Kakashi woke with a jolt, flinging off his blanket like it was still covered in his dead father's blood. It wasn't, of course, and he immediately looked at the armchair to see if Sakura had witnessed his ridiculousness.

The chair was empty.

He froze, forcing his dream-panicked brain to wake up properly before it ended up panicking harder. There was a light under the bathroom door. She wasn't gone.

"Sakura?" He knocked gently.

"Kakashi?" Sakura's voice sounded strange.

"Can I come in?" He wasn't sure what he'd do if she said no.

After a moment the door clicked open. Sakura was sitting on the bathmat, legs curled under her and half a dozen books stacked nearby on the closed toilet lid. There was another book in her hands, but Kakashi was too distracted to read the cover.

"Are you crying?"

The panic returned with a vengeance. Was she hurt? Did the trauma of her parents' rejection (and quite literally everything else that happened to her in the last decade) finally catch up to her? If so, how could he possibly help? He was hardly the picture of mental health himself, especially if he was now having nightmares about his dad.

Sakura sobbed harder, tears running freely down her face. One fell onto her hand and Kakashi watched as she licked it clean, seemingly without realising she had even done it. "Misaki just broke up with Haruto."

"Who?" Kakashi blinked. It was still barely dawn, and he doubted even she would go outside in the infernal nightie; but those names did sound familiar for some reason. "Oh, in the book."

"He doesn't know that she's only leaving because she's sick!" Sakura wailed, and Kakashi couldn't help but laugh. He thought Sakura had been turned into some ultimate ninja, the hardest of the hard, but here she was crying over fictional characters.

"I forgot I had that book." He crouched down and gently removed it from her grip before she soaked it. "It was so sad I never read it more than once."

"It's horrible," Sakura agreed, but she had calmed down a bit. "I wish I could show it to Siren; she loves tragedies. Knows a dozen by heart, and made up hundreds more. Oh." She looked at Kakashi as if finally noticing he was there. "Good morning. Did you need the bathroom?"

She made to rise, but Kakashi held up a hand to stop her. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay in here. It's still pretty early."

Sakura stood to look out the tiny bathroom window. "Sun's barely up," she confirmed. "For some reason I thought you were the type to sleep in really late."

"Not today," he said, relieved she hadn't witnessed the reason he'd woken up so early. "Too much to do."

ⴵⴵⴵⴵⴵⴵⴵⴵⴵⴵ

Kakashi told Sakura about the chunin exam on the way to meet the boys at the third training ground. He had told Naruto and Sasuke about it yesterday, and they were keen to attend (apparently they had already heard about it from some Sand genin they met in the street), but Kakashi didn't tell Sakura that their participation would be contingent on hers. He wouldn't force her, even if it annoyed the elders.

"Is it a long exam?" She asked. "I thought we'd all start looking for The Watcher soon."

"Some parts will only take a few hours, but others might take a few days." As for finding The Watcher, the mission scroll had made it extremely clear that Team Seven would not be involved. But he wasn't sure Sakura would just accept that, so once again he decided to keep it from her. "There will be a lot of foreign ninjas participating; perhaps you'll find out something along the way?"

She agreed readily enough after that, and when they reached the training ground she went to stand with the boys automatically, and they automatically made space for her. It was like she had never left the team at all.

"So what's this 'test' going to be anyway? Another bell test?"

He smiled beneath his mask. "Something like that. But before I explain any further, we need to wait for the fifth member of our training session to arrive."

There was a bang, and smoke filled the clearing. When it dissipated, it revealed a tortoise with a man standing on top of its shell in a pose that he probably considered 'cool.'"

"Team Seven, meet Maito Gai. He's going to be our opponent for today."

"Our?" Sasuke squinted at him. "You're not fighting us?"

"Oh no, you've already faced off with me before. This time you can consider me a friendly ally, and all four of us are going to fight Gai together. For these." He held up two coloured scarves: one in blue and one in green.

"Four against one?" Naruto said. "That seems too easy."

"Easy, is it?" Gai boomed. Much like his entrance, he had clearly been waiting for the best moment to speak. He leapt from the back of his summon with surprising lightness for such a large man, squaring up to the trio. "Perhaps my reputation hasn't preceded me, but I happen to be your teacher's eternal rival. You may have beaten him; but I'm stronger," he flexed, "and faster." In almost the blink of an eye he was no longer in front of them, but standing by Kakashi's side. "Konoha's beautiful green beast, Maito Gai!"

Kakashi, who was used to this by now, simply handed him the green scarf. "Thanks again for helping out, Gai."

"Such a lukewarm reply," Gai muttered as he tied the scarf to his hip pouch, but Kakashi was already holding out the blue scarf to his team. "Gai's going to be trying to capture our 'flag' at the same time we try to capture his," he explained. "So, who wants to carry it?"

"Maybe you should just keep it?" Sakura suggested. "You're the jounin, and you know the opponent the best."

"Good tactical assessment, Miss!" Gai gave her a thumbs up.

"However," Kakashi cut in, "we're here to test you guys, and therefore one of you has to carry the flag." Of course, there was another reason it wouldn't be fair for him to start out with the flag, but it would spoil the fun to tell them that.

Sasuke started reaching, but Naruto snatched it from Kakashi's hand first. "I got this!"

"Make sure it's always visible," Kakashi instructed, and Naruto tied it to his own hip pouch.

"In that case," Gai started backing up, "ready…set…go!"

Unlike the original bell test, where they all ran off in random directions (or immediately attempted to fight him head-on without support), Sakura made the seals for some sort of jutsu that immediately enveloped the area in white particles, like a snow storm of rock dust. It didn't impede breathing, so Kakashi concluded it was probably a genjutsu rather than actual dust.

This was confirmed when Sakura's voice spoke clearly in his ear. "Go left."

He did as instructed, and not a moment too soon because Gai wasn't about to let low visibility stop him charging forward immediately. The smoky haze swirled around a fist that narrowly missed colliding with Kakashi's face, and he could hear its owner's booming cackle as they snuck off to regroup.

ⴵⴵⴵⴵⴵⴵⴵⴵⴵⴵ

"What's this guy's deal, Kakashi-sensei?" They were all crouching under a tree with low branches, and as expected they were using the time they had bought to come up with a group strategy. Naruto was staring at the direction they had come from. "He wasn't wrong when he said he was a beast."

Sakura nodded. "I feel like the direct approach is probably just playing into his hands."

"His enormous hands," Naruto added.

"He's fast, and he's clearly strong," Sasuke said. "But we have superior numbers; especially if Naruto makes shadow clones."

"All of which have an identical blue flag," Sakura guessed. "Smart." She reached down to pick up a stick and start tracing arrows in the dirt between them. "If the Narutos drive him toward us, we could set up a trap in the meantime?"

"Can do!" Naruto grinned.

"Except this guy doesn't seem like the type to run away from a fight, even when outnumbered. Instead of chasing him, he'll want to chase you." Sasuke started tracing out the basic features of the grounds with a stick of his own. "Lead him here," he tapped a section of his mud map, "to the KIA monument."

Sakura didn't say anything, but Kakashi could see a minute tightening in her expression. Then the moment passed, and she nodded along with the others.

Naruto split off to find Gai and lead him on a merry chase while the others laid the trap. Kakashi followed Sasuke's orders, stringing wires through the nearby trees and helping Sakura cover up a ground trap she had made using an earth jutsu.

"I actually thought I'd fallen into something similar. That night." She nudged a few more leaves over the seams in the ground.

She went to set the next trap before he could think of something to say in response, and so the moment passed. Perhaps she hadn't even realised she'd spoken aloud.

After a few more minutes of being a perfect ally and no sign of Gai, Kakashi decided to start the true training exercise.

"Look there." He pointed urgently to the far treeline, and as the other two turned, he threw a volley of shuriken at their backs.

They heard the whistle and managed to dodge in time, albeit with difficulty because of all the traps they had just laid.

"What the hell!" Sasuke yelled at him even as he launched a volley of his own right back.

Sakura was clinging to the side of a tree with her chakra, and she grabbed a handful of Kakashi's shuriken from where they had thunked into the wood nearby. "What is this?" She also counterattacked without hesitation, flinging shuriken with one hand and drawing her sword with the other.

"Sorry guys, but I'm betraying you." He sent a wave of water at Sasuke before he could use his favoured fireball jutsu, then sprung at Sakura. He knew she had stopped only part way up the trunk because they had laid traps in the higher branches. Her only options would be to fight back or drop down to the ground.

She chose to stay, standing at a right angle to the trunk with her sword at the ready. It was an awkward position to maintain; if she took a step then the only contact point with the tree would be her other foot. Nobody could fight like that for long, so it was only a matter of time until he had her where he wanted her.

She gritted her teeth as his kunai clashed with her sword. He was putting his whole weight into the blow, hoping to knock her loose with momentum alone. She managed to maintain her chakra control and engage her core enough to take the initial blow, but once he was inside her sword's reach it was easy enough to just grab her around the waist and pull.

There was a feeling of resistance like magnets being forced apart, and a second later her feet came free from the trunk. The second before gravity kicked in she felt completely weightless in his arms, just like that day in The Land of Waves; and then he simply let go.

She fell away from him as if in slow motion, but her sword moved faster than ever. The tip grazed his left shoulder before he could fully dodge it, and he hissed under his breath.

"Sakura!" Sasuke was running to catch her in another strange mimicry of that day when Kakashi had done the same thing. He broke her fall, helping her roll slightly on impact.

Now both of them were standing on the KIA monument itself; exactly where they were hoping to lead Gai. Kakashi only had to cut a certain wire, and the trap sprung.

A tree trunk swung toward them, high enough that it would just cut off the victim's escape rather than crush them. At the same time, all the wires they had strung in the trees pulled taught around the stone, snaring them in a web. They struggled, but the wires were surprisingly strong for how thin they were. They could escape with enough time, but would need to work carefully in order to avoid hurting themselves.

"Looks like you guys aren't going to be a problem anymore. I'll just finish you off, then go help my real ally get the flag from Naruto," he called to them from the nearest safe patch of grass.

Sasuke glared, and if looks could kill Kakashi would be a smoking crater on the ground.

"Except you don't have time to do both," Sakura said calmly.

"No?"

"No." She dropped her sword (which was admittedly useless here) and pulled out a single senbon. "If you want to get to the others before I do, you have to start running now."

Kakashi could dodge her throw easily, of course, but possibly she had some way of multiplying it mid-air. He tensed up, preparing to jump clear of the whole area once she let it fly.

Instead of throwing it, she plunged it into her neck.

Blood spurted in an arc, splattering the base of the KIA stone. Kakashi could only stare in horror, viscerally reminded of last night's dream.

Sakura's entire body wobbled, then it and her abandoned sword burst into a puddle of watery blood.

It splashed Sasuke's ankles, and he threw himself further against the wires to avoid it. "A clone?" he murmured, and for a moment they both shared a look of surprise despite currently being 'enemies.' Then Sasuke smirked. "That means she's got a head start on you."

"Not for long." Still rattled, Kakashi left him where he was and sped off to find where the real Sakura was hiding.

ⴵⴵⴵⴵⴵⴵⴵⴵⴵⴵ

Sakura jolted; her blood clone had just died, sending all of its knowledge straight to her brain. Kakashi, their 'friendly ally', had switched sides and was on his way to warn Gai about their plan.

She had hidden herself in a tree at the start, mostly out of habit. Blood clones were one of the first original jutsu she had developed Inside, with Sensei's help. They were basically a modified water clone with a little bit of blood (or whatever else) added. It made them hardier, and if you added more of your body they used less of your chakra; but because they were partly real flesh, you couldn't dispel them like a normal clone. You had to kill them each time.

She had been trailing Gai while he chased Naruto's small army of clones, picking them off one by one with his monstrous strength and speed. He hadn't just been bragging when he said he was a taijutsu master: he could have given even Jun a run for his money. As it was, the Narutos had more than halved, and those that remained shared a single expression of terror.

What to do with the information she had? She could try to intercept Kakashi, but Naruto had been leading Gai toward the monument for a little while, so that window was almost closed. Instead, she'd have to just warn Naruto and get ready to improvise.

She raced ahead of the pack and used a henge to change her appearance. Once she also looked like Naruto, she joined the rest as they turned a corner.

"Hey, Naruto," she tapped one on the shoulder as she ran. "You're not the original, are you?"

"No," the clone said, still running surprisingly fast considering how long the chase had been going. Gai may have been the strongest and fastest, but not even he could match Naruto for endurance.

"Good. Listen, Kakashi double crossed us and is coming to warn Gai about the traps. We need to get to the monument now. Tell the others."

"Okay, but how did y-" his words were cut off abruptly as Sakura put a kunai in his back, causing him to poof out of existence.

The other Narutos jolted slightly, but then continued their mission with renewed speed. They no longer wove through the trees in an apparently random direction, but made a beeline directly for the monument. If they could send Gai into the trap (along with a few disposable clones) before Kakashi interfered, they would still have a chance of getting the flag first.

"Not you? How about you?" Gai was utterly merciless. He kicked one clone so forcefully that it flew twenty feet and took out another three. He had probably deduced that the Narutos were leading him into an ambush or trap, but seemed happy enough to keep following them anyway. His absolute confidence was rather scary.

Sakura deliberately slowed so that she wasn't in the lead when they hit the first traps; and just in time, because a half dozen Narutos at the front disappeared simultaneously, forcing the rest to halt.

"Ah, my ally!" Gai grinned. The Narutos (and Sakura) were now pinned between two jounin. Kakashi had arrived from the side and was a little out of breath, suggesting he hadn't come directly from the monument but had doubled back after zeroing in on them. He stood on the edge of the leaf litter, clearly wary of the sinkhole; but with Gai kettling the clones from behind, Green Team still had the better position overall.

There was no sign of Sasuke, but Sakura had good reason to believe he had managed to escape. She whispered to one of the clones, who grinned and rushed at Kakashi just to get taken out like the rest. But it meant her message reached the others with their enemies none the wiser.

Kakashi turned to Gai. "Keep an eye out for the others," he said quickly. He raised his forehead protector, revealing the swirling red of his sharingan.

Sakura baulked at the sight. She trusted Kakashi, and didn't believe he would use it recklessly; but what if it was still broken, and he ended up sending her back?

She tried to run from his gaze, but that only drew more attention to her.

"That one's real!" He called to Gai, and instead of retreating to the green beast's waiting arms she quickly changed course to attack Kakashi instead.

She yelled like Naruto always did when he was desperately outmatched. Kakashi thought she had the flag, which meant he'd go for it instead of her if given the chance. If she gave him the right opening, he might play right into her hands.

ⴵⴵⴵⴵⴵⴵⴵⴵⴵⴵ

Naruto was coming at him like a man possessed, launching into the air and kicking out at his head. It bought him a little height against a taller foe, but it also meant that all Kakashi had to do was grab his leg and use its momentum to send Naruto flying toward the covered sinkhole behind him. He wouldn't know to avoid it, and so the trap designed to catch the green flag would snare the blue instead.

Kakashi grabbed the flag in question as it soared past his head; but the second he pulled it free from Naruto's belt it disappeared in a puff of smoke.

He blinked. Shadow clones had the same amount of chakra as the original, but it moved through their body in slightly different ways. He was sure that Naruto hadn't been a clone, so he must have switched flags at one point.

"Check the others," he called to Gai, rushing forward to help. Sakura's sinkhole had been pretty deep, so with any luck the impact would be enough to make Naruto lose control of his clones. Then he and Gai could just pick the blue flag off the ground and call it a day.

He made it two steps before Naruto (who should have been lying at the bottom of a pit) grabbed him from behind, tackling him to the ground and pinning his arms to his sides so he couldn't use jutsu.

"Kakashi!" Gai had seen his comrade fall, but the clones were all swarming him, forcing him to focus on taking them out. He was almost hidden in the cloud of smoke his efforts were producing. But even with Kakashi out of the fight, it would still be over in a second whenever he dispatched the clone with the flag.

Gai grabbed one of the last Narutos with both hands, squeezing it roughly. But unlike the others, this one didn't pop. Instead, it sunk its teeth into Gai's forearm.

"Ouch!" Gai shook it violently, but it managed to hold its form somehow. As he was yelling and flinging the clone around the clearing, someone entered his blind spot and reached for the flag.

"Look ou-" Kakashi's captor's hand closed over his mouth before he could warn Gai, but it was already too late. Sasuke tugged the green flag free and held it above his head.

"We win!" the Naruto that had been biting Gai finally stopped, raising his arms in triumph. "Also, put me down! That hurts, dattebayo!"

Gai dropped the Naruto in his hands while the one on top of Kakashi began to change shape. A lock of pink hair tumbled into Kakashi's vision, and suddenly it wasn't Naruto's jacket zipper pressing into his back but something much softer. Two somethings, actually.

"Sakura," he wheezed, and the woman laughed softly in his ear and rolled away.

"Didn't mean to crush you." She stood and helped him to his feet.

"So you were the non-clone, huh?" Kakashi glanced behind him where there should have been a gaping pit. Instead, there was a strip of disturbed leaf litter where Sakura must have landed, and nothing but flat earth underneath. "How did you avoid tripping the sinkhole?"

"Sasuke moved the leaves." Sakura looked back at her comrade. "Right?"

Sasuke smirked. "I wondered if you'd notice."

"I can recognise my own handiwork."

Naruto, the real Naruto, still sat where Gai had dropped him. "And once you both thought you'd gotten rid of me, it was easy to hide among the clones until you let your guard down." He frowned at Sasuke. "Grab the flag faster next time, huh? I thought I was gonna get crushed to death."

Gai laughed uproariously. "Quite a bold plan, putting yourself and your flag in harm's way! I definitely would have crushed you eventually!"

"It wouldn't have worked if you didn't trust your teammates to have your back," Kakashi added, and Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"We know the teamwork lesson already. Was all this really just to make sure we'd work together during the exam?"

"Not entirely." Kakashi dusted off the front of his vest. "The chunin exam will certainly require you all to work together, so I'm glad to see you all learned that lesson so well the first time. But the exam will include other teams, from Konoha and beyond. We're technically on friendly terms with the participating countries, but it will be every team for themselves, so be careful who you trust."

"That's why you betrayed us halfway through," Sakura guessed, "to see how we'd react and adapt."

"That's right."

"So does that mean you're letting us enter?" Naruto asked.

He nodded, and Naruto jumped to his feet.

"Alright!" Let's go, then!"

"Right now?" Sakura turned to Kakashi. "You said this could take a few days, right? There's stuff I need to do first."

"What stuff?" Naruto cocked his head to the side.

"Well…" Sakura's eyes slid to the ground. "I don't even have a forehead protector, for one thing. I guess I'll catch up in a bit."

Neither of the boys moved. "You can't walk back by yourself," Sasuke said flatly. "Come with us, and we'll get you one on the way."

Sakura looked moved by their offer, but continued to hesitate. Kakashi decided to step up.

"As her teacher, that's my responsibility. Why don't you boys get cleaned up and pack a few things, and we'll meet you at registration in an hour?"

"Good luck, Team Seven!" Gai gave them all a thumbs up. "If I don't see you at registration, let me offer you one piece of advice: all three of you clearly burn with the fire of youth," he glanced briefly at Sakura, "which is as much a state of mind as it is a state of the body; but my team is also competing in this exam, and their fire is at least a thousand times hotter! Challenge them at your own peril!"

And with that strangely ominous warning, they all parted ways.