Her Experience

by Tiny.Dncer

Sakura has been taking care of her sick civilian mother alone since she was 8. But now a full fledged ninja placed on team 7, she must learn how to stop holding herself back and let her team in, although, that proves challenging when her teammates are the wild and childish Naruto Uzumaki and her cold closed off long time crush, Sasuke Uchiha. (Better explanation inside.)

24. Chunin Exams II pt 2

A/N: Hi. I'm sorry this took awhile, but my new job has been killing me and my move has been complicated and weird. For those of you who read my other fanfiction, KPD: Case Files, and want to know when I'll be updating...I don't know, but I haven't forgotten or abandoned it. I have the next chapter plotted out, I just haven't had the time or mental energy to put it on paper. Anyways, sorry for the wait. I haven't had the time or energy to proof read this yet, so I apologize if there are glaring mistakes when you read it. I will get around to doing it at some point.

"Inner Sakura..."

"Sakura's thoughts..."

memory...

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

---

The sky was barely beginning to lighten when they were called up onto one of the roofs of the check point. Sakura stifled a yawn. She was exhausted as usual, but the rest had allowed her to build back enough chakra. She was tired but definitely functional, which was about the best condition she could hope for herself these days. The Genin all congregated, looking up at Temari, who stood on top of a higher roof, Gaara in his Kazekage robes, Gai, Kurenai, Asuma, and a few Suna Jonin standing behind her.

"All right…I'm going to explain the second round of the Chunin Exams." Temari announced, radiating authority. She was clearly a natural born leader. "The second exam will be a competition for scrolls to be held in the Demon Desert. In other words, this is the ultimate survival battle!" She raised her arm, holding up two scrolls, one white labeled 'Heaven,' and the other blue labeled 'Earth.' "There are two scrolls labeled Heaven and Earth. Half the teams will be given Heaven scrolls. The other half will get Earth scrolls."

"Just like last time…"

"The objective of this exam is to obtain both Heaven and Earth scrolls and to bring them to the base located at the center of the Demon Desert. You have 72 hours. Find food on your own. Starting now, there may be fatalities. Every participating team member will sign a consent form!" She said, holding up a sheet of paper in her other hand. "When you turn in the consent form, you will be given a scroll!"

"72 hours? That's only three days. Last time it was five…" Sakura's brow furrowed. The shorter time period didn't bode well for them.

"Furthermore, to avoid confusion, each team will start from a different location. So be quick and go to your starting points!" Temari announced.

Once again, Sakura felt a twitch of doubt run through her as she stared down at her consent form. This could very possibly be the worst, most risky and reckless, decision she ever made. But goddamnit she would make it anyway. She had too much to prove. The second of apprehension passed, and she signed her name.

"Who should take the scroll?" Choji asked quietly. He and Ino turned to Sakura, awaiting her verdict, reminding her once again that she was filling in for their team captain. She was also hit with an intense deja vu, of when Naruto and Sasuke looked to her for this very same decision.

"…But this time, I'm not as familiar with their abilities…ok, think Sakura. Pig's a medical ninja and we're supposed to stay back and not attack, but should it become necessary to do so, her clan jutsu renders her body inert and if she misses or the enemy teams up on her, she could lose the scroll. Choji's clan is the body expansion jutsu, meaning he's going to be our first line of defense most of the time. But his size also means he's slower and less dexterous, and if an enemy exploits that, we lose the scroll. As a medical ninja, and with my chakra so reduced due to the seal, I'm supposed to hang back, but unlike last time, I've had evasion drilled into me and my punches can do some considerable damage either to enemies or the surrounding environment in a pinch…so I'm the best choice…"

"Ok. I'll take the scroll. If for some reason I get rendered unconscious, Choji should take the scroll, and if an enemy tries to engage, expand to your full size so they can't easily reach you. That alright with both of you?"

"Makes sense to me." Choji smiled.

"Yeah, cause you really think I'm gonna doubt that billboard brow of yours?" Ino mockingly scoffed. "Actually about that, why do you think this test is so much shorter than last time?"

"That's right! Last time we had five days to get the scrolls." Choji agreed.

Sakura pursed her lips, looking out at the desert expanse. "Well…this might not be the only reason, but…three days is generally how long a person can survive without water."

Choji stared at her in disbelief. "You don't really think there's not going to be any water in there, do you?" His quavering tone clearly communicating his growing fear.

"Well…" Sakura amended quickly, "I doubt they'd stick us somewhere that was completely impossible to survive in…there's probably an oasis somewhere."

"But there's probably only one, and there's no telling where it is…"

They turned in their consent forms and received their earth scroll, which Sakura immediately stowed in her weapons pouch. They headed for their starting area, waiting in anticipation for the test to begin. When the signal sounded, team Asuma jumped straight into the desert and took off running. The second exam had officially begun.

---

They made it through most of the first day without running into anyone. But Sakura couldn't help but note just how hot it was. Despite the sand grains being so pale, they still managed to absorb all the heat of the sun, cooking them from all angles. The air was exceedingly dry, and the dryness coupled with the heat made it feel like any water and moisture their bodies contained was being continuously drained without hope of being properly replenished.

"I know I said the human body could last three days without water, but given these conditions, I doubt we'd make it that long. We'll need to be very careful about rationing our water supply."

The good news was that at the very least, their skin wasn't absolutely burning under the sun's intense rays. Sakura had made sunscreen back durning the summer and when she'd agreed to take the chunin exams, knowing that Suna was involved, she'd preemptively upped the strength of it and brought it along with her.

"It's so flat and completely one color around here, you'd think it'd be easy to spot another group." Ino muttered, looking around the arid plane. They'd run for hours without coming across anyone, and the sun would be setting soon.

"Should we just head straight for the tower?" Choji asked, thinking about what Shikamaru might do. "We're bound to run into other groups that way, since that is the end goal."

"That's not a bad idea but we should—" Sakura cut herself off when she saw Ino's blond ponytail swish around rapidly in her peripheral vision. "Pig?"

"Someone's nearby." Ino whispered lowly.

"Don't stop. Stay together and give them a moving target." Sakura ordered back. It'd be harder for whoever it was to give an organized attack if they stayed together and on the move.

Barely a minute later three Ame ninja jumped out at them, wearing large straw hats and long cloaks.

One jumped up high above them, showering a rain of shuriken down at them. Sakura Ino and Choji all jumped for cover on the underside of a small sand dune. But that didn't deter the Ame nin. Still high in the air, he had a good vantage point to see them, and next through down a rain of small bombs. Ino, Sakura, and Choji pushed away from the dune and took off running again as the bombs exploded around them. The other two Ame nin raced along side them, occasionally taking swings at them, which they each blocked with their own kunai, still keeping their speed up. Sakura chanced a quick glance behind her to see the ninja who had been attacking from above was hanging back, following at a short distance.

"Alright, so…these two are getting close to us, but the one who was throwing bombs and kunai at us is hanging back…he probably has the scroll then…"

Ino blocked another swiping pass from the Ame nin, before looking back at Sakura. She was worried about her. Sakura had been looking abnormally exhausted for a long time now, and the way the run from Konoha had totally knocked her out…something was wrong, and she needed to make sure her best friend was holding up okay. At least, that had been her plan in glancing over, but it turned into something more of a silently communicated strategy session, because the second she looked back, Sakura immediately locked eyes with her and gave a small subtle jerk of her head to the shinobi following them a small distance away. Ino's eyes widened. He had to be the one with the scroll!

Ino planted her foot and pivoted sharply, so she was facing the guy who attacked from above head on. "Mind transfer jutsu!"

Choji looked over at Ino just as she pivoted, seeing her hands form the signs for the mind transfer, and where she was pointing, and immediately put two and two together.

"Partial expansion jutsu!" His hand grew much larger as he charged forward and literally swatted the two ninja converging on Ino's body three dunes away.

The Ame nin Ino was now possessing caught up with them. "Lucky us! They've got a heaven scroll!" Ino cheered from his body, passing the scroll to Sakura.

"Great work Pig! Once you release him, I'll knock him out before he can retaliate. Then we should put as much distance between us and them as possible."

"Sounds good!" Ino and Choji agreed.

Sakura positioned herself behind the Ame ninja, and withdrew a senbon and her strongest sedative. She dipped the needle point into the sedative, as she remembered Shizune showing her and then readied it against the man's vein.

"Ready."

"Release!" Ino shouted, dispelling herself from the man's psyche. Sakura quickly but accurately stabbed the needled into him, and he crumpled, unconscious. Team Asuma didn't wait. They began running again.

"And just like that, we've got both are scrolls!" Ino cheered, glancing back proudly at her two teammates. Sakura may not have worked with them as long as Shikamaru had, but she and Ino had been best friends for five whole years, and were once again after a two year break. They'd understood each other well enough to communicate a plan, and Choji, who was her teammate forever, and knew how to work with her well had caught up immediately. Their teamwork had been perfect! Ino was so happy about how well everything had turned out, that she didn't register Sakura lagging a little farther behind than her speed should permit—of the three of them, Sakura was the fastest and most agile.

"Um, guys…we have a problem!" Choji announced nervously.

"What's wrong, Choji?" Sakura asked sharply. Running through sand was difficult and energy consuming, and she really didn't have a lot of excess energy these days…

"Well…during the fight, one of them must have slashed my pack…I lost all my rations…" He nearly cried. That was his food! And this place was so desolate, who knew where they'd next find anything to eat!

"Does that…Does that include your water?" Sakura's voice quavered nervously.

"That's one third of our water down…and I know I saw Pig drink at least half her bottle earlier. I've had about a third of mine…that doesn't leave us very much for the next two days. And with the intensity of the heat and the amount of energy just moving in these conditions takes, there's no way we can survive a full day with the amount of water we have left, let alone two days…"

"Y-Yeah…Yeah, it does." Choji said dejectedly.

The group collectively slowed to a stop as the information sunk in. Ino stared out at the dry desert sullenly. If what Sakura said right before the exam was true (and she wasn't in the habit of doubting someone who could read and absorb an entire library of medical gibberish in three months), then they could make it the remaining time without water, especially if they reached the tower by midday tomorrow. But she was also a medical ninja, and she knew the "three days without water" may be true in less extreme temperatures and conditions, but this was a desert and they were in a survival test. The conditions weren't normal. And that meant that three day limit would no doubt be reduced.

"Even with the two scrolls, we'll never make it to the central tower without water." Ino said sternly.

"Right." Sakura nodded. "There should be at least one oasis somewhere here. We're going to need to find it."

They spent another three hours wandering the desert, the sun sinking lower and lower into the horizon. Sakura was in the lead, Ino keeping pace at her side, and Choji bringing up the rear. Despite her exhaustion, Sakura was pushing herself to move at a continuous pace.

"A body at motion stays at motion, a body at rest stays at rest. I have to keep going. If I stop, I might pass out and slow down my team. That can't happen. Not before we find some more water from somewhere…They can't think I'm a weak nuisance for them…Pig can't think I'm a weak nuisance. I'm not six anymore, shannaro!"

"H-Hey…can we slow down a little?" Choji asked, unsurely. Ino and Sakura's relationship was confusing to him. He knew they were best friends when they were younger, and Ino would always gush about her…she always seemed very protective of her, almost like Sakura was a little sister. But then they'd fought about something and Sakura randomly broke off their friendship. He knew they worked that out during their preliminary match, although he still didn't understand why Sakura would do that. But since their friendship got broken off, there was always a slightly competitive undercurrent to everything they did, even after they made up. It seemed more friendly and compassionate than the rivalries he saw between his male classmates and friends, but that didn't seem to stop the need the two felt to prove themselves to one another. He was pretty sure the two keeping this ridiculously fast pace with each other was another part of their weird rivalry and he really didn't want to incite it but…he was tired.

"You hear that, Forehead? Choji's worried about you." Ino was quick to jump on the opening Choji gave her. She was worried. Sakura looked tired…the way she passed out at the check point and how heavily she slept were abnormal for her. Her forehead had felt a little warm too, but at the time she'd just chalked it up to residual heat from the three day run, or the temperature change between Konoha's chilly winter, to Suna's hot one. Sakura hadn't been running as fast as she could earlier either, but maybe that was a tactical choice so she could better sus out their opponents. Not to mention Ino herself was tired too, and could use a bit of a break. But If Sakura was gonna insist on this tough girl act, and keep pushing herself, there was no way Ino was about to lose to her! Not again!

"He's worried about you, Pig." Sakura snapped back, the heat and exhaustion making her already short fuse even shorter than usual. "If you need a rest, just say so."

"Anyway I hope you're right." Ino continued to gripe.

"About what?"

"An oasis, what else?!" Ino snapped back. She'd never had an ample amount of patience either, the heat was getting to her, and she hadn't seen any evidence of water anywhere. How could Sakura be so sure there was one here?! And even if there was, how the hell were they supposed to find it?!

"You agreed to this!" Sakura shot back.

"Come on guys…" Choji tried to soothe the growing fight.

"This is your fault in the first place!" Ino snapped, rounding on him.

Choji couldn't help recalling his last chunin exams, when team ten had hid from Hyuga Neji behind a bush, and then crawled away to the safety of a clearing. At that time, Ino had cheered, shouting that they should find some weaklings.

Choji began laughing. "This brings back memories of the last exams." He chortled.

Ino's eyes widened, as she realized exactly where his mind went, and there was no way she was going to let him spill the beans about how weak and pathetic they'd been back then to Sakura.

"Shut up!" She quickly shouted, immediately placing Choji in a headlock. "That was a tactical withdrawal!" She glanced over at Sakura, who was watching them with a strange expression on her face. "We decided to tread carefully after we collected the scrolls, and it got results! We made it to the preliminaries!" Ino hissed.

Sakura wasn't really paying attention. Her expression had grown a little sad and far away at seeing Ino with Choji like this. It reminded her of herself and Naruto. And she missed him. Her lovable and inspiring but oh so annoying family member who she hadn't heard a single word from in almost two years. Was it so hard for him to write her? He knew where she was, so it should be easy to send her a message via hawk. She had no idea where he was though, so if he didn't send her a letter first, she had no way to send anything to him. She'd tried five times and the hawks always returned her messages, unable to locate him. She wished she was taking this test with her teammates, ones she felt comfortable enough to behave the way Ino was with Choji…a small tug of jealousy lurched through her.

"I swear to the gods when Naruto gets back, I'm punching him in the face for not writing at all! Shannaro!"

"I knew we should have just headed for the goal instead of going along with this!" Ino continued to vent, snapping Sakura out of her dazed longing, and bringing her back into reality—and her annoyance with her best friend.

"What?!" Sakura shouted back, trying to ignore the whispers growing ever louder about how big a mistake she made coming here, how she was no leader and should never have tried to play one in the first place, and that she really was a useless nuisance. "I've been listening to you patiently, but you agreed to it too!" Her volume grew louder, as an attempt to drown out her internal whispers.

"Yeah, well I had thought about it and figured you were right! I am a medical ninja too after all, or did you forget?!" Ino snapped. "But maybe if we just headed straight for the tower, we could have reached it and finished the stupid test before dehydration—cause you're not the only one who knows what that is—became an issue!" Ino was flushed in the face, which Sakura thought was from anger, though really it was severe embarrassment. She'd never meant to put her insecurity about her medical skills on Sakura, but in that moment it had gotten the better of her. Sakura was always so sure and confident about her medical skill. As she should be—she was a genius and had worked hard on it for longer than most anyone realized. Health and the human body were so ingrained in her that it even factored into her leadership and decision making. And she knew Sakura made the right call in trying to find more water first. But…she was no where near Sakura's skill level, despite having trained under Lady Tsunade as well. She felt like she couldn't measure up, next to her beautiful, genius, medical expert best friend. And because she'd taken time to learn medical ninjutsu, she'd fallen behind on her clan training…

Sakura paused, her brows furrowing in confusion. "What's she talking about?"

"I didn't forget you're a medical ninja—I was there while you were training. We practically lived in that fish market together, why would you think I'd forget? I factored that in when I was determining who should hold onto the scroll…and I figured you agreed with my plan because you were a medical ninja too."

Ino paused as well, her eyes widening as she looked at Sakura's serious and a little confused face dead on. "You mean…you actually consider me a medical ninja?"

"Of course I do! You trained with Tsuande-sama too. Pig, what's this about?"

"W-Well, nothing really…it's just that—"

"Um, g-guys…"

"Hold on a sec Choji!" Ino muttered, her focus still on Sakura. "It's just that…well, I thought you might—"

"Guys!"

"Wait til Ino-chan finishes, Choji!" Sakura snapped, her whole attention on Ino.

"I thought you might—"

"Scorpion!" Choji bellowed, making both Sakura and Ino jump and turn wide eyed to see a giant scorpion rising out of the sand, much like the one from the night before.

"It's out?!" Ino shrieked. "We need to get out of here!"

Sakura glanced up at the sky, noting that the sun was nearly fully below the horizon, the sky had significantly darkened. It would be fully nighttime soon. Her gaze shifted back to the giant scorpion.

"At this rate, who knows when we'll find an oasis. But scorpions are living beings, which means they carry water inside them…If we can extract some, it should be able to carry us over until we can get to the oasis. We're also low on food rations too so if…"

Ino turned back when she realized Sakura hadn't started running with them. Her best friend stood frozen in front of the scorpion, not moving. No way! Sakura hadn't been traumatized by the giant scorpion during their first encounter with it, had she?! Sakura had always been a bit put off by bugs…did scorpions count as bugs though? There was no time to wonder about it, she had to save her best friend!

"Choji!" Ino shouted when he ran passed her, he looked back to see Sakura not moving, and Ino jumping in to help, and he didn't even think to question it. He turned around and jumped straight back into the fight.

"Mind transfer—" Ino was interrupted by one of the claws slamming into the ground right where she'd been standing. She barely jumped out of the way in time. It was much faster than it looked! She didn't have enough time to set up the mind transfer.

Sakura was too lost in self assessing to notice what Ino and Choji were up to. "Will one punch be enough to kill it? I don't have the energy to waste on two hits, especially if I'm going to extract and process the water and toxins after. But we'll need to keep watch which means I'm not going to get a fully nights rest, and I didn't eat yesterday night. We need these provisions…it's a necessary energy expenditure. Still, what exactly is the minimum I can get away with?"

She landed behind Choji, who exchanged a look with her and clapped his hands in front of his face. The Ino-Shika-Cho trio had gotten quite good at reading each other over the years of family friendship, and just because Shikamaru was currently missing, that hadn't changed a thing for him and Ino.

Ino jumped up, throwing four kunai at it, which it deflected with its claw, while Choji activated his super expansion jutsu. His whole body grew to a giant size, and he easily grabbed two of the scorpions tails, holding them in place.

"Way to go, Choji!" Ino shouted from where she landed in front of Sakura. Her cheer broke Sakura out of her thought induced trance, bringing her attention back into the present.

Choji managed to step on the two remaining tails, managing to get a hold of all of them.

"Yes! We did it!" Ino cheered. But she'd spoken too soon. Two more tails burst out from the scorpion's shelled back in a way that was completely grotesque. One shot right at Choji, who fell backwards with a yelp to avoid it, releasing the other tails. The fall broke his concentration on maintaining the jutsu and he shrunk back down to normal size. The second tail slammed into the ground in front of Ino, who gave a small shriek and barely managed to jump away in time. Ino looked up at the giant creature in fear, but a glint from up in the sky caught her eye. The glint grew in size and shape, revealing itself to be Sakura, gracefully flipping down towards the scorpion.

"Shannaro!" Her fist slammed down into the creature, a huge shockwave of dust rolling outward from the force of the attack.

Ino's eyes widened. She remembered seeing Sakura with bruised and bloodied knuckles on several occasions, though her friend had only responded that it was because of training when asked. She never went into detail. But this had to be the results of that training…no wonder her knuckles were always such a mess…the sheer power of that punch was ridiculous!

Sakura let out a relieved sigh as she leapt lightly down from the very dead scorpion. "Thankfully the height and momentum saved me from having to put too much chakra into that punch. I should have enough to extract what we need from the scorpion and heal any injuries Ino-pig and Choji may have sustained…it really is my fault if they got hurt. I shouldn't have been spacing out like that. I used to be able to process and react to what's around me at the same time, but the seal takes so much mental focus…some team leader I am…" She shook her head a little, her fists tightening. "I just need to work harder at it, shannaro!"

"S-Sakura…" Ino stared at her friend in shock.

"Are you hurt Pig?"

"What the hell was that, Forehead?!" Ino shouted, simultaneously highly annoyed Sakura had never told her about that aspect of her training, and also thoroughly impressed with her strength and proud of how much her friend had grown. Seriously, she had a skill like that, and thought she'd be the nuisance slowing them down if she joined the team? Was she crazy?! Knowing she punched like that, Ino was incredibly glad she got Sakura those gloves…

"Uhh…" Sakura hadn't really expected that reaction. It occurred to her that the only ones who knew about her chakra enhanced strength training were Tsunade, Shizune, Kurenai, and Hinata, the latter two only because they'd been the ones available when she got the idea to test extreme chakra consumption through her enhanced strength as a control method for her reactions.

Ino sighed. "Come here." Sakura approached a little hesitantly, somewhat afraid her friend might punch her for not having told her, but Ino simply grabbed Sakura's hand and pulled off her leather glove, revealing her banged up knuckles. Medical chakra engulfed Sakura's hand as Ino began healing it.

"Even if we're medical ninja, it's hard to heal your own fist, right?" Ino muttered. "You know, you should tell us if you have a move like that up your sleeve!" She admonished further.

"You probably have more power than I do, since yours is instantaneous." Choji acknowledged, leaning back against the dead scorpion with his arms behind his head—it was definitely a guy thing.

"Oh…I don't know about that…" Sakura murmured self consciously glancing to the side. It depended largely on how much chakra she put into her punch, and she was so limited because of her seal…

Ino stared down at Sakura's hand in silent frustration, her eyes reflecting the green light of her healing chakra. Ultimately, she didn't mind being second to Sakura in medical skill. Sakura unfortunately had years of training and experience with it—since she was eight. But she'd wanted to learn medical ninjutsu in the first place because she was part of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio. She wanted to be able to do her part for them, but with her clan jutsu requiring several years to master, medical ninjutsu had seemed like the only option. She'd worked on her clan jutsu more, but she was still nowhere near mastering it…and right now, she felt like she wasn't carrying her weight as she should…maybe she should have practiced her clan jutsu more, instead of trying to learn medical ninjutsu…

It's so you can keep up with them, and protect the Ino-Shika-Cho tradition, and our clan's tradition. That's why I must pass on our secret ninjutsu to you.

Her father's words rang loudly in her head. Team 10 was where she belonged, but…

Without a doubt it will take several years to master the secret ninjutsu.

Maybe she'd just been running away, thinking medical ninjutsu was the easy way out…

"There! That should do it!" Ino said, giving Sakura's healed hand a light slap. She glanced back at Choji, lounging against the side of the scorpion. His expansion jutsu was way more than it used to be. The size, power, and duration of it…he'd improved so much from before. Shikamaru was already a chunin, and she knew from team training that he'd already begun progressing his shadow jutsu to the next level, shadow stitching, being able to bring his shadows off the ground into a three dimensional plain to interact with tangible objects and people. They'd both progressed so much in their clan's traditions. And she…

Ino's fist tightened, as she stepped out to look at the star studded horizon. "Both of you have really progressed. I have to try harder too!" She announced giving an enthusiastic fist pump.

"Yup!" Choji agreed rising to his feet. "Let's aim to pass the chunin exams and do our best! So we can catch up with Shikamaru!" Before he could say anything more, his stomach gave a loud rumble.

Sakura let out an amused huff. "Yeah well…making sure we eat is important too." She was painfully hungry as well, and there'd be no doing their best without sustenance and water. She pushed herself up and got to work extracting water and processing meat from the scorpion, ignoring the first confused and then gradually horrified looks of Ino and Choji.

Hours later, the sky well into night, they sat around a campfire, Ino and Choji eying the suspicious chunks of whitish meat cooking on sticks.

Sakura finished storing the water she'd been able to extract and let out a quiet breath, subtly wiping the sweat from her brow—which felt feverishly warm thanks to her seal and exertion. She stood still for a second, her back to her team, letting the cold night air wash over her as her head buzzed. She took a few sips of the scorpion water before joining Ino and Choji by the fire.

"Oh good! These are all done!" She said brightly, picking up one of the sticks and handing it to Choji.

He eyed it with trepidation. "I never turn down offers of food. I know that's my ninja way, but…" He trailed of his voice quavering as he shakily accepted the skewer.

"What are you talking about? Once you process it, that scorpion's toxin becomes medicinal!" Sakura explained brightly. She genuinely didn't see what the big deal was…Having grown up with not much money or food, she'd had to get creative with meals and food sources on more than one occasion. There'd been one desprate occasion where she'd eaten rat before. Sakura was far from picky when it came to food. The only line she would never cross was eating bugs…they were too creepy.

"So that battle…was to gather provisions?!" Ino gasped.

"It's rich in amino acids and perfect for healing." Sakura said, holding up the stick of meat proudly. "I also extracted some water for us, so we should be able to hold out now until we find an oasis. Come on, let's eat!" Really she was starving. Sakura took a big bite of her scorpion chunk. It was exceedingly tough and chewy, not ripping from the rest of the meat too easily, but it eventually gave way. Taste-wise it wasn't even the worst thing she'd eaten. A bit like beef jerky with a slightly fishy after taste.

Ino and Choji exchanged a glance, before Ino sighed sadly. "You never were picky…" She knew Sakura hadn't been entitled to be picky about food, but she never realized how far that went…her best friend really was stronger than anyone she'd ever met. And Ino would support her always…but she also wasn't going to let herself fall too far behind either. Sakura was invaluable to team 7, even it there was no team 7 at the moment. And Ino would make sure she was the same for team 10, no matter how long it took to master her clan's jutsu.

---

They got up just before dawn the next day to get a move on. They had exactly forty eight hours left. They'd stop by the oasis and then head straight for the tower. Sakura felt better than she had starting out on the first day. She'd had less sleep, but at least she had food, even if it hadn't been much, the scorpion meat had been nutrient dense. When the sky first started lightening, each one had climbed to the top of a different dune to get a better vantage point. It had been Ino who spotted the oasis in the distance. Now with a correct heading, and the promise of clean water that didn't come from a scorpion, the team's spirits had lifted considerably. But they were even more motivated by their lack of provisions. Ino had managed to choke down one hunk of scorpion meat last night, Choji managed two, and Sakura had finished the rest, as they had no good way to transport them, not that that felt like a loss to Ino or Choji. But they were now without food and the only water they had left was scorpion water. Their provisions were definitely in trouble.

They ran at a fast pace, Ino and Sakura shoulder to shoulder in the front with Choji bringing up the rear. Ino glanced over at Sakura.

"We have to reach the oasis by sometime today. Within the next few hours. Otherwise our provisions are going to be in trouble." Ino informed her.

"We have the water I extracted from the giant scorpion, so we can still get by." Sakura answered calmly. Ultimately she was worried about it too. It wasn't like she liked drinking second hand water from a scorpion, but she was also highly aware that beggars couldn't be choosers. And this was the sort of worry she'd always been good at hiding. She was the one leading this team. If she panicked, so did they, and that wouldn't be productive.

Ino did not have the beggars can't be choosers mentality. As a shinobi she could put up with a lot, but there were some places she drew the line. "Ugh! I refuse to 'get by' with scorpion water for the rest of the chunin exams!"

Choji gave a weak chuckle of agreement with her. Scorpion meat had not been something he'd been proud to eat and surviving on scorpion water seemed almost equally unappealing.

They continued their run, nearly reaching the oasis within an hour and a half, but three Suna ninja appeared in front of them, right before they reached it.

Ino, Choji, and Sakura slowed to a stop. Sakura's eyes widened in recognition of one of them. The Suna medical nin who'd come out and healed her during the scorpion attack at the check point.

"That's…" Sakura felt her insecurity begin to rise again, just as it had when the girl had healed her before, so she quickly shifted her focus to the other two. One was an attractive, muscular boy with sandy hair, slightly messy, swept over one side of his face in a side bang. He had a brown vest on with a scroll strapped on over the left breast, and wore gloves similar to Sakura's.

"If the muscles and gloves are any indication he's probably a close combat taijutsu type…we have all of our scrolls, and I can't tell if the scroll he's wearing is one of the exam scrolls or a jutsu scroll, but if it's one of the exam ones…He must be very confident in his skills to just wear it out in the open like that…"

Her gaze shifted to the other ninja to the girls right. His face was concerningly gaunt and it gave him the look of being older than the other two, though it was unclear if he was or not. His clothes, stance, and body shape left no clues as to what his fighting style was. The guy was a total wildcard.

That forced Sakura's attention back to the beautiful medic. "Tsunade-sama set a standard around all the nations for medical ninja not to be in combat. So there's a chance she'll leave the fighting to the other two…I'd say that chance is pretty small though, given her stance and how she's the one in the middle-front position. Still, she takes her job seriously—enough to heal an enemy the night before the test. So if she does fight, it'll probably be more like Tsunade-sama's style—with an emphasis on evasion…like me…"

"I'm Ameno. And these are my teammates, Koji and Shishio." The pretty medical ninja greeted with a cool and calm voice, indicating the attractive sandy blonde, and the older looking gaunt one respectively. "Please hand over your scroll. Then we will allow you to access the water in the oasis up ahead. And if you wish, medical treatment."

Sakura tried not to let the last part of that offer feel like a personal slight, but she failed miserably. The sinking feeling in her stomach grew worse.

"What?!" Ino shouted indignantly, a fist rising in front of her face in challenge. "We don't need to be treated by you! We have our own medical specialist!" She gestured with her thumb to Sakura. Seriously! Who did this Suna girl think she was offering them medical treatment when they had Lady Tsunade's apprentice on their squad! As if this girl could even hold a candle to Sakura's medical skill!

"Pig…" Sakura murmured, smiling softly at her best friend, her stomach rising a little from the pit it had been sinking into. "…we have more than just one medical specialist…" She added softly, making Ino's eyes widen slightly and her face flush a little, at Sakura's acknowledgement, though all and all her expression remained indignant and turned on the Suna ninja.

"That's right!" Choji affirmed. "Besides, no one told us the oasis's water belonged to anyone."

"You tell 'em Choji!" Ino cheered. "Sakura-chan, you tell 'em too!"

Sakura released a small breath, turning to Ino. In this case, her role was the same as it would have been on team 7, if the other two got fired up, then she had to remain level headed.

"We don't need treatment, but we definitely need water."

"Hey, we'll lose even before we fight, if you get weak like that!" Ino admonished, charging forward, missing how Sakura flinched.

"Wait! Ino-chan—!"

It was too late. Ino already initiated combat, leaping up and throwing a kunai at the Suna nin. The gaunt one, Shishio, stepped forward, forming hand signs. "Sand formation: Shisa!" He thrust his palm to the ground and three sand lions infused with chakra burst out, one of them blocking the kunai and the other charging right at Ino, slamming into her hard.

Ino let out a cry of pain and went skidding backward, kicking up sand. Sakura caught her. "Pig! Are you okay?!" She received no answer. It seemed like Ino was knocked out. Sakura laid her down gently.

"So she was a pawn?" Shishio drawled.

Sakura's jaw clenched, as she turned to face the three ninja, her eyes burning with anger like green flames.

"How dare they hurt my best friend! They're gonna pay for that, shannaro! No one gets away with hurting my friends!"

"Jumping within my attack range without taking any precautions…" Shishio continued.

"I heard this team had two medical ninja and was curious, but she doesn't seem to have the cool-headed judgement required of a medical ninja. How disappointing that my expectations were unwarranted." Ameno agreed.

"Shut up! Don't you dare disrespect her like that! Shannaro! Besides that was a tactical move," which was a bluff but they didn't need to know that if it shut them up, "I wasn't sure what your style was, but I get it now. You specialize in ninjutsu and mid range combat."

"I'm missing something…she said she knew there were two medical ninja on this team. I'm Tusnade-sama's apprentice and performed a procedure on Gaara-kun, so she might know of me…but how'd she know about Ino-chan?"

"If that was your strategy, it's a pretty poor one. Some leader you are, sacrificing a comrade to reveal just a single one of your opponents many moves." Shishio chided.

Sakura had no come back. He totally had her there. Not that Ino's impulsive decision had been a combat strategy that she ordered. She'd made that up for Ino's defense…but even so the criticism shot right to her core.

"I should have calmed Ino-pig down, or reigned her in a bit! I'm acting as their leader right now, shannaro! She would have never gotten hurt if Shikamaru was here! He'd have stopped her from doing anything rash! And what if it was Naruto?! He's ten times more impulsive than Ino-chan and with everything he's up against, he can't afford to be reckless! What if I don't stop him when the time comes?!"

There's nothing more you can do preemptively, so don't make it a problem until it is one…

…don't try to solve everything at once because it'll be impossible and only make things harder on yourself. Just maintain the seal, and handle each thing as it comes…

"That's right. It's just like what Sasuke-kun and mom have said to me. We'll worry about Naruto when the time comes, but that's not right now. Right now, worry about surviving this exam—no even smaller than that, shannaro! Just worry about Ino-pig, Choji and this fight. We'll handle the rest of the test after!"

Her resolve resolidified, and she slipped into a battle ready stance—which, for her, was much the same as a dance stance. From the corner of her eye, she saw Choji do the same. She'd heal Ino after the fight, but in this situation, she had to take care of the enemy first.

"So that means no more negotiating." The attractive sandy-haired one, Koji, said.

"Seems that way." Ameno agreed.

"Damn straight! You just fired us up, shannaro!" She glanced over at Choji, who stepped up, in line with her. "Choji and I are gonna break through your line of defense!"

Sakura and Choji charged forward, Ameno and Koji running forward to meet them.

"Medical water style! Water praying mantis jutsu!" Ameno shouted, water bubbling up around her hands and surrounding them, taking the shape of a praying mantis's forelegs. She took a violent swipe at Sakura, who did a backbend, barely dodging in time, watching as a few strands of severed hair flew around her from where the watery forelegs had made contact.

"It's not an ordinary water blade. They're as sharp as chakra scalpels. No wonder she wanted to be near an Oasis. There's not enough water anywhere else for her attacks to work properly."

"Don't worry, once we get your scroll, I'll treat any injury I give you."

"Stop looking down on me, shannaro!"

"Yeah, that really won't be necessary." Sakura said jumping to avoid her kick.

"She's very strong…and as a medical ninja she'll know just where to slice to incapacitate me with one hit, and then who'll be there to heal Ino-pig, or Choji? I can't let myself get hit by her attacks…ok, Sakura. Remember your training. Watch and analyze…She's right handed and left footed."

Sakura wasn't able to keep track of Choji's fight. He and Koji were fighting far more directly than she and Ameno were. The sandy haired ninja had the ability to summon sand around him and form it into dense, heavy, weaponry like mallets and shields. He was strong enough to easily wield them and block Choji's enlarged fist. The sand was so hard, it was even solid enough to severely bruise Choji's fist.

Ameno kept after Sakura with quick and continuous swipes, but Sakura managed to dance out of the way each and every time, her eyes never leaving Ameno, reading and analyzing each attack.

"I can't dodge and dance forever. Moving like this doesn't eat through too much chakra, but still, it takes some and I don't have enough at my disposal. Plus we need to get to the tower. I'm not gonna get a chance to significantly rest after this. What I really need is an opening to counter attack. I don't even need to enhance my punch too much…she's a medical ninja who takes her job seriously and offered to heal us…maybe I shouldn't even waste chakra on a punch at all."

Ameno was thoroughly impressed. It was amazing, to think this girl could see through so many successive attacks…she hadn't landed a single hit! Lady Tsunade's apprentice sure was skilled!

Ameno lunged forward, stabbing at Sakura with one of the mantis forelegs, but Sakura sunk into a deep backbend, the jab sailing safely over her. She quickly did a back handspring, putting more distance between her and Ameno, when the other medic withdrew her thrust and spun around. Ameno attempted to roundhouse kick her, but Sakura had already read her movement and jumped gracefully into the air, the kick sailing under her feet.

"Now's my chance!"

"Haaa!" Sakura twisted herself in midair, giving her fist even more momentum as she came down on Ameno, knocking her several meters back.

Choji continuously struck at Koji, but the leaner man dodged each swing with ease. He blocked Choji's punch with his sand shield.

"Your attacks are boring." He muttered, but as he leaned out from behind his defense to say it, Choji managed a blind swing at his opponent, knocking Koji back towards Ameno as well.

"You seem to be having a hard time." She muttered to him as he recovered from the hit.

"Not as hard as you." Koji countered. His attention had mostly been on his own fight, but from what he'd caught of Ameno's, he would have hated to have that pink haired girl as an opponent…he'd never land a hit on her, and she'd probably be able to slip past his defense with all that agility.

"You two are fooling around too much." Shishio cut in, stepping up to join them.

"Did you finish infusing chakra?" Koji asked, glancing at their gaunt team member.

"Here I go!" Shishio knelt brining his hands to the ground. "Polarized Sand Style! Burning Sand Camouflage!"

Sparkling sand snaked its way to Ameno and Koji, wrapping around them from their feet up and turning them completely invisible.

"They disappeared!" Sakura gasped, squinting at the space where they had been moments ago. She could barely even see a distortion.

"Hinata-chan's byakugan would be really helpful just about now…"

Choji suddenly let out a cry as he was hit by an invisible attack and sent flying backwards.

"Choji!" Sakura shouted, her attention jumping to her injured comrade, but the second Sakura turned her face, a punch sent her colliding painfully into the ground. She stayed down, her eyes glancing to the side to pick up any distortions from the enemy.

"This isn't the time to be worried about others." Ameno's voice sounded at her back. Sakura, predicting her kick, rolled away and flipped up onto her feet gracefully. Her eyes narrowed at the spot where she estimated Ameno to be.

"Come on Sakura, think! How do we get out of this one…"

Choji was taking a beating from Koji, now that Koji wasn't visible. Choji never had been one for deeply analyzing his opponents, as that normally feel on Shikamaru, and reading movements and attack patterns wasn't a strong skillset of his either. Now that his opponent was invisible, he really was stuck…it was a really bad situation.

"Now, how will you fight what you can't see?" Shishio drawled, as his sand engulfed him as well, hiding him from view.

A memory of a clearing covered in mist flashed through Sakura's mind.

"In the battle with Zabuza, we tried to protect the bridge builder by covering all sides, facing away from him…Zabuza still managed to attack from the center, but that's was only because of how skilled he was…in other words, our best bet is to fight back to back!"

"Choji!" Sakura shouted running over to him, keeping her eyes peeled for any distortion that might signal an enemy attack. "If we scatter we'll be at a disadvantage. You got my back?"

"Uh—uh huh!" Choji nodded, glad that Sakura had as least come up with something. They pressed their backs together, preparing for then next onslaught, but no sooner had they done that, then an enemy dropped down on them from above, forcing them apart and sending up a cloud of dirt from the impact.

Ino had awoken shortly after the enemy had become invisible, though she hadn't gotten up as her body hurt too much from the hit she took. She watched her friends trying to fight a battle against invisible opponents, feeling absolutely helpless.

"Sakura…Choji…" She had to do something…She thought back to the time she'd been training with team 10 in the Nara's forest. She hadn't mastered sensory perception yet. She'd been hoping she could at least get that part of her clan's ninjutsu down before the exam but she hadn't. If her concentration lapsed even a little, her sensory perception wouldn't work. She wouldn't be able to use it in actual battle.

You can't use it in battle, that's for sure. However, it's these little tricks you think you can't use that somehow work in an unexpected surprise attack.

Shikamaru's advice sounded through her head. No one's attention was on her now. They all thought she was completely out of commission. That meant she had time to focus. She might be able to pull off her sensory perception, and it would be just what her team needed to be able to fight back.

Sakura pushed herself off the ground painfully. Heat and exhaustion were really starting to get to her…

"Not yet…it can't end like this."

Choji had a similar thought as he pushed himself up as well.

"Let's finish things up here." Shishio decided.

"Choji, watch out!" Sakura warned, knowing an attack was coming.

"How do I watch out for an opponent I can't see?" Choji demanded, frustration saturating his tone.

"I'm working on it!" Sakura growled, her short temper made shorter by the extreme heat, ever pulling exhaustion, and dire circumstances.

"Forehead, Choji! Six O'clock!" Ino shouted.

Sakura reacted immediate, pivoting gracefully and delivering a sharp chakra infused kick to Ameno. Choji responded fast as well, being very used to working in a team with Ino and Shikamaru, and whirled around thrusting an enlarged fist straight into Koji's stomach. The two went flying, bouncing off each other in midair.

"All right!" Ino cheered. "Thanks for the hint Shikamaru! If there's no time to spare, you just have to steal some. I pretended to be a pawn to buy some time and use my sensory perception." Well, the last bit was a lie. She turned into a pawn because she'd been impulsive and hot headed, but it came with the benefit of buying her enough time to use her sensory perception, so she'd just play this out like she'd planned it all along.

"Oh did you?" Sakura drawled, seeing right through her lie, while focusing fifteen percent of her chakra into healing Choji. "Damnit Pig! Don't be too proud of yourself for fooling us too. I thought he got you, Shannaro!" She'd been really worried about her.

Ino softened slightly, though Sakura and Choji were in front of her and couldn't see it. She sometimes forgot how much her best friend cared and worried about her. They'd gone from not being friends at all, to being best friends again, to being best friends who rarely saw each other because they were both so busy with missions and training. It was easy for her to forget just how much importance she held in Sakura's mind.

"Now, now…" Choji tried to placate, not able to see Ino to tell what her reaction to Sakura's anger would be. He could have gotten whiplash from how quickly the two seemed to go from friendly support to extreme concern to competitive and arguing.

Unfortunately, their battle wasn't over yet. Ameno and Koji were both getting back up, and they appeared to have some sort of…jellyfish attached to their fronts.

"I never would have thought there'd be a sensory perception user among you." Shishio murmured.

"To think we had to use these…" Koji muttered.

"You can't buy time with damage this small." Ameno said.

"What? What the hell is going on?!" Ino shrieked.

Sakura's eyes narrowed at the jellyfish attached to them. They bore a resemblance to the water praying mantis forelegs Ameno had used before—water which had been as sharp as a chakra scalpel…water style mixed with medical ninjutsu.

"So that's why she feels safe fighting in direct combat. It's not like the Hundred Healings, but it is a way to heal any damage taken…though it's only for a finite amount of chakra. That probably wouldn't be enough to get her out of any fatal damage…still. To utilize elemental ninjutsu like that and fuse it so perfectly with medical ninjutsu…and she's undone the damage so quickly…she's really good…"

"Preemptive self healing." Sakura said, her eyes never leaving the water jellyfish.

"What was that?" Ino asked, turning to Sakura.

"She prepared those ahead of time. Infused that water style ninjutsu with medical ninjutsu to heal any damage their bodies took durning battle."

"Th-that's possible?!"

She didn't know that half of it. Just wait until she learned what that mark on Lady Tsunade's forehead was capable of.

"Why didn't you do something like that?!" Ino demanded. She had no doubts her friend was going to be one of the best medical ninja ever, but that medical jellyfish seemed really useful and Sakura had never done anything like that!

Sakura twitched, caught between embarrassment that she didn't have the elemental skill necessary for such a move, frustration at how weak she was and how long the seal took, and annoyance at herself for not being better than she was…for putting them in this situation.

"I can't…" Sakura hissed through gritted teeth, seething at having to speak her own weakness into the light of day.

"Damnit Boar! What the hell?!"

"That's right. I prepared these ahead of time. Medical Water Style. Water Jellyfish." Ameno agreed. "If it weren't for this self-healing…"

"We'd have been in big trouble." Koji finished. The water jellyfish dispersed, leaving only a slip of paper hugging their chests, which they both peeled off and let the wind take.

"That must have been the jutsu formula she used. I was right about them only having a finite amount of time or power in them…let's just hope she didn't prepare any more…"

"Koji, Shishio! I'm out of jellyfish, but can you still continue?" Ameno asked, confirming Sakura's hope.

Koji didn't answer, his stance simple switching into a fighting one.

"Sure, this time I'll make sure to block all sensing." Shishio answered. The sand glittered around them, and Kouji and Ameno once again vanished.

"Choji! Sakura! I'll track them with—" Ino called, her fingers already in a sign to allow her to focus, ready to sense the enemy and make her friends aware of their location—but something was wrong. Golden sand glittered in the air around her, and she couldn't seem to pick up anything clearly. It all felt as fuzzy as the desert sand. She dropped her hand sign looking around at the glittering air. "Th-This is a sensory barrier?!"

"Blinding Sand Formation! Noise!" Shishio called, finalizing his sensory barrier around the hotheaded, pretty, blond. He wasn't about to be outdone by her. Sensing and sensory blocking was his specialty. "I won't let you sense us anymore!"

Another one of his sand lions hit Ino from behind, knocking her to the ground again and planting a paw against her back, keeping her immobilized.

"Pig!" Sakura shouted, but she didn't manage a step before their invisible opponents attacked again, forcing her attention away.

"Be grateful to Ameno. She gets really upset if I do too much damage." Shishio's disembodied voice came not too far from Ino, while she watched her friends get attacked without any sort of way to counter.

Sakura whirled around, keeping her ears peeled for any indication of Ameno's presence.

"So far, even though she's invisible, every attack has come from what would normally be a blind spot…she attacks from behind, above, or the sides, but never head on. So right now she's gonna…"

Sakura pivoted back, just in time, feeling the wind from Ameno's fist as it slid by her.

"This is bad…even if I can manage to dodge, there's nothing I can do to attack back at the moment. If I use a punch strong enough to disrupt the terrain, I'll be near empty. I didn't fully finish healing Choji earlier and Ino-pig's hurt now. Plus we still need to make it to the tower and I who knows what trouble we might hit along the way. I can't waist my chakra like that, especially since there's no guarantee they won't dodge it in time. I don't have a clear enough shot for the body pathway derangement jutsu, and using dancer's style taijutsu has always been dependent on seeing the target…I need to think of something! Come on, Sakura! Think damnit!"

Ino shook under the sand lions paw. If she couldn't sense them, she couldn't get into mind transfer mode. But she could contact Sakura and Choji with mind transmission.

"Forehead! Choji! Can you hear me?" Ino's voice rang in both their minds.

"I-I can hear you!" Choji thought back, though the communication reached Ino alone.

"Pig, can you do something to sense the enemy?" Sakura asked without preamble. They needed a plan fast.

"My sensory perceptions being blocked. But the enemy's attack follows a pattern."

"That's pretty obvious!" Sakura pointed out having already analyzed as much—she hadn't had all those painful evasion lessons for nothing.

"The enemy always attacks from your blind spots." Ino agreed.

Sakura turned, watching a flicker as Choji was kicked in the back, falling to the ground. "Like just now, I can see Choji's opponent. Except it's already too late by the time I see them coming."

Ino felt an overwhelming sense of uselessness as she thought about her clan jutsu. The mind transmission was risky and she hadn't yet mastered it. Connecting multiple people, transmitting their thoughts to each other instantaneously, and over a wide scope…all of that depended on the skill of the user. The higher the level, the farther, stronger, faster, wider, the mind transmission could reach. And when done right, the strength of a comrades feelings could be felt through the transmission. But Ino wasn't at that level yet. She couldn't even connect two people at once yet. She'd only just scratched the surface of the mind transmission jutsu. If only she'd spent more time training it…if only she had spent the time she used on learning medical ninjutsu to practice her clan techniques with her dad instead…

That happened because your chakra control is too rough. You have to fine tune your method…Control your chakra more delicately!

Ino's eyes widened. Chakra control was the key! If she didn't train her jutsu earlier like she should have, she'd just have to do it now…and even if she hadn't trained the jutsu itself, she had trained the key to properly executing it. Chakra control. How different could connecting multiple minds at once be from resuscitating multiple octopus hearts at once?

"Forhead! Choji! Listen up! I'm gonna connect your thoughts to each other."

Both let out a surprised "Huh?!"

"You can do that?!" Sakura questioned, having been privy to many of Ino's rants about how hard and dangerous her clan ninjutsu was.

"It doesn't matter whether I can or not…I have to do it. I have to raise my level much, much more."

Breathe, Pig. You're holding your breath. You can't help something breathe again if you're not going to breathe yourself.

Ino took a deep breath, exhaling with the activation of her jutsu. "Mind transmission jutsu!" She had to send Sakura's thoughts to Choji. It was an effort, and she had to keep reminding herself to breathe, not hold her breath, but she received Sakura's thoughts. Now to relay them to Choji. She passed along the Sakura's thoughts and perceptions successfully, causing Choji's eyes to widen in understanding. Ino mentally cheered at having succeeded.

"I saw something, but at this rate, I won't make it in time." Choj said, only just managing to block the invisible attack.

Ino wanted to growl in frustration, but it wouldn't help. Transmitting took too long. She just had to get better, faster…more direct. She had to send Sakura's thoughts straight to Choji, without using herself as a relay.

"Come on, it's just like resucitating three octopus hearts at once…And I managed to do a whole octopus…I can do this!" Ino muttered to herself, refocusing. She'd never managed it before, but she would now. She had too. Just like when she healed the octopus…she hadn't successfully resuscitated it once before her test, but she managed it when it counted. Now it counted. She had to get this.

She began sending Sakura's thoughts straight to Choji, but it was hard. She could feel the thought impulse trying to come to her instead of going straight to him, but she wouldn't let it. She couldn't give up. She had to raise the level of her mind transmission! Her nose started bleeding with the effort, but Ino didn't even notice. The vein on her forehead pounded with effort, but finally, she did it. Sakura's thoughts reached Choji directly, fast enough for him to counter the attack.

He spun around, uppercutting with his enlarged fist, squarely hitting Kouji and sending him flying. Now it was Sakura's turn. Choji turned, watching Sakura carefully for the moment when her opponent flickered into visual existence before attacking.

Now that iNo had cracked the code on it once, it was easier to do the direct mind transmission a second time. Plus, Sakura was already aware of her opponents attack pattern, and had been able to dodge and block for a while, but now she knew where Ameno was and was fully able to counter. Sakura gracefully pivoted, putting two percent of her chakra into her punch, her fist slamming into Ameno's middle and sending her through the sand lion immobilizing Ino.

"How?" Shishio gasped, as Ameno hit the ground by his feet.

Ino pushed herself up, breathing hard.

"How could you…impossible!" He didn't understand it. How had she beaten his sensory barrier?!

Ino wiped the blood from her nose. "Intense feelings decided the outcome of this battle." Her intense feelings. Her determination to get it, to level up her mind transmission.

"Pig, you still up to a fight?" Sakura asked, concerned. That mind transmission must have taken a lot out of her best friend, seeing as she hadn't mastered the jutsu yet. She'd probably used more chakra than necessary to get it to work. Not that Sakura could really talk. She'd used up eighteen percent of her own chakra, which only left her with twenty-two percent. And the heat and terrain were making even natural movements tiring and more foreign.

"Of course!" Ino said confidently. She didn't care how tired she was. She was buzzing with pride. She'd leveled up her mind transmission. She wasn't a failure as a Yamanaka and she wouldn't let Choji and Shikamaru down! She felt like she could fight forever if she had to.

"Then let's finish this!" Choji said, pounding his fists together.

"Right!" Ino agreed enthusiastically.

"W-Wait!" Shishio gasped, putting up placating hands.

"This is it!" Team Asuma chorused, running at him, as he took off running away with cries of surrender.

---

Team Asuma and Team Ameno sat under a tent pitched by the oasis, Ameno healing Choji, while Sakura took care of Kouji and Ino patched up Shishio. Sakura hadn't taken too much damage, evading almost every hit except for the initial invisible attacks, and she hadn't used too much chakra on her punches, issuing only minor damage to Ameno, so the two hadn't required much healing in the first place. Choji and Kouji however had traded hard blows fairly consistently and there was a good amount of damage to both. Ino, who was less skilled in medical ninjutsu than Sakura and Ameno took care of Shishio, whose damage was fairly minor as well.

"All right, that should do it." Ameno said, finishing healing the last of the bruises on Choji's fist.

"We're in the middle of the chunin exams, and we're on opposite sides, so thank you." Choji smiled.

"I'm a medical kunoichi. It's what we do." Ameno said, glancing over at Sakura, who was still working on Kouji. He'd sustained several broken ribs, which were a far more delicate healing process than Choji's fractured forearms and knuckles.

Choji chuckled scratching the back of his head. "Is it any wonder guys love medical kunoichi?!" He certainly had a thing for them. Every time he was hospitalized, he'd flirted with every nurse he had.

"Why are you saying that nonsense again?!" Ino shouted. Apparently it wasn't the first time Choji pitched this theory.

The tent burst out in laughter. Even Sakura joined in, despite her focus and exhaustion. Kouji chuckled too, any pain it caused in his ribs being immediately soothed by Sakura's chakra. He thought she might just be more skilled than Ameno, with how relaxed he felt and how quickly she was mending him.

"Why? Medical kunoichi are cute!" Choji defended, resulting in another burst of laughter.

When everyone was fully healed, team Asuma gathered clean, fresh, water, and got ready to depart.

"Well, let's get going now." Sakura announced, seeing that all their provisions were restocked.

"But are you sure about this?" Ameno asked, feeling a little bad that all they were offering up was water. Sakura's team beat them fair and square. They were well within their rights to take their scroll.

"Yes. We have both our scrolls. Just the water itself is appreciated." Sakura smiled.

"But…" Ameno still looked a little unsure.

"Talk about a complete defeat." Kouji agreed. He was just more than glad Sakura hadn't been his opponent. He would have felt bad about hitting someone so delicate looking—assuming he'd even land a hit on her which he probably wouldn't have. She'd have read his attacks within the first two swings, and it would have been exhausting to maintain his sand weaponry that long. He was more than satisfied with Choji as his opponent. Good old fashioned brawling was much more his speed. And Choji had a lot of power in his hits. He was a worthy rival. One he wouldn't lose to next time. "Well, we'll get both our scrolls and get our revenge in the third exam." He said, holding out his fist to Choji, who smiled and nodded.

"Yup. I don't consider this a victory either. So let's settle it next time we meet." Choji said, tapping his fist against Kouji's in agreement.

"The barrier you put up against my sensory perception was really tough." Ino told Shishio.

"No, we underestimated your skill. That was our downfall." He'd been wrong about everything he said about the blond girl.

Sakura turned to her best friend, smiling. "He's right, Pig! When'd you learn to do that anyway?!"

"Well, heh…" She didn't really want to admit to her best friend that she'd just gambled their lives on her skill level and got lucky. Trying to cover her ass, she laughed cockily. "I am Tsunade-sama's apprentice too, after all!" Not quite an answer, but it wasn't a lie either. She'd have never gotten it without Tsunade's medical training on the octopus. And Sakura had been a big part of that success too. Her smile softened as she looked at her friend, who'd turned her attention back to the now friendly Suna nin.

"Well said!" Choji supported—team 10 always had been big on mutual support—"anyway, we'll be going this way." Choji said, pointing to the north east, opposite the direction they'd come from.

"And we'll go this way." Ameno agreed, pointing to the north west.

The two groups split from the oasis, heading off in their own directions to eventually reach the tower.

"Those guys were pretty formidable. Who knows what would have happened if you weren't here, Ino." Choji complimented.

"Don't say that. You two bought me time. That's why. If you two didn't give it your all, who knows…?" Really her training as a medical ninja had saved her butt. Calm decision making, delicate chakra control. Who knew what may have happened if she hadn't learned those? But it all helped her grow, and pushed her in the direction she needed to go. "All right, let's do our best and reach our goal!" Ino cheered, spiritedly.

"Okay!" Choji agreed enthusiastically.

Sakura remained silent the whole time. The twenty-two percent of her chakra she had left had been significantly reduced while healing Kouji. She now had just twelve percent of her chakra remaining. It was hot, the terrain was uneven and foreign, and her mind was buzzing in an unfocused way. Every step she took felt like she was wearing fifty percent chakra weights again. They were still far from the tower with a good chance they'd come across another enemy…and Sakura doubted she could make it.

"We shouldn't go straight for the tower, there's a high probability of ambush. Let's skirt east and come at it from the side." It would be a longer trek, but the less likelihood of battle, the better off they'd be. Choji agreed without further question, and while Ino didn't look wildly thrilled with the idea, but she readily agreed none the less.

---

They'd wandered another three hours, Sakura watching the distance between her and the other two steadily grow as she fell more and more behind.

"Hey, we have both our scrolls, so let's just head straight for the tower." Ino whined, ready to abandon the plan in the face of the insufferable heat.

"I wish we could, but there's a high risk of getting ambushed. We should stick to Sakura's plan and take the detour." Choji countered. He was positive Shikamaru would have recommended the same thing, which made him all the more inclined to trust Sakura's choice. Besides he knew Shikamaru had personally asked Sakura to take his place as the brains of the team after Ino failed the first time. Shikamaru trusted Sakura's intelligence and leadership enough to stand in for his own, so Choji trusted her too. Although, he knew with Ino this wasn't so much a lack of trust as it was patience. Ino trusted Sakura from one end of the continent to the other, it's why she agreed despite wanting to finish the test. What was showing now was simply her patience failing. Choji expected Sakura to weigh in too, so when she didn't, he glanced back. Sakura had stopped a small distance back from them.

"…Sakura?" He questioned, but his confusion turned into alarm when Sakura abruptly fell forward, seemingly unconscious.

"Sakura-chan!" Ino cried, having looked back when Choji called her best friend's name, and seen everything. A few seconds later she was by her side, kneeling to check her condition.

"Is she alright?" Choji asked in concern, having come to Sakura's side as well.

"I…I don't know. Physically she's fine but…" This was the second time Sakura had more or less gone unconscious, the first being back when they reached the checkpoint. Her forehead felt hot, she was sweating and breathing heavily, but it was impossible to tell whether that was just because of the blazing sun and burning temperatures, or if that was the byproduct of a fever. Ino couldn't detect anything with her chakra scan, but she never was as good at it as Sakura was. It could have just been exhaustion, but why? Why was Sakura so tired all of the sudden? What was Lady Tsunade putting her through?!

"We…" Ino didn't know what to do and felt herself starting to panic. She may have been trained in medical ninjutsu, but mainly on the kinds to heal injuries, not illness. She hadn't read the vast library of the fish market, and didn't know how to diagnose and treat everything like Sakura did. Plus this was Sakura! Her best friend! How could she be calm and rational when her expert medic best friend was passed out due to an unknown cause?!

Breathe, Pig. You're holding your breath. You can't help something breathe again if you're not going to breathe yourself.

That was right. She had to take a deep breath. Sakura needed her right now, she couldn't afford to panic. Ino closed her eyes feeling the dry desert oxygen fill her lungs, and released her breath slowly. What would Sakura do in this situation?

"Whatever's wrong, she needs to rest, and we need to get her out of the sun." Ino decided. Choji nodded scooping Sakura up easily and following Ino as they set off in search of some modicum of shade.

---

Sakura stood in a strange dark cavern, to the side of a large stream, which trickled into a very large dam that wasn't even a quarter of the way full. The stream forked several meters before the large dam, into a small offshoot leading to a much smaller dam. Sakura walked towards the small dam and peaked in. It was nearly empty, only a small puddle of water at the bottom. Except now that she was looking closer, there was something strange about the water. It sparkled and flowed the way water did, but it looked less like a liquid and more like…something less solid. Gas? Energy?

She knew what this was. This was how she visualized the hundred healings seal, and her own chakra. She was looking at her two, very low, chakra reservoirs. The larger one, not even a quarter of the way full, was the hundred healings…she couldn't pull chakra from it. Not for another two years and nine and a half months. The smaller one was the dam she used for her everyday chakra…and she was really scraping the bottom of the barrel right now.

"I may have made a mistake…" She muttered, her voice echoing loudly, regardless of how quietly she'd spoken.

"You think?" She looked up and saw Tsunade standing with her arms crossed, looking down into the empty reserve, a frown marring her beautiful face. "I warned you about coming here."

"I know…but I…I had to prove to myself that I could do this…"

Tsunade quirked an eyebrow. "Can you? What you're doing right now, the Strength of a Hundred sealing process is something almost super-human. I wouldn't have been able to do this exam while going through it. There's nothing shameful about your abilities being reduced while eighty percent of your energy is on lock."

"But if I can't do this now, I won't be able to help Naruto and Sasuke-kun later, shannaro!" Sakura argued, staring down the sanin fiercely.

"Tch. I don't need saving, Sakura." His voice came from right next to her and she immediately turned to face him.

"Sasuke-kun?"

He was staring down at the slowly filling dam with a hard to read expression on his face.

"So you have this going on, huh?"

He sounded like the Sasuke from her dream the other night…the really realistic one. It was so easy for her to believe she was actually talking to him…if it wasn't for the scenery making it very clear that she was in her own head right now. Plus Tsunade had completely vanished.

"When the big one fills up, I'll have a huge reserve of chakra…a hundred times my normal levels. But I'll be in complete control of it—not like with my reactions. And with it, I'll have the power to heal from anything…I won't be able to die in battle—so long as I have access to my chakra."

"And until then, you have to function with only twenty percent of your normal levels."

"Forty, if that dam is full…" She corrected nodding to the smaller, steadily filling one. It now was an eighth of the way full, which was progress from the barely a puddle it had been.

"It's not." Sasuke said, pointing out the obvious. Sakura twitched.

"I can see that."

"Have you said anything?"

"…no…"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Tsunade-sama hasn't even told Kakashi-sensei! I figured I wasn't supposed to say anything. But even so, I told Shikamaru." Sakura defended.

"Is he here with you?"

"No…"

"You need to tell your teammates."

"I don't want to worry them."

"Speaking from personal experience, they're already worried."

"Let me rephrase then…I don't want to constantly be protected and thought of as some weak burden."

"…I don't think of you as that."

"You don't have to lie, Sasuke-kun."

"I'm not…I did in the very beginning, but not since the Land of Waves." The two stared each other down for a long second, before Sasuke glanced down at the small dam again. "You need to tell them Sakura. This is about survival."

"You're the one who said it's not a problem until it's a problem." Sakura countered stubbornly. Now it was Sasuke's turn to twitch.

"It's a problem." He said flatly, before sighing. "You have two options. You tell them. Or you figure out how to fill this up faster." He said pointing at the small dam. "Either way, do something. Because you can't die. Don't die while I'm gone. Please."

Sakura's eyes widened. He said that in her last dream too. "Is that real? Did you really say that to me, Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke shifted his weight a little, looking away from her, the faintest touch of pink coloring his face. But before anything else could be said, Sasuke looked up sharply to the tavern ceiling, his sharingan activated.

"Something's coming."

---

Sakura's eyes opened abruptly. She was in the small amount of shade cast by a small rock, the shadows indicating that it was somewhere in the mid afternoon. Ino and Choji weren't visibly detectable, but she felt their chakra signatures coming from behind her, on the other side of the rock, and remembering what Sasuke said in her dream, immediately went to join them.

A distance away from her comrades was something…too small to be human. It looked a little like a doll.

"Pig! Choji! Is that a doll? Is it an enemy?" She asked, trying to get caught up on the situation, while taking mental stock of her condition. The rest had allowed her smaller reserve some time to fill up, but not by too much…she had about twenty percent of her chakra, which would be a big problem if an all out fight broke out or anyone took significant damage.

"You're such a good girl." Came a slightly unhinged sounding voice of a Suna kunoichi with periwinkle hair in two long pig tails and red eye shadow. "You found me some prey." She said picking up the doll and cuddling it.

Stay on your toes, like good prey should! It makes the chase so much more rewarding for the predator!

You're obviously natural born prey…instinctively knowing that your only hope lies in the chance of the predator being distracted by some tastier bait.

The girl's word choice was just too similar. For a millisecond, Sakura was back in the forest of death, paralyzed by her own chakra, watching a terrified Sasuke and frustrated Naruto try and survive Orochimaru. Her whole body tensed, her heart rate picking up and her lungs missing a breath. For a moment, she wondered if her chakra was about to react. But then she blinked and she was back in the desert staring at the periwinkle haired Suna girl cooing to her doll. And while she by no means got a good vibe from the girl, she didn't send alarm bells ringing in her head the way Orochimaru had. Sakura's breathing returned to a normal pace, her heart rate calming a little.

Now that her panic attack was assuaged, she had a different problem entirely. This Kunoichi had called them prey, which meant she was hostile. Not in the way Ameno's team had been, where there was some level of cordiality and the promise of healing after. No, this girl had referred to them as prey, which meant she considered herself a predator. And if she was a predator, then she likely would kill them if it came down to it. She wasn't sure how well Ino and Choji were doing, but she certainly didn't have enough chakra for this right now.

"Sakura-chan, how are your holding up physically?" Ino asked, falling into a battle ready stance.

You need to tell your teammates…you need to tell them Sakura. This is about survival.

"…but I can't tell them now. This isn't the right time. Not when we're about to go into battle…it'll be too much of a distraction. For now…for now I'll just evade and take out my opponent with one carefully aimed strike."

"I'm fine, since you let me rest." Sakura lied. Ino's back was to her, so she couldn't see her face. If she could she maybe, maybe would have been able to read the lie in Sakura's eyes. But maybe not…that's how good at hiding her own condition, Sakura was. And not seeing her at all, Ino totally bought the lie.

Two other shinobi joined the one holding the doll, one a kunoichi with long purple hair, and the other a man with exceedingly long sleeves.

"Onee-sama, let's hurry and kill them." The purple haired Kunoichi said.

"Don't be so hasty, Sana. You'll get Saya-sama mad." The man told the purple haired one, Sana apparently.

"I'm sure Onee-sama wants to get this over with quickly, too." Sana countered. "Right Onee-sama?"

"All right then…" the man cackled, preparing to launch himself forward when he received a swift kick in the head, falling face first into the sand, courtesy of the one he called Saya-sama.

Sakura watched the interaction with narrowed eyes, trying to gain any information she could.

"This team's got a clear hierarchy…Saya is the decision maker and leader…"

"Saya, damn you…!" The man growled, rising and turning on her. But he silenced when Saya thrust her hand into the air, his body tensing.

"Mamushi…"

"S-Saya-sama…"

"So she rules by fear…he at the very least has problems with her, but he's too scared to do anything against her. Why? Why's he so afraid of her?"

"I shall take my time and curse these victims that my doll has found."

"Curse?"

"Th-Then which will we kill first?" Mamushi asked, turning back to team Asuma.

"Let's see…" Saya scanned over the three. "They're both quite cute, they will be worth killing." She said, her gaze lingering on Sakura and Ino. "I don't want the fatso." She dismissed when her gaze finally reached Choji.

Choji's vein twitched in his forehead.

"Fatso!" Mamushi shouted, charging him. "You're mine!"

"I…am pleasingly plump!" Choji shouted, his fist swinging as the two began an intense round of taijutsu.

"Put it anyway you like. A fatso's still a fatso!" Mamushi shouted, his sleeve pushing up to reveal a living snake where his hand should have been. The snake extended towards Choji, fangs bared, but Choji managed to dodge in time. The man cackled, swaying insanely.

Choji's eyes widened. This guy was dangerous!

"Choji!" Ino shouted in concern, while Sakura had frozen again, once again recalling Orochimaru and his snaky ways.

"Come on, Sakura, focus! It's not him…you're not facing him! These guys are dangerous but they're not the bad-news-avoid-at-all-costs that he was!"

"Well, then I'll take the pretty blond one." Sana said.

"She's mine." Saya declared.

"…then…I'll take the one with the cute one with pink hair."

"She's mine as well."

Sana stared at Saya for a long second, before running at Choji, knives in hand, with a fierce shout of "Fatso!"

"I said I'm pleasingly plump!" Choji argued, diving and weaving between knives and snakes. "Partial expansion jutsu!" He shouted, his hand enlarging to slam down on the two, though they both jumped out of the way in time.

"That was close!" Mamushi said, his snake launching at Choji again, forcing Choji onto the defensive once more.

"Choji!" Ino shouted, running to his aid, kunai out. But the doll Saya had been holding flew in front of her, cutting her off. Saya stood a distance away, her arms outstretched with fine threads of chakra extending from her fingers, attaching to the doll.

"She's…a puppet user!"

The doll launched at Ino, who leaned away from it, but not before the doll bit off a few strands of Ino's pale blond hair.

"You have been cursed." Saya said, sounding way too happy about it for Ino's liking. "You can no longer escape from her!" The doll withdrew two kunai.

"She's insane…and a bit sadistic…definitely enjoying this too much!" Not that that observation was particularly helpful. All it told Sakura was that while this group may not have been Orochimaru level, they were plenty dangerous.

Ino studied the doll, her stance switching to a defensive one in preparation. With puppet users, so long as they brought down the jutsu caster…

"Forehead, watch my body!"

"Leave it to me!" Sakura said confidently, while internally praying she had enough chakra not to keep Ino from being killed.

"Mind—" She and Sakura both dropped into a summersault to avoid the doll as it swooped toward them, but when Ino re-aimed, she gasped…because Saya was holding a similar hand sign up to her eye, aimed directly at Ino.

"Puppet Imitation Jutsu!"

Sakura studied Ino in concern. Something was wrong. She hadn't completed the jutsu, she just stopped suddenly. "Pig…?"

Ino suddenly whirled around, kunai slashing at Sakura, who was incredibly grateful for her fast reflexes and drilled in evasion skills. Sakura flipped out of the way continuously as Ino continued to come after her.

"Ino-chan?!"

Sakura realized her eyes were completely vacant…Ino wasn't herself right now. Something was controlling her…Saya was controlling her.

Choji let out a growl of pain suddenly, splitting Sakura's focus as she chanced glancing over at him.

"Choji!"

He was holding his shoulder, while putting some distance between himself and his two enemies.

"Shit! I have to do something! Even if I have the chakra to use medical ninjutsu to disable Ino-chan, it would harm her—not the actual enemy! And with Saya calling the shots in Ino-chan's body, there's no way she'll let me get close to her—she'll probably use Ino-chan as a human shield. And I can't lead another enemy to Choji at the moment which means I can't check on him…what do I do?!"

She continued to dance out of the way, occasionally blocking Ino's kunai with her own.

"It's up to me but…" Her small dam was still only a little over an eighth full at best, and she didn't have a move in her arsenal that would stop Saya's control over Ino. She was only left with dodging and dancing, made harder by the fact that Saya's doll was continuously weaving around, attempting to slash at her as well.

"Ino! Sakura!" Choji cried, becoming aware of what was going on with them, now that he finally had some distance from his combatants.

"This is not the time to worry about your friends." Mamushi admonished.

"You're in quite the bind too, you know." Sana agreed with an evil chuckle.

"Super expansion jutsu!" Choji shouted, his hands flying together into the necessary hand signs. He expanded into the size of a tall building, large and looming over his two opponents. He grabbed them easily, picking up one in each hand.

"I'll eat you." He told them darkly. He wouldn't. That was gross. But he would crush them, if they forced his hand.

Saya awoke from the trance of her control and turned to look up at Choji, causing Ino to fall to the ground, finally in control again.

"Ino-chan!" Sakura cried, kneeling next to her to see if she was okay.

Saya swung her doll, sending it at Choji. Just like with Ino, the doll bit off some of his hair, drawing his attention to it in confusion.

"Wh-What is it?" Choji asked, unclear about the dolls course of action.

"Puppet imitation jutsu!" She took control of Choji.

Sakura was helping Ino to sit up, while the blond explained what just happened. "I realized it after I was under that ninjutsu. She calls it a curse, but it's not exactly a puppet jutsu, it's more like a mind transfer." Aw man! That was embarrassing! A Yamanaka clan member being taken over by a mind transfer?! And the head of clan's daughter no less! She'd never live this shame down! Her clan's reputation was totally ruined!

"It's not quite the same as a mind transfer. Saya doesn't totally pass out. She was still able to wield that doll while controlling you." Sakura noted, unintentionally making Ino feel worse, as that made it seem like her Puppet Imitation Jutsu was actually better than the Yamanaka Mind Transfer. This was so it! She was gonna get that Saya girl, big time! No one beat the Yamanaka at mind techniques!

Choji dropped to his knees, releasing Sana and Mamushi.

"Onee-sama, thanks for coming to the rescue!" Sana called.

"Saya-sama! Curse these guys!" Mamushi shouted.

"There's no need to tell me that. I shall show no mercy. This doll is mine. It's time to punish his arrogant friends." She spoke with Choji's voice, making Choji stand and march toward Sakura and Ino.

"Ch-Choji! He must have gotten hit with the jutsu! Is there anyway to break him out?" Sakura asked Ino, her tone growing frantic.

"You're one of the very few on record to have broken out of it. Choji won't be able to get out on his own, which means there's only one way. We need to get the jutsu caster." Ino made the signs for her mind transfer and aimed it directly at Choji.

"Pig…If you use that and don't get Choji back in time you could—"

"Look after my body, forehead. No one beats the Yamanaka clan in mind transfer! Mind Transfer jutsu!"

Sakura twitched a little. "I should have guessed this would get personal for her…damn it! If any of the others attack, or she can't free Choji in time…I don't have the chakra to—but there's only me, shannaro!"

---

Ino stood over Choji's knocked out spirit in the darkness of his mind, facing Saya.

"Well this isn't nice. You can't enter my doll without permission. Get out." She ordered.

"Choji is our friend! So you get out!" Ino shouted, spiritedly.

---

Sakura laid Ino down carefully watching Choji grow nearer and nearer. She stepped in front of her unconscious best friend Kunai at the ready, and wildly unsure of what she could or would do if it came down to having to fight Choji off. By this point her dam had only filled up two eighths.

At this rate, I can't allow you to perform any surgery or go out on the battlefield.

"Tsunade-sama was right. I never should have came here…" Her hand tightened around the handle of her kunai. "But should have or not, I did, so I have to face the music. My team's relying on me. I have to do something!"

Sakura reached her hand into her pouch, withdrawing one of her sedatives, eying Choji's massive form drawing nearer.

"At that size, a sedative of this strength wouldn't have much effect if taken orally, but if I can inject it into his bloodstream, it'll shut down his body and slow his chakra production, not just his mind, which means it'll render him useless to Saya. I have enough agility and precision to pull that off if need be, but that means it'll be Pig and I against three…I'm next to useless right now and this mind transfer will probably be pretty draining on Ino-chan…but what other choice do I have? If it's that or let Choji crush us both to death…ugh! Shannaro! This sucks! Why is my luck such a bitch?! Was one easy damn day too much to ask?!"

Sakura uncorked the sedative and dipped the kunai tip into the phial, letting it sit there and soak as she watched Choji near, praying Ino succeeded.

Choji came to a stop a few meters in front of her, his fist raising.

"Damn! Pig's mind transfer failed?!" She readied her kunai, preparing to jump onto his fist as soon as he swung it forward, and run up his arm to where she could get a clear shot at his artery. Choji swung his fist forward, and Sakura bent her knees, her feet digging into the ground, her eyes tracking the movement of his fist carefully for her timing. She had to rely on her own strength, agility, and timing for this, she didn't have the chakra to spare on bolstering her jump.

But before she could, Choji's fist stopped mid swing. Choji had grabbed his arm to stop himself—or maybe it was Ino's influence. Either way, one of her teammates wrested enough control to stop Choji's attack and even get him to back off a little.

---

Ino growled. It was much harder to take control of someone when there was someone else trying to control them as well. It was a turf war over her friend's body, and it took much more focus and chakra than this jutsu normally required of her. It was almost as hard as the time she'd tried to possess Sakura during the preliminaries.

"Wake up! Choji!" Ino shouted. It'd be much easier if she could wake him up, because then they could cast Saya out of his mind together…or hypothetically, he should be able to cast them both out if he was awake. Choji wasn't like Sakura though. He didn't have the same level of tenacity and spirit that she did…Ino didn't think anyone had her level of tenacity and spirit, actually. And that seemed to be the reason Ino had been cast out of her that time…All of which was to say, even if it was possible to wake Choji up while they were both fighting for possession of him, it may not have done any good.

"What will you do next, my dear puppet?" Saya asked sounding thoroughly unbothered by the situation.

"He's not your puppet!" Ino shouted. She really hated this girl's attitude, and there was no way in hell she was letting her stay in control of her dear teammate. "He's my friend!" Ino cast a burst of mental energy and chakra at Saya, hitting her squarely and shaking her hold on Choji.

"What are you doing?!" Saya shrieked, finally sounding bothered.

"Get out of Choji!" Ino growled.

"You're the one who's getting out!" Saya barked, attacking with her own mental burst, knocking Ino back.

"I won't lose!" There was no way she would let the Yamanaka clan be disgraced again. "There's no way the Yamanaka clan's mind transfer jutsu will be defeated!" That title belonged to Sakura alone. No one else!

Ino sent several rabid mental bursts knocking Saya farther and farther back until she was cast out with the last one, leaving Ino gasping for breath.

---

"Did Pig's mind transfer work or…?" Sakura watched Choji seem to continue struggling with himself, now unsure that interference would be in their best interest. She didn't want to screw anything up for Ino, but she had no way of knowing how to help, so the least she could do at the moment was not hinder.

After a few moments of struggle, Choji seemed to break some sort of hold on himself, casting out someone…apparently Saya, based on how he turned and started heading towards the three hostile Suna nin. Ino had won. She was in control of Choji now.

Saya fell to her knees when her hold over Choji was broken.

"Onee-sama!"

"Saya-sama!" Both her teammates had rushed to her side to help her.

"My jutsu…my jutsu was undone! No! It wasn't undone! I didn't lose!" Saya shrieked insanely, roughly grabbing her doll and hugging it tightly, while continuously screaming that she didn't lose.

Mamushi and Sana turned around as a shadow fell over them, to see Choji's giant fist swinging back. They managed to get Saya out of the initial impact, but they were all hit by the residual fallout, sending them scattering away deeper into the desert in a slide of sand.

Ino returned to her own body, shakily pushing herself up as Choji dropped to his knees, shrinking down to his original size, fully in control of himself again.

"Pig! You did it! Are you okay?" Sakura asked, kneeling in front of Ino, who was breathing hard.

"That definitely was a huge chakra drain for her. And staying fully expanded for so long must have really sucked up Choji's chakra too…we're screwed if we get attacked again today."

Ino gave her an exhausted thumbs up. At least she could say the Yamanaka's hadn't been disgraced. She did have a pounding headache though, which Sakura apparently didn't even need her to report. She simply saw Ino wince and noted the vein in her forehead popping, and reached into her pouch without another word, handing Ino two tablets.

"Take those and drink three small sips of water every fifteen seconds." She ordered, before getting up to check on Choji. Ino shook her head a little. She had no clue how Sakura could just know like that, but she truly was an outstanding medic.

Sakura checked over Choji's shoulder wound which really wasn't too bad…just a shallow knife cut. Nothing that couldn't be treated with some topical ointment and bandaging for now.

"We need to keep moving. Those three might come back…they all seemed a little unhinged. I wouldn't be shocked if they held a grudge."

Ino and Choji both nodded in agreement, and team Asuma set off again.

---

This time it wasn't just her. Ino and Choji both looked dead on their feet as well, yet despite that they were still walking ahead of her, which hammered in even more how useless Sakura was in her present state because of the three of them, she was unquestionably the fastest.

"Choji and Pig have used up their chakra due to all these battles. Their strength and willpower are at their limits! If Naruto was here, he'd probably say something inspirational to spur them on, but he's not. I'm there team leader right now…this is all on me. When the enemy attacks again, it'll be on me to handle…I need to be able to protect them! Just like Naruto and Sasuke-kun always protected me!"

They continued walking for another half hour before they were suddenly engulfed in a sandstorm.

"Why did a sandstorm suddenly start up only around us?" Choji whined, desperately trying to shield his face from the sand.

"This is unnatural!" Sakura explained. "We have to consider this some kind of attack."

"You think it's those guys from before? You said they might come back."

"Well, I wouldn't be surprised if it was." Sakura answered, her brow furrowing. She needed to think of something, because none of them were in condition for a full fight. "Their plan must be to limit our vision, then attack!"

"They do have ground advantage." Choji agreed.

"Don't worry! I'll send you whatever images I can grab." Ino answered, but she barely tried calling up her chakra when she nearly collapsed.

"Pig!" Sakura was at her side in an instant, a supportive arm wrapping around her to help hold some of her weight. "Are you alright? You used up a lot of chakra on fighting that mind transfer earlier, and being in full sensory perception mode before that against Ameno's team…you're exhausted and running low on chakra."

"I can still handle this…" Ino insisted stubbornly. She tried to keep sensing…she knew there were enemies drawing nearer, but Sakura wasn't wrong. She was too exhausted, and it was physically painful trying to use more chakra to sense their surroundings.

"Pig! Don't keep pushing yourself!" Sakura admonished, still holding Ino up. If only she had more chakra, she'd share some with her, but as it was right now, giving any chakra to Ino would leave her completely empty.

"Damnit! I need more chakra!"

"But…" Ino protested weakly. She knew she was tapped out, but this sand was obscuring their vision and if they had to fight an enemy with their visibility reduced…sensing would lessen the burden.

"If each of us can guard our own line of sight, we'll manage somehow!" Choji said bracingly.

"All right. I'll use the mind transmission jutsu to connect what we each see. That won't require as much chakra and take some of the burden off me." Ino finally agreed, refocusing her chakra and connecting their minds.

Sakura's vision expanded to include Choji and Ino's as well. Coming toward them through the sandstorm seemed to be sand golems, about the size of an average human. Choji punched through one when it grew close, easily breaking it apart and scattering it.

"It's working! Ino, these guys are pretty weak." Choji shouted encouragingly.

Ino kicked through the sand golem nearest her. "Yes…This'll work!" They could totally handle this, even if they were pretty tired.

The enemy's apparent weakness seemed to give Choji an extra spurt of energy. He jump kicked through several of the sand golems before charging one towards his right.

"Keep on coming at me! I'll kick your butts!" He knocked away the nearest one, pivoting around to punch the two behind him. His elbow collided with one, revealing Mamushi hidden among the sand, but Choji's back was turned and he only realized too late that that particular sand golem hadn't crumbled under his attack. Mamushi's snake hand burst from the sand and bit Choji on the shoulder, making him cry out in pain.

"Choji!" Sakura cried in concern, taking two steps towards her weakening comrade.

Mamushi pivoted, sending his other snake arm towards Sakura, who under normal circumstances could have easily dodged the attack and danced around until the snake had tied itself in a knot chasing her. But once again, she found herself in the Forest of Death, watching Orochimaru elongate and snake his way towards them, fang-like teeth bared. Her heart rate increased, feeling herself building towards panic. She had to ground herself in reality fast, and the first step was reminding herself that she wasn't in the Forest of Death right now.

"It's too hot and dry. And very bright. The Forest of Death was shady and humid. You're not there right now, you're in the desert. You're fourteen, fifteen in a few months, not just turned thirteen. You can heal now. You know both the dancer's barrage and have expanded it into a full taijutsu style. You can heal now. Your punches can cause craters. You can rearrange an enemies electrochemical signals and rewrite their nervous system. You know about your kekkei genkai and can control it. You're not in the Forest of Death and you're not who you were back then! Shannaro, wake up damnit!"

"Forehead!" Ino screamed in concern. She'd been with Sakura enough during her kekkei genkai training to know of Sakura's fear of snakes. She didn't know why, how it started, or where it came from, but she knew about it, and saw the way Sakura froze. Yesterday, she'd thought Sakura's lack of response to the giant scorpion had been some sort of trauma response. It hadn't been, but when she saw Sakura actually freeze now, this time she knew it was the real deal, and her best friend wouldn't be able to dodge in time. Ino's voice was the final thread Sakura needed to pull herself back to the present and get her panic managed before it manifested as rampant chakra, but unfortunately she didn't come too fast enough. Ino jumped in the way, thrusting out her hand for the snake to clamp down on, interrupting its path to Sakura. She let out a gasp as the fangs sunk into her wrist.

"Ino!" Choji yelled, charging over to her with a snake arm still embedded in his shoulder, and slashing through the one that bit Ino, severing its connection to Mamushi.

Mamushi grunted. "It's fine. The poison will start spreading soon and you won't be able to move." Mamushi laughed, jumping back into the sand storm and disappearing from view.

"Choji! Pig!" Sakura cried in concern, watching her friends stumble and sway unsteadily.

"This is all my fault! If I hadn't frozen…gods I'm still so useless! I bring bad luck wherever I go! I really am a walking jinx…I'm gonna get my teammates killed, just like Ami always said!"

"This…is nothing." Ino insisted, despite the burning spreading up her arm.

"Yeah! I'll pulverize them all before the poison starts spreading throughout my body!" Choji shouted, though if the burning radiating out from his shoulder was any indication, he didn't have a whole lot of time before that started to happen.

None the less, Ino and Choji stood fast, ready to fight while Sakura stared at their backs.

"It's happening again…I'm still the one being protected…" In Ino and Choji's place, she saw the backs of genin Naruto and Sasuke walking ahead of her…they were always ahead of her. "I can't let this happen…I can't be useless again! Not after everything! Damnit, I changed, shannaro!"

More sand golems approached Ino and Choji, who sliced them away dispersing them into dust. Sakura closed her eyes focusing on her reservoirs.

"I need more chakra! I have to hurry! Like that time before…" Sakura recalled the surgery she'd performed right before asking Tsunade for permission to take the chunin exams. She'd had to up the speed of her chakra production then as well, or her patient would have died.

I can't allow you to do any surgeries or go out on the battlefield…

I can't authorize you to take the chunin exams…

Take this…however, whatever happens at the chunin exams will be your sole responsibility.

"This was the deal I made to come here! I don't have the luxury of inaction! I just have to do it!"

Sakura didn't realize, but both Ino and Choji heard the memories and the last part of her thoughts echoing through them.

"This is…" Choji murmured, slashing one of the golems to dust.

"Sakura's feelings are flooding into me through the mind transmission…?" Ino said. She would have been proud of herself—her father had said that this was the true power of the mind transmission, allowing the powerful feelings of one comrade be felt by the others—but damn, was her best friend under so much pressure! Holy shit! Had Sakura been feeling this the whole time?! And the flashes of memory, of Tsunade banning her from surgeries and going out on the battlefield…Sakura had really joined them despite that?! No wonder she'd turned her down at first, it hadn't been about Naruto and Sasuke at all! And good gods the bone deep exhaustion and frustration…just how bad was her best friend's condition when she'd dragged her into these exams?!

"Shikamaru asked me to take his spot as captain of team Asuma! I can't let them all down! I can't let my comrades die! It's all on me! I have to do this! I came here to surpass my limits damnit! I must do it with my own strength! Cause if I can't do this, then how can I…"

This'll be hard to hear, but at the moment, as you are right now, you're a greater liability than an asset…

I can't allow you to do any surgeries or go out on the battlefield…

Sakura…thank you…for everything…

It's okay. I'll bring Sasuke back for sure! That's my promise of a lifetime!

You may have to wait for me a while, but next time, I'm coming with you!

"I see…" Choji gasped, his voice strangled, whether it was from the poison or the onslaught of Sakura's potent feelings, he wasn't sure, but he'd honestly guess it was the latter. He fell to his knees. How could one person handle all that pressure and exhaustion by themselves—he never would have known what she was dealing with by looking at her. "You were under that kind of pressure, yet you came just cause we asked you too…"

Ino fell to her knees. She was a failure as a friend! How could she have not known about any of this?! How could she not see what her best friend was going through?! She knew Sakura was more tired recently, but she'd never thought to be concerned about it, and brushed it off as overworking. But it was actually something Lady Tsunade knew about, potentially a part of their training, and it was so bad she'd forbid Sakura from any major healing or going on missions and had even tried to stop her taking these exams…but with all the pressure to repair her team, and then the pressure she and Shikamaru dropped on her with filling team Asuma and taking his role as captain…she was a mind expert and was supposed to know Sakura better than anyone living, so how had she dropped the ball on this?!

"We didn't know…I didn't know…and we made you come…I didn't listen to you and just assumed you didn't want to because of Sasuke-kun and Naruto…"

Sakura's eyes popped open, shocked by the state of her teammates. She hadn't realized the mind transfer would allow them to hear and feel her thoughts and emotions.

"You're wrong! I didn't come here because anyone forced me too. I made this choice and you two and Shikamaru had nothing to do with it! I did this for myself. To challenge myself. So I wouldn't have to be the one watching them from behind anymore…" Sakura's determination surged, and with it, her chakra. A smile made its way to her face, as a strange calm settled over her. She finally had the strength to do something useful. She walked past Ino and Choji, who were kneeling in the sand.

"I will protect my teammates. I'm not going to let anything happen to them. Not ever again! Ino-pig…Choji…thank you for putting your trust in me. That you for asking me to join you…thank you so much."

---

The three Suna nin stood on a neighboring dune overlooking the sand storm Sana had caused.

"Onee-sama, the fatso and the pretty blonde can't move anymore. Soon the cute pink haired one will…" Sana stopped short gasping quietly. What the hell just happened?! How was the pink one's chakra spiking like that?!

"The pink haired girl's chakra suddenly spiked!" She informed her teammates hurriedly. She'd never seen anything like this before!

---

Sakura's eyes blazed with determination as she felt her small reservoir refilling rapidly, so much so, it even overflowed.

"I have enough chakra now! I will protect Ino-pig and Choji, no matter what!" She glanced back at her teammates on the ground.

If and when you get drawn into battle…you should do what you can to end that battle as fast as possible, with one hit, if you can. You don't have energy to waste.

"Shishou was right. Even if I have enough chakra now, I can't afford to waste a lot of it on the fight, I have to save enough to heal both Ino-pig and Choji!"

"I'll end this now, with one shot!" Sakura sent a small amount of chakra to her feet—her legs were strong, she didn't need much—and launched into the air, far above the swirling mess of sandstorm, eclipsing the sun.

The Suna nin stared up in wide eyed shock as Sakura bared down on them.

"Shannaro!" She hit the earth in front of them with a chakra enhanced punch, like a meteor crashing to earth. Sand exploded around them, causing a massive shift and slide in the loose particles of earth. The three Suna nin were swept away screaming in the sand slide.

"I did not lose!" Saya shrieked.

"Onee-sama!" Sana called after her, fighting the tide of the sand.

"We lost! We totally lost!" Mamushi moaned, much to Saya's chagrin. Sakura didn't hear what Saya yelled back though, because she was already B-lining back to Ino and Choji, who by this point were nearly passed out from the poison.

Sakura knelt down next to Choji first. He'd been bit first which meant the poison was in his system longer. She studied the bite, sending a small pulse of chakra to double check her suspicions. This was a type of pit viper venom—one of the more common ingredients used in Suna poisons, which meant her general antidote for Suna poisons should work against it. Her thoughts were confirmed when she saw how the venom attacked Choji's muscles. She quickly pulled out her antidote and slipped one into Choji's mouth, forcing him to swallow it, while quickly healing the bite on his shoulder. When she saw Choji's breathing even out she moved onto Ino, knowing that Choji would wake up within a few minutes.

She sat over Ino until she saw her icy blue eyes open. "You're awake, thank goodness. I gave you an antidote to neutralize the venom, so the numbness should wear off in a few minutes."

"Th-Thanks…" Ino didn't even know how to begin to apologize for not checking in on her best friend more.

"Pig, I'm sorry…to both of you. You felt it through the mind transfer, didn't you? Part of my training with Tsunade-sama, well I can't really go too much into it, but let's just say it's a way more extreme chakra weight…I should have told you both from the start. I put you in danger by not explaining and coming here with my own motives…"

"You should have told me…how many times do I have to tell you, I want to be there for you, Forehead." Ino murmured, frowning.

"I know, I'm sorry. Tsunade-sama didn't really mention it to anyone so I thought…"

"I knew you were more tired than normal…why didn't I ask you about it? I'm sorry. I should have checked in on you more."

"Pig…there's nothing for you to be sorry for, I'm the one—"

"Not everything is your fault, Sakura-chan. Training is training. I can't tell you everything about the Yamanaka clan jutsu. You don't have to tell me about what the training is, but you can tell me if it's hard or how you're feeling."

"Well…it's kind of late now, since you already felt it. But I'm exhausted all the time. Sometimes it feels like I can't even function. I'm perpetually low on chakra, but thanks to both of you, I can push through that now. Thank you, for asking me to come here with you."

Ino smiled and sat up. "I'm glad we asked you to join us!" Ino said happily. Aside from all the time she got with her best friend, Sakura really had been the best choice. No one else could have filled Shikamaru's shoes so well.

Choji beamed, now up and better as well. "Yeah! I'm glad we asked you to join! I feel like the three of us can beat anyone!" He agreed enthusiastically. Maybe it was residual determination and spirit from Sakura's mind transfer, but he honestly felt like their team could take on the whole world and win.

Sakura looked between them, touched by their faith despite having learned at least part of what she'd been hiding with the seal. "You guys…thank you." She smiled, flushing a little. Both Ino and Choji burst out laughing. It was hard not too, Sakura was just so cute.

"What? Hey, you two!" Sakura cried, flustered.

Ino and Choji stood, Sakura following suit. "Okay! Let's head for the central tower!" Choji cheered.

"We're almost to the finish line of the second exam!" Ino seconded brightly.

The two started walking away. Sakura watched them for a few seconds before smiling, and catching up, walking side by side with them.

"Ino, Choji…seriously thank you."

---

It was early morning of the final day, the sun hadn't yet broken when Ino, Choji, and Sakura got up and started for the tower. They'd needed to stop a take a significant rest after the two battles with two sets of Suna shinobi. Even though they'd hoped to reach the tower by the second day, the two battles had completely drained them and they'd still been too far from the tower to reach it by the end of that day. A silver lining though, was that Sakura truly did believe she could get through it now. Coming to the exam hadn't been a mistake. She could fight on the battlefield and perform surgeries, despite the Hundred Healings Seal. The freezing up and flash backs to the forest of death were a problem, but she had a feeling if she actually came face to face with Orochimaru, her anger would overrun her fear. But what it really meant, when it came down to it, was that she could keep her promise to Naruto. They could bring Sasuke back together this time. She wasn't useless. It came with such a strong feeling of relief, contentment, and elation, that facets of the desert that once bothered her felt like they couldn't even touch her. She didn't care how hot it was, and for once she couldn't feel her exhaustion—she knew it was there, but it just didn't matter. She could continue through it…she could thrive.

That was, until the saw the giant, dark, mass of swirling sand and dust coming towards them.

"What the hell is that?!" Ino screeched, wide eyed.

"It's…that's not an enemy attack, is it?" Choji asked unsurely. Sakura studied the cloud moving toward them at an alarming rate. It wouldn't be long until it was upon them. She'd read about Suna sandstorms before, and even the locals knew the only course of action was to take cover and wait it out.

"No. It's not an enemy. That's the real deal this time. A true demon desert sandstorm."

"Why does that sound even worse than if it was an enemy?" Ino asked, her voice high and afraid.

Sakura's brain raced miles a minute, gathering every bit of information she'd ever read about Suna, sandstorms, threat to the body, and emergency protocol for medical first responders during natural disasters in Konoha. Her mind quickly applying what could be applied to this situation and coming up with a plan.

"Pig, Choji. Put on your Konoha issued cloaks and put the hood up. Try and pin an addition part of the cloak over your nose and mouth. It's not perfect but it'll be better than nothing, and it's important to try and protect yourself from breathing in too much sand. We're going to need to find cover fast. We can't outrun or circumvent a sandstorm of that size, so we'll need to locate a rocky outcrop we can hide behind. There's no way to account for how bad visibility is going to be, so I'm going to tie us together by our waists. Pig, you're going to be in the middle. When the storm hits us, go into sensory mode and keep up alert as to what's around. Choji, you're gonna bring up the rear and use your partial expansion jutsu on your arm to try and create a wall between us and the sand while we look for a more permanent shelter. No matter what, both of you keep your eyes shut."

"Can't you just punch the ground and make a rocky outcropping for us to hide behind?" Choji asked, not liking the idea of trying to brave the deadly looking storm.

Sakura shook her head. "The terrain here is too soft. It's just soft sand. The only thing me punching it would do would be to add more sand to the sandstorm."

"If I'm in the middle and Choji's brining up the rear, and we're both supposed to keep our eyes shut, that means you're in front with your eyes open…will you be okay, Forehead?"

"Don't worry about me Pig, that was part of my training with Tsuande-sama." Sakura winced a little at the memory of Tsunade slamming her hand into her stomach well yelling at her not to close her eyes in the face of an enemy. If she could keep her eyes open through Tsunade's pummeling and terrain rearrangement, then she could keep them open through a swirling mass of sand, no problem.

Choji and Ino didn't question further, all three pulling out their cloaks and pinning them to add some modicum of protection over their noses and mouths. Sakura got to work creating a harness out some rope with a few well placed knots, and they all slipped into the rigging, loose enough to not restrict any movement but definitely able to keep them from getting separated in the storm.

The sand cloud was nearly upon them when Ino went into sensory mode and Choji's hand expanded and extended out in front of them, creating a small barrier between her them and the small earthen particles.

Their pace was slow, fighting against the winds push back and the sharp grains of sand. Luckily, Ino didn't sense any life around that would pose a threat to them, but it took a good half hour of struggle through the sand before Sakura finally spotted a rocky outcropping that would give them some coverage.

"Bearing two o'clock, thirteen meters, there's some cover!" She alerted her comrades over the roar of wind.

"No hostile life signs in that area!" Ino confirmed, after focusing her sensory scan in the direction Sakura mentioned.

"Sounds perfect! Let's go!" Choji agreed.

They all stopped for a brief second, allowing Sakura to adjust course without any accidental resistance or surprise to the other two—they had their eyes closed so they were trusting Sakura to lead them, and that required a lot of communication and pauses for directional shifts. But soon they were moving again and it didn't take long for them to reach the outcropping.

The three sat with their backs pressed against the large rock, holding their hoods to keep it around their faces as much as possible, watching the sand dance every whichaway.

"How long do you think this'll go on for?" Choji asked.

"Based on the size of it, I'd say it has to last at least six hours…"

"Ah man! That means we're totally gonna fail! And after all that hard work!" Ino whined.

"Us and probably everyone else. Anyone who hadn't reached the tower by dawn this morning must of gotten stuck in this. And given the shorter time limit, I doubt anymore than maybe one team reached the tower by now."

"That's good then right? I mean maybe we'll get extended time or something. They can't fail all of us." Choji put in hopefully.

Sakura didn't have an answer to that, so she merely shrugged, watching the sand dancing around them.

An hour later, Ino straightened, her brows furrowing. "Someone's coming!"

All three of them rose, drawing their kunai and assuming their preferred respective battle stances. Seconds later a strong gust of wind blasted around them, blowing away the sand in the surrounding area.

"Well if it isn't Shikamaru's teammates, and Sakura. Clever move with your cloaks there." Temari's proud tone cut through the roaring of the wind.

"Temari? Aren't you one of the proctors? Something didn't happen to Shikamaru, did it?" Ino asked, confused as to what she was doing there.

"That lazyass is fine. I'm here for you three. The second exam has been put on hold due to this severe sandstorm. I'll take you to a shelter to wait it out safely."

"Who else is doing search and rescue?" Sakura asked. She couldn't put her finger on what, but something was making her feel…uneasy.

Temari gave her a curious look. "All of the jonin proctors of course, as well as a few Suna chunin lending additional assistance."

"Including Kankuro?"

"…Yes."

"Oh…that's good." She murmured absently, trying to figure out why that didn't feel like good news.

Temari quirked a brow at the girl in confusion. "Why do you ask?" She'd witnessed Sakura go off on that medic a while back for refusing to treat her baby brother, so she knew she was fiery. She also knew from what Gaara had opened up to her about, that Sakura was very kind, loving, and fiercely protective. She'd seen as much when the pink haired girl had stood up to her half transformed rampaging brother to protect that cute teammate of hers, who eventually left. And she knew Sakura was one of the ones Shikamaru had been watching closely during the first exam, which she had successfully figured out how to beat, meaning she was smart. Given all of that, Temari was sure Sakura wouldn't ask questions like that for no reason.

"Just curious…" Sakura deflected, mainly because she wasn't sure why she was asking. All she knew was something about this felt wrong, but she didn't have a good reason as to why and this wasn't her teammates. She may have been able and expected to tell Sasuke, Naruto, Kakashi, and Tsunade about things that were bothering her, or seemed weird, even if she hadn't worked out what or why or how to fix it. She may have even been able to do the same with Ino, Shikamaru or Hinata. But that didn't mean she was comfortable or able to just voice her baseless bad feelings to anyone and everyone. From what she knew of Temari, the Suna jonin was really tough, smart and cool. But she belonged to another village, and Sakura didn't know her that well or have very much contact with her. What use would voicing her bad feeling be in this situation anyway?

Temari regarded her with narrowed eyes, trying to read her, and Ino and Choji stared at her with confusion as well, but Sakura simply held Temari's gaze blankly.

Temari shook her head, under different circumstances she'd dig into this more, but right now they didn't have time. "Come on, let's get moving."

No one protested and she lead them to a shelter constructed specifically for desert related emergencies, using her giant fan and wind jutsu to blow the sand away clearing a path for them. Temari didn't stick around. As soon as she saw them safely in, she took off to locate more groups of genin in need of rescue.

Team Asuma took seats on the bench-like ledges around the a square of sunken-in floor of the shelter to wait out the sandstorm, all the while, Sakura's unease continued to grow.

"What was that back there, Forehead?"

"I'm not sure, I just got a bad feeling for some reason…"

"Well, maybe you were just spooked by the sandstorm." Choji suggested reasonably. "It was pretty scary being stuck in it…you handled it so well though…"

"Yeah, I don't think that was why…"

"What is it? Why do I feel so…"

Do you know why the Hokage is having a co-sponsored chunin exams with Suna? Now of all times?

"Because the last exams were interrupted." Kakashi raised an eyebrow skeptically at her answer.

"And that accounts for this specific timing? And the co-sponsorship with Suna? A shinobi must always look underneath, Sakura. What else is supposed to be happening soon, in a year?"

…Sakura's eyes widened. "The Akatsuki are going to start coming after Naruto again!"

"And why are the Akatsuki after him?" Kakashi prodded.

"Because of the nine-tailed fox he carries inside him. But what does that have to do with—…Sensei, is Shukaku a tailed beast? Is Gaara-kun a tailed beast carrier, like Naruto?"

"You didn't know?"

"I knew Gaara had Shukaku inside him, and that he and Naruto could relate to each other because of it, but I didn't realize Shukaku was a tailed beast…I don't know much about them, honestly."

"Shukaku is the one-tail." Kakashi confirmed.

"So…Tsunade-sama is trying to…"

"Bait the Akatsuki using Gaara."

Sakura's brows furrowed disapprovingly. "Does he know?"

"He's aware and he readily agreed."

"So what you're saying is, the Akatsuki might disrupt this test."

Sakura's eyes went wide as her mind finally caught up to her gut.

"Everyone, even Gaara-kun's most trusted guards and advisors are out on the search and rescue, meaning either Gaara-kun's out there as well, without many additional guards to make sure he's safe, or he's alone without many staff at the central tower. Either way, he's as isolated as he'll get over the course of these exams! If there's ever gonna be a good time to attack, it's now! If the Akatsuki are here, now's the time they're gonna make their move!"

Sakura bolted up, her mind racing with concern.

"F-Forehead?" Ino asked alarmed.

"What do I do? I can't go out there! I'd have no chance of finding him! And Temari left already…there's no telling when she or another Suna jonin will be back with a new group. Plus they probably have more shelters than just this one, and Pig didn't sense anyone near us earlier, so the rest of the groups are probably closer to other shelter locations…The two Suna chunin manning this shelter…they must have someway to get in contact with the central tower, to get updates on when the threat has passed and it's safe to send us out again…They're my best bet!"

Sakura gracefully alighted onto the raised floor and made her way straight for the two chunin, one keeping an eye on those in the shelter's seating space to make sure none of the teams fought, and the other standing watch by the door.

"I need to get in contact with the central tower." She said lowly, making sure that only they could hear.

The one keeping an eye on the genin, the older one, scoffed. "And why would you need that?" It was a ridiculous demand. What genin thought they had the right or authority to ask for something like that?

"Because right now is the perfect opportunity for an enemy to launch an attack on the Kazekage, and I need to make sure he's okay!" She hissed, desperately trying to keep her voice low despite her growing anger at the admittedly fair push back.

Much to her frustration the chunin simply scoffed again. "And who are you to care about that?"

"I just inform you of a potential threat to your Kazekage and that's all you have to say?" Sakura growled.

The younger chunin by the door cleared his throat. He'd found both Ino and Sakura incredibly pretty and had been a bit tongue tied when they first came into the shelter. He'd found himself in that situation again when Sakura approached them, but now that a threat to the Kazekage was on the table, he'd managed to find his voice again.

"Uh, what makes you so sure there's a threat to the Kazekage, Sakura-san?"

Sakura turned to him, seeing that she would have more progress with that chunin as opposed to the older one. "There's a group called the Akatsuki, and they're going after jinchuriki. Kazekage-sama is on that list, and now would be the perfect time to go after him, when everyone's distracted with the exams and making sure the applicants are safe." Sakura said with quiet urgency, her tone slightly more respectful towards the more willing to listen chunin.

"Good riddance…" The older one muttered quietly.

Sakura froze. "What was that?" She asked with murderous quiet.

The older chunin just snorted without answering. Sakura turned to him slowly, withdrawing a kunai as she came closer to him, her eyes like frost bitten grass.

"Listen up, I can't attack you here because it's grounds for disqualification from this exam. If it were just me, I'd do it anyway, but I won't risk my team like that, so you're safe for now…" She stepped in even closer, until all she would have to do was reach up for her kunai to be at his neck. "But if you ever imply that Gaara-kun is better off dead because of a choice he had no say in, I will hunt your ass down all the way from Konoha and rewire your nervous system so you can't tell your head from your ass."

The chunin hated himself for it, but he actually gulped. She was scary. The look in her eyes was cold and hard and deadly serious. It was outrageous, some pink haired little genin girl thinking she could threaten him, a full grown chunin! But she her eyes…she was so serious and hardened that he really couldn't bring himself to doubt her or say anything to the contrary. The best he could manage was to hold her glare.

After a long second, he looked away, and Sakura knew she'd won. She took a step back, sheathing her kunai. "It won't be much of a difference for you, since your head's so far up your ass anyway." The man was instantly back to glaring at her but she was already refocused on the more helpful chunin. "Do you have a way to get in contact with the central tower?"

"…Yes, but…"

"Then what's the harm?" She pleaded desperately. "If I'm wrong, then it's not like you lose anything by checking. It's just a little heightened vigilance, that's all."

The chunin considered this. She had a point, and unlike his comrade, he was part of a younger generation that didn't have the same mistrust of Gaara the adults carried. Whether he liked the guy or not was besides the point. Gaara was his Kazekage, it was only right they protect him from great threat.

"All right. I'll let them know. Thank you Sakura-san."

"What? You're actually listening to this bitch?" The older chunin demanded. Sakura shot him an unimpressed look, but before she could even say anything, the younger chunin spoke.

"She's right. If it's nothing than no harm was done, but if there is an attack against Kazekage-sama, and we were aware and didn't try to warn anyone, it would be our failing as Suna shinobi, and I can't accept that. He stepped away into a side room that had a radio to contact the main tower, alerting them of a potential attack on the Hokage during this time and to check on him.

Seeing that she got the word out, and that was the best she could do for now, Sakura returned to the seating area with the rest of her team, who promptly asked what she'd talked to them about. The akatsuki were restricted information in Konoha that genin were not supposed to be privy to, so Sakura lied and told them she'd been trying to find out if the other Konoha teams had made it to shelter safely. All the while, she watched the sand swirl past the window, worried about Gaara and feeling frustrated at not being able to do more. It didn't matter if she wasn't able to gather any new information on the Akatsuki, that had been a long shot anyway, but she wanted to make sure Gaara was okay, and save him if he needed saving. He'd clearly never had very many people who cared what happened to him, and it was evident there were still some Suna nin that thought they'd be better off without Gaara. She wanted to be there for him, to show him that there were people who cared about him, and wouldn't just talk but would go the distance to prove it…but she was stuck here.

---

It took several hours before the sandstorm finally passed cleanly over the demon desert, and the whole time Sakura's emotions and mind battled each other. When the chunin on guard informed them that they were clear to go and the test would be resuming, team Asuma took off immediately, pace set by Sakura, who was determined to get to the tower to check on Gaara as fast as possible. Neither Ino nor Choji complained about the pace, both wanting this test to be over as soon as possible, and assuming Sakura's determination to get there quickly came from her earlier stated concern for the other Konoha teams.

They weren't the first team to arrive but they were by no means the last, and the crowed around the tower only continued to grow. They turned in their two scrolls in to the chunin collecting them at a booth, and found team 8.

"You guys made it!" Ino cheered brightly.

"Was there ever any doubt?" Kiba scoffed cockily.

"Are you three alright? Any injuries?"

"We're fine. It's because other than a truly horrible odor during a tracking showdown, no additional damage was done to us." Shino explained mysteriously.

Hinata smiled. "Yes, we're alright Sakura-chan. What about you three?"

"Oh you know we're fine, Hinata-chan! Our team's got two medics after all. It'd be a blow to our pride if we showed up with any injuries." Ino stated proudly.

Further discussion was cut off when they heard Lee's boisterous voice arguing with the Suna chunin collecting everyones scrolls.

"Please accept these!"

"Two heaven scrolls are not acceptable!" The chunin stated resolutely.

"Oh but that's—!" Lee slammed his hands on the counter in a fit of passion, but before he could continue, the chunin was quick to cut him off, leaning in closer.

"No! No! No!"

Lee also leaned in, getting in the chunin's face. "I can't reveal the details, but there were extraordinary circumstances that prevented us from getting the scrolls! Please ask Kazekage-sama!"

Sakura tensed. "Extraordinary circumstances that Gaara-kun is aware of? Was it the Akatsuki? Did team Gai come into contact with them and fight them off? That mean's Gaara-kun's definitely safe then, at least…but he might need medical attention…"

"It doesn't matter what the circumstances there were. No means no!" The chunin continued.

"You're stingy!" Lee shouted, slamming his hands on the counter again, and probably would have done more had TenTen and Neji not decided to intervene at that moment, grabbing each of Lee's arms to hold him back.

"Now, now…" TenTen soothed.

"Just give it up." Neji muttered.

"No…! I can't just give up!" Lee protested as they dragged him away towards the rest of the Konoha ninja.

"So you guys didn't make it? That's surprising." Kiba greeted genuinely.

"Yes well, it's the truth there were some extenuating circumstances…" Neji muttered.

"But…that means…you guys didn't pass?! But you're…they can't do that!" Ino shouted. Team Gai was a year older than the rest of them and clearly incredibly skilled. They deserved to be chunin as much as the rest of them did!

"It is indeed most tragic! A noble and youthful sacrifice truly did cost us the chunin exams!" Lee sobbed. If they had to do it over, he knew he and his team would make the same choice again, but it still didn't stop the let down of not being promoted again.

TenTen seemed to wilt at the truth of it all. They wouldn't be advancing to chunin and it hurt. She didn't regret Neji's decision to aid Gaara and Fuu from that weird Suna lute playing priest who'd been sucking out their chakra, but she still wished they had the scrolls they needed to pass.

Sakura noticed TenTen's disheartened air, and immediately sought to cheer her up. She nudged her gently, gaining the brunettes attention and asked quietly, "So how was three days in the desert with Neji?"

TenTen turned bright pink before stepping a little ways from the group, dragging Sakura with her.

"Ok, so…on the first night when we made camp, I brought out supplies to make okonomiyaki, and Lee made this dumb comment about how convenient I was to have around, which pissed me off because it made me feel like I was nothing more than a ninja tool. So I got mad at him and told him to make it himself and stormed off, and after a few minutes, Neji came over and sat with me…" TenTen turned even more pink, her voice dropping even more. "I told him to leave me alone but he didn't. He told me my jutsu was convenient, useful, and completely negated any struggles posed by survival tests like this…but then he said that more than any of that, my presence was necessary, at least for him…he said that without me, he wouldn't have remained on this team for more than a week, and that no matter what my skills had turned out to be, whether they were convenient or not, he wouldn't trade or replace me with anyone else. And he said that any time he'd been placed on a team I wasn't a part of, it felt wrong…"

"Oh my god, TenTen! That totally sounds like a confession!" Sakura whispered giddily.

"It felt like one, but he never outright said he liked me, you know?" TenTen whispered back.

Sakura…thank you…for everything…

Don't die while I'm gone, Sakura. Please.

"Guys like Neji and Sasuke-kun…I don't think they do outright confessions…" Sakura murmured thoughtfully, her cheeks tinting pink.

TenTen quirked a brow. Sasuke? Had he given Sakura an indirect confession at some point before he left? Was that why she brought him up? "What do you mean?"

"I just…maybe rather than admitting that they like or love someone…maybe it's easier for guys like that to express it as…gratitude…or camaraderie.

"Speaking from experience?" TenTen asked, with a subdued mischief to her voice. If Sakura was speaking from experience, that must have made Sasuke's leaving ten times harder.

"Wha—no! I just…"

"Maybe…?"

"Hell yeah we are!"

TenTen bumped the younger girl lightly with her hip, a soft smile on her face. She knew Sakura had brought it all up in the first place to distract and cheer her up, and she didn't want that to come at the cost of Sakura's own cheer.

"Come on, let's get back to the others before Ino gets too suspicious and makes us share everything with the group."

"Right." Sakura smiled coming back from her musings.

---

They rejoined the group just in time. Ino was giving them a weird look but before she got the chance to ask, Temari called for everyones attention.

"Congratulations all of you, on making it here. You'll all stay here for the night to rest. Tomorrow morning, gather out here and we will announce the results and explain the third exam. There's dinner waiting for you inside. Don't waste it this time."

The group was lead into the tower, once again, each team receiving its own room. Ino immediately found the showers and wasted no time in hopping in, unable to stand the sand caked to her skin any longer. Choji lumbered down to the cafeteria in search of some food before dinner was officially served. And that was just fine with Sakura because she needed answers, and was determined to make sure Gaara was ok.

She wasn't entirely sure how best to approach him though, and found herself continuously debating whether she should or not. He was working, acting as Kazekage right now, and likely didn't have time to be bothered with her. More than that, she wasn't sure if it was her place or not. She was his friend and cared about his wellbeing, but this wasn't her village, she was just a genin and he was Kazekage, and she was taking an exam he was overseeing. She couldn't just waltz into his office to check on him. Rank and village aside, it probably wouldn't look too good if a Konoha genin met privately with the Kazekage overseeing the exams before the third exam officially started.

The result of her inner turmoil was Sakura repeatedly pacing up and down the hallway the level below where the Kazekage's office was situated, chewing on her lip as she continuously debated about whether to go up and check on him or not.

The choice was removed from her hands. "If you're too busy, I can come back later." A dry feminine voice broke through Sakura's musings.

"T-Temari! Sorry…I'm probably not supposed to be here, right? I'll go."

Temari arched a sandy blonde brow. "Tch, all that pacing and you're gonna walk away without any answers, just like that?"

Sakura regarded Temari for a second, with a strange feeling of deja vu. It felt a little like when she first asked Shikamaru to help train her in strategy. Temari wasn't trying to send her away with nothing, she wanted an informational exchange. She wanted to get a better read on Sakura than she had. Maybe she was trying to see why Shikamaru may have gone so far out of his way to convince Sakura to take the exam, or maybe she was trying to get a read on why Sakura may have agreed to take care of her brother when no one else would, almost two years ago, now.

"…Gaara-kun might be too busy right now to talk, and even if he isn't, the optics of it might not be good for him—the Kazekage speaking alone with a single Konoha genin at the chunin exams he's hosting as his first big act as Kazekage. And I know Lee-san, TenTen and Neji have something to do with whatever must have happened. Neji's gonna be a lost cause, but I could probably wheedle some information out of TenTen or Lee-san. It'd just be better if I got the chance to talk to Gaara-kun directly and make sure he's okay. But he's not my only source of information."

Temari smirked. She could see why Shikamaru had his eye on her during the first exam. And why her baby brother was so interested in the pretty medic. Constantly calling him Gaara-kun, wanting to find out what happened for the purpose of checking if he was okay, it was a kind of care and warmth that had been so foreign to Gaara it was no wonder he craved it now. And deducing Team Gai had been involved from the scene Lee through earlier at the tower entrance, and trusting her ability to manipulate TenTen or Lee into giving her the information she wanted, that came down to pure skill and strategy.

"Well aren't you lucky then, you don't need to go through the trouble. He wants to see you."

Sakura's eyes widened in surprise. "He does?"

"Why do you think I'm here? Gaara was supposed to remain in the tower overseeing everything for the duration of the test, but when the sandstorm hit, he went out to help the recovery efforts. No one noticed because he left a sand clone behind, so no one bothered to check. Until they got a call from the shelter you were staying at, warning about a potential threat to the Kazekage. You put everyone on high alert." Temari turned and headed up the staircase at the end of the hallway. Sakura stared after her wide eyed, until Temari stopped three stairs up and looked back at her.

"You coming or not?"

Sakura quickly hurried after the Suna jonin, following her to the door that lead to the Kazekage's temporary office. Temari knocked once, then opened the door without waiting for an answer.

"I brought her, Gaara."

"Thank you." Came his quiet, gravely voice. Temari stepped aside, allowing Sakura to enter, before closing the door, leaving the two of them alone. Sakura didn't wait for further invitation, strolling right up to his desk, scanning him over for any sign of injury.

"Gaara-kun! What happened? Are you hurt at all? Was it the Akatsuki? Were there two of them?"

"I'm fine Sakura." He placated gently, trying to ease the worried look off her face. "It wasn't them."

"It—oh." Sakura wasn't sure if she felt disappointed or not. She wasn't glad that Gaara had been attacked and she was very happy that both he and team Gai seemed to be completely fine. But if it had been the Akatsuki attacking, she may have been able to get more information about them…maybe another name or greater knowledge of their combat style and capabilities. On the other hand, if all of the Akatsuki were around Itachi's level or stronger, it was an immense relief that Gaara hadn't been in contact with them. "But if it wasn't the Akatsuki…"

"There are many in Suna who oppose me being named Kazekage," Gaara explained, "many who have not forgiven my past transgressions."

Sakura's whole countenance saddened. "Just like that guard at the shelter earlier. That must be so hard, being a leader so dedicated and protective of a people who hate you…is that what it's going to be like for Naruto when he becomes Hokage?…No. The people of Konoha may have hated Naruto for having the Kyubi inside him, but no one ever made assassination attempts on him. Besides, Naruto will change peoples opinions of him first. He already has with so many."

"Gaara-kun, I'm so sorry…"

Gaara stared at her saddened, beautiful face for a second before shaking his head. She really was a wonder. Her and Naruto both. And all the hate he'd endured, he endure again ten times over, so long as it guaranteed they'd both be brought into his life.

"Not everyone is as openminded, warm and kind as you and Naruto are. But it has changed already. The younger generation has accepted me and my teachings. Peoples' opinions are changing, just as I have changed." Gaara explained, a warmth coloring his tone that was usually absent from his stoic voice. He thought fondly of his student, Matsuri, who once upon a time had been so afraid to wield a weapon, after seeing them used to murder her parents, but now wielded one easily, and never gave up to protect those she cared about, including him. When he'd been taken hostage by the Suna priest attempting to exorcise the tailed beast from inside him, despite his orders to get away safely and speak of the attack to no one, she'd gone on to alert team Gai and bring them to his aid. He thought fondly of Shira, who like Lee, couldn't use genjutsu or ninjutsu, so as per the rules of the Suna training academy, he hadn't been allowed to become a ninja. But he'd kept practicing taijutsu on his own until he became a master so skillful, that Gaara sought him out to become the taijutsu trainer of the Kazekage himself, and granted him permission to enter the academy and become a ninja. Suna was changing. So were the citizens, and so was he. And all of that was a good thing. And all of his change had started with Naruto, continued with Sakura, his siblings, and Lee. He was so grateful to them all.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Sakura asked in concern.

"I'm fine. Neji blocked the chakra point they were trying to remove my tailed beast through, but Shukaku's unblocked it by now."

"I see. I'm glad you're okay. I was worried about you."

Gaara smiled a little. It wasn't that he wanted Sakura to worry, but it felt nice knowing that there was someone who worried about him. It was so unfamiliar, and so so pleasant.

"Thank you, Sakura." She gave him a beautiful smile that made his heart forget to beat for a second.

"I'm glad it wasn't the Akatsuki, at least…they're…a lot to handle." She murmured thinking of her encounter with Itachi and Kisame. "But if they didn't try to get you this time, they will try some other time, so please be careful, Gaara-kun."

"I will Sakura." He debated for a second on letting her know about Fuu, and how she was also a jinchuriki, but decided against it. It wasn't his place to reveal that information, and Sakura didn't need to worry about everyone. He'd warn Fuu to be careful himself, before she and her two teammates left.

---

The next morning, everyone was gathered once again outside the tower, awaiting the announcements for the third exam. Just as they had the day before, the nine Konoha genin gathered together. It was like a habit for them after frequent missions and interactions to seek each other out, the Konoha 12, or in this case, 9. There was another genin team from Konoha at the test, but they didn't group with them…that team was made up entirely of shinobi who were either clanless or from less renown clans, and really…they weren't anything too impressive. It was a bit of a bitter reminder to Sakura of where she could have ended up among all her exceptional, clan inheriting classmates, had she not been placed with Naruto and Sasuke.

Temari stood at one of the higher balconies of the tower, with Gaara in his full Kazekage robes, and the other chunin and jonin proctors—Konoha and Suna alike. She stepped forward and immediately the crowed at the base of the tower fell silent.

"Due to extenuating circumstances, the third round has been canceled!"

Immediately murmurs and shouts broke out through the crowd of genin.

"What happens to the Chunin exams, then?" Lee cried.

TenTen let out a small sigh, drawing Neji's attention. "I did have a bad feeling about this…"

"Does that mean all that effort was for nothing?!" Kiba barked.

"We continued to the very end and didn't give up, so we should be okay." Shino comforted, albeit enigmatically. Their epic tracking showdown between team 8 and a team of grass ninja specializing in retrieval playing through his head. They'd pursued them no matter how hard they were shaken, when the targets were too far to see with the byakugan, released a stink bomb so rancid it blew out everyones nose, especially Kiba's and Akamaru's, burrowed underground shaking his bugs…it didn't matter, team 8 had pursued and eventually won. Third round or not, Shino was proud of his team. "Those who dropped out midway are the ones who should be worried."

"I sort of feel sorry for them." Hinata murmured softly, ever the gentle and kind spirit.

"All we gained was hunger and exhaustion." Choji moaned, thinking of Team Asuma's many struggles.

"That's no gain!" Ino snapped, though she was in complete agreement. What was the point of all the effort?

Sakura could understand their frustration, but she didn't share it. Coming here, for her, hadn't been about becoming a chunin. It had been about proving she could be on the frontlines despite her seal. It had been about overcoming her limits and gaining confidence in herself. And she had. She could help Naruto and Sasuke, even if it was before her necessary three years. She could go on missions and perform surgeries. Sakura couldn't fight the smile growing on her face.

"At the very least, we gained self-confidence and experience." She said brightly, making Hinata and Ino smile at the truth of that, and Lee cry at how her words reflected the true spirit of the springtime of youth.

Gaara stepped forward, immediately commanding everyone's attention.

"Exam participants! I commend you on your hard efforts! With the passage of time, our shinobi world needs a new system with new laws. Until today, we shinobi were required to sacrifice even the lives of our comrades for the sake of our laws and rules. But I realized that we have something even more precious than rules and regulations."

Everyone listened to him with wrapt attention, never having been on the receiving end of a speech like this, issued from the mouth of a Kage.

"That is friendship, with our fellow villagers, our fellow shinobi, and the bond we share with others who understand the same pain…I believe that each of you who stands here now knows exactly what I mean."

Sakura couldn't help the huge smile splitting her face, nor the sting of tears in her eyes.

"This sounds so much like something Naruto would say…well, more eloquent, but the ideas the same. He'd be so proud of Gaara-kun if he could hear this…I'm so proud of Gaara-kun! He really came so so far in such a short time…From having no bonds and nothing but the desire to kill, to this…that means there's hope for Sasuke-kun too, right? Cause Sasuke-kun does have bonds, and if he can overcome his desire for revenge…"

Sakura…thank you…for everything.

Don't die while I'm gone, Sakura. Please.

"There's hope for him…"

"Therefore, I deem the Third Exam unnecessary. Furthermore, I am rescinding part of the requirements for the second exam." Gaara continued.

There was a whisper of "what does that mean," through the transfixed crowd.

"For each of you standing here right now, a detailed report of your performance will be sent to your respective villages. Your Kage will make the final decision on your promotion."

"That means we have to wait longer?" Kiba griped.

"But it also means we still have a chance, correct?" Lee asked his team excitedly. He knew Gaara would look out for them after they threw the test to rescue him.

"Yes," Sakura confirmed, "it means all of our chances go up. We all have a shot at being promoted now." Although it also shot a small sliver of anxiety through her. Would Tsunade be proud of her or pissed at how many risks she took?

---

"I've gone over your second exam reports. And…" Tsunade said, standing at her desk facing the large group of genin filling her office. Shikamaru stood to her left, hands in pockets, looking bored, and Shizune to her right, holding a happy looking Ton Ton, who oinked excitedly.

"Hyuga Hinata, Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba, Akamichi Choji, Yamanaka Ino, and," unnoticed to everyone except Sakura, who was watching Tsunade's face carefully, the older woman's lips quirked in a slight smile. "Haruno Sakura…You six passed with flying colors and are promoted to chunin!"

Sakura felt gravity lighten around her a little. She'd done it. She'd been promoted, despite her handicap…and it hadn't escaped her notice that of the names just listed, she'd been the only one without clan backing, and was definitely the only one raised by a civilian.

Tsunade turned to the other team that had taken the exam, the one that didn't hang out with their large, elite, group. "Ito Komugi, Izuno Gennai, Suzuki Inaho…You will be given another chance next time." The three wilted. This had already been their second time taking the exam. The first time they never made it past the first round, Komugi having been too afraid to risk Ibiki's tenth question.

Tsunade turned at last to face team Gai, who she hadn't yet addressed. "Finally…although they did not collect the two necessary scrolls, they performed admirably and are more than qualified for promotion. Lee and TenTen are now Chunin!"

Lee cheered, as did TenTen but her moment of happiness was short lived when she realized the Hokage hadn't included Neji in that. Lee caught on the next second, and immediately began to question the Hokage's choice.

"Team Gai is all for one and one for all! How can Neji not be included?!"

But TenTen continued to stare at Neji's impassive face, watching for all the tell tale signs only she seemed to know how to read, the very slight narrowing of his pale eyes before the very minor hitch of his brow. The slight tensing of his jaw, and the silent almost unnoticeable swallow he took, only made evident by the brief bob of his adam's apple. He was disappointed, likely with himself. What she really worried about was a potential back slide into his branch family vs main family logic. After all, Hinata had passed. And she and Lee had as well, and that had been undeniably with Neji's guidance. Had the main branch interfered and requested he not be promoted? What other reason could there be? But according to Neji, things had gotten much better between him and Hiyashi…

"Just let me finish!" Tsunade snapped, silencing Lee as her hand slammed on her desk, making a loud menacing cracking noise. Lee recoiled in fear, as TenTen's eyes shot back to her Hokage. She admired Tsunade greatly, but damn was she scary…how Sakura dealt with it twenty-four/seven was a mystery.

"Hyuga Neji is being given a special double promotion to Jonin! The Kazekage himself noted that 'in particular, Neji's performance was most impressive and due consideration has been given in this report.' He's already proven himself to be more than capable as a chunin."

This time, when TenTen looked at him, his expression was easy for anyone to read: shock. But it soon melted into a small relieved smile.

"Way to go, Neji!" Lee cheered enthusiastically.

"Congratulations!" TenTen beamed.

Behind them, Hinata smiled with pride at all her cousin had accomplished. She'd been a bit worried when he hadn't been promoted with everyone else—it made no sense. He was the strongest member of the clan, uncontested by anyone. Even her father more than acknowledged it, training Neji himself. It would have been wrong for him not to be promoted.

"Thank you, very much." Neji nodded quietly. The words 'double promotion to Jonin' ringing in his head, along with TenTen's warm congratulations.

"Thank you to you both!" Lee said seriously, facing his two teammates. "I made it to Chunin because of Team Gai's teamwork."

"Our three man squad is forever, right?" TenTen asked, leaning in closer to Neji playfully, unaware of how his pulse picked up as a result. She really loved her team, no matter how weird Lee was, or cold Neji could be…she really really loved them.

"Yes, I hope so." Neji agreed softly. He certainly wouldn't mind working with Lee and TenTen forever…especially TenTen.

"I finally overtook Naruto!" Kiba cheered.

Shikamaru smirked, turning to look out the window. "He's going to be so mad about that he missed the chunin exams."

Sakura felt her good mood deflate mildly, and turned to glance at Hinata who also had saddened a little.

"I wonder what kind of training Naruto is doing now…" The pale eyed girl murmured softly.

"Well, then that's all. You're dismissed. Go celebrate or whatever. Except you, Sakura. You stay here."

Everyone filed out, still full of good cheer and ready to celebrate with their teams, except for Ino and Choji. Ino hugged Sakura, murmuring a quiet, "are you in trouble," in her ear.

"I don't think so…she gave me permission to take the exam…" Sakura answered, equally quiet. Ino pulled away, and Choji gave her a supportive pat on the shoulder.

"We're probably gonna go celebrate with Shikamaru and Asuma-sensei, but you, Ino and I should definitely celebrate too. We were a team, and wouldn't have passed without you, after all!" Choji said warmly.

Sakura smiled at them warmly. "Thank you. Both of you…now get going! Go have fun!"

"You got it, Captain!" Choji cheered.

"We're having an actual, real catch up session tomorrow!" Ino called threateningly, gesturing between her and Sakura. "I mean it! I'll hunt you down and drag you if I have to!"

"Alright, alright! Just get out of here, Pig!" Ino gave her one last joking glare before walking out the door after Choji, leaving Sakura alone in the office with Tsunade. Shizune had gone off to feed Ton Ton, and Shikamaru left with the rest of team 10, after giving her a smirk and a bored pat on the head, much to her chagrin.

She and Tsunade stared at each other for a long moment before Tsunade crossed from behind her desk to stand in front of her. The sanin put a hand over Sakura's forehead, and she knew, despite not feeling a thing, that Tsunade was using an incredibly delicate and specialized chakra scan to check on the seal's condition and progress.

Tsunade felt the seal, still in it formation process, no damage or strain done, as well as Sakura's secondary seal, which was actually overflowing with her chakra. Her amber eyes widened. When she read through Sakura's report, she couldn't believe the girl managed any of it without compromising her seal. But here she was, proven dead wrong. Sakura truly was extraordinary. To think she'd be able to maintain and build the seal at such a young age, through such strenuous, battle time conditions. She shouldn't have been able to do any of that…but Sakura apparently didn't know the definition of shouldn't or can't. After all, a nine year old shouldn't have been able to concoct medicines to keep an unknown illness at bay, a Haruno shouldn't have been able to survive and control there chakra through an attack, a genin shouldn't have been able to create the dancer's barrage and execute it while wearing 50% chakra weights, and a fourteen-year-old with barely two years of training shouldn't have been medically on par with Shizune…but this was Haruno Sakura. The girl who had the odds stacked against her since birth but continuously said "fuck you" to them and kept pushing through. Her apprentice really was something else entirely.

"Shikamaru and Gaara both also recommended you for a double promotion as well. You have the skills for it, and if it wasn't for the seal I would have…let's just say that when you unlock the seal, you'll be promoted to jonin. Extra incentive to maintain it…not that you need it. Besides, I don't think you wanted to be that far ahead of your boys, right?" Tsunade smiled warmly down at the pink haired girl. "Congratulations Sakura. I'm proud of you." The sanin pulled Sakura into a suffocating hug, as Sakura laughed, her arms encircling her master. She didn't have team 7 or her mother (at least not physically), and Kakashi was out on a mission. Everyone else would be celebrating with their teams and families tonight. Sakura didn't have that. But she had Tsunade. And in this moment, that was enough for her.

Tsunade pulled away from her, tussled her hair, and then walked to the desk, withdrawing a bottle and two small cups.

"Shishou?"

Tsunade poured the sake into the two cups. "You're celebrating. Drink up kid!"

"…I'm underage…"

"You're a chunin, and I'm the Hokage. You're not getting in trouble for this. I might, but that's a future me problem. Now drink up."

Normally, she'd argue, but she was actually a bit curious about the Hokage's beverage of choice. She picked up the cup politely, tapping it gently against Tsunade's. "Kampai!" Following the sanin's example, she tipped the cup back, drinking it down in one shot. It was…interesting, a little sweet but bitter as well, and pleasantly warming as it went down. She could understand the appeal, but couldn't fathom drinking more than five cups of it. She didn't understand how her master could guzzle a whole bottle.

"Well, still wanna stand by your earlier stance on never drinking?" Tsunade's smirk widened at Sakura's silence. "Y'know what goes best with Sake?"

"Food?" Sakura asked hopefully, having a feeling the answer was more inline with further corrupting the youth.

"Cards! Hanafuda. We're playing. I'll get Shizune in on it too!"

"Don't you have work?"

"You're a chunin now. We're celebrating! Besides, I deserve a damn break after how much of a headache those damn exams were." She muttered making her way towards the office door, heading to the kitchen to set up a feast for Sakura despite her answer. After they ate, she fully intended and drinking and playing cards with the girl all night.

Sakura watched her master's back as she walked out the office door, a small smile on her lips. Despite her lack of interest in drinking in excess or playing cards, she knew what her master was trying to do…she wasn't going to let Sakura be alone on a happy day like this, when everyone else had teams and families to celebrate with.

Sakura grabbed her mother's necklace, smiling softly. "I made it to Chunin, mom…I might be the first Haruno to manage it…"

"Sakura!" Tsunade's voice thundered up from drown the hall.

"Coming!" Her smile grew wider. "You were right to emotionally trust me to her, mom." She ran out of the office and down the hall to join her master, smile wide and eyes misty.

---

Author's note: Ok so, again I'm not entirely sure on what the passage of time is here, as in what events happen on which day...the anime isn't super clear on that, so I assigned events to specific days. The anime doesn't show them getting their second scroll from the ame nin, I added that because by the time they face off against team Ameno, they already have their second scroll, and that's the only fight they're shown in prior to team Ameno. I don't think I changed much about that battle, only adding a bit more to both Ino and Sakura's insecurities. The team Saya battle was the one I changed the most...Saya does this whole weird changing her appearance between her and her puppet thing that I didn't want to deal with. I also added Sakura freezing up/traumatized of the snakes coming at her. It's not a terrified chakra reaction thing, but it is a disorienting flashback caused by a very specific trigger: being at the chunin exams fighting an enemy who wields snakes as part of his body. In the anime, it's unclear how much of Sakura's training and memories Ino and Choji see through the mind transmission. In this, they don't see anything other than Tsunade banning her from coming, and feel her levels of exhaustion as well as the self imposed pressure she's under. The anime also doesn't take very much time or focus to show Sakura's team being brought to the shelter, I don't think it was Temari who took them, and once they're there, they don't show them again-that part of the arc is focused on team Gai saving Gaara, so that entire scene was added. In the anime, it gives a flashback of her training and maintaining the second dam, but since I wrote that training in real time, I gave a dream sequence instead. I really love writing Sakura's dream sequences. I don't know, I just feel like they turn out well. Especially this one, looking at her chakra reserves...like that was cool, to haver her dreaming the imagery the anime/manga uses to represent the hundred healings. It was also fun writing the shifting third wheel dynamic between Choji and Sakura. On one hand Choji's third wheeling Ino and Sakura, on the other hand she's third wheeling the Ino-Cho team 10 dynamic. I shifted Sakura's insecurities a little from being weaker than the boys to wanting to be able to help save them. The anime keeps showing it like she's so far behind and trying to just catch up, but I wanted this to be more focused on her ability to be useful and keeping her promise to Naruto/saving Sasuke. The anime also frames it like she's weak for pulling strength and inspiration from Sasuke and Naruto but like, that's literally the point of the whole show so...why is it only weak when Sakura does it? Naruto does it all the fucking time! Anyways because I only focused on Sakura and team ten, there was a lot that I didn't really cover or that you may have been confused about...the arc is actually pretty focused around team Gai so it is worth actually going and watching or rewatching this arc if you're curious as to what happened with them because I sort of explained it but like not really.

Sorry this note isn't as organized or thorough as usual...I'm tired and my mind is mush...also my computers being slow so typing this has been frustrating. Next chapter will be Naruto coming back. Also, some one asked this a while ago, but I never answered...I didn't include the Boruto time slip arc because it doesn't make any chronological sense, however if people are interested in seeing what those Sasuke/Sakura scenes would have been if it were in this universe with an older version of this Sasuke and this thirteen year old Sakura, I can write that as like a Sasuke's POV one shot or something.

Anyways, thank you so much for your patience and so much for reading, liking, following, and reviewing! Please keep it up! Thanks for reading this far! :)