A/N: Sorry for the long wait. I think I wrote 2 or 3 chapter 7's a few months back but they were rotters. What I can say is that I do intend on writing more of SS, but don't expect consistency in updates, after all I cannot guarantee much. Thank you for the wait, enjoy :)

Your sensei's eyes were stern, his face unmoving and the wrinkles that marred his ageing skin ever pronounced. The other Konoha sensei lounging around were less statue-like, but still exhibited remorse and stayed quiet, choosing to observe the two of you.

"How?"

You spent a few minutes composing yourself to give a decent explanation: "A hyoton user from Shima caught Moriko with one of his crystals, then a Kumo squad attacked, so I had to fend them off while I let my teammates deal with that Shima squad, which seemed to be more of a 2v1 than a 2v3. After the Kumo squad left, I turned around to find both of them already dead, pierced with ice."

Your sensei then chose to sit there for a few more minutes, contemplating your words with an ever-growing frown. "Sasuke-kun, may I read your mind to see the events firsthand?"

"Yes."

He weaved a few handsigns before placing an open palm on your forehead, sending everything dark. You awoke to the start of the first round again, it was your memories, yet you weren't in control. The feeling was eerily similar to the Tsukuyomi. By the time you had gotten accustomed to the feeling, the battle had already commenced. A war-torn field of flying metal weapons and shrapnel, explosions and blood contrasted what it was moments ago.

You fought Kusa.

You dodged the ice.

You fought Kumo while your team fought Shima.

You turned around.

You sealed them.

You fled.

The next time you saw something other than the never-ending darkness of sleep, it was near midday, midday the next day. You were lying in a bed, but when you sat up, everything from the day before came rushing through your mind, temporarily stunning you before you finally drew the ability to make your way to the communal living room.

"Sasuke-kun, as you are the only trained medical ninja here, we need to you treat some wounds urgently. Do you think you can do it?" Medical ninjutsu without the right state of mind was never safe, but you could manage.

There were four genin lying on the floor on makeshift stretchers. At the sight of blood, your eyes span rapidly into their three tomoe state, instantly spotting every open wound, skin discolouration, chakra abnormality.

Oh, this would make medical ninjutsu that much easier. But at what cost…

After an hour, you had managed to restore normal function to all four of your colleagues following a quick and easy triage. Two had broken bones, the first being a rib that had pierced her liver, and the second a broken ulna with a grade three annular ligament tear. The mystical palm technique worked wonders for setting the bones and stitching together the broken soft tissues. The third had some deep stab wounds from stray shuriken and kunai, leading to a bit of bleeding that the jonin had patched up, with high level first aid being a necessity for their rank. The final injury you attended to was a severe concussion. There was not much to be done about it, beyond minimising bruising and leaving it to heal over time. It would require skills and knowledge on par with Senju Tsunade to heal head trauma without potentially killing or permanently retarding a ninja that would heal otherwise.

The genin who could gave their thanks, as did their sensei, but there was still an overall solemn mood within the group. Only two Konoha teams had made it through, with the third genin you healed being one of the six. One whole team had been killed, and yours was much the same, the 5th team were all just healed by you, and were in no position to continue competing, even if the next test would be more academically based.

That was when your sensei approached from his room, eyes red and watery from a night of presumably crying over the loss of two students and a nephew at that. Put bluntly, the two of you were in equally shit states of mind, and while heading home to Konoha sounded appealing as ever, it wasn't logistically safe to move in such a small group, especially with the prized, fully matured sharingan and two depressed individuals. As such, Sensei didn't really do much, occasionally trying to get you to open up, even though he already knew the fine print and there wasn't much to be said, whilst you hovered between maintaining a good and fastened recovery for your three allies (the fourth had joined his team for the next round after you properly patched his injuries).

After a few days, both Konoha teams had passed through both the second round (an academic fear-inducing test only in place to weed out the mentally incompetent or ill) and had competed in the third round, an open to the public tournament in the centre of Kirigakure. The rest of your caravan watched said round, at this point all fully healthy physically speaking, and with 6 of the 16 seeds being your comrades in arms, there was still much to cheer for in this dark part of your life.

Most of the Konoha genin put up good fights, fighting tooth and nail even though five of them only made the first or second round. One ninja however managed to make it all the way to the semifinal, where he was up against one of the Kumo ninja you had fought in the first round. It felt like you could have taken either of them in a one versus one fight and came out victorious, yet that wasn't how life worked. The Konoha ninja was a Sarutobi, a nephew of the Sandaime or something, yet his fire and earth ninjutsu could only do so much against a skilled ration user.

The finals was a matchup between the Kumo ninja and that Shima ninja that had slaughtered your team. He looked rather crazy in broad daylight, and proved it by killing the Kumo ninja when he was trying to surrender partway through the match after having a large hole in his thigh. It only made sense, as he had proven himself already as worthy of chunin status, nevertheless, an icicle still carved its way through his throat.

It was disgraceful, yet this was the life of a ninja. Thankfully it hadn't been your ally who won the semifinal.

The next day, after you patched up any minor injuries from the third round for your comrades, you began the long and depressing journey back to Konoha, with your eyes set on getting home as soon as possible, much like most of your troupe. As soon as you had entered the village and checked in with the gate staff, the first stop was the Hokage's office, where only the jonin were let in initially for a debriefing. A few minutes later, you were all brought in, where the Sandaime held a solemn yet kind smile.

"I have heard of the reports from the chunin examinations and would like to congratulate all of you for participating in and representing Konoha to the best of your abilities. Do not take this as me disregarding the losses you have experienced, as I am truly sorry for having to send you to a glorified deathtrap of sorts, however that is the life of a ninja.

On a lighter note, I would like to announce a few promotions to the rank of chunin. 7 in fact…" He began calling names one-by-one, tossing them a scroll that held a chunin/jonin uniform and tactical vest, as well as basic expected information such as codes, basic first aid, protocols and a list of requirements and expectations of chunin.

"… and for the final promotion to chunin, Uchiha Sasuke." You caught the scroll as your eyes opened in disbelief. You hadn't earned this.

"You have earnt this, Sasuke-kun. Whilst you were unable to make the second round, you had skills in combat against multiple chunin level opponents, you exhibited good decision making in fleeing the battlefield when there was nothing to gain, and whilst the loss of your teammates was unfortunate, the combination of healing your allies that may have been permanently crippled or dead, and the likelihood of that Shima hyoton user being a jonin-calibre plant to increase business is likely, so given your situation, you performed as a chunin of Konoha should."

If you looked at it like that, it made sense.

"Now for the three of you not promoted, you can still get field promotions if your sensei sees fit, although your injuries may delay your return to duty. Additionally, the next chunin exams will be held in Konoha, and will not be nearly as unforgiving, so good luck. For you chunin, you may still remain a team with your sensei and do both missions and training, but you may be split up, work in new groups, individually, or specialise in new fields. Your jonin-sensei may now return to normal duties, and work how they, or the village wishes. While it is up to you to discuss your future, I will presume for the time being that you will remain a team unless told otherwise. I wish you all the best. Dismissed."

"Hokage-sama, if I may?"

"Yes Inoichi-kun?"

"I would like to disband Team 2. While I am still happy to work and teach Sasuke-kun as he wishes, the team is half dead and will only bring bad memories. Also, I wish to have more time to prepare my daughter for ninja life."

"That is acceptable. Inoichi-kun, you can return to your former duties in the T&I department, and Sasuke-kun will join the chunin corps for missions. Letters will be sent to you when you have a mission. Otherwise, you are free to go."

And that was the end of Team 2. Life would go on, and training was of the essence. No more teammates would die under your watch, not with you saying anything about it.