand up against him. His mouth opened wide like a snake's as he prepared to shed this injured body for a pristine one.
Naruto covered the distance between him and the Legendary Sannin in the blink of an eye. His right hand traced a seal in the air.
Orochimaru's chakra fizzled. "What did you do to me?" he hissed, enraged at not be able to access his chakra.
Naruto stood, ignoring the wound to his side that was already knitting itself back together. "A binding seal. Your chakra and soul are bound to the body you're currently in."
The two teammates moved as one, Naruto shoving a Rasengan into Orochimaru's chest as Sakura slammed a chakra scalpel into his heart from behind. They stared at his fallen body, his blood quickly pouring from his body and soaking the earth.
It was like a dream to Sakura and Naruto. They had actually killed Orochimaru of the Sannin, and with him dead they saved Sasuke.
"Let's go, Sakura."
"Hai, Hokage-sama."
"Don't call me that."
"Hai, Hokage-sama."
Their three companions had not gone far. Naruto and Sakura reached their position in a half hour. The duo confirmed Orochimaru's death and the five separated, returning to their own teams.
While dubious of Naruto's story that his clone stumbled upon the earth scroll they needed in the carnage of another team, Sasuke accepted it. It didn't matter to him how they got the scroll just that they had it and could now head for the tower at the forest's center.
He took it upon himself to head to the river to catch fish for dinner. If he left the job to the dobe starve.
There was already someone at the river. Sasuke's fingers trailed down to his weapons pouch, curling around the handle of a kunai.
"That's not necessary, Sasuke-kun." The other gennin called. "We both from Konoha and my team has both scrolls already. There is no need for us to fight."
Sasuke stepped out of the brush, cautiously approaching the silver haired bespectacled gennin he recognized from the first exam. The one with the ninja info cards. "Kabuto."
Kabuto's face smiled, but the glint of his glasses hid his glare. Lord Orochimaru had confronted the Uchiha's team. But, instead of bestowing the Cursed Seal on the boy, his master had been killed.
Kabuto had felt Orochimaru's death. His own seal had vanished. The Sannin's death was actually a boon for him. Now his empire was his for the taking. All he had to do was give out some seals of his own. And Sasuke would accept his gift of power.
"Ne, Sasuke-kun, I've already caught plenty of fish. If you want I can give you some and help you carry them back to your camp."
Blacks eyes looked at him warily, but ultimately accepted his offer.
Before the boy could react Kabuto had sunk his teeth into the junction of neck and shoulder, leaving behind three black swirls shaped like the tomoe of the Sharingan.
Naruto and Sakura leapt at Sasuke's scream.
They tore down the path to the river. Sasuke was crumpled on the ground, clutching his neck and groaning in pain.
They gently lifted their teammate, carrying him back to their camp. Orochimaru may have been dead now, but they still couldn't stop the bite. Sakura's heart clenched painfully as she and Naruto hide him under the roots of the tree Sakura used last time.
She stared at the mark as Sasuke thrashed in pain. Was it all for nothing? They had come back to save him but still, there it laid, pulsing on his neck. Did it make a difference that they had killed Orochimaru? Would he still turn evil? What would happen when he woke up?
Sakura shuddered, remembering the first time he had gotten it and it chilled her to think of that happening again. The insanity in his eyes. But at least this time Naruto was with her.