Obito-Sensei Chapter 12

The First Test

'Thirty minutes.'

The door closed behind them, and then, to Sakura's astonishment, it vanished. What kind of trick was that?

Sasuke experimentally kicked at the spot where the door had once been, and Naruto flinched. "Hey!" he shouted, and his friend looked over his shoulder at him. "Careful! What if it was just an illusion? We'll get disqualified for busting out!"

"It's not an illusion." Sasuke's eyes were red. "It really did disappear."

"Huh." Naruto wandered up as well, and gave the wall a kick of his own. Sakura watched both her teammates, resisting the urge to laugh. "That's crazy. I wonder how-"

"Later," Sasuke said, moving back towards the center of the room. "Doesn't matter now. Sakura, what do we have?"

The room was small and drab, less than fifteen feet from wall to wall. The only piece of furniture was a desk in the center, upon which was a single piece of paper. There were no windows; the walls were covered in paper as well, embossed with kanji. They swirled across the entire room like a madman's scrawling, some even making their way onto the ceiling. Looking around at the sheer number of symbols, Sakura felt totally overwhelmed. On the wall opposite where the door had been, there was a small electronic keypad. Unlike everything else it was simple, just ten digits, not even an enter key.

"I don't know," she admitted to Sasuke. "Thirty minutes, I guess."

He gave her a lighthearted smirk and Sakura smiled back, a little proud of making her teammate laugh, even if it wasn't out loud. She picked up the paper on the desk, looking over it with a critical eye. At first glance, it was just more nonsense, a series of tightening concentric rings composed of both kanji and simple symbols. The spiral made Sakura a little dizzy, and she rotated the paper, following the chain of kanji.

At the center, there was something coherent, written out in circular katakana: 'access code.'

"I uh…" Naruto looked as dizzy as Sakura felt, twisting his head to try and follow the kanji. "I don't get it."

"It's a cipher?" Sakura ventured, and was relieved when Sasuke nodded in agreement. He frowned, his Sharingan slowly rotating as he regarded both the paper and the walls around them.

"It's a cipher," Sasuke confirmed. "But the actual code…" He spun, regarding the whole room. "All I can see initially is that it corresponds to the cardinal directions." Sakura blinked, looking at the paper and then at the room's four walls. He was right; specific combinations of numbers appeared on the north, south, east, and west walls, and they matched patterns on the four corners of the paper.

But… where did it lead from there? What was the relationship of the kanji to the points of the compass? They needed a code for the keypad; how long would it be?

"Naruto," she asked as she and Sasuke continued to intensely glare at the paper. "Can you go press a number on the keypad?"

"Which one?" he asked, scratching the back of his head, and Sakura blew out a frustrated breath.

"Any one," she said, and Naruto shrugged and wandered over to the keypad to do just that. He pressed one of the keys, and the top of the pad lit up with a dim, fluorescent '7.'

"How many does it look like it would fit?" she asked, and Naruto squinted at the small electronic number.

"Uhh… five, I think," he said after a moment, and Sasuke looked over as well. The seven faded a couple seconds later, leaving the pad blank once more.

"Five," he agreed, and Sakura bit her lip. Four directions, each with a dedicated combination of kanji, but five numbers for the code in total. The mission was obvious; they needed to decipher the ridiculous access code and use it to get them out of the room. And now they only had about twenty-eight minutes to do it.

"Okay," she sighed. "Let's figure this out."

###

Obito Uchiha sat down on the wooden bench and groaned, leaning back with his hands coming up behind his head and his legs stretching out before him. He rotated his neck, trying to work a kink out; he'd been way too tense all morning.

Safest exam in years, Rin had said. He believed her, but seeing how many ninja had shown up had sparked a bit of sharp concern in the back of his head. It was an unusually large exam this year, with some exceptional entrants. No matter how well proctored it was, there was plenty of room for things to go wrong.

"Hey, Obito."

Obito looked left. Asuma Sarutobi, as ever, had a cigarette dangling from his mouth. Beside him, Kurenai Yuhi gave a non-committal wave, and Obito lazily waved back at the both of them. The halls of the academy were bustling, but everyone who passed stepped around the two of them without complaint

"Asuma." His fellow teacher sat down at his side, and Kurenai at the other side of him. Obito continued to try and work out his neck. "You're sticking around too?"

"It's only going to be another ten minutes or so," Asuma said, scratching at his stubble. "Be stupid not to, I'd say."

"Heh." Obito leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and stretching out his back. "I guess so."

"You alright there?" Kurenai asked with an amused lilt, and Obito snorted.

"Just a little tense," he said, and Kurenai let out a short laugh. She was always composed, and her laugh reflected that, Obito thought. She never let it get away from her. He could see the appeal; it wasn't any wonder she and Asuma had been going steady for over a year now.

"No need to be," she said, crossing her arms and legs and watching two bickering chunin pass. "Surely, your team will be fine."

"Yeah, they'll be fine." Obito straightened up. "It's the others I'm worried about."

"Oh?" Asuma looked over with a cocked eye, and Obito blinked.

"Shit, that came out wrong," he muttered. "I didn't mean-"

Asuma laughed. "I know what you mean," he said, taking a drag from his cigarette and holding it down between his legs in two fingers. The smoke from it wandered up, caressing his face. "I've been thinking the same thing."

"And me," Kurenai added in. "It's an interesting exam this year."

"How have your teams been doing?" Obito asked. "I've been self-absorbed as ever. I haven't really been keeping up." Another one of his bad habits.

"Good," Asuma said, twirling the cigarette around his fingers and leaving a complex smoke figure in its wake. Obito snorted; that was a neat trick. He must have been shaping it with his chakra. He was almost tempted to take a glance with his Sharingan. "It's the Ino-Shika-Cho, but the kids have been putting their own spin on it." He took another drag. "Ino's really matured in the last couple months, and Shikamaru's always been smart enough to keep out of trouble. Choji's the only one I'm not sure about right now… but I'm sure they'll get him through any problems. That's why I entered them. It'll be a good learning experience"

"It's the same with every team, I think," Kurenai said. "I feel the same way about Hinata. She's not quite there yet, but this might be all it takes."

Obito frowned. "You're not expecting them to pass?"

Kurenai shrugged. "They might," she said, and Asuma nodded in agreement. "It's possible. But I'm not putting any money on them making chunin on their first try. This is a learning experience, first and foremost."

"Hmm."

"Oh?" Asuma elbowed him, and Obito shoved him back good-naturedly. "Maybe you're feeling differently?"

"Naruto and Sasuke don't want to take the Exam more than once," Obito said with a grin, and both of his fellow teachers laughed. "You know how they can get."

"They must have dragged Sakura into it then." Asuma grinned. "Well, maybe-"

"Actually…" Obito leaned back, quirking his lips. "It was the other way around."

"Oh?" Kurenai looked over Asuma's shoulder, her red eyes growing a little wider. "That's unusual."

"I think Sakura is looking at it the same way you two are," Obito said, looking behind him, out one of the Academy's windows. It was a sunny day, but it wasn't very warm. Depending on where it was held, that could make the second portion of the Exam interesting. "She's not hung up on winning; she just wants more experience."

"Hmm." Asuma put out his cigarette, burning it to ash in his hands and wiping the soot on his pant leg. He was careful to avoid the white mark that always hung from his hip, emblazoned with the symbol of Fire. Obito didn't know much about Asuma's time with Guardian Ninja, the dozen shinobi who were entrusted with the protection of the Daimyo over their lives. He'd never taken much interest in politics, even with his sensei taking up the Hokage's position. "She always seemed smart. She had the grades for it. Top kunoichi, right?"

Jounin picked for training duties were encouraged to keep a close eye on the graduating classes, and Asuma was the son of the Sandaime besides: he'd always taken an interest in the education of younger shinobi.

"Yes," Kurenai confirmed. "Lower taijutsu marks than Hinata, and lower teamwork marks than Ino, but she still beat out both of them everywhere else. For all the other girls in the class, it wasn't even a competition." She glanced at Obito. "Still, on your team…"

"It was hard for her, at first," Obito admitted. "Naruto and Sasuke are… I should say, aren't subtle." Both his fellow teachers chuckled.

"Without a doubt. Still, if she's the one who pushed them into it, it seems like she's maturing faster." Asuma frowned. "A little surprising, I guess."

"We'll see," Obito said. He wasn't sure himself. "If they pass this first test, then the rest of the Exam will probably show us for sure."

"Of course," Kurenai said, and then paused. "Depending on who they come up against."

"What do you mean?" Obito asked. Asuma started to reach for another cigarette and Kurenai grabbed his hand and set it back in his lap. The Sarutobi scowled at his girlfriend.

"Sand and Rain, mostly," Kurenai said. "They both sent interesting teams this year."

"I'll say," Asuma said, his scowl fading. "I'm surprised Sand sent their jinchuuriki. They must really be confident in the alliance, to show him off."

"That's probably all they're doing," Obito said idly. "Showing him off. Gaara of the Desert, right? I heard from Kushina that he's got an impressive record."

Asuma nodded. "He's already been sent on an A-Rank mission," he said, and Obito made a surprised noise at the back of his throat. "On purpose, I mean," Asuma said with a laugh. "He's the Kazekage's son; the guy seems confident in him. He's even here in person to watch him compete." His laugh turned into a frown. "But something's off about him. The kid, not the Kazekage. I'm not sure if you had a chance to see him."

"No," Obito said. "I tried not to stalk any of the new arrivals. Didn't want to give the wrong impression."

"My team ran into him yesterday," Asuma said, his frown deepening. "He's not normal. Beyond the obvious, I mean. He's got…"

Asuma paused, searching for the words. "He's a killer," he eventually decided. "I think he enjoys it."

Shit. Asuma was a good judge of character; it was something he'd inherited from his father. If he could have told Obito that based on a single encounter with Sand's jinchuriki, then Obito had no doubt it was true.

"If that's the case, they'll notice," Kurenai said, talking about their teams. "And hopefully stay out the way."

"Yeah," Obito said, crushing the churning in his gut. His team had already seen someone who held killing close to his heart; they'd know the signs, and take care of themselves. He had to believe that.

"Honestly, I'm more worried about the team from Rain," Kurenai continued. "Sending a jinchuriki is one thing. A member of the Akatsuki is another."

"Oh?" Asuma asked, as Obito sat up in shock.

"Really?" he asked, and Kurenai nodded.

"Hinata spotted him two days ago, and asked me about the clouds," she said. "The boy wears a haori with the design, but it's unmistakable. He's definitely a member, despite his youth."

"Well, doesn't mean anything on its own…" Asuma muttered, cracking a knuckle. He was starting to fidget without a new cigarette to focus on. "You don't get into the Akatsuki based on your strength; just your dedication to their mission."

"If you were that dedicated to their mission, why would you even participate in the Exam at all?" Obito asked, and Asuma shrugged.

"Rain is full of hypocrites," he said, and Kurenai laughed. "No point in worrying about it. I'm sure if they're actually Akatsuki, the village is already keeping an eye on them. The Yondaime wouldn't let one of them walk around without being watched."

Obito remembered the boy from Rain his team and Gai's had met before, the one with shark-teeth and strange, pale skin. He'd had an escort, ANBU watching from the rooftops, just as Asuma had supposed. The Sandaime's son was right; his sensei was aware that the team of an Akatsuki member couldn't go unsupervised.

"Yeah," he said slowly. "Yeah. Nothing to worry about."

"Plenty to worry about," Asuma grunted, and Obito chuckled. "But for us, not the kids." He glanced around, looking for a clock. "How much longer?"

"Five minutes," Kurenai said. "Things will be wrapping up soon."

"Interesting test this year," Obito remarked. "Having to escape a room. I remember ours tested information gathering; I guess this one is critical thinking?"

Asuma shrugged. "It might be that straightforward. The proctors are all straightforward guys this year." He grinned. "But it wouldn't be much of a shinobi exam if it weren't testing more than one thing, would it?"

###

"This is bullshit!" Naruto declared, and Sakura found herself agreeing with him one-hundred percent. Her teammate was pacing, looking like he was ready to claw at the walls with his bare hands. Sasuke wasn't moving, just staring at the cipher with his Sharingan active, stock still, but Sakura could tell he was just as frustrated as Naruto, maybe even more so.

"Three minutes," Sasuke muttered, and Sakura found herself looking back to the paper one last time. They'd finished most of it by the ten minute mark; plenty of time to spare, or so she'd thought. The first four digits had been three-three-four-seven.

But now, they didn't have a fifth. The cardinal points had been simple enough to decipher once she and Sasuke had figured out the pattern behind the kanji. They'd been puns, of all things. She'd figured that out before Sasuke had. Geography puns, mountain, river, forest, valley, with the final number determined by stroke order and number of the signature kanji. It was incredibly complicated, but not an unbeatable cipher like Sakura had been fearing, just a tough one delivered in the most confusing manner possible.

Or maybe it was, because they didn't have a final piece. Naruto had already run through what they'd managed to understand and every possible missing fifth digit, and the keypad had rejected him with an angry red light each time. It didn't make any sense. They were missing something that restructured the cipher entirely, or somehow they'd just got it totally and completely wrong from the beginning.

"Two minutes," Sasuke muttered.

"Sasuke, could you-" Sakura started to bite out, and then held it back, startled at her own tone. Was she really that frustrated? She'd been ready to fail, right?

'Being ready isn't the same as liking it.'

"Two minutes?" Naruto paced forward, glaring at the table. "Dammit! Stupid… puzzle!"

He struck out in frustration, kicking the table with most of his strength and sending the cipher paper flying. The table flew up in the air, flipping end over end, and Sasuke's eyes went wide. He darted forward and caught one of the table legs, holding it in the air, and Sakura saw what had caught his eye.

There was something carved in the bottom of the table, deep in the wood.

"C'mon!" she said, not sure if she was about to laugh or cry, and Sasuke grunted and set the table down upside down, its legs sticking up in the air like a wooden spider as he bent down and examined the symbol carved into the base. It was the symbol for Fire, surrounded by a spiral. There were arrows at the 'exit' of the spiral; just like when she'd first entered the room, Sakura was momentarily overwhelmed by the symbol's complexity, but she saw Sasuke's Sharingan darting over it effortlessly, taking everything in.

"No way," Naruto breathed out, staring at the kanji. He looked over at Sakura. "We're not that stupid, right? We just had to look underneath-"

"Inverted," Sasuke declared, standing back up straight. Sakura didn't know what he meant. "The spiral inverts the kanji. It comes out…" His eyes went wide. "Backwards. We are that stupid."

"Quit calling us stupid!" Naruto shouted, already sprinting for the pad. "Just tell me what to do!"

Less than eighty seconds now. Sasuke called out the code as Sakura stared at the bottom of the table, wondering what would have happened if Naruto hadn't kicked it. They'd been so caught up in the symbols on the paper and the walls, searching for an answer similar to the rest, that they hadn't even bothered to look underneath what they were given. What kind of lesson was that?

"Four seven four three three!" Naruto rattled off as he punched in the numbers. The pad blinked green, the sharp light on top of it pulsing. "Hell yeah!" Naruto declared. "It took it!"

They waited ten seconds. Nothing happened.

Seventy seconds remaining.

"Uh…" Sakura said. "There's no door." She wasn't sure what she'd expected from cracking the code, but 'nothing' hadn't been on the list.

Naruto looked around. "Maybe we just gotta wait?"

"The proctor said if we didn't leave the room we'd fail," Sasuke said, closing his eyes. "Maybe they were lying?"

"No." Sakura shook her head. "It can't be that." The realization came to her in a flash, and she couldn't suppress her laughter. "We have to make our own door."

Fifty seconds left. Naruto pounded his knuckles together and approached the spot where the door had vanished twenty-nine minutes before.

"Leave it to me," he grinned. "You guys solved that crap; I can solve this." He spread his feet, putting one hand out before him and cradling it with the other. Sakura and Sasuke both backed up as the distinctive whine of the Rasengan started emanating from Naruto's hand.

Thirty seconds. Naruto put more chakra into the jutsu than he had the last time Sakura had seen it, and it swelled up to half the size of his head. He stepped back, bracing himself.

"Rasengan!" he declared, and drove the jutsu directly into the wall.

The results were impressive. The wall twisted, the distortion passing so quickly that Sakura would have missed it if she blinked, and then exploded outward, the jutsu detonating in Naruto's palm and sending him stumbling back several steps. The force of the Rasengan tore a hole through the wall all the way up to and past the ceiling and three or four feet to either side of where Naruto had struck the building.

They waited in stoic silence for a moment as some more rubble rained from the ceiling and Naruto shook out his hand, hissing.

"Youch," he muttered. "Didn't realize there'd be that much kick. That wall was hard as hell."

Slowly, a chunin with flat eyes and flatter hair poked his head around the corner, looking at the extent of the devastation Naruto had caused. He whistled, looked back to them, and then past them, to the blinking green light on the keypad.

"A little overboard, don't you think?" he asked, and Sasuke smirked.

"Only if we didn't pass," he said, and Naruto giggled. He seemed a little too excited at having gotten a chance to Rasengan something. Was that a verb, Sakura wondered? The chunin scratched his chin, looking at a loss for words.

"Not sure if that was the intended solution," he admitted after a second, and Sakura blushed, feeling embarrassed for no reason. "But… you cracked the code, and you got out of the room. I guess you pass." He straightened up, giving them a sardonic bow. "And with twenty seconds to spare. Congratulations."

"Yeah yeah, no problem," Naruto waved him off, and Sakura smiled.

"Definitely were not panicking," she said, and the chunin laughed.

"Well, just about everyone else is already on their way," he said. "You guys better get going if you want to catch up. The second test will be starting in about ten minutes."

"You're not gonna bring us there?" Naruto asked, and the ninja snorted.

"You're a shinobi, and of the Leaf: you can find your way," he said with a grin. "Training ground forty-four. You better hurry." He turned around, walking down the hall and out of sight. "Beat it! I'll pass on the good news."

'No need.' Sakura heard the voice again, and she saw her teammates react as well. 'Well done, you three. Good thinking on your feet. Make your way to the training ground.'

Team Seven looked around, and then burst into motion. It would have been stupid to pass the first test by just a couple seconds and then be late for the second. They hurtled into the hallway, past the startled chunin, and leapt out the nearest open window one after the other. Sakura had to be careful not to catch her sheath on the windowsill; it wasn't an extension of her body yet, but it was getting there. She was sure of it.

'Good luck.'

###

They arrived at the outskirts of the forty-fourth training ground with a couple minutes to spare, and came to a stop, panting. Even for a shinobi, running more than halfway across Konohagakure in a little over five minutes was a challenge.

"Okay," Naruto decided. "This whole test is stupid, not just that puzzle."

"Quit whining," Sasuke said, blowing out a breath and steadying himself. He nodded his head at the mass of shinobi beyond the gate leading to the training zone. "Looks like quite a few passed."

He was right. The group was noticeably smaller than it had been starting out, but from a quick glance Sakura could tell there were still at least twenty teams in the mix. She and her teammates hopped the fence, clearing fifteen feet with ease, and ambled into the midst of the group, looking for familiar faces.

Tenten found her before Sakura did anyone else. "Hey!" the older girl said, wandering up and giving Sakura a slap on the shoulder. "You passed! Nice!"

"Barely," Sakura said. "We had trouble with the test." Naruto looked like he wanted to say something, but after a second just frowned and nodded.

"Really?" Tenten asked, looking askance at them. "What did you guys have? We just had to eavesdrop on another room."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "What?"

"Yeah," Tenten said, looking puzzled. "There was a code we had to figure out, but it was way too complicated. There was no way we could have done it ourselves. Most of the answer was in the room next to ours though; Neji just looked through the wall and-"

Naruto slapped himself in the face, hard, and groaned. Sakura just closed her eyes, wanting to shrink down into the ground: at her side, she could practically hear Sasuke grinding his teeth.

"Wait." Tenten started giggling. "Wait, did you guys just solve it?" She started laughing. "Jeez, how smart are you? You actually solved that thing!"

"Smart enough to solve the cipher," Sasuke said quietly. It was the first time Sakura had heard him express anything like embarrassment or self-deprecation. "Not smart enough to know we didn't have to."

Tenten just kept giggling, and her teammates wandered over, wondering what she was laughing about.

"Don't worry about it," she wheezed, waving off Lee's inquisitive look. "God, that's too funny." She saw Sakura's face, and shook her head. "Cheer up! You three must be geniuses, if you managed that!"

"Don't feel like it," Sakura muttered, and Tenten descended back into laughter.

"Look at it this way," she said with a cough, finally getting full control of herself. "There's twenty-two teams here now. That means more than a third dropped out on the first test. You did great."

"Guess they were the dumb without the dumb muscle," Naruto said, putting his hands behind his head, and Sakura finally found herself laughing as well.

"Well put," Neji said mildly. "Of course, even more will fail this test."

"That's exactly right!" The voice was huge and booming, and a mutter of surprise rapidly spread through the crowd of shinobi. Sakura turned around to find a giant striding towards her. She stumbled backwards in shock; the man was over twelve feet tall, with bright red hair that was longer than she was tall and a perpetual grin stuck to his face. He moved through the crowd and it parted before him like a wave, no one wanting to be stepped on. When he reached the front, he turned to them, putting his back to the forest, and scanned the astonished ninja, his enormous head slowly moving back and forth.

"That's exactly right," he said once again. "Welcome! I am Choza Akimichi, the proctor for the second test! How is everyone doing today?"

No one present said a thing. Either because they didn't want to answer, or because they were too surprised to. Sakura glanced over and found Team Ten watching the man intently. Choza looked just like Choji, the same way Inoichi had looked just like Ino. He might have been his father. She'd never had much interest in Choji; she certainly didn't know that he came from a clan of giants.

"Fantastic," Choza said, taking the silence in stride. "So, twenty-two of you passed, did you? Well done, all of you!" He reached behind him, into an enormous pouch resting on his lower back, his huge fingers moving dexterously. "Unfortunately, this next test will be more challenging."

He removed something from the pouch, his huge hands hiding it completely. "This training ground is often referred to as the Forest of Death." He grinned. "Shinobi love their jokes, as I'm sure you all know. The training ground is about twenty kilometers in diameter, and at the center of the Forest, there is a tower, quite large and distinctive; you cannot miss it."

"Like you," someone muttered, and a ripple of laughter spread through the crowd. Choza chuckled along with them.

"Indeed," he said. "Now, to pass this test, you simply need to reach that tower. You will have forty-eight hours to do so, once the test begins." He looked around at all of them, his grin widening. "Of course, there is a condition."

Naruto nudged Sakura, and she glanced at him. He jerked his head, and she followed the motion to find the girl from Rain, the one wearing a black haori with red clouds, watching them out of the corner of her eye. The girl saw Sakura's attention and shifted, whispering something to her teammate. The grey-haired boy laughed and nodded.

Sakura really wished they wouldn't do that. It creeped her out. At least the boy with a gourd from Sand wasn't watching them too; his team had passed, and they were near the front of the group silently and intently staring at Choza.

The huge Akimichi brought his hand down and opened it up, revealing ten scrolls in his palm. They were small and tan, and seemed even more so lying in such a large hand. Each was marked with a symbol on the side.

"I have ten scrolls here," Choza said, his voice rumbling. "These will be critical to your success. If you do not arrive at the tower within forty-eight hours, you will be disqualified. If you arrive at the tower without a scroll, you will be disqualified." His smile grew even wider, screwing his eyes up and transitioning from good humor to almost mocking. "If you arrive with two scrolls, you will be disqualified. To pass the test, you must present both a Heaven–" he pointed at one symbol, and then the other, "–and an Earth scroll at the tower. There are five of each here, obviously."

So only five teams would pass the test? Less than a fourth of those present? Sakura blinked, realizing her error. Wait, no. It was-!

"If you show up with both scrolls, you get DQ'd?" one of the shinobi from Sand asked, and Choza ponderously nodded. The boy cocked his head, the large object wrapped in bandages on his back shifting slightly with the motion. "But you can't pass unless you present both scrolls!"

"Precisely," Choza grinned. "Glad you understand."

"Ohhh!" Sakura murmured, and Sasuke looked over at her curiously.

"What?" he mouthed, and Naruto caught the motion and looked too. Sakura looked back and forth between them.

"Team-up," she mouthed, and she saw the same realization strike her teammates. It was obvious; if they couldn't hold both scrolls themselves but they needed both to pass the test, they'd have no choice but to work with another team with an opposite scroll. They'd both arrive at the tower and present their scrolls simultaneously. That was the only answer to the paradox.

Sakura looked around. There were six Konoha teams; Hinata's, Ino's, Tenten's, and two more that she didn't know. That meant that with some luck and coordination, all of the Leaf teams could pass and leave just four from the other villages. Was that on purpose?

She saw the other shinobi looking around, a couple coming to the same conclusion. The girl from Rain nudged her teammate once more, and the boy from Sand turned around, regarding everyone with his dead green eyes. They'd both figured it out, Sakura was sure. More would follow. She doubted anyone wouldn't understand by the time the test really started.

"Ten of you will start with scrolls," Choza said, closing his palm. "The other twelve will be released into the Forest early. You will have twenty minutes to get a head start."

Twenty minutes to set traps, he meant; going to the center was pointless if you didn't have a scroll. The test was encouraging teamwork among multiple teams, preparing defenses and ambushes, and advancing into hostile territory, all at the same time. Sakura had to admit it was a little clever.

"Everyone understand? Great!" Choza said, not waiting for an answer. "You, you, you…" He pointed in turn to ten different people, randomly scattered throughout the crowd. "Come forward. Everyone else…" he turned and lumbered off towards the main gate that led into the Forest, flicking it open. Chunin stepped out from behind it, none Sakura recognized. "One minute between each: twenty minutes start when the last of you enters." He bowed. "Have fun!"

Of the ten people called forward, three of them were Konohagakure teams. It wasn't an unfair distribution, likely on purpose. Sakura was sure the village didn't want a nasty reputation for rigging the test against foreign genin. She recognized Lee, Hinata, and Shikamaru. The two Leaf teams she didn't know, along with her and her teammates, would be getting the head start.

A group from the Land of Rivers was the first to leave, immediately leaping up into the enormous trees and vanishing, and Sakura did her best to ignore the butterflies in her stomach. The Rain shinobi that had been watching them were staying behind: they'd been selected for a scroll. The team from Sand, on the other hand, was waiting by the gate with them.

The boy with the gourd was only ten feet away. The moment Sakura began to think she was glad he wasn't acknowledging their existence, he turned around.

"You," he said, staring at Naruto. His teammates shifted at his side, and he glanced at them; they stilled. "You're the Yondaime Hokage's son, aren't you?" His eyes gained a spark of life, but somehow that only made them worse. "Naruto Namikaze."

"Dunno any others," Naruto said, crossing his arms, and the boy smiled.

"I am Gaara, of the Desert," he said. His teeth were very white. "The son of the Yondaime Kazekage. I'm probably meant to kill you, right?"

Naruto started, and one of the chunin stepped forward. "Alright, too creepy," he said. "You guys, go, into the forest. Get."

Team Seven took the invitation gladly, rushing into the forest and following the example set by the team from River: they jumped up into the trees, losing themselves in the canopy. The trees were huge and thick, and the shadows they cast were nearly absolute.

"What the fuck?" Naruto asked when they'd gained a decent amount of distance from the gate, turning back and looking where they'd come from, like he expected Gaara to be right behind them. "What was that?"

"He's crazy," Sasuke grunted. "We're staying out of his way. I think we can all agree we don't want any of that." They came to rest on a branch, so large and wide that it could have passed for a street if it weren't hundreds of feet in the air. Most of the trees in the Forest were founding trees, still green and always growing. Sakura doubted there was another forest like it in the world, but to anyone from Konoha, it would feel familiar, if not friendly. A home field advantage.

"Crazy doesn't cover it," Naruto muttered. "What the hell is the Kazekage teaching his kids?"

"Who knows." Sakura shivered. "Sasuke's right; let's just avoid him. He's not starting with a scroll: hopefully it will stay that way."

"So, what's the plan?" Naruto squatted down on the branch, looking around the forest. Visibility was low, Sakura thought. The trees were so thick and the shadows so thick that you were lucky to have a clear line of sight that went farther than a hundred meters. Ten kilometers to the center wasn't far for a shinobi, but it was a lot longer than it seemed in an environment like this.

"Ten teams with scrolls," Sasuke said to himself. "And three of them from Konoha."

"Hinata and Tenten's teams both have the Byakugan," Sakura said. "They'd be a big help. If it's possible, we should try to team up with one of them and then track down whatever scroll they don't have."

"Team Ten's probably thinking the same thing," Naruto mused. "No, they've got Shikamaru, they're definitely thinking something smarter. They'll probably team up with Gai's team right away and just head right for the tower. Neji's too damn strong for them not to."

"You're right," Sasuke nodded, and Sakura smiled. There was a simple joy in working together. "So, we'll be looking for Team Eight. They're the most likely candidate."

"We've got more than twenty minutes," Sakura said. "We should get to know the area a little. It's probably going to be chaotic at first, with everyone getting released into the same section. It'll help if we know what's where."

Sasuke nodded. "Good idea. Stay within sight of each other: other teams will be showing up soon. We don't want to get in any pointless fights." He pointed a thumb over his shoulder. "I'll check by the entrance." He was taking the most dangerous position, Sakura thought. It made sense; Sasuke was the best of them in a one-on-one fight.

"I'll check around here then," Naruto said. "Sakura, you okay with going deeper?" She gave him a thumbs up, and he smiled. "Awesome. Like Sasuke said; let's stay in sight."

They spread out, moving along the trees like bizarre spiders, clinging to the bark with their chakra. Sakura looked around; the forest was like a three dimensional maze, both horizontally and vertically, thanks to the sheer number and size of branches that protrude from every tree. Even a normal person without ninja training could probably make it a fair distance into the forest without ever touching the ground; the canopy was that dense. She looked back, and found Naruto's blond hair a reassuring speck of color in the dark greens and greys of the forest.

It would be incredibly easy to ambush others, and be ambushed in turn, in this environment. Sakura could see and hear wildlife as well; far below, there was crashing as the underbrush was crushed underfoot by something large and fast. The trees were dotted in bits of dead bark and circular holes. Sakura wasn't sure what could have left those, but after some looking she found her answer. A leach the size of her arm with three sets of fly-like wings was suckling on a branch below her, blindly gnawing at the bark.

Gross. Sakura wasn't sure if those things fed on blood as well, but she wouldn't be surprised. She resolved to avoid them no matter what. Maybe they could be used on another team, though…

She wasn't sure what made her look up. It wasn't a definite feeling or instinct. Nothing went through her peripheral vision. It was mostly happenstance. But nonetheless, she jerked her head up, and realized someone was watching her.

There was a man standing on a branch less than fifty feet away, separated from her by the thick air of the forest. It wasn't another genin. He looked like a chunin supervisor, Sakura thought; he was wearing the standard uniform and vest of one, though his long black hair kept the uniform from looking purely professional. It was bound up by a Leaf hitai-ate that he wore like a bandana. She was sure there were other ninja in the Forest observing the exam. But were they supposed to be seen?

Subconsciously, she started reaching for her sword. It was only when her hand settled on the hilt that she started wondering why.

"Are you Sakura Haruno?" The man's voice was gentle, but it carried over the divide effortlessly. Sakura nodded, and he leapt over to her branch, landing without a sound. He was handsome, Sakura thought, despite the deep frown lines that ran down his cheeks. His face reminded her of someone. It was only now that he was closer that she realized that missing two fingers from his left hand: his pinky finger was gone entirely, and his ring finger ended at the first joint.

He looked like an Uchiha, she realized, and like Sasuke in particular. Not even close to identical, but there was a definite resemblance.

"Who are you?" she asked, not taking her hand off her sword.

"A proctor," the man said, and Sakura marginally relaxed. He'd startled her, but his voice and mein was calm, maybe even protective. She didn't get any sense of threat from him. "I've got something important to tell your team. Would you mind calling them over? The last of the groups have just entered the Forest: we won't have much time."

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Naruto!" she called. "Sasuke!" Then, more quietly, "You're not cheating or something, are you? Because we don't want the help. We can do this on our own."

The man laughed. "I'm sure you can. Don't worry, I won't help you."

Sakura let go of her sword, and Naruto and Sasuke broke through the canopy behind her a second later.

"Sorry Sakura!" Naruto called, still about forty feet away. "We didn't realize you were out of-"

He stopped, as though he'd run into a wall. Sakura turned, wondering what had happened, and found both Sasuke and Naruto staring at her. Sasuke was turning pale, his mouth moving but nothing coming out.

"What?" she asked. "Sasuke, are you alright?" Something was wrong; her skin prickled.

She realized she'd turned her back to the man, and found her hand wandering back to her sword. The hair on the back of her neck rose.

Her teammate found his voice.

"What…" he said, choking on something invisible. He snarled, and Sakura felt her heart jump at the expression. "What are you doing here?"

A hand gently wrapped around Sakura's arm, and she froze, unable to shift it another inch. She couldn't reach her sword; she couldn't move at all. There was enormous strength in the three fingers resting on her. She knew in an instant that if the shinobi wanted to, he could snap her arm without much effort.

She looked back, up at the man, and found his eyes swirling and red. They glanced down at her, and then fixed back on Sasuke. A Sharingan. He was an Uchiha. But if he was an Uchiha, Sakura thought, why was he grabbing her? Why was Sasuke so obviously terrified and shaking with rage? What was going on?

"Just visiting," the Uchiha said. He smiled sincerely. "What kind of brother would I be if I didn't check up on you, Sasuke?"

"Let her go," Naruto said. He was scared too, but Sakura was just confused. Sasuke had a brother? He'd never mentioned that to her. No one had. She'd assumed he was an only child, like her and Naruto. "Let her go right now!"

"Of course." The hand around Sakura's hand relaxed, but the man spoke again before she could step forward. "Don't move, Sakura."

She didn't know what started it. She didn't try anything, and she was pretty sure the man behind her didn't move either. But Naruto and Sasuke glanced at one another, and then they both charged forward.

It happened so fast that it was only in hindsight that Sakura understood what had happened. Something pushed her forward, not hard enough to hurt but enough to bring her down. She tumbled across the branch, rolling back to her feet, and the sound of a Rasengan blew past her. Before she could finish her roll, there was a grunt and an explosion, and Sasuke yelled.

Sakura came back to her feet, spinning and drawing her sword all in the same motion, and found Sasuke's brother unmoved, about six feet away. Naruto was buried in a small crater behind him, stunned and insensible, and Sasuke was facedown on the branch, his left arm twisted behind his back. He was squirming, but his brother was kneeling on the small of his back as he held down Sasuke's right arm. He was twisting Sasuke's left farther and farther; Sasuke growled and bucked, but was completely unable to escape.

Sakura's eyes went wide and she raised her sword into a ready position, rushing forward. She led with the blade, transforming her whole body in a spear aiming directly for the Uchiha's neck, and Sasuke's brother glanced at her. He released Sasuke's other arm, but it stayed stuck to the ground, as though his brother's shadow were grabbing it. His hand came up; the sword swept forward.

He caught the blade between his thumb and index finger and Sakura came to an abrupt stop, grunting as her considerable momentum immediately vanished. She almost lost her grip on the hilt.

They struggled to pull the blade back to attack again, but it was completely stuck.

"Itachi!" Sasuke shouted. "Don't touch-!"

Itachi, Sasuke's brother, twisted one more time. Sakura heard a loud, clear snap, and Sasuke screamed, flailing his whole body and kicking at the branch fruitlessly. Naruto was groggily trying to get up, his hands scrabbling at the bark of the crater.

"You're not ready," Itachi said mildly. He looked down at his brother; Sakura was too afraid to drop her sword and attack without it. What could she do? She'd just end up like her teammates. "Still only two tomoe? What have you been doing with your time?"

Sasuke gasped. His arm flopped to his side, and Sakura felt nauseous at its limp movement.

"I'm not like you!" he said.

"Oh?" Itachi asked. "Interesting."

"You bastard," Sasuke groaned. Itachi pushed Sakura's sword back, releasing it. She should have struck again, but her heart was pounding so hard it felt like her entire body was shaking. She knew without a doubt that if she attacked, Itachi would just break her arm too. Maybe worse.

"You should drop out," Itachi said, still sounding like a friendly proctor. Sakura was shaking. How could he sound like that right after breaking his brother's arm? He glanced at Sakura, and then at Naruto, still trying to work up the strength to get out of the crater. "None of you are prepared to be chunin."

"I'm doing this so I could find you," Sasuke said, still breathless with pain. "I need to be strong enough-"

"Well, I'm here," Itachi said. "And you're not strong enough."

There was a silence for a moment, and Sakura lowered her sword, wondering what she should do. Suddenly, Itachi stood up and backed away, jumping over Naruto. Sasuke slowly pulled himself to his feet, and Naruto managed to crawl out of the crater, shaking his head and looking over his shoulder at Itachi.

"I will be," Sasuke said, his voice low and full of anger.

Itachi considered him.

"Acquire the third," he said suddenly.

"Is that all you want?" Sasuke said. Sakura thought he sounded as though he might cry. "That's it? My eyes?"

"You shouldn't listen to mother," Itachi said with a frown. "There's many things I want, but that isn't one of them." He took a step towards the side of the branch. "Remember what I said. Leave the Forest; this isn't your time."

"Drop dead," Sasuke snarled, and Itachi smiled.

"It was nice to see you, Sasuke. Until next time."

He stepped off the branch without a sound, plummeting into the forest, and Team Seven was suddenly alone.

"Damn it." Sasuke fell to one knee, cradling his broken arm, and Sakura stepped forward, trying to get a better look at it. He swatted her away, a tear in one of his eyes.

"Damn it."