/Hope you all enjoy this chapter and I love reading the reviews, so please continue to review and give me feedback. Oh, and I was wondering, what do you guys want to see in the story or hope to happen?/

Ch. 5

The next days went by and the exam was getting closer making Sakura nervous. Two days and a week prior to the exam Kakashi had shown up out of nowhere with Sasuke following behind, walking. They had shown up when Naruto and Sakura were sparing in taijutsu. The sight alone made Sasuke surprised, and his usually stoic face was now broken into the surprised look. Kakashi, on the other hand, remained mostly the same, but if you knew him you could see that the display had spiked his interest.

Aoba had a smug smirk on his face as he looked over at the remaining team seven. "So, what brings you here Kakashi?" Aoba questions him, the tone was a bit irritated. Naruto and Sakura had yet to notice the new arrivals, as they both were having a lot of fun. "I am checking on my team and thought that maybe we could have some team training…" Kakashi trailed off as he studied his students. Never had he thought he would see Sakura train like this, and never would he think that Naruto would think a bit when he fought. The changes this other man had made were grand and Kakashi truly had to give him credit for what he had done. Sakura was agiler and moving with smoother movements, she was doing better than Kakashi ever had hoped for the girl. Naruto, on the other hand, was matching Sakura, only he was holding back laying himself just a bit more over Sakura's ability. It was like watching a true team fight and this made him feel a sting of guilt for overlooking Sakura, even Naruto to a degree.

"Well I would have appreciated it if you had talked to me before coming, as you can see, we are in the middle of training" Aoba resorted to, even frowning. He knew that team training would be needed, but the man had hoped that Kakashi would at least talk with him beforehand. "Maa Maa, sorry about that, been busy with Sasuke and training and I was on my way yesterday but got lost on the road to life," The silver-haired man told him with a lame and lazy excuse. This made Aoba even more irritated, maybe even a bit angry. "Oh, so your students aren't worth your time, no wonder the team was so broken when I started with those two?" his voice was raised to the extent that Naruto and Sakura had glanced over to them. Both looked surprised at the new arrivals as they stopped fighting. Before Kakashi could answer Sakura and Naruto were over standing beside Aoba. "Hello, Kakashi-sensei, Sasuke-kun" Sakura's voice broke the tension building up. "How is training going for you two?" she questioned, to make Aoba and Kakashi stops glaring at each other and because she was curious.

"Oh, it's going good Sakura" Kakashi blinked as he took a once over her. She was starting to get muscles and the way the dirt was on the young girl's cloth told him that she truly was trying. "I was thinking that we could have some team training if it's ok for you two?" Kakashi question Sakura and Naruto, feeling the glare from Aoba, Kakashi even gave his cute little Genin an eye smile just to tease the man a bit more. Sasuke was watching it all, but he didn't understand why they even had to work as a team. He himself could carry the team on his own, but it did help his goal of becoming stronger if his team was strong. Sakura let her eyes trail onto Sasuke before she looked at her sensei, maybe she wasn't that useless anymore? Maybe she could help her team now, at least that is what Aoba tells her and she should believe him, right? Slowly she nodded, and as soon as she gave her approval Naruto jumped aboard "Of course! I can show off my awesome skill!" he said giving them all a big grin, making Sakura relax from where she stood. Naruto was in his own way a safe place for Sakura, even if she never would admit it out loud.

"I have an idea if you want to have some team training with those two" Aoba butted in, as all the attention went to him he continued with his little idea. "I am guessing all of you are aware of why you are in a three-man cell?" He didn't wait for them, but they all nodded anyway. "It's because here in Konohagakure we value teamwork rather high and it's seen as something important to everyone, no matter the rank" His voice was in a very teacher like the tone and this made Sakura and Naruto smile. "I suggest that you three..." he pointed at the genin "Fight us two, your goal would be to land 15 successful hits on us. That means evenly five hits for each of you." He pointed at himself and Kakashi. When the man saw a familiar frown appear on Sakura's face he added hurriedly, before she could vocalize her worries for being outmatched. "I and Kakashi will, of course, have some handicaps, so it will be possible for you three to win If you work together" "We have handicaps?" "Yes, we have" Kakashi couldn't disagree with the man, and Aoba was clearly making sure that there was no room for arguing about it.

"First handicap or rather advantage for you guys is that you get some minutes to start ahead and make a plan. When time goes on we get more handicaps. After 20 minutes we can only use one hand, after an hour we can only use taijutsu. After one more hour our range of fighting and just where we can go get cut down to this opening. If you still have problems with taking us on we get the handicap of one of us being 'blind'" As Aoba was done talking Sakura nodded slowly, Naruto was smiling a confident and happy smile and Sasuke looked relaxed, thinking that this would be easy. Kakashi had taken his hand into his pockets and was looking as lazy as ever, he gave a shrug to confirm that he was fine with it "Oh and to win, each of you have to get five clear hits on either of us" The old man smirked as Sakura paled, Naruto grinned and Sasuke frowned. "All clear?" Everyone nodded, some more than others. "Okay, ready set, go!"

This time around team seven went into hiding together, even Sasuke had followed them. He took charge right away, determine that he was the most capable ninja out of the three. "So, I think we should get a bit further away. Kakashi-sensei has the sharingan after all and I don't know how strong Aoba is, but a distance is necessary" His tone was final and as he turned on his heel not even bothering looking at either of them. Naruto, of course, wanted to protest, but Sakura laid a hand on the boy's shoulder shaking her head. Sasuke-kun was still the strongest out of them, and they needed to work together as a team.

They went on for a few minutes, into the forest before stopping, still on the ground. Sakura took a quick look at the area, judging the pros and cons of the place. Naruto was already walking around looking for hiding places and different escape routes. "I believe we have about five minutes before they start to go after us." Sakura says in a 'matter-of-fact' voice looking at both boys thinking hard. "We need to come up with a base plan, and quickly evaluate what we can do. I can start, right now I can leap between trees with chakra, same for Naruto, we can both tree walk of course, but also water walk. I can come up with fight plans and hide my chakra at an average level. I am getting better at fighting, but I would only hinder you there. I think I would do best at throwing senbon needles from a distance while you two fight the close and middle range." Sakura was the first one to take the word and she went right on the chase, not beating around the bush.

Naruto was the next one to talk "Yeah yeah, I am getting better too, believe it! I can also do what Sakura said, but I trained more on my fighting, so I am faster and stronger!" He says with a big grin, and it was true that Naruto hadn't learned much new stuff. On the other hand, he wasn't shouting or itching to run right straight into the fight, which was one of the many things that made Sasuke surprised. Naruto was a bit calmer, but he wasn't all changed. The boy was still wearing his yellow attire and you could feel that he had a hard time holding back.

"hn" was all the got from Sasuke for a couple of seconds. "Sakura, you go hide over there and can you flare your chakra when I give you the signal? To attracted them, before you hid up in the tree there. You can jump that far, right?" Sakura nodded, confirming that she understood what he said and that she could do it. Sasuke showed her the signal and the Pinkett had to hold back a smile at how serious Sasuke-kun was, but most of all she felt a warmness spreading inside of herself. The boy in front of her gave her a part in his plan, he acknowledges her presence. "Go" he said before turning to the blond boy "Naruto, we will go and hid just a bit further from the tree Sakura is going to. You will need to make some shadow clones and place them there" he pointed to the left side of where Sakura was positioning herself. "and there" now he pointed to the right. "We will need to split them up, I will take on Kakashi and you can take the other on." Naruto nodded "What about Sakura, she doesn't know the rest of the plan?" The blond question after thinking for some seconds. Sasuke shrugged "If she is as smart as she as she says Sakura will catch onto the plan" Naruto nodded at this, Sakura-chan was smart so she would understand. "I will start here and then use my fireball jutsu to split them, go!"

Soon they where each placed where they should. The Uchiha looked over once again, he couldn't see anyone from his team and he could sense Naruto, but Sakura had masked her chakra, so it was as faint as a civil child. He smirked before he gave the signal, maybe his team was better then he thought in the first place? Sakura flared her chakra before jumping into the tree as fast as she could. Looking down she saw no one, but she knew that it was a matter of seconds before everyone went into action. It was a tense moment as team 7 waited for their opponents, they all held their breath hoping that their timing was intact.

Sakura had a good view from the tree she was in, and she knew she would be hard to spot. The girl couldn't see her team, but she could sense Naruto. Sasuke, on the other hand, took her some time to place, but she pinpointed him with logic most of all. As soon as she had spotted him she heard and saw Naruto jumping into action. He had a series of clones attacking both Kakashi-sensei and Aoba, trying to split them up. No sooner she saw a fireball flying towards all the Naruto and their enemy, this took most of the clones Naruto had made. Sakura smirked from her tree when they managed to split Kakashi and Aoba from each other.

Sakura viewed the scene from the tree trying to come up with what she could do, she could try and help Naruto with Aoba or help Sasuke with Kakashi-sensei. Frowning she looked at both fights trying to come up with who she should help, but both where struggling equally. Naruto was doing his best, but he was surrounded by crows and occasionally Aoba hit Naruto himself. Sasuke, on the other hand, was engaged in a hand-to-hand fight with Kakashi-sensei. At first look, you would think that Sasuke was doing well enough, but if one evaluated the fight you would notice that Kakashi-sensei wasn't even trying. "Maybe I should jump around and throw some senbon needle, aiming at both?" Sakura questioned herself in a low voice. Thinking out loud was never a good thing, but it helped her to think faster. Concluding that it was the best she could do now she started to leap from the tree too, aiming at the older men. This truly helped both of her teammates, Sakura didn't have the speed nor the aim to give her teammates anything, but a few seconds opening here and there. This was enough to give both boys some room to breathe and think. Sakura continued with the rain of senbon needles, but her rain was short lived. Soon it was Sakura who was dodging kunais and crows, she was mostly concerned with the crows scratching her up and blocking the view.

Closing her eyes for a few seconds trying to calm herself down was hard enough, but she got just enough seconds to clear her mind a bit. She could stand her ground to a few crows, but her teammates were her main concern. Before she opened her eyes, she felt a sharp pain in her left arm. One of Kakashi's kunai had graced her skin, barely missing her arm. Emerald eyes snapped opened and she started to leap around again, emerald eyes snapped opened and she started to leap around again, dodging to the best of her ability.

What could she do? Was the only thought she had in her mind. Could she really do anything at all? She saw Naruto was panting already, and Sasuke was slowly starting to lose his speed. What can I do other than cry and be useless? Wait a bit, maybe? Her thoughts went at high speed, she was frowning as she tried to decide if it would work. It was a big risk, but it might just work against their opponents right now. She knew that Naruto had at least gotten one good hit on Aoba and Sasuke had gotten two. They could do it if she got at least one hit on Kakashi or Aoba before team seven had to retreat and evaluate.

The plan was almost too simple, but she learned that simple things were just as good as any plan. Biting her bottom lip, she jumped over to the next tree, the only thing that happened was that she missed the branch by a mere centimeter. Her body floated, and she felt like everything was in slow motion. She let out a shrike drawing the attention of all four shinobis, stopping the fight momentarily. The young girl managed to read the surprised look on all four, which was a bit amusing to her before she remembered that she was falling. Everything from there happened in mere seconds, both Sasuke and Naruto turned their back on their opponents and started to run as fast as they could. Both boys tried to get to her and catch Sakura before she could hit the ground, Aoba saw the flicker beside him and stood absolutely still. Kakashi was the one that surprised everyone as he was the one who flickered at an immense speed over to Sakura, catching her before anyone had a chance to blink. Sakura had to hold back the smirk she felt growing, but she was as surprised as the boys on her team. Her green eyes meet her sensei's lone eye and finally, she saw the one thing she had looked for so long. What she saw was a hint of worry and she saw that he cared about her just as much as he cared about the boys, she wasn't left out anymore.

Drawing her breath, the young girl smiled sweetly, things went almost just as planned. Even if it was Kakashi who had caught her, not Aoba, Sakura was happy and determent to do her best. Sakura took her best shot and threw her arm aiming a punch towards her sensei. The punch was made to look like she was throwing her arm around Kakashi, but of course, she was aiming to hit one of the many weak points she learned a human body had. For what felt like the first time in her life she was successful, but Sakura had learned over the past days that she could do whatever she set her mind to. Her arm connected with Kakashi, making the man before she drops her and jumps back. Sasuke who had seen the attack come took the chance as Kakashi was busy with a Sakura springing fast at him. Sasuke landed another good hit on the older man making the score:

Sakura: 1

Naruto: 1

Sasuke: 3

Only a few more hits, this didn't look too bad. Sakura smiled in triumph, but this was short lived. The Pinkett didn't have time to dodge a certain raven-haired boy who came flying through the air, soon both hit one of the many trees with a thud. Sakura coughed trying to start breathing again, but at least she had made the fall soft for Sasuke-kun. Blinking she rose up again locking eyes with Sasuke "We need to come up with a plan so that me and Naruto can get our remaining…" She didn't have time to finish the sentence as she dogged one of Kakashi's kunais splitting her and Sasuke by a few meters. Sasuke had understood what she meant and gave her a nod before he ran towards Kakashi.

Sakura had to frown, was she supposed to come up with something? Oh for kami's sake, she knew she could do it. Her eyes scanned the place they were fighting, cramped with a lot of the forest ground full of vegetation and trees all over the place. Her eyes then drifted back to the fight that had re-started, it went on pretty much like before. Naruto was back fighting the crows and Aoba while Kakashi was fighting a bit harder against Sasuke, but the silver-haired man hadn't activated his sharingan yet. So, if Naruto and Sakura took on one of their teachers then they could get in hit faster and Sakura and Naruto's teamwork was the best even if Sasuke and Naruto had a natural teamwork.

Nodding to herself she went straight to Naruto with a kunai in her hand, she was almost out of Senbo needles anyway. As she fought her way into Naruto she couldn't help but smile when he smiled at her. "Hey, Sakura-chan! You scared me back there you know dattebayo!" he managed to say as both dodge and attacked the crows. She let out a small laughter "As if I would miss a leap" she said as her eyes were scanning for Aoba. The man was standing further away looking like he was leaning against a tree. "I have an idea" Sakura said as one of the crows she had attacked puffed away. "I have some explosions tags with me, if I can set it off you could sneak up on him and maybe get a hit or two" she said in a quiet voice "But you need to make some shadow clones fight in here until the explosion goes off" she keeps her eyes on the crows swarming around them. She could feel Naruto makes some clones, so she made the hand sign and body swapped with a log up in the trees after she placed the seals on the Naruto clones. She made sure Naruto was out of the way before she infused the chakra needed to set off the explosions. The explosion was enough to make Sasuke and Kakashi leap back into the trees and clear away almost every single crow Aoba had made. What made Sakura smile more was how Aoba let his mouth hanging in utter surprise giving Naruto a chance to get in two good hits with the help of more of his shadow clones and Sakura didn't stand idly waiting for her turn, oh no, she was already jumping into the fight giving punches and kicks to Aoba. She and Naruto were working almost like one person, with Sakura adapting to Naruto's ever-changing pattern of attack and Naruto helping Sakura.

Of course, they were having a hard time keeping up with Aoba's movement, but they could counter much faster and if he gave a single opening either of them would be there. Their teamwork was so good that Sakura even managed to get another hit and she hoped Sasuke was done with his hit or at least had gotten another hit at their sensei. Because the sooner he was done they could work altogether to get the last hits.

The flow Naruto and Sakura had was slowing down faster than Sakura would like to admit, and she was the one to blame. Her stamina had greatly increased, but it took much to keep up with a tokubetsu jōnin and her teammate never-ending stamina. Before she knew any of it she was sent flying from a kick to the gut. Her back connected with a tree before she fell to the ground. This time she was tempted to just give up, what was the point in fighting really? She started to feel useless, and her own insecurity took hold of her own mind. Digging her nails into her skin Sakura shook her head as she slowly rose from the ground. She remembered that she had already gotten two good hits, she had to keep going.

Giving her best smile to Naruto and Sasuke she was once again running into action. This time she didn't get even a tiny opening as she tried to send kicks, punches and everything she could at Aoba. The main reason was her sluggish movement and her aching back. Luckily for all three genins, the second handicap was about to start. No sooner than 20 minutes into the fight Kakashi nodded to Aoba before they both took their left hand on their back. And as soon as Kakashi had done it Sasuke got one more hit to their sensei's left side. The score was now set to:

Naruto: 3

Sakura: 2

Sasuke: 4

They were getting closer and closer to actually make it. Sakura knew that both Kakashi and Aoba was going easy on them, but it still made her proud that she had managed two hits. As her mind kept distracting her she felt Aoba's ¨punch connect with her chin, but she ignored the pain and threw a punch at his left side. Aoba jumped back, but he had to duck as Naruto was following up on Sakura's attack. The blond landed another hit-making Sakura jump into action trying her very best to get on of her kicks to connect with his left side. This time it did connect, but that was because Sasuke had flanked to their side and both him and Naruto had made sure poor Aoba couldn't escape. "Only two more Sakura-chan!" she could hear Naruto say before they had to dogged Kakashi-sensei. "Dobe, make more clones and keep either Kakashi-sensei or Aoba-san busy" Sasuke said to her left side.

Sakura took a deep breath trying to focus and ignore the pain she felt all over her body. She was so close, but once again she was moving to slow and panting too hard. The young girl knew that she had to make those two last hits fast or else she would never make them. Her eyes landed on Sasuke-kun's back he had given her a knowing look and she understood his plan. It was pretty much the same she had with Naruto, match me and I will give you an opening. Biting her bottom-lip she had nodded as Sasuke had engaged with Aoba. Sasuke was fast and is sharingan could read most of the moves Aoba would make. The increase in speed made Sakura frown, but she didn't want to give up, so she watched them closely. She could see a pattern forming in her mind and after a few minutes, she could almost predict their movements. Waiting for the right moment she watched them before she jumped into the fight, and as her timing was carefully calculated she mad yet another hit. This was a sloppy move, but her teammate made up for it by making sure her fist would connect. She saw Aoba smiling slightly before the man jumped up into the air dodging the next attacked Sakura had tried on.

She looked at Sasuke and mouthed 'the last attack' and he nodded, Sakura drew out her remaining strength and did her best to her punch to where Aoba jumped towards after he had dogged Sasuke-kun. Sakura eyes widened visibly when it connected with her teacher Aoba, she had been so sure that it would miss, but maybe she had been faster or maybe she was just lucky. As soon as she had gotten an approving nod from Aoba she sank to the ground. She smiled before exhausted took over her very being and she fainted. One may think that you wouldn't be that tired after only one-hour fighting, but then you would forget that Sakura truly had given everything she could to keep up with her teammates.