A/N: I have returned!

I'll keep this short so…

I'd like to thank my reviewers and favourite-rs and followers once again! Thank you for the support!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or its characters.

Enjoy!

The weeks that followed were nerve wrecking, in the least, for the young A.N.B.U. agents as they struggled to cope with school-life and work-life. The fact that the yearly qualifying A.N.B.U. exams were around the corner didn't help in easing the tension.

So it was with a mix of relief and fear that flooded Sakura when the time for the exams came.

On Saturday morning at 8 a.m., all the teens from the Konoha A.N.B.U. branch had gathered in the large holding area as they waited anxiously for the person-in-charge to arrive and lead them to the first examination venue. All the different teams were jittery and edgy at the possible thought of scary, horrific, make-you-wet-your-pants obstacles that the examination board could—more like would—throw at them. Mercilessly.

As such, it was a pretty big weight off their chests when the teams were led to the rock wall.

…Or not.

Because according to the Shikamaru-ean Theory of Simplicity, if they were given an obstacle easy enough to overcome easily, then the conditions given would then be hard enough to make the agents fail.

It was with an uneasy feeling rising up her throat that Sakura remembered this Shikamaruean Theory. Crap… Why'd I have to remember that right now? I mean—

"SAKURA!"

"Huh?!"

Naruto was staring at her with an incredulous look. "Sakura, I've been trying to tell you that the exam's started!"

"WHAT!" Sakura exclaimed; the examiner hadn't even explained the rules or instructions… Unless… Team 7's female member gave her teammates a sheepish look, "Please don't tell me I wasn't listening to the instructions?"

The Uchiha sighed angrily as he caught sight of the other teams already done with their preparations—some were even beginning to scale the rock wall.

He turned to face his team. "Naruto," he ordered, "There's no time to waste… Let's get the preparations done fast."

Naruto nodded and passed one end of a thick, sturdy-looking rope to Sakura. "Tie it around your waist."

For a moment, Sakura was naively deceived into thinking that the examination board was actually kind enough to give them a rope considered safe for climbing!

A pipe dream, that's what it was.

It was only when Sakura was all set to start scaling the rock wall when she realised that Sasuke and Naruto had tied the same rope around their waists. In other words, the three of them were now connected by this thick rope.

… And it hit Sakura like a ton of bricks. The three of them would be scaling the wall together. So if one of them fell… so would the other two.

"Let's go! ROCK WALL BRING IT ON!" Naruto cheered and literally leapt for the wall without hesitation, in the process managing to fling Sasuke and Sakura at the wall too.

"Dobe!" Sasuke hissed, but closed his fingers around a pink handhold and pushed himself upwards.

Likewise, Sakura had set her foot down and decided not to be a burden to her team; she reached for a green handhold and hoisted herself up. After all that rigorous training she had gone through since her initiation as an A.N.B.U. agent two years back, technically she shouldn't have a problem with climbing a rock wall. After all, her special skill was her uncanny strength.

It wasn't so hard at first, and several of the teams were around the mid-point in no time, save for a couple of teams who lacked the physical strength necessary for such a task. Most of the teams were beginning to feel less depressed about the exam, what with it being so easy and all.

But things weren't really as they seemed, the teams soon realised. For one, was the wall becoming smaller? As in, less broad? Further up the wall, the four lanes originally existent had, apparently, merged into three lanes…

"Did the lanes just… shrink?!"

"What's going on!"

"Quick, my teammates! We must show the rest our youthful spirits!"

… Which heated up the competition.

All the teams were suddenly scrambling to be the first to get to the top, and the competitiveness was intense.

At the foot of the rock wall, stood the different teams' mentors, whom had finished their exams the previous week.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Might Guy, mentor of Team 10, poked Kakashi forcefully. "Can't you feel their YOUTHFUL SOULS BLAZING WITH PASSION!"

"Uhm." The cool ad collected Team 7 mentor didn't take his eyes off the book in his hands at all. He was sure his team was doing fine…

"NARUTO YOU IDIOT!"

This was followed by a sharp cry and a shout.

Partially amused, Kakashi lowered his book to take a glance at the rock wall.

"Oh."

He was just in time to catch sight of Team 7 hurtling towards the ground, speeding past the other teams in the exact opposite direction. Thankfully the mischievous blonde managed to grab one of the protruding handholds and saved his team from their fall. Sakura was screaming angrily at Naruto as she leaned her body weight against the wall, having managed to find only one handhold to step on. Sasuke had it the worst. Scowling and dangling precariously with no handhold in reach, he was barely two metres above the ground. Barely.

Might Guy took this opportunity to mock his best-rival-forever, "Aww, ain't that saaaadd~ They were in the lead, too. They may be youthful, but my team is MORE youthful! GOOOOOO MY TEAMMMMM!" (There was the faint cry of Rock Lee going "OOOOOOOHHHHH! GUY-SENSEI IS CHEERING US ON!" which drowned out Tenten's and Neji's shouts of caution.)

"Hmm." Kakashi returned to his book. Truth be told, he had been prepared to dash forth and save his team if it really came down to that, but he knew better. He knew that his team was better than that. Plus they'd probably be ashamed to be saved by their mentor from a simple task in front of all the other teams and their mentors. They'd probably say they could've hung on to the wall if he hadn't caught them. The ingrates.

Thus the first round of the exams began.