AN: I know, I said I was discontinuing this, but then I just got the urge and well, it's back! Also, I know not all of my re-accounts of the chunin exams are accurate; I'm to lazy to re-watch the episodes xD Also, I'm fairly sure I'm not going to be including KakaSaku. The list of pairing that there will be endings are: NaruSaku , SasuSaku, NejiSaku, ShikaSaku, KibaSaku, GaaSaku, ItaSaku, SasoSaku, and DeiSaku. Hope you enjoy.

Through the Course of Time

Chapter Seven:

More Questions and Visitors

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Before anyone had the chance to question what had just happen, a man with scars on his face came into the room. "The first part of the exams is about to start," He said in a gruff voice. "Turn in your applications and grab a number, that's where you'll sit."

Everyone in the room quickly did as he said, filing into a classroom to where the man was waiting. As he explained the rules, Sakura found her mind drifting to the next part of the exams. "Start!" The man announced. Sakura quickly began scribbling down the answers that she knew all to well.

The pain started up again. Eyes going slightly wide Sakura grasped at her head, her pencil falling to the floor. She could feel it riveting through her body, making her want to scream out but keeping her mouth shut. Gritting her teeth together, she stooped down and grabbed her pencil quickly.

Trying her best to ignore the pain she kept on writing answers, hoping it would end soon.

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The examiners watched Sakura. Talking in a voice only they could hear, one of them said; "That girl… Look at her facial expression and chakra." The others did so, wondering why the first one had told them to do so.

"She's in pain… Her chakra keeps spiking them dropping." One of them commented.

"Should we remove her from the exams?" Another one asked.

One of them smirked slightly. "I think we should see how far she can make it."

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The time rushed by and before Sakura knew it the examiners were asking the tenth question. As the man spoke the question, she felt the pain subside and her chakra returning to it's almost normal state, before flashing again.

And then, in a flash, her head hit the desk. It didn't even make a noise. Everything just shut out for what seemed like only seconds. She was standing in an open field, staring at a small girl. More specifically, herself.

She knew this memory. She had spent many hours thinking about it. She watched the small, innocent her, run towards a man who stood over six foot. Even though the memory had no sound, she knew what she was saying. The man had dark brown hair, and green eyes. They weren't as piercing as Sakura's, but were still similar in color. The man picked up the young girl, swinging her up as she giggled.

This man was her father. Her father, whom after that day, she would never lay her eyes on again. His disappearance remained unsolved, leaving everyone to forget about.

But Sakura, even lost in a memory, was aware of the present. She immediately realized, that this was not just her who had forced the memory on. This is intertwined with her mission. She finds herself wondering who this man truly was, besides being her unnamed father. She had asked two questions about him. The first one being, 'What happened to Daddy?' Her mother replied with a strangled, 'I don't know.' The second one had come much later, on her tenth birthday. For her birthday present, she asked her mom to answer one question. She had spoke so quietly, as though afraid that if she spoke to loud it would not count. She had asked, 'Do I look like him?' And her mother had nodded and said, 'More than I wish.'

And now, she felt if she tried hard enough, she could just talk to him, and maybe get some answers… If she could just get a bit closer…

Don't.

Sakura stopped, feeling her heart clench.

This is a dream. This is not truly happening.

And she knew that she needed to get out of this place. She knew that this was like the place before, and it wasn't a good place. This was her mind. She wouldn't allow to trap herself, to destroy herself like others had done.

She forced her real, physical eyelids to open. Slowly and blurrily, the world around her came into contact again. She could see the remaining people beginning to rise and file out of the room. To her relief, Naruto and Sasuke were among them.

Pulling herself up, she made her way to the door, trying to follow the two. As she exited though, she was met by Shikamaru.

"I saw you." He stated, eyes holding her stare. She didn't know what to say; she was afraid that maybe everyone had seen her. "No one else noticed, but you weren't present. At least not mentally." She swallowed, and she knew the genius of a boy noticed her discomfort. "That was not normal either. You dropped off so suddenly. Not to mention your chakra. I may not be a complete expert at reading chakra," Sakura partially doubted this, "But I know that spikes like that are dangerous, and uncommon." She broke his gaze, turning her head down the hallways.

No matter how old she had once been, she was still a twelve year-old right there. "I-I should get going." This was surprising to her, him mentioning her current situation. When they were younger, Shikamaru had never given her a second glance since she was neither amazingly talented nor came from a clan of some type. Even when they got older, they rarely spoke to each other on their free time.

As she turned to walk away, she can feel his gaze on her back. Quickly she hurried down the hallway, fearing that she may have gotten someone else involved.

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The woman with the long black hair sat on the roof of Sakura Haruno's home.

Of course she had seen the three figures break into the house. She knew they couldn't sense her of course, so she didn't have to worry about confronting them.

At least for now.

But beside that, she was slightly pissed that instead of being able to talk to Sakura right now, she would have to wait until the girl dealt with her other 'visitors'. Then they would talk.

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Sakura has never been one for silence when around other people. She knows that it is then where people notice things. And as she and the rest of Team Seven sat at Ichiruki, everyone, for once, is quiet while waiting for the food.

Sakura, wanting to break the silence, said. "I thought we were going to fail."

Naruto puffed his chest out and just about shouted, "How could you fail with me on your team?" All three of his teammates sweat dropped but made no comment.

Kakashi, with his ever present mask on, placed his hands behind his head. "Did you know any of the material?"

Neither Sasuke nor Naruto say anything, for they didn't actually know any. Sakura, on the other hand, spoke. "Well it's material that most haven't learned. It's to set up for those who were doubting themselves and believed the tenth question would be alike to leave before even trying." She turned to look at Kakashi, but instead saw someone in the background.

Spinning around more quickly, she can hear Naruto exclaim about the ramen about to fall. She sees piercing blue eyes, which are similar to Naruto's and Ino's, but not them. She knew who's they are, even though they have only met a few time. Her mouth slides ever so slightly open. "Deidara…" She mumurs, eyes wide.

As her teammates turn to look where she was staring, the eyes had already disappeared. "What are you looking at Sakura?" Kakashi inquired, though he had heard her speak the name clearly and knew exactly who it was.

"Just a person whom I thought I knew."

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As Sakura heads back to her house, she feels tired. So tired…

She blames her abnormal chakra, which has sense settled back down to normal. Her minds wanders to what happened the day before, how when Gaara was close to killing her the way her chakra just flashed, and then how she was fine.

'Haruhi?' She calls out mentally, only to get no answer.

As she approached her door, she noticed that it was wide open.

Swallowing, she pushed it further open, only to find the person whom she had seen earlier.

"Hey Deidara."