A/N: No overly-long chapter or something this time, just good old writer's block. I apologize.

Plans for a month

A good bit away from the Leaf Village, five figures could be seen. Three of them were lying on the ground dead, the trio making up a random patrol that happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Of the remaining two, one was sitting on a tree stump, arms crossed, one leg over the other, and a smile on his face. To an outsider, he might've looked calm. But the other figure knew that he was anything but.

"Well…," Orochimaru began. "I'd say all in all, that didn't exactly go as planned. Wouldn't you agree?"

Kabuto didn't say anything in response. At least he knew when to be quiet.

"With your cover blown, Yoroi and Misumi will likely get suspected as well," he continued. "If Dosu and Kin prove to be smarter than I think they are, they might weasel themselves out, but considering their lackluster performance so far, I doubt they will be of much further use."

And Sasuke hadn't faced off against Yoroi. That was probably what annoyed him the most. He was still convinced that Sasuke would accept the power curse mark eventually, but he couldn't wait forever. His current body would likely expire by the end of the year, maybe even sooner. If he got another spare, he would need to wait three full years before he could take Sasuke's. Also, he still needed to find out whether Kabuto's hunch about the girl had been correct.

"You're lucky I still have use for you." And that, with Jiraiya suddenly appearing in the tower, he couldn't have stayed there much longer anyway. "Now, tell me, Kabuto: do you know why it is so bad that your cover got blown?"

The silver-haired boy swallowed.

"It means I won't be able to follow the original plan. If I enter the arena, that girl could recognize me. It depends on how good her sensory skills are, but the chance isn't worth the risk. We will need to adjust the plan."

"That we do. I will still be able to enter the village thanks to the Vanishing Facial Copy Jutsu, but you likely won't. But I wonder, why just 'likely'? How come you can only assume that rather than knowing it for sure?"

"Well, Lord Orochimaru, the Pixie of the Hidden Leaf might have acquired a name for herself, but information about her skillset is surprisingly difficult to come by. Except for the summons from which she earned her name, she knows how to limit what is known of her. I knew things about her personality, the tactics she likes to employ, and had a rough grasp of her skill level, but I didn't know she was a sensor. That's why I don't know for sure whether or not she would recognize me by my chakra alone.

"That won't do, Kabuto. Variables aren't good for plans. At least we have a full month and likely won't need to adjust our plan much."

He stood up and went over to the corpses to see if they were usable when Kabuto spoke.

"Lord Orochimaru, if I may: do you know what the Pixie did there at the end?"

Orochimaru halted. Right, that had been the one positive surprise of this day. Thinking back at it even improved his mood to a surprising degree.

"Well, what do you think, Kabuto?"

"I… I'm sorry, Lord Orochimaru, I don't know. I've never seen anything like this. At that moment, everything about her felt… wrong. As if she had become something that shouldn't exist."

Kabuto's description, uncharacteristically clumsy as it was, was an interesting insight. Indeed, even Orochimaru himself had felt a shiver run down his spine when he had looked into these golden eyes. There was more to the Pixie of the Hidden Leaf than met the eye, something that excited him in a way not many things did. His two current main goals obviously took priority for now, but this was a contender for the third place.

"For now, make yourself useful and oversee the preparations for next month. Thankfully - and amusingly - my former sensei isn't aware how much he played into our hand."

The sun had already begun to set when the group of examinees, proctors, and Jōnin exited the forest of death. Most of the supporting Chūnin like Iruka weren't with them as they had been sent out to retrieve all who had failed the second exam and were still alive. Sakura couldn't help but wonder how many of the dozens who had entered had survived. Just how many had entered this test naively, believing it to be nothing more than a simple trial? Sure, they had signed the waiver, but how many had truly understood that they were wagering their lives? Some might've thought it to be just another ruse, like the tenth question in the first test, and went in wholly underprepared.

Her thoughts wandered back to Ino. She wasn't with them, apparently still recovering. And still, her team had made it to the tower. Just how unprepared had some of the others been then?

"Um, th-thank you," a meek, embarrassed voice mumbled next to her. Right, speaking of unprepared. Shortly after exiting the tower, the group came to realize that Karin not only had no stamina; she knew neither tree jumping nor sustained running. Not wanting to delay the group, one of the Hokage's guards had carried her the rest of the way and was now letting her back to the ground. Meanwhile, the group began to dissolve as everyone went their way.

"Hey, Karin!" Naruto immediately called. "Want to go eat ramen together?"

In a way, it was incredible. To think that Naruto still had living relatives and ended up meeting one of them by pure coincidence in a place like this… despite everything, Sakura couldn't help but smile. However, before the redhead could answer, her teammate stepped in front of her.

"Don't get too chummy, she still belongs to the Hidden Grass Village."

"Oh, screw you! Hinata took you out in one hit, so why are you acting so high and mighty?! And the other-"

"Naruto."

Tanya-sensei's calm but commanding voice cut into their conversation like a knife as she stepped closer and put a hand on his shoulder.

"I need to talk to the three of you, come with me for a moment."

Naruto hesitated, making the golden-haired girl sigh.

"She just lost her teammate, give her some space. It's not like she'll be going anywhere the coming month, you'll have plenty of chances."

She then pulled him closer and quietly added something only he could hear.

"... fine," he grumbled. "But we will go eat ramen eventually, believe it!"

"U-um…"

"Yes, yes, now come already," Wara once more interjected and dragged her off. Sakura noticed that the Hokage's gaze followed them and wondered if this was the right call. To her, it hadn't looked like Karin wanted to be alone.

Should I say something? …no, I shouldn't doubt Tanya-sensei, she must know what she's doing.

After all, Sakura had never experienced that kind of loss, while Tanya had. Therefore, she stayed quiet and joined the two boys as Tanya-sensei had the group gather to discuss their plans.

"But won't we be gone the coming month?" Naruto voiced one more complaint as they walked. "We'll go back to the tree, right?"

"We would if we could," Tanya responded. "Alas, one-time favors have the unfortunate quirk of being one-time. Shocker, I know. As I already said, I only have one more favor with the moth queen and I will save that one for emergencies. But you are right on one point: I have indeed made plans for the coming month regarding you three."

Seemingly satisfied with the distance they now had from everyone else, she stopped, turned around, and faced them with her typical straight posture and hands behind her back.

"Now, there is a lot to do and little time, so I'll keep this quick. Unlike the past two months, general training is not what the coming weeks are meant for. You know what fights you will or might have, and you are meant to prepare for those. Lord Third already hinted at it, but to spell it out more clearly: to qualify yourself as Chūnin, you need to demonstrate not just your combat prowess - in fact, that is one of the less important factors. You need to show that you have the qualities required for this rank. A single battle can be enough to achieve that, even if you lose. Obviously, winning means more fights, and thus more chances to prove yourself. I hopefully don't need to explain why that makes the first battle so important."

She made an intentional pause before continuing.

"As always, the key to proper preparation is information. For this, the preliminaries work both for and against you; you already saw each of your opponents fight, which allows you to prepare better, but they also saw you. We'll meet tomorrow at eight at our usual spot. Until then, I want each of you to think of your options for your first fight. It doesn't need to be a complete strategy right off the bat, but you at least need a starting point. Think about what you know about your opponent, but also what they might know about you. Sakura, Sasuke, you're dismissed. Naruto, you stay here, I have some more things to say to you."

"I will tell you everything once the exams are over, and I promise it won't be important until then." Those had been the words Sasuke had told his teammates in the tower. As it turned out, that had been a lie. He had thought the exam would end soon, not that there would be an entire month of downtime. Because now, it definitely had become important.

He closed the door to his home behind him. He was about to head for the bedroom but then changed his mind, deciding to check whether there was something left in the kitchen that had survived his two-month absence. Most hadn't and got promptly thrown into the trash bin, but there was at least a bag of potato chips that still looked edible.

As he absentmindedly munched on his 'dinner', he used the moment of calm after the hectic week to finally collect his thoughts. Obviously, there was Tanya-sensei's task of coming up with a strategy until tomorrow, but his first opponent would be Kiba, someone whom he had ample information about.

That didn't mean he would take him lightly. His old self would've gone into the fight with no special preparation, simply training normally and assuming he'd win anyways, but he knew better than to piss off his young sensei by doing something like that. He could very well do without getting chewed out by her. However, unlike his two teammates, he wouldn't be able to fully dedicate the month to his training. There also was the… other issue.

As he ate, his free hand slowly wandered up to his neck. The place where Orochimaru had bitten him still stung a bit, but the bite itself had mostly healed by now. What was still there was the mark, and the seal around it. The Missing-nin had called it a 'gift', one that apparently granted him power in some way. And yet, everyone else treated it like he had a bomb tag stuck to his body.

And then there was the exam proctor, Anko. After pulling him to the side, she examined the mark and the seal for a while before revealing to him that the same curse mark had been applied to her, many years ago.

"You are so insanely lucky, kid. If your friend hadn't immediately sealed the thing, it would've eaten itself into your chakra network like a parasite and there would've been no hope of removing it. Trust me, I tried. But you might actually have a shot, we'll have to see. Until then, don't. Do. Anything. Stupid!"

Some part of him wondered why he had even bothered not telling his teammates about it immediately. They might not have the exact details, but they knew the mark was bad and that they were looking for a way to remove it. And yet, another part was hesitant to let them know.

Power…

For the past years, his mind had been solely focused on two things: kill Itachi, and once that was done, rebuild his clan. And for the former, power was exactly what he needed. A year - no, even just five months ago, he probably would've accepted all the power he could get, no matter the price. Avenging his family would've been worth it. But now…

His gaze fell onto the picture frame on the shelf. It was the photograph they had taken together once they had passed the bell test, apparently an old Leaf tradition. It depicted him standing next to Naruto, with Sakura in the front. At first, the two boys only had angry stares for each other until Tanya-sensei… intervened.

The golden-haired girl stood behind the trio. Straight posture, arms behind her back, and a stern look on her face, which seemed to be the default for her. The stool she had to stand on in order to be a head above him and the others was not visible in the picture. In a way, there were parallels one could draw between her and Itachi, objectively speaking. Subjectively though, she felt completely different.

After looking at it for a while, Sasuke stood up. The night was dark by now, the garden only dimly illuminated by the light of the moon. He went to the small pond in the middle, stepped next to the water, and began to weave hand signs.

'Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!' [Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu]

For a moment, bright light pierced the darkness as the fireball roared over the water's surface. It wasn't exactly a secret jutsu, a fair amount of people outside the Uchiha clan knew it, but it was still something of a tradition in his clan to pass the technique on. Just like his father had done that day. And yet, that had only been after Itachi had effectively been disowned.

Once the flames disappeared, Sasuke quietly stared at the once-again dark body of water. Despite the aforementioned circumstances, it had been a part of his skillset he had always been proud of.

After a few silent minutes in darkness, he raised his hands a second time.

'Katon: Kōkayakaendan!' [Fire Release: High-Explosive Flame Bullet]

The small but fast projectile impacted the surface and immediately expanded into a massive blaze. The rapid expansion blew a crater into the water as a good portion of it evaporated, the extremely hot flame triumphing over its supposed weakness.

When the water had calmed down and the steam had dissipated, Sasuke looked at his left hand. He could still remember vividly how during his fight, the reduced chakra flow had broken off at a moment that could've cost him the win. It felt similar to how a tight noose would cut off the blood flow, just with chakra. As much as Sakura's seal might have saved him, it needed to go. And for that to happen, the mark needed to go. He would not fall behind Naruto and Sakura during the coming month!

Walking down the streets of the Hidden Leaf Village alone, Sakura's mind was on the tactic she was supposed to come up with. Tanya-sensei had done multiple strategic exercises with them, so she had a rough idea of how to ideally go about this. Temari was a wind user, so her first thought was fire. However, while she had learned how to mold fire chakra, that was only the first step of the marathon of learning a new Ninjutsu. Her chakra nature wasn't fire, so learning a fire technique in a month that was strong enough to beat someone who had honed her wind for probably years was difficult. And it wasn't like that would be an automatic victory. Not to mention that the first fight, important as it may be, hopefully wouldn't be her only one. She also needed a way to fight her other potential opponents and while Tanya-sensei's training had certainly helped, her chakra reserves still weren't big. She couldn't waste all her energy on one fight, she needed a way to win that also conserved her strength. Genjutsu might be a good idea as it didn't consume much chakra, but then she would also need a plan b in case the Sand Kunoichi knew how to counter it.

There is also the question of whether I should outright plan to only win twice. Because after that, I will have to face Sasuke. That… would be difficult even when fully rested. But before thinking of that, I need to win the second fight.

Unfortunately, Shigeri hadn't done a good job revealing his opponent's abilities. Sakura now knew he could control sand to use it both offensively and defensively, but that ability hadn't exactly been pushed to its limits during that fight. The silver lining was that she hadn't revealed much about herself either. To outsiders, her fight against Ino was probably not even worth mentioning. However, as disappointment once again began to creep into her thoughts, her sensei's words echoed in her mind.

"I know how you feel, but this isn't the end of it. Your promise doesn't just hinge on a single moment."

Sakura still had no idea how Tanya-sensei had known about her promise to Ino, but she was right. For now, the next month was what counted.

She looked up at the sky. Only a few rays of sunshine were left by now, and she couldn't just walk about forever. She needed a calm place to think, but where could she go?

Oh, right. Home. How had that option slipped her mind? Besides, she still needed to reconcile with her parents after their falling out. Including the five days of the exam, over two months had passed since she had last seen them. She had managed to make excuses to herself once she returned from training, but now she really couldn't put this off any longer.

The walk home took rather long since she hadn't been walking in that direction, not even subconsciously. She could've made it there in no time by jumping over the rooftops, but she didn't feel like doing that right now. By the time she opened the door, stepped into the hallway, and took off her shoes, it had already gotten dark outside.

She followed the sound of people speaking into the living room where her parents sat at the dinner table. The hole from the kunai was still in the wood.

Once she entered, they two got quiet and turned their heads.

"Sakura…" her mother began but seemingly didn't know what to say. Even though they had been ones… no, that wasn't helpful right now.

"I'm home," Sakura greeted. Alright, that was it. No more hiding. Compared to Tanya-sensei's grueling training and the forest of death, this was nothing. All she needed to do here was talk. How hard could that be?

And yet, no word reached her lips. After a while in silence, she walked closer to the table. Once more, the three of them stared at each other in silence.

Finally, Sakura managed to say something.

"I made it to the finals," she announced somberly.

"You mean… the last portion of the exam?" her father carefully asked.

"Yes," she confirmed. Then, it got quiet again. Sakura reached into her pocket and put something on the table. Tickets.

According to the Hokage, the third task was a public event with prominent guests, many of which came from far away and naturally had seats reserved for them. For the Jōnin-sensei of each team and some other important people from the Leaf, it was likewise. Because of that, ordinary seats were hard-fought, which was why each of them had been given two tickets to hand out to whomever they wanted. Hers now lay on the table, looked at in silence.

"... in case you want to come," she ultimately said. When no response came, she turned around, walked up to her room, and let herself fall onto her bed. Slowly, she raised her head and began to repeatedly slam her face into the pillow.

When admonishing Naruto for his behavioral missteps in the tower, I was thorough. Not more thorough than I would've been under different circumstances, of course, that would've been highly unprofessional. The last couple of days might've put a great strain on my nerves, but I most certainly did not allow myself to get worked up over it at that moment.

…anyway, by the time I was done, Naruto didn't try to object anymore and looked rather tired once I dismissed him. Psychologically speaking, I could certainly comprehend what was going on in him, at least to some extent. Unfortunately, the world wasn't so simple. Allies and friends were two very different things, and he needed to understand that he and the girl were ninja first and relatives second. Otherwise, their allegiances might get called into question, and then, things could get ugly. Clans didn't split to different villages for a reason. And that she had apparently inherited an incredibly rare ability didn't exactly make the situation less complicated.

Considering how long lecturing him had taken, it wasn't surprising how late it had gotten by the time I got home. Finally within the privacy of my own four walls, I let out a sigh I had been holding in for the entirety of the last two days. I took off the headband and the flack jacket and sat down. I wasn't sure whether I was more angry or more exhausted at this point. Why on earth was catching a breath asked too much?

I didn't know why there was this general conception that during the exam, we Jōnin-sensei had a bit of time to relax, but it most certainly wasn't the case right now. Even without Orochimaru or Karin, there was a lot to do. While I was pleased that all three had passed the second round on top of making a good figure in front of the Hokage during the preliminaries, it also meant I had to prepare all of them without splitting myself in three this time.

I sensed Iruka approaching long before he knocked on my door.

"Good evening, brother," I greeted after letting him in.

"Um, hi. Have you eaten yet? I brought some take-out with me."

"I haven't, thank you."

I wasn't really hungry, maybe from the stress, but skipping meals wasn't the greatest idea in this profession. Iruka put the bag on the table while I went and got some plates and chopsticks. Each of us got their portion and we began to eat in silence.

"Tanya, I…" he began after we had gone through about half of it. "I'm sorry for what I said to you right before the exam. I was convinced I knew them, but when I saw them fight… I barely even recognized them. Naruto has grown so much since I gave him his headband. The others as well. It's hard to believe that wasn't even half a year ago."

Ah, so that was why he had come. Well, the matter was rather trivial and there was no point in holding a grudge over it.

"Apology accepted."

The words were simple and yet, the relief was visible on his face. It seemed that he hadn't judged the matter as trivial as had.

While we ate, I contemplated how to proceed the following month. I could stick to my original plan with some adjustments, but unforeseen developments had offered new possibilities. Not just for the trio, but myself as well. Unfortunately, there were just as many headaches waiting for me.

"Wh-where are we going?" Karin stammered as she stumbled after Wara who still held an iron grip around her wrist. "I-isn't the hotel that way?"

"We're not headed there. We're leaving," the older boy snarled as his free hand grabbed his head. "Shit, what did that blue-haired girl do? This damn headache just won't stop! Why doesn't your healing work on it?!"

"Leaving? But… the third task…"

Wara finally stopped and spun around to face her.

"What about it?!" he barked. "What, you think you're going to fight? You, representing our village in the arena? Don't make me laugh! You're forgetting your place! We were supposed to show that despite everything that's going on right now, Grass is still strong. Your job was done as soon as we reached the tower! But those who passed… they're all monsters! You lucked yourself through the fight because that weird body of yours awakened another freakish ability at the most convenient moment, but do you honestly think you can suddenly fight because of it? You will end up just like Shigeri did!"

As his name was said, the scene that had happened mere hours ago once again flashed before her eyes. She had already seen a lot of injured and dead shinobi in their field hospitals, but none of it compared to the end their deceased team leader had met. Just thinking about it made her stomach turn and she just barely managed to stop herself from puking.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. Now come!"

When she didn't follow immediately, his eyes narrowed. However, she couldn't just forget Naruto. After her mother's death, she had been alone, merely tolerated by the people of the village because of her healing ability. She knew she couldn't disobey Wara and yet, the thought of a living relative made her hesitate. Even if she wouldn't partake in the exam any longer, couldn't they stay for a few more days? …could she really voice such a thought?

"Finally you see some reason."

Karin blinked, confused by the statement.

"Yes exactly. Was that so hard?"

"...what?" Was he talking to somebody else? Now that she thought about it, there was a strange feeling coming from Wara. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but somehow, he felt… wrong.

"So you do know your place after all. Well, better late than never I guess. Now let's leave before that annoying blonde shows up again."

"Wh-what are you talking about?!"

He didn't answer. Instead, he walked off, leaving a puzzled Karin behind. What had just happened?

Instinctively, she turned her head and flinched when she suddenly had a feeling as if something quickly came closer. A startled yelp was all she could muster when suddenly, a tall man was looming over her. His lopsided headband covered one of his eyes, making his spiky silvery hair fall to the side, and a black mask hid the lower part of his face.

"Hi. Sorry about your buddy, but he was getting a bit loud. Don't worry, the Genjutsu will wear off before he'll reach the gate. Anyway, your name's Karin, right? You can call me Kakashi. With your traveling plans now canceled, I was hoping you had time for a little chat."