Rating: T

A/N: Sorry for the wait guys. This chapter is extra long as an apology.

(This chapter was tough. For the longest amount of time I was stuck on ~75%-80% progress, all because of the damn fight scenes. I rewrote each of them at least twice—one in particular I revisualized and remade five times.)

On another note, I want to say something. When I was re-reading through chapters to remember the storyline, I realized that the prologue didn't have Shino. I COMPLETELY forgot about him! I added his portion since then, but… Wow. I literally, completely forgot about him. I was going to change it, but I wanted to wait and see if anyone else noticed. 10 months and over 300 views later, no one did. (Poor Shino, you really are easily forgotten. I don't think I've ever seen a better example of this)

Word count is ~19.5k.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

The Exams: Round Two

"This will be the site of the next portion of the exam!" Anko shouted, gesturing to the forest behind her. She brought up a ream of papers and held them up so that they were visible to everyone present. "Now before we get started, I need all of you to sign this!"

Confused murmurs echoed throughout, and the snake mistress only smiled. It wasn't a nice smile.

"This forest is called the Forest of Death for a reason. These forms are to make sure that, when you die—and trust me, some of you will die—Konoha, the Chuunin and myself involved are not held responsible. You'll turn in the forms to the booth behind me after I finish explaining what's going to happen here."

She passed the files to the closest Genin (who looked a second from fainting), and the papers slowly made their way around the disturbed crowd. "Alright. So the second part of the exam is, simply put, survival."

Naruto felt Sakura go ramrod straight beside her, and turned to place a reassuring hand on the girl's shoulder. "We'll figure out the semantics, like leadership and priorities once we enter. Don't worry right no—"

"We're fine with you calling the shots for now," Sasuke interrupted quietly, not turning to face either of them. Naruto looked at him in surprise. "It'll be easier that way. Anything else, if you need help, we can figure something out along the way."

The blonde smiled, patting the Uchiha on the back. "Thanks." It certainly made things easier.

"Around the Forest of Death are forty-four locked gates. Within the perimeter are three major sections of land; forest, river, and the tower itself. From the gates to the tower, situated in the center, there is about a ten kilometer radius all around." Anko withdrew two scrolls from her coat and held them above her head for the gathered hopefuls to see. "The goal is to reach the tower with two scrolls, a heaven scroll and an earth scroll. Each team will be given one scroll each, and considering the number of Genin, there will be seven of each type. You may use your weapons, your jutsu, traps—anything you have at your disposal at the moment—to obtain the complementing scroll to your own."

Naruto heard a few shinobi behind her scoff, giving snide remarks about the low-level challenge.

"… But that's not all," Anko continued, a downright malevolent grin stretched across her lips. "There is a five day limit—exactly one-hundred and twenty hours. Anyone who doesn't manage to complete their task and proceed to the tower within five days is automatically eliminated."

"Five days!?" Ino shouted, accompanied by Choji's, "WHAT ABOUT DINNER!?"

"You're all on your own," the snake mistress replied flippantly. "It's a forest, there's a river, you'll figure something out."

She lifted her hand, holding one finger up. "Now, about disqualification. Firstly, those that don't make it to the tower within the time limit with both scrolls will not be qualified to move on." A second finger rose to join the first. "Secondly, those that lose a teammate or end up with a dead teammate cannot progress, either."

Her hand dropped, and she rubbed her chin. "… Hm, I suppose there actually is a rule. You are not allowed to look at the inside of the scroll until you make it to the tower. Anyone that does will be in for a bit of a surprise. Understand?"

She did not wait for any signs of affirmative and turned to walk towards the booth. "Turn in your three forms in exchange for your scroll. You'll choose a gate to start from, and the exams will start when I say they will."

One by one, teams went to the booth to turn in their forms, and emerged with their scrolls—hidden, of course. After Team Seven received their's, a heaven scroll, they selected a gate and waited for the announcement.

Naruto coughed, gaining the attention of her two teammates. "I have a plan, but you guys might not like it."

Sakura's brow furrowed. "What is it?"

"First, hold out your hands for me," the blonde replied simply. When they did, she tapped their palms and they watched in awe as a Fuuinjutsu inscription appeared briefly before fading away.

Sasuke looked up from his hand. "… What was that?"

"A precaution," Naruto stated quietly. "That version will only last for three days at the most, but it may fade quicker. You felt it on your skin, right?" At the affirmative nods, she continued. "You'll be able to tell once it's gone. Be sure to tell me if it disappears, okay?"

"What's the plan?" The Uchiha inquired, eyes trailing back to his palm.

Here, Naruto sighed, honestly wondering if her teammates would agree to her plan without a fuss. "We're going to find a spot to camp out today, somewhere near the water. I will set up a perimeter, and the two of you will stay there for the duration of the day while I go looking for a scroll—"

"No," Sasuke intoned quietly but firmly.

The blonde rubbed her brow, rewording what she said. The direct method had been worth a try. "Alright, here's plan B. I set up a perimeter, we all stay and wait for another team to pass us by—a trap, and we will have the upper-hand. If we lay our foundation near the river we are bound to come across a few teams, and we can filch their scrolls. With the water source, we could stay for an extended period of time."

Sakura and Sasuke stared at her for a moment before nodding. "I agree with the plan," Sakura stated quietly, turning to their male teammate. "Sasuke?"

"Hn."

Naruto nodded. She didn't feel a debilitating amount of remorse for half-lying to her teammates—not when there were other things to worry about. She could tell them after she retrieved a scroll, but for now, she just needed them to stay within the confines of one of her barrier seals. Where they would be safe.

She had the full intention of leaving a Kage Bunshin with them, creating hundreds to search the forest and going off to find a scroll herself. They couldn't afford to behave as haphazardly as they had before, and if it was up to her, she'd keep them in the protection of her barrier seal for the entirety of the second exam.

The speakers crackled to life.

"Alright, brats!" Anko's voice boomed around them. "The gates open when the Exams officially start! Don't forget to get the complimentary scroll to the one you received. Try not to die. Have fun!"

A harsh buzzer sounded throughout the forest, before abruptly cutting off and leaving only silence. The gates disengaged and swung open.

The Second Exam had begun.

The first thing they did was look for the river.

For this part, Naruto held back and allowed her teammates to figure out the way. She could have flooded the forest with her Kage Bunshin to find the water source quicker but she had been curious to see if either of them would implement their own plans without her prodding. (And how strange it was, taking this standpoint almost like a freaking sensei)

Surprisingly, Sakura had been the first to figure out where the river was. None of the gates were numbered, purposefully done to disorient Chuunin potentials, but Sakura had made note of the map Anko showed them briefly and judged the direction they should travel after being let into the forest. To be fair, they had purposefully selected a gate close to the river—but it was still a detail that not many newly-minted Genin would have noticed.

Team Seven had found the river within the first twenty minutes, and traveled up the current until they were about three-quarters of the way to the tower. It was afternoon by then.

"Sakura, you and I will work on getting food," Sasuke stated simply. He turned to Naruto. "Are you sure you can set the perimeter on your own?"

The blond grinned. "Of course! Leave it to me."

Sasuke nodded. "Gather some wood and kindle while you're on it." With his piece said, he headed into the river with Sakura to catch their dinners. Naruto darted off into the trees, sending out a reinforced clone to continue her original plan.

With the smaller numbers, she couldn't chance her team failing to retrieve the scroll. There was also the issue of Guy, Kurenai and Asuma's teams, but she was more focused on getting her own team to pass first and foremost.

Her clone knew what to do.

With a single nod, it disappeared, and Naruto resigned herself to collecting resources the old-fashioned way.

He had been avoiding her.

… Well, not quite. He had been behaving relatively normal by everyone else's standards, considering he was not the most social individual. But regardless, he himself knew that he had been avoiding Naruto. He didn't do it in the most obvious ways, he liked to think. He was a Shinobi after all, and giving telling signs was not exactly… Wise.

No, he truly did his best to remain "normal." But somewhere along the way he had forgotten what normal even was, and when he remembered, he realized that wasn't an option, either. Because before, "normal" had been ignoring both Sakura and Naruto, viewing them as the unfortunate burdens that he was required to have. They were little more than distractions, and the whole idea of working together had grated on his nerves.

But he had been wrong, and Naruto had proven as much. She had literally beaten him over the head for it.

So, yes, he was avoiding her. Averting his eyes at certain times when he realized he was staring too much, refusing to look at her in the eyes when she addressed him.

To be truthful, the fact that he was avoiding her bothered him.

(Coward, his conscience constantly hissed at him, you won't ever become strong enough if you keep doing this.)

He had to face her, he knew this. But at the same time, he refused to—because facing her meant either attempting to refute her claims, or accepting them. Accepting that he was wrong, sorely wrong. And even if he had realized that, yes, he had made erroneous judgements regarding his team, he wasn't quite ready to accept everything.

From where Sasuke sat, staring at the flickering fire, he frowned.

… Stubborn.

She had called him stubborn. And as he contemplated, reflected on his thoughts, he realized that he really had no room to argue. She was right, and he had only been worse before.

His "talk" with Naruto had weighed heavily on his mind for a while, and before that, what Fuuko had spoken to him that day on the pier made him think. Question certain things.

They had both seemed to have their individual bones to pick with him, he noticed, but they both mentioned the "truth," stressed looking underneath the underneath. And it frustrated him.

Because what was there to see? What "truth" was there? It was obvious that they had both been referring to Itachi, or at least the situation itself as a whole even if they didn't outright state it. To him it was simple: Itachi killed the clan, and now, Sasuke had to kill Itachi to avenge them. That was how it had always been.

… And yet, he couldn't just write off their words, couldn't ignore Naruto's words. Because she hadn't just been spouting pretty words in an effort to convince him that there were other, "better" ways to occupy his time. No, she didn't take the peaceful route, she beat her words into him. And the look of despair, the grief written on her face as she had spoken… That sort of thing couldn't be feigned, not even by the best Shinobi.

Despite himself, it made Sasuke wonder if he was truly as alone as he had thought.

It was an asinine question, really, but one he had two different perspectives on. One part of him, the stubborn part, still clung to the idea that she was wrong and just a stupid dead last, that she knew nothing and should be ignored. But another part of him had recognized the sincerity in her voice, the pained, almost bitter truth in her tone when she said that she would always be there for him.

Her words held a weight that he hadn't been willing to accept, because it meant that he was wrong.

It meant that the world wasn't as black and white as he wanted it to be.

Naruto, was… She was a contradiction of herself. Or, maybe, she was a contradiction of what he saw her as, because she had proven to be anything but what he had written her off as.

Because Naruto was supposed to be an idiot. She wasn't.

Naruto was supposed to be the weak, useless dead last. She wasn't.

Naruto was supposed to be a headstrong, idiotic boy with a ridiculous, one-sided rivalry with Sasuke.

She wasn't.

Sasuke scowled as he clenched his fists in frustration, surreptitiously glancing to the unconscious blond as he did so.

He had already had almost a full week of thinking, and he was not nearly as angry as he had been before being talked down by her. Because now, he could admit that he had been acting… Irrationally. Stupid. Stubborn. Prejudiced. Blind. Prideful.

Even though it was difficult to admit it, he could—in privacy, at least. And the fact it was a challenge within itself only affirmed her words, making it a sour but believable pill to swallow. He couldn't help but wonder if he would have ever realized just how narrow-minded he was had she not done what she had. And while her method was certainly rough, Sasuke was almost certain that it was necessary.

(How much worse would it have been had he realized later?)

He didn't know if he should be disgruntled and annoyed about the fact that the dobe, of all people, was the one to point this out to him, or thankful anyone bothered to look past the "prized Uchiha-survivor" title and actually tell him to begin with.

Sasuke felt a small jolt of surprise at the thought. Because at some point, he had stopped referring to her in a derisive manner. If he didn't know any better, he'd think it was almost… Teasing? Friendly?

He stared at the fire and mulled over the idea.

And after a few minutes, he realized… Perhaps that wasn't so bad.

Because, if there was anything he had gleaned from the confrontation and his thoughts… It was that Naruto understood him, possibly more than he understood himself.

And what better friend to have than someone who knew you?

The Uchiha snorted, settling onto the ground to watch the stars.

He still had his vendetta, that much he knew. He wouldn't ever be able to simply move on, not when that man was still out there.

… But perhaps, it wasn't so bad to make bonds while he was still in Konoha.

Even if they were in the form of a perpetually-late sensei, a fangirl, and the class dobe.

(And again, he noted that his references to them hadn't held the smallest amount of spite at all.)

Naruto sat on her perch in the tree, dangling her feet over the branch as she watched the sun rise.

She was waiting. Had been for a while, since she took her watch shift after Sasuke. She was supposed to wake Sakura up, but not only was she waiting and therefore had to be awake—she knew that she couldn't relax enough to get actual restful sleep. Not considering what she knew had happened in the Forest of Death last time.

A small, concentrated burst of her own chakra alerted her to a presence a few meters behind her, and she turned when her clone landed next to her.

"Got the scroll, boss," the clone said, handing her the Earth Scroll which she immediately stored away in her pack.

"The others?"

The clone only grinned, and with a final salute, dispersed.

Memories from the clone flooded her mind as images and experiences she had not seen or personally experienced popped to the forefront of her mind. She had helped teams 8 and 10 out of a few situations, and had then proceeded to rescue Tenten from the Ame Team—all without being detected, thankfully.

Apparently, Gaara's team had already made it to the end like last time. There was no sign of Orochimaru, or Kabuto and his team. The Oto team had been spotted near the northern perimeter, but based on her observations she believed that they already had both scrolls and were headed to the tower.

Naruto nodded to herself, satisfied with the work of her clone.

A yawn alerted her to her teammates, who were slowly waking up to the morning rays. Sasuke got up to stretch and Sakura, who had been half-asleep, suddenly jerked awake when she saw the position of the sun.

"Naruto!" She shouted, glaring at the blond as she jumped down from her perch. Naruto only gave a sheepish, but completely unrepentant smile. "You were supposed to wake me up for my shift!"

Sasuke frowned as he turned to her. "Did you stay up all night?"

The blond shrugged. "I'm in the middle of my awareness training. Staying up for long periods of time helps to train the senses to remain sharp, even without proper rest," she supplied easily. Not entirely a lie; she was still working on training her younger body to adjust to the sudden shift. Just… It was something she had completed a while ago, and only repeated the process in small increments on occasion to make sure she remained sharp.

"… It won't affect my performance, don't worry," she added as an afterthought.

Sakura glanced uncertainly to Sasuke, who's eyes were narrowed.

Even if they didn't seem entirely convinced, they continued on with their daily activities and continued waiting for a team that wouldn't come.

The Evening of the second day saw that Naruto was on lookout again.

It should be noted that, after the war, Naruto had made it a habit to never split her attention where unnecessary. Even though she was fully capable of keeping watch while distracted (especially in this environment, where her biggest threat was Orochimaru and not a damn God) she tended to keep the majority of her focus to her surroundings, as most shinobi would. However, she had confidence in her barrier that deflected any and all that she didn't allow in. Due to this, she had relaxed, and fell to her thoughts once more.

She was calm, she realized.

It was strange, because despite everything that had happened up to that point, despite what she knew could very well happen a second time… She was calm.

After a while of mentally repeating the bewildering phrase, she rationalized that it was because of her confidence in the measures she had taken.

Sasuke would not be getting the cursed seal this time around. And even if he somehow did through a slip of judgement or a distraction, she was capable of removing it. If she were to be honest, the only thing that she was worried about…

A frown formed on Naruto's face. Could she afford to be so confident in the idea that, without the cursed seal, Sasuke would remain in Konoha?

If she were to be honest with herself, she couldn't afford to devote anymore time and effort into her teammate than what she had allotted, which ended after stopping Orochimaru's attempt to conscript the boy during the exams. Because almost immediately after the Chuunin Exams, she needed to leave Konoha—there was little she could do in regards to Obito and Black Zetsu while within the confines of her village.

Even if she was promoted to Chuunin, the missions she would be sent on would permit little freedom, between the Chuunin and Genin she'd be assigned with and the missions themselves. Chuunin missions were not of the several-month-long variety that she would need.

And while she could send out her reinforced clones, the problem started there: whenever her clones found something, they would need to dispel to send the information back to her, and it would take time to send a replacement clone as well. While Kage Bunshin were essentially independent for the most part, it left little chance for error whether internal or external if she were to act on the outside.

She had considered using her clones and the Hiraishin in conjunction of one another, but that wouldn't work either. To utilize the two properly she needed to fully master Sage Mode, again. Even though simply grasping at the wisps of nature energy worked for her in regards to sensing, her clones were not actual physical beings and were only chakra constructs. The little they would be able to gather without the use of Sage Mode would be converted to actual energy, not enhanced senses as she needed in order to travel long distances with the Hiraishin. (And there was the very real possibility of them overloading on Nature chakra—she did not want to die from becoming a stone statue, of all things)

And all of this was excluding the very real fact that she couldn't necessarily train to the extent she wished within or even near Konoha—even her seals had their limits to what they could contain without alerting anyone.

And that brought her back to her main concern: was the seal the deciding factor in Sasuke's choice to leave the village?

She always just assumed that it was (a grievous error, she realized) considering the seal's mind-manipulating properties, but… But Sasuke was never exactly stable. With good reason—after all, it wasn't exactly good for the mental or emotional state, what Itachi had put him through.

Plus she knew how stubborn he could be, especially earlier on when he had still been under the assumption that Itachi was a cold-hearted killer who wanted to "test his strength."

Naruto leaned back against the tree with a sigh.

She could continue believing that keeping Orochimaru from placing the cursed seal on Sasuke would be the only thing she had to do to keep her teammate from defecting. And yet, she also knew that that alone couldn't possibly have been the only driving factor for his defection—though Sasuke had ultimately descended into blind, revenge-induced insanity, he still had most of his facilities and reasoning at this point… Ultimately, it was still his own decision to go to the snake. Not the seal.

Naruto silently wondered if she should try telling him the truth.

'You and I both know that the chances of him actually believing you are pitifully slim,' Kurama intoned from within their mind-scape.

'I know,' she replied, frowning. 'I'm just trying to consider everything, okay? And heck, even if he did believe me, what then? Would he still defect to Orochimaru, so that he could gain power to take revenge on Danzou?' She shook her head. 'It would deter him from Itachi, but it wouldn't deter him from vengeance as a whole.'

Kurama remained silent as Naruto stared up at the sky. '… Then what is it that you plan on doing?'

'… I'll watch,' she replied after a moment, eyes closed. 'I'll watch, observe him. See if I've managed to change him at all.'

'And?'

'I'll never actually give up on Sasuke, because I know that he can—and he will, if I have any say in it—redeem himself, eventually.' She sighed. 'But obviously, I can't spend as much time trying to convince him as I did last time. In fact, it'll have to stop pretty much as soon as the Exams are over. Whatever he decides on, I'll have to just accept it and hope that silent support is enough to bring him back. Because there are more important things, larger threats that we, that Konoha, the whole Shinobi world, has to worry about.'

Within the mind-scape, Kurama tapped the surface of the water with his claw. '… And if he doesn't come back?'

Naruto smiled. 'Then when all is said and done, I'll kick his ass and make him come back to Konoha.'

After that small declaration, their conversation lulled, and Naruto started to feel exhaustion creeping up on her.

She was still alert, but the fact that she had nothing else to double-task on now that she had essentially made her decision (she didn't want to think past Sasuke's potential defection because that would mean thinking about Madara, Obito and Kaguya, something that would be more likely to make her head throb and leave her uneasy) did not help. She couldn't even use her go-to for relative boredom, because while she could probably explain to her teammates that she was just testing out seals and an amateur (not) because of their own ignorance to the subject, she couldn't continue using that pretense if one of her experiments exploded. (Because when she created new, untested seals, that was exactly what they tended to do, experience and accrued knowledge be damned.)

"Naruto."

She shook herself out of her thoughts when a figure jumped to the branch she was perched. She had felt him approach, but assumed he was just going into the forested area to relieve himself or something. Apparently not.

Sasuke's eyes bore into the side of her skull. "Switch."

"Sasuke," Naruto greeted in a bored tone, not bothering to face him. She rubbed her eyes, scowling at the chafing dryness. "And why? I can stay as lookout."

She heard him grunt in faint annoyance. "Because you were on guard the entirety of last night and haven't slept."

"Not the entirety of last night," she replied smartly, glancing at him. "You were on watch for three hours before me."

Sasuke opened his mouth to speak, but paused as confusion and hesitance seemed to take over. He closed his mouth with an audible click and frowned, as though disgruntled at his lack of an appropriate reply.

Eventually, he settled down on the branch beside her, his eyes on their meagre camp before them. "… You're a girl." Naruto turned to him with a raised brow in silent question, watching as his brow furrowed. "You… You need sleep, don't you?"

Naruto blinked, her other brow raising to join the other. He wasn't… Talking about beauty sleep, of all things, was he?

… What a disturbing thought.

"… What does that have to do with anything?" She settled for a question, inwardly between amusement and worry for her teammate's choice of reason. "You know, if I were Ino or Sakura, I'd be offended at the vaguely prejudiced comment you just threw at me. No matter how accidental it was."

She eventually settled for amusement at the owlish expression on her teammate. Yes, Ino and Sakura would have been offended… But not to the extent Sasuke was probably thinking, which probably entailed indignant screams and beat-downs, him being the object of their affections notwithstanding. Even if the two were capable of being frightening kunoichi and hated slights against their gender, the pair that Naruto remembered would have found a more effective means of comeback than offended screeching.

Sasuke blinked, before averting his eyes with a barely concealed grimace. "… That's not what I meant."

Naruto watched her teammate with amusement and nostalgia. It was hilarious to her that Sasuke, the boy who usually knew just what to say to rile others, was at a complete loss for words when it came to expressing concern for their wellbeing.

Plus, she had to remember that the Sasuke she last remembered wasn't real, no matter how much he resembled the Sasuke sitting beside her. No, the last real memory she had of her teammate was of the cold, indifferent and unshakeable mask, a young teen engulfed by his hatred and pain—only bare snippets of kindness that was quickly snuffed out by frigid declarations and a callous glare. This Sasuke and his reactions, the way Naruto found it almost frighteningly easy to fluster and irritate him into showing blatant emotions…

Well, that was why they were so similar. It was only logical that the Eternal Tsukuyomi would give her the illusion of a teammate that she wanted.

The blond shook herself out of her steadily declining thoughts and gave the Uchiha a vulpine smirk. "Oh? And what did you mean, then?"

Sasuke turned to her with a deadpanned expression. "It's my turn to watch, and you need sleep." His words brooked no argument as he stared at her with a determined gaze, clearly having recovered from his earlier blunder.

Naruto returned his gaze for a moment before shrugging in acquiescence. "… Y'know, it's weird seeing a nice Uchiha Sasuke. But whatever." She leapt down from the branch and walked over to her designated spot by the fire to lie down, curling up on her side to make herself comfortable.

Somehow, speaking to (teasing) Sasuke had resulted in a second wind of sorts. This resulted in her mind going back to it's previous topic, regardless of her hopes.

Yes, "larger problems." She had already decided that Sasuke would be placed on a lower priority should he defect. After all, he had survived previously, and unless she did something that absolutely wrecked the timeline, his own thirst for vengeance (as much as she didn't want that to be the case) would keep him alive during his stay with Orochimaru. (Because, if he did end up going to Orochimaru, it would be for vengeance—certainly not for anything else)

But… What were the "larger problems"?

Naruto's brow furrowed as she thought. In theory, time was a construct that could be altered and changed with the smallest of ripples. Even excluding the fact that she was a time traveler, certain things happened for certain reasons.

The "larger problems"… Was it Orochimaru, who Sasuke had eventually killed on his own, and who had questionable but possibly friendly loyalties towards the end of the war? Kabuto, who at this point was at his weakest and could easily be subdued? Obito, who she could easily defeat in his current state as long as she had Kakashi to back her up? Who she just may be able to get through to, again? Madara, who was dead, and would only pose a real threat if he somehow regained his eyes? Nagato, who had said eyes, but like Obito could probably be reasoned with—and if needed, Naruto could defeat? Black Zetsu, who was weak on his own and could be sealed away? Kaguya, who, while frighteningly powerful (to an extent Naruto was quite certain she would lose even if she had managed to gather the five nations together again) wouldn't be resurrected if Black Zetsu was taken care of?

There were too many "enemies" to consider, some that she didn't even see as enemies, and it left her feeling slightly detached from the confusing situation. In a way, this was a positive result—if she had acted on hatred, panic or grudges, she was bound to make even more errors.

And yet, she wasn't quite sure who to deal with first. Orochimaru was her main concern before because of his influence over Sasuke, who's own influence over herself, Team Seven and the whole of Konoha extended far.

But at the same time, the world wouldn't be threatened with an eternal dream (or worse, a god-like menace) due to either of those two—logically, Obito would be the one she needed to go after, because with the Uchiha came Black Zetsu and Madara's eyes.

Therefore, her main priority was the Akatsuki as a whole. Nagato would reveal himself eventually, and with hope she could convince him to either destroy the Rinnegan or go into hiding. She would then need to go through Obito to somehow destroy or seal Black Zetsu, and technically, the world should be able to move on without the looming threat.

It all sounded so simple, but Naruto didn't want to actually kill them—Nagato, Konan, and Obito in particular. The rest of Akatsuki…

Ah. Of course, she would be dealing with the Akatsuki. Which meant that she would be dealing with Uchiha Itachi, who was still part of the group.

The fact that she would be going after the Akatsuki's higher-ups automatically meant that she should expect confrontations with Sasuke and/or Orochimaru and Kabuto; it was essentially a given, if just because Itachi was there.

Naruto grimaced. In a way, simply killing Orochimaru and Kabuto would be the better option, but she also knew that Orochimaru provided protection for Sasuke that he wouldn't have received anywhere else as a missing-nin. Protection from the world that he needed as the young, inexperienced Genin he was. After the Exams she planned on stepping back and away from Sasuke, but she wasn't going to kill off what amounted to the only safe haven for the boy, as fucked up and backwards as it was.

But, there was still something she had to be wary about: time.

The idea of going after the Akatsuki was only with the idea that she had the time to do so, and as she was, she couldn't take any chances. She was fairly certain they didn't start their hunt for the other bijuu until later on, but the fact that Itachi and Kisame had come for her that one time meant that their intentions were already set in stone at this point.

Considering Obito needed the bijuu to complete his plans, she had to act as quickly and efficiently as possible, to keep as many of the bijuu from him as she could.

The fact that she had a tentative connection with them through Kurama helped, and hopefully, by the time she went on her "training trip" the fox would allow her to participate in their little… "gossip sessions."

She didn't know who, if any, of the bijuu had been captured already at this point, but she wasn't willing to hope that all of them were currently safe. It was a pity, because she actually rather liked the bijuu, but attachments to those that are possibly already gone wasn't smart.

"Naruto," the vaguely irritated voice of her teammate called out.

She turned over to look up at Sasuke, who had an odd glare in place—odd, because it wasn't quite like his usual ones. "Hm?"

"Get some sleep," he grunted, "nothing bad is going to happen."

Naruto blinked at him for a moment of incomprehension before making a strangled laughing noise. Strangeness of his inquiry aside, his comment was extremely ironic, especially what with her previous train of thought.

Her amusement was apparently taken to offense, and Sasuke frowned. "What? You don't think that I can—"

"Shut up," a raspy, decidedly not girly voice growled. Both Naruto and Sasuke turned to their third teammate, nearly giving themselves whiplash. "Some people are trying to sleep, you noisy idiots."

And with that, Sakura settled back into a peaceful, quiet slumber.

Naruto blinked. She looked at Sasuke, and by his wide eyes, he was surprised too.

The blond recalled a moment in her future/past where Sakura had once leveled a whole block in Konoha because Naruto, Kiba, and Lee were making too much noise near her neighborhood before the sun had risen. It reminded her of this particular instance.

Before, at this age Sakura would never have shown her bear-like tendencies with anyone around unless it was her family, but… Clearly, this time's Sakura was getting closer and closer to the confident, uninhibited woman Naruto knew and respected, not only in ability, but in mannerisms. Even if she would regret her outburst in the morning… If she remembered it.

With a quiet, stifled laugh—because she didn't want to aggravate the pinkette further—Naruto rolled over and shut her eyes, feeling her worries alleviate somewhat.

She actually did feel safe.

Towards the afternoon of the third day saw the end of their tentative peace.

"No one has passed by," Sasuke intoned, clearly aggravated. "We need a change of plans, because sitting around here isn't accomplishing anything."

Sakura was similarly unnerved, and the slight twitch of her eyebrow betrayed her irritation.

Both of them were done waiting.

"Guys," Naruto spoke calmly, attempting to placate her two frustrated teammates. "Look, the second portion is only half over. We still have two and a half days—"

"I'm in charge now," Sasuke interrupted, shooting a silencing look at Naruto. "You've been the 'leader' up to now and there hasn't been any progress. We're going to go with what I plan."

Sakura stood up and patted down her skirt, for once without the appeasing grin on her face. Instead, a calm, calculating mask was in place, without a hint of the fangirl she once was.

Naruto sighed as her teammates packed up their belongings, running her fingers over the pouch that held the Earth scroll snuggly.

Not yet.

If they arrived early, Sasuke would be even more susceptible to Orochimaru, and the snake might even attack him at the tower. She wouldn't be able to use one of her barrier seals in the village or at the tower without garnering attention, and that was something she didn't want to attract to Sasuke—Orochimaru's target.

Naruto's teeth ground together as she wondered what to do.

She couldn't remember the exact day Orochimaru had attacked them. She couldn't sense him, but that was to be expected—even if he were in the forest, she wouldn't be able to sense the snake Sannin unless she was in Sage Mode. The only thing that kept her from strong-arming her teammates into going back to her original plan was the feeling that Orochimaru had attacked on a previous day—meaning, that she had already changed that.

Still, a simple feeling wasn't enough to alleviate her worries. Ultimately, she really did want to get them all back in the safe confines of one of her barriers… But what could she do to convince her teammates?

As Team Seven walked out of the area, Naruto quietly dismissed her barrier seal, and they walked out seamlessly.

She knew that the situation, at the moment, was her fault. To be fair, it was what she had expected from the plan—after all, she had never thought her teammates would happily sit around doing nothing when, as far as they knew, they had yet to get the matching scroll—but she still could have handled it better. She liked to think, at least.

'Maybe I could tell them that I have the scroll,' she thought quietly as she traveled behind Sakura a few paces. 'Maybe I could convince them that we should hang back until the fifth day.'

'You probably should have done that sooner, then.'

Naruto frowned but nodded. '… Yeah, I know. As it stands, I should probably wait until the end of the day before bringing it up, otherwise Sasuke and Sakura will probably be really… Angry.'

Kurama snorted. 'They'll be angry either way, but I agree to wait and let them calm down first. As it stands the brats might stab you a few times if you reveal to them that you had a scroll and hid it from them until now.'

'Wow, thanks for a support,' the blond grumbled silently, crossing her arms.

It was decided. She would have to wait until the end of the day, maybe sooner, before revealing that she had an Earth scroll already. She would then convince them to stay within one of her barriers until the fifth day. Her teammates would probably want to have the barrier set up near the tower to ensure that nothing stood in their way to interfere at the last minute, but that was simple enough to arrange.

But that was when Naruto felt it.

Inwardly, she cursed. She should have known that things never went the way they were supposed to.

"Shit, Sakura, Sasuke! Move!" She shouted, already reaching for her chakra reserves.

Thankfully they did, just before a giant snake barreled into the area, leveling several trees along the way.

'Where?' Naruto thought almost frantically, eyes flashing between azure and orange as she searched for the snake Sannin that she knew was there. She really missed her Sage Mode.

A terrified shriek blasted through her ears, and she turned just in time to see Sakura tackled by the snake that was still there.

She motioned to go after her, to kill that stupid nuisance of a snake and save her teammate—but then he appeared.

'Great.'

A pale, grinning face with jet-black hair. The voice was eerie, and slithered past her ears as he spoke. "Hmm… And what do we have here?"

It was one thing to be hypothesizing about the situation, and it was another entirely when actually being thrown into it, with a teammate who wasn't supposed to end up tackled by a snake and another who was a target and who's only form of protection was her.

It was a mistake on her part, and she loathed herself for allowing it to happen. She had been caught off guard, and all because this time Sakura had been the one to be taken out of the battle. And even though she may have once been able to rectify such a mistake seamlessly (a mistake that she wouldn't have made to begin with), she wasn't able to anymore.

It was a fierce and unfortunate reminder that she was still stuck in the weak and inhibited body of a child.

A reinforced clone popped into existence beside her and darted off in the direction Sakura and the snake had headed, not waiting for a word. Sakura could heal her minor injuries and take down some low-leveled Genin at this point, but Naruto was not going to risk the pinkette's life.

Naruto looked to Sasuke and clicked her tongue before jumping in front of him, glaring down the disguised Sannin. She had noticed, of course, but hadn't really considered the fact that Orochimaru was already releasing waves upon waves of killing intent—leaving Sasuke more or less incapacitated.

"What do you want?" She snapped, trying and failing to assume a frightened air about her. Instead, she sounded pissed—which wasn't too far off the mark, she realized, as she stared at the snake.

Orochimaru's eyes darted between her and Sasuke, his grin unwavering. "How… Interesting. I believe you know what it is that I have come for, Jinchuuriki."

Naruto's heartbeat slowly calmed as she regained her bearings. Sakura was going to be okay, she had sent a Kage Bunshin to ensure that. Orochimaru was in front of her while Sasuke was behind her, and as long as she kept the Sannin away from her teammate, he shouldn't end up with a curse mark.

It was essential that she remained calm. Because she had two objectives: to get her teammates to the end, alive, and to escape Orochimaru, who had to be left alive. As in, not dead. Not yet. It was too important for him to be present during the third round, because if he wasn't, reparations with Suna… Naruto didn't want to think of the possibilities that would arise from it, the potential for Gaara to remain a monster, never gaining the recognition he deserved.

Naruto tensed as Orochimaru's stance shifted, and the snake darted forward, arm extended towards her. Ignoring her first instinct to dodge, she ducked and deflected the arm, following the movement with a chakra-powered punch to the midsection. Her attack failed to connect, however, and Orochimaru landed easily a few meters away from her.

A small frown formed as he tilted his head, almost uncharacteristic of the man. "… Interesting," he murmured, a familiar grin growing once more. "You did not dodge."

Naruto didn't answer, instead, settling into a loose but adaptable defensive stance. Loathe as she was to admit, she wouldn't be successful against the snake in a battle of Ninjutsu—not when he still had the five elements seal, and she couldn't use any of her most powerful Ninjutsu. She wouldn't win in purely Taijutsu either, but she would have a better chance at distracting and deflecting until an opening presented itself.

A twist in the air. She sensed it and reacted instinctively, subduing the—the floating sword?—immediately with a chakra-canceling seal slapped onto the blade. She turned back to Orochimaru immediately, but couldn't help the confused glance to the blade as it clattered uselessly to the ground, the imprint of her chakra seal burned into the metal.

"A seal master as well," Orochimaru observed, grin even wider than before.

'Shit,' Kurama bit out within Naruto's mind-scape. 'He's curious. You made the insane dissect-now-question-later scientist fucking curious.'

'I noticed.' She bit the inside of her cheek, watching Orochimaru with a guarded gaze. She didn't want to reveal too much of her ability, especially not when he was looking at her like an experiment, but she wouldn't be going anywhere while she held back. Because as much as she had battled and fought powerful enemies in the future past, the fact remained that at the moment, Uzumaki Naruto was nothing more than a twelve-year-old Genin who, while powerful, still had the limitations of her physical body. And she could not successfully defeat—subdue, not kill—Orochimaru without revealing some secrets.

"Tell me, container of the Kyuubi," Orochimaru spoke, and his voice was surprisingly normal. It still sent a cold chill up Naruto's spine. "How do you feel about Konoha? This village?"

She refused to outwardly show her surprise and incredulity. Naruto remained silent, creating two clones to stand by Sasuke as a precaution.

Orochimaru was undeterred. "I know how this village has treated you. Have you ever wondered about the reasons for them treating you as they do?" With a wave of his hand, he casually dispelled Naruto's hastily made seal and Kusanagi hovered, slowly drifting back to it's owner. "It is not merely because you contain the Kyuubi… But because of who your parents were. Surely… You wish to know about your lineage?"

'… He's not seriously trying to conscript me,' Naruto thought with blatant incredulity and horror. 'Tell me he's not trying to get me to join him.'

'… I think he is,' Kurama replied after a moment, sounding almost as baffled as his container.

'But he didn't care before!' Naruto nearly cried out, the thought of being an experiment filling her with revulsion. 'He never cared about your power or my own, because none of it was—it wasn't talent or a bloodline.'

She felt Kurama shrug—but the motion was noticeably less certain and arrogant than usual.

"I can provide you with power," Orochimaru continued, golden eyes attempting to read Naruto's blank face. "I can provide you with power, knowledge, everything this village has failed to."

And he charged.

That must have been his aim, Naruto realized a smidgeon too late, as she leapt to the side to avoid the blow. Her eyes widened and she leapt back towards her frozen teammate when she realized that, yes, he was still after Sasuke and it had all been a diversion and she messed up—

Something slammed into her and she felt a pain on her neck, searing the skin and flooding her body in pain, fire, she felt like she was burning.

Kurama yelled from within her mind-scape and her eyes snapped open before she slammed a half-formed Rasengan into the sannin's side, watching with vindictive satisfaction as his body twisted and contorted as it was hurled yards away.

The brief victory faded as the pain pulsed through her again, and she slapped a hand over the her neck and soothed the area with her chakra. Kurama's angered snarls reverberated within her mindscape, somehow calming her and preventing any hysterics on her side—the fucking snake had placed a cursed seal on her. She couldn't remove it in the midst of battle, but a suppressing seal would be enough.

Naruto knelt where she was, grimacing at the strange chakra attempting to invade her coils and mind. Her vision blurred, her muscles ached, and she was actually being beaten by the stupid hickey. 'Damn,' she thought in aggravation, 'this body is freaking weak.'

"I can see it," Orochimaru's voice reached her ears, and she forced herself to look up. "A… Strange glimmer in your eyes, one that I had once seen in the Yondaime. And as loathsome a man he was, he was still one in possession of a brilliant mind. I can see that in you. Your mother's blood, as well… Resilience, fire, strength. The makings of a sturdy vessel."

She felt more than heard Sasuke shift behind her.

"And yet, you seem to have something more… Something that cannot be explained," Orochimaru continued, and she just knew the snake was smiling. "Something powerful, something… Immortal. Tell me, what secrets do you hold, child?"

"What did you do to her!?" Suddenly, Naruto felt a draft, and her eyes focused on a blur of blue and white that passed her. She reached out too late.

With the ease of swatting a fly, Orochimaru sent Sasuke hurtling into a tree—and then another—before he came to a stop against the third, falling down to the ground with a boneless 'thud.' There was little doubt he was unconscious and with several broken bones.

"Sasuke," Naruto breathed, drawing herself up. She was still incredibly stiff and pained, but her counter seal was working—she felt like herself again.

'I'm… Gonna need your help, Kura.'

She felt the fox nod wordlessly.

"I, unfortunately, cannot bring you with me now because of your status as Konoha's Jinchuuriki. Perhaps you could be persuaded to join of your own volition." The snake Sannin turned to the unconscious Uchiha with a predatory gleam in his eyes. "Now for Sasuke-kun."

Naruto reached for her Hiraishin seal and was in front of the boy in a second, causing Orochimaru to blink.

She glared at the snake, settling back in her earlier stance—but this time, her own chakra flared in conjunction with Kurama's.

"You fucking try it, hebi-bastard."

Sakura was in a bind.

She had managed to heal herself after that snake rammed her (read: catapulted her halfway across the damn forest), sure. She only had a few broken bones, no big deal. Definitely. She didn't wince in pain while setting them and half-healing them. She hadn't broken down in hysterical, rage and fear-induced tears. (Though it was a near thing, a damn near thing, her inner snarled disgustedly.)

Luckily, the snake had dispelled not soon after it had sent her careening through the forest to some unknown location, far away from her teammates. (Because otherwise they would have found her by now, right?)

Unluckily, she had ended up in the (literal) hands of an enemy.

Sakura spat out a wad of blood as she stared at the two Shinobi—Kin and Zaku, she had noted—who stared at her with victorious sneers. Their leader, the creep in bandages with long-sleeves stood off to the side, giving off an air of vague amusement.

She hated it.

They were underestimating her. And as much as she knew that, logically, that was a good thing, it still grated on her nerves.

And her team still didn't have an Earth Scroll.

It just wasn't her day.

"Why are you here?" She blurted out, eyeing the three. They had gotten a few hits in, but Sakura had still managed to dodge most of the attacks. By their smirks, that still counted as a win to them. "I don't have a scroll."

Zaku and Kin didn't respond, they only exchanged a glance with Dosu, who nodded. Sakura heard the strange chimes of bells.

And then she collapsed on the ground, her legs strangely numb.

She looked down, muttering a quiet string of swears that she would later blush at when she saw the senbon needles buried in her shins and knees. She noted that, strangely, some of them had bells attached to them.

With a grimace, Sakura ripped each out one by one, ignoring the red staining each one. She surreptitiously allowed healing chakra to flood the area, a small unseen amount, and feeling slowly returned to her legs.

'I have to get away,' she thought quietly, watching the strange nin. They allowed her to remove the senbon and weren't making any move to attack again, so they clearly couldn't tell that she was healing herself.

"What is that symbol?" She questioned, eyes affixed pointedly at Kin's headband. "I've never heard of a village with a music note symbol."

Kin sneered, looking down her nose at the pinkette. "Otogakure."

Sakura bowed her head as though timid, but her eyes glinted with determination. She strained her ears and her eyes darted to the sides, looking for the most open area. Dosu stood off to the right slightly, so her best bet was to try the left.

Chakra flooded her legs and she shoved off of the ground, barreling towards the shrubbery with adrenaline in her veins. She had to get away, she had to get back to her teammates, she had to get away—

She was sudden blown off of her feet when something slammed into her side, causing her to forward momentum to cease immediately. She collapsed on the ground, cradling her new injury as she looked up at the approaching Zaku.

"Stupid bitch," he sneered, grabbing her by her hair and pulling her back to the center of the clearing. "She healed herself, Kin. Usual method ain't gonna work."

"Hmph," Kin crossed her arms, turning away. "So what? We're accomplishing the objective by keeping her here."

Sakura's head snapped towards Kin. 'What?'

An objective? Clearly they weren't supposed to kill her—at least, it wasn't what their objective was—but what did Kin mean by keeping her here? Her thoughts swam and she immediately thought about Sasuke and Naruto.

Dosu turned to Kin with a stern gaze. "Kin."

The girl flinched, before mumbling a few intelligible words. She withdrew her senbon and Sakura noted once again that, yes, some did have bells.

"What do you mean by objective?" Sakura questioned, not keen on being riddled with even more senbon. "Who are you? What happened to my teammates—"

She was abruptly silenced when a blast of something (not air, sound and pressure, she noted) flew past her head and impacted the ground. The blood drained from her face when she saw the result; the miniature crater.

"See that?" Zaku said snidely, leaning down to Sakura's ear. "That will happen to you if you don't shut up."

Sakura shut up. But not just because of the threat.

Sound, she realized. Of course. The team seemed to specialize with it. Kin with her bells (no doubt used to serve as a distraction; probably to trick the enemy's ears) and Zaku with that… That pure force. But how?

Sakura turned to Zaku, shaking slightly as she forced her chakra to stabilize. It was worth a try. "How did you…?"

Zaku peered down at her after glancing to Kin. He stared at her, seemingly looking for something—and then leaned back, splaying his hand that wasn't gripping her hair. Sakura's eyes immediately zeroed in on the strange, circular shape at the center of his palm.

"Body modifications," Zaku replied simply. "Tubes in my arms. I can alter the air pressure and sound waves however I want, getting different results, like attacking or defending." He grinned menacingly. "Makes it easy to blast holes through rocks… And people."

"Zaku," Dosu intoned, seemingly aggravated.

The boy shrugged. "What? Pinky's a medic. She can't do shit like this, and knowing ain't gonna help her. We just gotta wait it out."

Dosu looked unimpressed. "Glasses," he deadpanned.

To Sakura's confusion, this caused Zaku to stiffen for a moment, before he sighed with a shiver. "Four-eyes doesn't count. He's… Different."

As they continued to talk, Sakura's mind processed what she knew. The "tubes" in Zaku's arms… they seemed to be about the same size as the bells on Kin's senbon. From what she could tell, there didn't appear to be any other outlets for the sound and pressure. So what would happen if the openings were clogged?

What would happen if they were clogged, and he attempted to force pressure through them?

Sakura winced at the imagery that her mind provided, but she had to try it. At the very least, it should cause some backlash, enough to temporarily distract Zaku so that she could try to incapacitate Kin, the weaker one. Her chances of escaping should be improved greatly afterwards—if she tried to boost her speed with chakra, she should be able to outmaneuver Dosu, despite the fact that she didn't know his capabilities. Heck, even if her plan didn't go exactly as she hoped, the two would still be delayed, busy with trying to dodge or cancel out the other's attack.

But she had to actually get Kin to attack her, not just try to incapacitate her.

Sakura closed her eyes, a faint red dusting her cheeks. She had to do it—it wasn't as if it was particularly bad, and it wasn't as if she was as "sweet and kind" as she sometimes liked to act (her inner was enough evidence of that), it was just that she hadn't ever really shown that side of herself to anyone.

"You hairstyle looks f-fucking stupid!" She shouted at Kin, trying to channel Naruto (and allowing her inner to take hold, slightly).

The addressed girl whirled around to her, stunned and incredulous, before an angry snarl worked it's way upon her face. "What… What the fuck did you say to me!?"

"I said that you look like a hooker!" Sakura fought down the indignant blush that threatened to color her face to match her hair.

Kin growled, and only the restraining hand from Dosu kept her from charging and ripping Sakura a new one. "You stupid little shit! Your hair isn't much better, it's all pink and—and—and ugly!"

Sakura ignored the slight anger that flared up at the words. Not now, she had to be the one to rile up Kin—not the other way around. "At least I don't look as drab as you do! Do you even know fashion, you—you dumpster-diver! Your outfit makes you look fat and it looks like you got it out of a trashcan!"

"Why you fuckin' brat! You're just jealous that I actually have a rack—"

"That you use like a dumb hooker, you ugly whore!"

(Sakura would deny it to her dying day that she preened at the clear indignation and offense on the brunette's face.)

That was it. Kin snapped, slapping Dosu's hand away and pulled out her senbon before throwing it at Sakura in a blind rage.

Sakura's hand darted to her kunai pouch, and without a second thought, she sliced upwards parallel to her neck. She felt her hair fall in long strands (not allowing her traitorous mind to mourn for the loss) some still gripped by Zaku, and darted out of the way of the on-coming senbon.

She glanced to the boy who, as she had predicted, held his hands up to try and block the senbon with sound-waves. His right hand remained unscathed, but his left was not so lucky—one of her bell-senbon lodged itself in his arm, and the sound of a wet "pop" echoed in the clearing.

Zaku stared at the visceral wound on the side of his arm for a few uncomprehending moments before letting out a scream, collapsing to the ground as his right arm held his elbow.

Sakura hadn't truly accounted for how slim the chances of a bell getting lodged in his weird tubes were until then, but she knew that she was extremely lucky that one had. She immediately retrained her focus on Kin, who met her eyes with fury.

"You…" Kin growled, fists at the ready. "You ugly bitch—"

Sakura received a painfully sharp hook to the stomach, but not before she managed to punch the brunette across the jaw. She winced at the distinct crack that reverberated through her ears and watched as the girl went flying before collapsing in an unconscious heap. Sakura hadn't used a large supply of chakra for that and had only slightly augmented her strength because, one, she didn't need to use too much when punching a person, and two, she still didn't have a handle on the technique. Naruto had warned her that if she wasn't careful, the consequences could be dire… And painful.

Sparing only a brief second to reorient herself, Sakura spun on her heel and darted towards the trees in a second attempt.

She just managed to brush her fingers against the leaves when something, with even greater force and damage than before slammed into her entire body, and she was sent spiraling into the tree before falling to the ground with a painful 'thud.' She was certain that she had just dislocated her shoulder, if the pain shooting up her neck and down her arm was any indication.

Her ears were ringing, her eyes couldn't focus and were quickly dimming, and panic rose to new heights as she watched Dosu and Zaku approach—the latter snarling inaudible obscenities as he waved his destroyed arm in her face.

Sakura was losing her awareness, and she was faint. She had used to much chakra carelessly, she couldn't heal her eardrums and what was probably several broken ribs and she was doomed.

Just as darkness blanketed her vision, she saw a flash of gold, orange, and glowing blue.

And then she slipped into unconsciousness.

"Mandara no Jin!"

Thousands of snakes darted at Naruto and she swore, leaping back and forth while slicing the serpents with a kunai. Her clones had moved Sasuke from the clearing and sat in the trees with the unconscious boy, but didn't dare leave the area. They had already tried, and Orochimaru had gotten far too close to Sasuke for her liking.

Orochimaru's hands flipped through seals before settling on snake. "Fuuton: Daitoppa!"

'Kurama.' Naruto held the Tiger seal as she felt her tenant's chakra flood her coils. "Katon: Karyuu Endan!"

Her attack easily over-powered Orochimaru's despite the elemental disadvantage, and the area was enshrouded in a firestorm that wiped out the remaining snakes. She sent a mental thanks to the fox for the extra push.

Azure eyes flickered across the scorched area as the fires died down. No sign of Orochimaru—she could feel his presence nearby without a doubt, but couldn't pinpoint his exact location. She had to grudgingly admit that he wasn't part of the Densetsu no Sannin for no reason.

Naruto jumped back as she allowed a glance to her clones and Sasuke, her brow furrowed in consternation.

As it stood, they couldn't remain in the forest like she had first planned. Of course, it wasn't necessary anymore anyway—that had been to avoid encountering Orochimaru to begin with. As Orochimaru revealed himself once again—somewhat singed, but otherwise unharmed—she snorted. 'A lot of good that did.'

Last time, Orochimaru's attempts had stopped with the forest of death, but Naruto knew that she couldn't depend on what happened last time in this case. He hadn't come back after Sasuke because he had successfully managed to mark him, and Naruto wasn't going to allow that to happen again.

(Naruto winced when her own curse mark throbbed. She still couldn't believe that she had been bitten.)

Ultimately, she had no choice. She had to bring her teammates back to the tower so that they could rest and so that she could erect a barrier seal. Now she could take those precautions, because she had a literal imprint of Orochimaru's chakra to lock out of the seal. It would make it a little difficult for her considering the fact that the imprint was attached to her at the moment, but… She could make do until she removed the stupid thing.

She just had to stall until her clone either dispelled or came back with Sakura.

"Impressive," Orochimaru drawled, patting his burnt sleeves. Despite the curious glint in his eyes, the corners of his mouth were turned down in a minute frown. "Who exactly taught you Nature Transformation, child?"

So it was back to conversing. As far as Naruto was concerned, she could do either—but she wouldn't relax her guard. Not until she and her team were at the tower, behind one of her barriers. Not until they were safe.

"You wouldn't believe me if I said I learned by myself, would you?"

The frown deepened, and his chakra pooled at his arms.

'So he won't,' Naruto concluded quietly. 'Funny, because I'm not actually lying about that.'

"Sen'eijashu."

Naruto clicked her tongue as she ducked under a bundle of hissing snakes that shot overhead, flipping a kunai around her finger before slicing the weapon clock-wise through them with honed wind chakra. The beheaded snakes dispelled once destroyed and Naruto twisted to evade Orochimaru, whose arm extended towards her midsection. His fingertips were alight with haunting, violet light.

"I don't think so," Naruto sneered, plunging her kunai into the offending appendage with lightning-quick speed and strength. She yanked the weapon towards her after it pierced the arm through, causing the bone and muscle to tear.

Orochimaru smiled menacingly as he jumped back, his true feelings on the matter betrayed by the sheen of sweat on his pale face and quiet hiss of pain. He held his now-tattered left arm with his right, the arm dangling uselessly by sinewy muscle and torn skin.

And then, his jaw unhinged. His beaten body slid down like the shedding of a snake, revealing the

Naruto stared in silence, observing the familiar technique that she had seen in the past. Orochimaru held her gaze, a victorious glint in his eyes as he watched her eyes dart to his now-healed left arm.

"I can regenerate as many times as needed," Orochimaru spoke flippantly, a menacing grin in place. He apparently took her silence for morbid shock. "Do you still wish to continue this farce, child?"

Naruto narrowed her eyes. That was a lie, she knew that the technique he had just pulled used over half of his reserves. She hadn't planned it, but if she so decided, she could actually kill Orochimaru right then and there if she thought it prudent. His attempt at intimidation was a failure, and she knew very well how slim the snake Sannin's chances were at succeeding, possibly more than he himself realized.

The hand gripping her kunai tightened, and she considered the idea briefly before shoving it away with vehemence. 'No,' she thought quietly. 'He still has his uses in the future.'

"Boss!" A familiar voice called out, and Naruto's shoulders sagged as tension left her. Orochimaru's eyes darted to the side where her clone burst out of the brush, an unconscious Sakura held limply in her arms.

Naruto grinned as her clones converged. Sakura and Sasuke were conveniently in reach, now.

"Sorry, Orochimaru," Naruto stated with false sincerity, smiling at the snake. "You're right, I don't want to continue this 'farce.'" She shunshin'd over to her two teammates, behind her three clones that stood menacingly between Team Seven and the snake Sannin.

Orochimaru must have detected that something was wrong—despite the fact that he had seemed to have confidence that she was nothing more than a minor threat at most, he seemed to have noticed that he had lost favor of the situation—for he darted out towards them with a renewed vigor and speed that made his previous efforts pale in comparison.

Naruto's eyes widened for only a fraction of a second, before she grabbed Sakura and Sasuke's arms and reached.

The ghosting sensation of something stabbing through her made her steps falter as she landed in the new location, just barely catching her two unconscious teammates before they met the unforgiving ground.

She shook her head vigorously and darted forward, already seeing the entrance of the tower. As she came upon the puzzle, she dropped her teammates—she tried to be gentle, but her hands were shaking—before fumbling in her pouch for the scrolls she knew were there. She threw them open onto the ground and clutched at her stomach.

Smoke filled her vision, and she just caught a glimpse of Iruka—his face held an amalgamation of expressions; going from confused, to surprised, to horror-struck—before the world tilted in front of her eyes.

She collapsed into something thankfully warm and laughed weakly, inwardly shooting Kurama a victorious smile coupled with a "peace" sign. The adrenaline from earlier finally faded, and she knew that she could relax for at least a small while.

Team Seven made it. Worse for the wear, but they made it, and Sasuke didn't have a curse mark to show for it.

As darkness closed around her, she failed to detect the light tears of relief that brimmed beneath her eyelids.

He jolted awake with a strangled gasp, air flooding his lungs.

The suddenness of the action made him clutch his sides with a hiss as pain registered and lanced up his stomach and back, and he curled over as he attempted to regain his breaths.

'… What…' Sasuke thought, his eyes screwed shut, his mind racing. 'What happened?'

He… He recalled that man (Orochimaru, he corrected quietly) and the oppressive, paralyzing sensation that had flooded the area at his behest. It had filled Sasuke's lungs, weighed heavily on his shoulders; the sensation was so thick and evil Sasuke had felt like he was drowning in tar and he couldn't breath or move or so much as speak—

He shook his head to dispel the returning feeling, inhaling deep breaths to calm his heart rate.

'But before that,' Sasuke thought forcefully, his eyes darting around and registering his surroundings for the first time.

He remembered that he and his teammates had been walking through the forest. They were… They were planning to search for their scroll's counterpart. And then—And then Sakura was hit by a giant snake.

Sasuke was in a hospital. His eyes fell on a prone form on the opposite side of his room, and breathed a quiet sigh of relief as he calmed down. He would recognize that shade of pink anywhere (even if her hair looked curiously shorter than he recalled it being) and even if the fact that she was in the hospital with him wasn't the best thought, at least she was still… Alive.

He could admit that he felt relieved upon seeing her safe. He wasn't callous, and even if his team grated on his nerves at times… He wouldn't wish them dead.

At the thought, Sasuke's eyes widened. 'Naruto.'

He cast another glance around the room, noting that he and Sakura were the only ones there. There was a third bed, but it was unused and held no signs of having another occupant recently.

Sasuke's hands tightened in the sheets pooled around him as memories were brought up to the forefront of his mind.

He… He had been useless.

While Orochimaru (how had Naruto known his name? How?) laughed at them, and Naruto defended him… He had done nothing, because he had been too busy cowering in fear.

Somewhere during the exchanges between his teammate and the snake, Sasuke had begun regaining his sense of self. The first thing he had felt was anger, rage, precisely because Naruto was protecting him—the fact that she even felt that it was necessary to defend him hurt and left a bitter taste—and because he had been frozen, paralyzed with fear and couldn't do more than simply watch his teammate fight for him. But then… He had seen, with absolute horror, as Orochimaru's teeth sunk into her neck. His focus had still been on Naruto, and he had watched the widening of azure eyes, betraying her shock.

Naruto had quickly jumped back almost as soon as Orochimaru made contact, but cried out in pain immediately after.

And rage.

Rage, Sasuke had felt utter rage then, when he saw some strange inscription form on her neck. What the hell had the snake done to his teammate?

From there, his memories were even more blurred than the rest. He could recall charging at Orochimaru, tunnel-vision making him blind to everything but his goal to tear into the creep. Something had swiped across at him, and his vision blurred as he was sent careening away… And then darkness.

He had fainted.

Sasuke's fists tightened painfully.

He was weak.

Face set somewhere between a grimace and a snarl, Sasuke kicked his legs over the side of his bed. He stood up on shaky limbs (cringing when a sharp pain jolted through him at the action) and walked—hobbled, more like, but he refused to acknowledge it—over to the door, fully intent on leaving. To do what, he didn't know, but he didn't want to be left subject to his thoughts.

It never ended well when he was left to his thoughts.

Just as he reached for the handle of the door, it slid open sharply and Sasuke blinked at the person standing before him. He cast a cursory glance over the individual, noting that there didn't seem to be a lasting injury at all.

Azure eyes blinked back, and Sasuke had to keep from flinching when a hand fell on his shoulder.

"You shouldn't be up yet!" Naruto scolded none too gently, slowly herding Sasuke back over to his bed. Surprisingly (to him as well) he didn't fight back.

As he sat back down on the bed he had only recently vacated, he narrowed his eyes at the sunny blond.

Naruto didn't seem to notice, and lifted up a basket of fruit that he hadn't noticed earlier, a wide grin on her face. "Fruit for Sakura and Sasuke-hime," she teased, making the Uchiha's glare darken. "'Cause that was the second time I've had to save your ass. Maybe if you eat more, you won't be such a twig."

Sasuke ignored her for the most part, eyes trailing halfheartedly after the blond as she gingerly placed the fruit on the table. He noted that there really appeared to be little to no injury on his teammate's person, and he quietly wondered exactly how she managed to get out of the ordeal without so much as a scratch.

However, as she turned back around to him, her collar flapped to the side, and he caught a glimpse of three dark tomoe.

In the exact place where Orochimaru had bitten her.

"… What did he do to you?"

Naruto paused, blinked. She stared at him with a furrowed brow, walking over slightly. "… What was that?"

When she got close enough, Sasuke's hand darted out and yanked her collar, pulling her closer. His gaze remained pointedly on the now fully-revealed insignia, before turning to her. "Orochimaru."

The blond's eyes widened before she yanked away, a hand darting up to rub at the mark. "I forgot about that," she mumbled, before wincing. She sat down and pulled out a brush and inkwell from her pouch, dipping the former into the dark ink. She stared at her hands—her right holding her brush, her left splayed openly, and sighed. After switching hands, she began painting on her right hand, and despite himself Sasuke peered over with thinly veiled curiosity.

Fuuinjutsu. He knew that Naruto had apparently learned it—was at a relatively high level—since she had told them as much, but simply being told and watching her work were two separate things entirely.

His eyes widened at the complex, intricate, yet compact and downright small seal that sat comfortably on the surface of her palm. He heard Naruto swear a few times when he noticed a stroke or two look slightly off—she wasn't left-handed after all—but eventually, the seal reached completion.

Naruto bit into her left thumb and ran it up from her wrist to the junction of her middle finger, a trail of blood left in it's wake. She gingerly placed her hand over the cursed seal, and a sharp burst of chakra pulsed outward.

"Fuuin: Unseal."

Another pulse of chakra, and the skin beneath her hand seemed to glow. Naruto winced, and Sasuke could smell burning ink, blood and flesh.

After a few moments, the light dimmed, eventually retreating, and Naruto peeled away her hand with a grimace. The skin around the site looked raw and blistered, and her hand had come away with smudges of black, but the tomoe seal was nowhere in sight.

"Ugh, that was messy. I need to practice with my left hand," Naruto mumbled, rolling her shoulder tentatively.

Sasuke stared. "… How did you do that?"

As though only realizing then that she wasn't alone, Naruto blinked before smiling. She threw her arms up in mock cheer. "The wonders of Fuuinjutsu! It's a rather versatile and useful art. It's what I did in the forest, too, when I was setting up a perimeter."

Sasuke blinked at her words, before a scowl slowly formed. "A barrier seal. That's why we didn't see any other teams. Why would you do that? Weren't we waiting for another team to pass through?" He paused as a thought occurred to him, and his eyes narrowed. "… And how did we pass?"

It wasn't really a question. He felt that, considering the recent developments, he already had a pretty good idea of the answer to his own question.

Naruto rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. "Aa… Well, you see, I actually… I actually already obtained a scroll." Sasuke bristled at the information, but before he could lash out or speak, Naruto continued. "It was my original plan. I just went with what I had already intended on doing, I just… Didn't tell you guys about it. About the switch of plans."

Sasuke stared at her. "… Why didn't you tell us?" At her look, he clarified, "Why are you only telling me now, when you could have told us on the second or third day?"

He considered telling the blond that they were supposed to work as a team, but even he realized just how much of a hypocrite such a retort would make him. While he did know that the purpose of the second Chuunin Exam was teamwork… Before the exam, what sort of teamwork had he exhibited? What kind of person had he been?

He was a loner. He didn't need anyone. Everyone else just dragged him down. Those were the kinds of thoughts that were most prevalent in his mind back then, and while he still believed them to an extent, he wasn't nearly as close-minded.

Naruto had already called him out for being stubborn and ignorant. He didn't care to be called a hypocrite on top of that.

At his question, Naruto's demeanor cooled, her gaze serious. Sasuke, admittedly, felt a strange hesitance grip him at the change. "I had suspected that Orochimaru was a threat in the exams. I knew that Yakushi Kabuto has dealings with him, and I had been worried that Orochimaru himself would show himself here." She sighed quietly, glancing to the side. "… I knew that you would be the target, since Orochimaru has a… Fixation, with the Sharingan. I wanted to make sure that he wouldn't be able to obtain your eyes. Obtain you."

She sat down on the side of his bed, pulling at her growing bangs. "The curse mark—what you saw Orochimaru put on me, when he bit my shoulder—I knew about how it worked, and I also knew that he intended on marking you. It's called the Ten no Juin, and it… It plays with a person's desire, messes with the mind, making them susceptible to Orochimaru's manipulations. I knew that, if you gained the mark, you would have been driven into mindless anger and hatred due to your… Your vendetta against Itachi."

Sasuke tensed at the name, his nails biting painfully into his palms.

"That's what Orochimaru was counting on. Hatred is one of the easier emotions to influence, because of how deep it reaches into the mind and how is often leads to obsession. I had to do everything to keep you away from Orochimaru," she finished quietly.

"But you could have warned us, at least," Sasuke bit out in a quiet murmur.

Naruto turned to him at the sharpness of his tone, before a wry smile spread across her lips. "Oh? And then what? You would've gone after him yourself? You and I both know that you wouldn't have turned down the challenge, even though I told you guys not to do anything rash. And both of us know how well your confrontation with him went."

This time Sasuke flinched, turning a powerful glare on her. "And what you did wasn't reckless? How do you even know so much?"

Naruto took off her hitai-ate and carded a hand through her hair, sighing. "I keep my eyes and ears open, Sasuke. If it means protecting my teammates, I will do anything."

"But it was reckless."

She turned back to him with a strained smirk. "It actually wasn't. What was reckless of me was allowing you and Sakura to go against my initial plan."

"Would you have let us leave after you got the scroll?" Sasuke questioned, feeling as though he was getting nowhere. His footing was anything but firm, and he wasn't getting the answers he expected—wanted—from Naruto. It left him uneasy, how easily she could pick him apart—and how one sided it was.

Naruto seemed to contemplate the question for a moment, before shaking her head.

"Why?"

"Because I knew that Orochimaru was after you, or at least, highly suspected it. Absolutely no one of rank is to interfere with these exams, meaning we wouldn't have gotten back up soon enough, and my best bet was to keep you two within my barrier. If I brought you to the tower near the beginning of the exam when there is minimal staff, Orochimaru would have incurred a massacre. I also couldn't use my barrier here without garnering undue attention, at that point."

Sasuke observed his teammate with a measuring look. "… You have a lot of secrets. Does anyone know that you knew Orochimaru was going to attack? That you can use Fuuinjutsu at a high level?"

To his surprise, Naruto nodded. "… Yes. The Sandaime."

Sasuke, shocked into brief silence, stared at the blond. "… And he let this happen?"

Perhaps hearing the undertones of disbelief and betrayal, Naruto quickly replied. "He gave me the right to protect my teammates. The reason why I needed to do this covertly was so that we could catch Orochimaru in the act of his manipulations, because we suspect that he got into Konoha through another means aside from as a Genin participating."

"Again, how do you know so much? Why do you know so much?" Sasuke interrogated, hand gripping Naruto's arm painfully. "You're just a Genin!"

Naruto glanced at him, and for a moment, Sasuke saw emotions that he had never seen so raw within her eyes before—sorrow, pain, absolute pain and regret and loss—before it flickered away, replaced with her usual look.

"… Two things," she started, holding up two fingers. "One, Fuuko. Two, I'm the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki."

Sasuke sent her a look that fully conveyed, 'explain.'

"Fuuko is…" Naruto's mouth twisted as she contemplated. "… Let's just say that within the political realm she is highly acquainted—however unknown—and what she knows, I know. I am the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, a constant stigma for unrest, and I am almost always at the center of conflict, whether in the realm of politics due to my status or on the battlefield due to my power. So I have a constant level of awareness."

Silence fell around them as Naruto's head bowed, her bangs shadowing her eyes and expression.

"I… I shouldn't be here. What I know… I really shouldn't know, and sometimes I wish I didn't know, because it means keeping secrets from the people closest to me—some that pertain to them, and that they should by all accounts be informed of. Because it's only right." A pause. And then she murmured, near-intelligible. "… But sometimes, the right thing isn't always an option."

Sasuke reeled back slightly when she snapped back to him, eyes and demeanor back to smiling—a quick change—as she stood up. "Anyway, I'm glad you're awake. I guess Sakura isn't going to wake up yet, but I'm sure she will soon. Tomorrow is the end of the second round, I'll be nearby if you need me." She tapped her chin and donned a contemplative expression. "Let's see… I renewed the seals on you and Sakura earlier, so just channel chakra into your palms and I'll be here. Be sure to get your rest, eat your vegetables, and do your stretches to limber up."

She then gave Sasuke a two-finger wave as she took a few steps away from the bed, grin still plastered on her face. "Well, I guess I'll be seeing you two later. Bye!"

And then she disappeared into a cloud of smoke.

Sasuke merely sighed as he settled himself back into bed, not quite able to bring himself to begrudge Naruto for her sudden exit. His mind was reeling with everything he had been told—and despite how candid she had seemed at certain points throughout their conversation, he knew he had his work cut out for him to figure out the underlying clues that had been left behind. To figure out the mystery that was his teammate, Uzumaki Naruto.

With another, distinctly more frustrated sigh, Sasuke placed his arm over his eyes.

Why couldn't things be as easy as it was before? When all he had to do was focus on hating, killing Itachi, and whether or not he ignored everyone else mattered little?

All he knew for certain, at this point, was that Naruto seemed hell-bent to prevent him from going down that path. Before, he would have lashed out at her barging in on his life and vendetta, because she didn't matter and it isn't any of her business.

But now… Now he couldn't bring himself to begrudge her for it. He couldn't find it within himself to reject his teammates.

He couldn't find the strength to hate them. To hate the village. To hate the world. To hate.

… And that knowledge left him feeling disturbingly lost.

Sakura had regained consciousness the next day, but both she and Sasuke remained in their beds, hoping to speed up their recovery. On the evening of the fourth day Sakura utilized her iryo-ninjutsu to heal her more severe injuries to a decent state, and Sasuke was cleared. Naruto had informed them about the likelihood of there being a preliminary round with the number of finalists, so the two of them had decided to take the chance to prepare.

(In Sakura's case, Naruto hadn't told her until after she heard the full story of how the pinkette gained her injuries to begin with. She was livid by the end of the explanation, naturally, but had withheld her anger at the sight of Sakura's wary gaze. She had instead opted to hug the kunoichi and tell her how "awesome" she was for being able to hold her own against three shinobi at once. Sakura had blushed, just managing to stutter out a, "w-well, I can't always rely on you and Sasuke-kun!" before ushering the blond out of the room.)

And the following day, after the final cut-off for the time limit, found the Genin of Team Seven standing uniformly in the stadium as they listened to the Hokage's speech, signaling the end of the Second Exam.

As Naruto looked around, she noted the teams that had managed to pass. Team Kakashi, Team Asuma, Team Kurenai, Team Guy, Team Baki, and Team Kabuto were the only ones to make it to this round. During the time that her teammates had been unconscious, she had gone back out to ensure that the Konoha teams made it to the Preliminaries—she had gathered scrolls and conveniently left the matching pairs for Team Kurenai and Asuma. The former's was at the cost of Team Dosu, but… Well, she had already planned on making sure they didn't make it, after what they had done to her teammate.

"The first match will commence," Gekkou Hayate announced with a cough. He gestured to the board behind him, listing two names. "All except the competitors, please leave the arena."

"Uchiha Sasuke vs. Akado Yoroi" was listed, much like last time.

Everyone except the two competitors went to the staircases along the edges of the room, and a tense silence commenced as Sasuke and Yoroi regarded each other with narrowed gazes.

Hayate coughed into a fist, his voice raw. "Alright. No aiming to kill, only to defeat. The winner gets to proceed onto the finals." He lifted his hand. "Now then… Start!"

The two shinobi leapt at each other, Yoroi's arm extending towards Sasuke's head. Sasuke quickly ducked and aimed a punch at his opponent's stomach, which was quickly deflected to the side. He used the motion to clap his hand to the ground and swung around with a kick towards the side of Yoroi's head.

The kick was halted when a hand clamped around his ankle and the other gripped at Sasuke's head, slamming the boy to the ground.

The words spoken by the older shinobi were whispered and therefore inaudible to the audience, but Sasuke's eyes grew wide as a blue glow rose from the points Yoroi gripped him, and Naruto could see her teammate's chakra being leeched away.

Sasuke growled lowly, but instead of retaliating physically, he remained still. The change seemed to puzzle Yoroi, but Naruto felt the shift of chakra—the same that usually occurred preceding a Katon jutsu—and Yoroi suddenly ripped his hands away from the Uchiha, holding his hands in front of him with bewilderment and anger.

(Naruto was silently proud of her teammate. She hadn't known that Sasuke held that level of mastery over his nature transformation to accomplish such a feat, at this point in time—she had been curious about what he would do to combat the chakra leech without the curse mark, but this wasn't expected.)

Sasuke didn't allow him to recover. He leapt at Yoroi and kicked his legs out from under him, following up with a succession of attacks that the man couldn't keep up with.

The match concluded as it had before, with Sasuke using the newly-created Shishi Rendan to incapacitate his opponent, and he was announced the victor. He had sustained no injury, only minor chakra depletion, and there was no cursed mark to hinder him. He was therefore ushered back up to the viewing deck instead of the infirmary, unlike Yoroi.

Up next was Tsurugi Misumi vs. Akimichi Chouji. Naruto watched with a slight grimace as Chouji was soundly beaten and forced to forfeit when Misumi held him in a chokehold, suffocating the boy. Chouji, in a valiant effort attempted to break free by activating his Baika no Jutsu, but Misumi's grip only tightened as a result.

(In a distant future that Naruto can't quite remember, Chouji's Baika no Jutsu would have easily defeated Misumi's Nan no Kaizou. But unfortunately, that was not the case in this instance.)

Following Chouji's match was Hinata's and Neji's. The match proceeded exactly as it had last time, with Neji near killing his own cousin in a fit of self-justified anger and spite. Naruto shouted, cheering on the younger Hyuuga as she had last time, but towards the end she looked away with her fists clenched. She had been more than ready to jump down and give Neji a piece of her mind and exactly what she thought of his hatred, but she knew that Hinata would live and this event would only serve to help strengthen their relationship in the future.

(It still hurt to see Hinata being carried away on a stretcher, just barely breathing.)

Gaara and Lee's match was… Strange, to say the least. The match had gone almost parallel to as it had been before (much like Hinata's) but like Sasuke's, there was a small difference that Naruto attributed to her own interference.

Particularly, Gaara did not try to kill Lee.

Naruto didn't notice it at first, as Gaara was relentless with his attacks and Lee reciprocated with his own fervor, steadily raising the tension as the blows exchanged grew increasingly vicious. The match was almost exactly the same, and the moment Gaara's sand lashed out and send Lee hurtling towards the wall, Naruto had been prepared to jump in and save Lee from an injury that could potentially ruin his future this time around.

But before the green-clad Shinobi could make contact, before any of the sensei could interfere, Gaara's sand shot out in a seemingly threatening motion. And cushioned the impact.

Naruto had been hard-pressed to not outright gape at the show of mercy, even as Lee blatantly stared at the Sand Genin before shouting about how youthful it was to save him from the impact and how he was even more excited to continue the fight.

And then Gaara sent an icy look at the green-clad Shinobi before telling the proctor to signal the end or he'd kill him.

(Ah. There was the bloodthirsty Gaara Naruto had expected.)

Following the abrupt conclusion to the match (and Lee had looked oddly wilted at the prospect of not being able to continue the fight, which was strange but also unsurprising) was Shino against Ino. It was a pitifully short match, with Ino promptly falling in a dead faint when Shino swarmed her with his kikaichu.

Naruto respected the Ino she knew. But to put it simply, the conclusion to that match was… Just sad.

Next was Sakura's match.

The names "Haruno Sakura" and "Kankuro" stood out a stark white against the black on the board, and Naruto saw Kankuro narrow his eyes at the pinkette before sneering in annoyance. He had dismissed his opponent based on appearance alone.

Sakura apparently noticed the dismissing look, because her shoulders went rigid as she straightened, and a fire lit in her emerald eyes. She walked past her team—only giving a small nod at Naruto's murmur of "good luck"—and walked down the stares with a purpose, leveling a stern glare on the puppeteer when they stood in their respective positions.

No words were exchanged before Hayate walked up, but when he signaled for the match to start, Sakura didn't waste a second.

The look of pure shock that flew across Kankuro's face as he barely managed to dodge the swift kick delivered to his midsection left Naruto smiling on Sakura's behalf. Kankuro hissed a curse as he leapt back, forced into the defend-and-retreat strategy as he tried to dodge Sakura's hits. She wasn't quite fast enough, unfortunately, but she wasn't yet using chakra to enhance her power and agility.

Kankuro flung his puppet at Sakura, which she dodged with ease, only to falter as a volley of kunai was sent her way from the direction of the clothed blur. She vaulted backwards to gain distance as she dodged a barrage of senbon next, her eyes narrowed at the new addition to the battlefield.

Naruto frowned slightly when she saw the few abrasions the pinkette suffered. The slight flicker of chakra notified her that Sakura had noticed the poison properties of the weapons, but she was, regardless, worried.

"This here's Karasu," Kankuro stated with pride, as all eyes stared at the seemingly-floating wooden menace. "My own creation. He's my partner, and we're gonna take you down."

His introduction only received a few glances, to Karasu and back.

"Suna-nin are known for chakra threads and manipulation with them," Sakura murmured, the light of her healing chakra increasing momentarily before flickering out entirely. She stood up and dusted herself off, before settling into an offensive stance. "So your technique is mostly centered around control."

Kankuro smirked. "So Pinkie's a little informed. Good for you." He settled into a stance as well, Karasu halting it's erratic movements to prepare for a strike.

Sakura darted out, her hands glowing a faint blue as she headed towards Kankuro, but was impeded by Karasu as the puppet flung itself down towards, her, blades protruding from its body. Sakura cursed as she was forced to retreat once again, her eyes darting between the puppet and master.

"You can't do anything if you can't get close to me," Kankuro taunted, crossing his arms. "You don't know any offensive ninjutsu, do you? No Nature Transformation?"

Sakura scowled. "I don't need it."

Kankuro actually looked baffled. "What do you mean, you don't need—"

He was interrupted as Sakura darted forward again, eyes trained on Kankuro. He laughed, redirecting Karasu to intercept her. "That won't work, Pinkie. You're just going get poisoned and kill yourself."

But she didn't. Sakura darted under the swipe of the puppet, swinging around and using momentum to kick past the puppet. She seemed to have missed, but Karasu abruptly froze and dropped to the ground, unresponsive.

"Wha—"

Sakura spun around, and with a chakra-powered punch, obliterated the wooden construct, before spinning around to glare at a suddenly pale-faced Kankuro. Her still-glowing fist was held in a symbolic form of a promise of utter pain.

Naruto was grinning ear to ear.

"H-how!?" Kankuro spluttered through his disbelief, looking hesitant between forfeiting so he could salvage the remains of his puppet, and pulling out a kunai to try and win despite his chances.

"Your technique is centered around chakra control. In a way, this match was geared against you—because I happen to be this generation's best Shinobi when it comes to chakra control. It was just a matter of disrupting the threads that held your puppet together." Sakura lifted her fist up to eye-level as she stared at the Suna-nin. "Forfeit."

Kankuro forfeited.

The somewhat considering, and simultaneously pained glance he shot the pinkette as he left the arena had Naruto fighting to not burst out in a fit of giggles. Temari had a similar look, but there was ire directed at her brother and a flicker of respect in her eyes for Sakura.

"YEAH!" Naruto shouted with a fist pump, unable to help herself. "Go, Sakura-chan!"

Startled, Sakura turned to Naruto, previous menacing aura gone. A look of pride and happiness crossed her face as she gave a small nod of acknowledgement.

And then she fell in a dead faint.

Naruto winced. 'I guess she used too much chakra,' she thought silently, calculating the exact chakra expenditure. She had also seen how, despite the chakra output being appropriate, Sakura had winced upon using a chakra-powered punch—likely leaving her with an injury in the arm she used to destroy Karasu.

Even though Naruto had given Sakura pointers, it had been up to the girl herself if she wanted to improve. It was with an immense sense of pride that Naruto realized that Sakura had indeed begun taking her training more seriously—if the match against Kankuro was any indication.

(And wasn't it ironic, that she would be pitted against a puppet master and, against all odds, win, much like she had in Naruto's future-past?)

With a wistful smile, Naruto shook her head and turned to Sasuke, grin growing at the shell-shocked look on his face. "Sakura's amazing, isn't she? She improved so much!"

Sasuke blinked out of his stupor and turned to Naruto with a measuring look. He then turned back to the arena, where Sakura was being carted away on a stretcher—unconscious, but smiling.

"… Yeah," he acknowledged eventually, inclining his head once in agreement. "She has."

Naruto beamed once more before turning back to the arena as the next opponents were called up.

After the conclusion to Sakura's surprising match, Kiba went up with Temari. The match didn't end quite as quickly as most of the previous ones (all of them fell under three to five minutes excluding Sakura's, Ino's not even making it to thirty seconds) but it was rather lack-lustre.

The entire battle mostly consisted of Kiba trying, and failing, to use Gatsūga, while Temari quite literally bat him to and fro with her Fuuton techniques. Kiba simply could not get close enough to land a hit, and his mid to long-range attacks consisted of kunai and shuriken, which were just as easily deflected. Kiba was swatted back and forth with conjured winds, and Temari even had the gall to yawn as she swung her fan back and forth, increasing the steadily growing stream of insults from the Inuzuka heir.

Lack-lustre, yes. Naruto never said that it was boring.

Eventually Kiba forfeited, because Temari had grown bored with the repetitive battle and finally threatened his future children with a rather sharp blade of wind that just barely missed his legs and lower regions.

Shikamaru and Tenten were next.

Once the match started, in a direct contrast to the previous, neither made a move—only observing each other. At some unseen signal, Tenten withdrew her scroll of weapons as Shikamaru leapt forward, perhaps realizing that, like the previous two matches, they each had their ranged-strengths. In his case, he was the one at a disadvantage the larger the distance between them.

Tenten darted towards him in a risky move, clapped a hand on his shoulder and vaulted off of his back before he could activate his Kagemane no jutsu. She unfurled her scroll mid-air and shouted, "Kaifūjutsu!"

Weapons of various size and purpose rained down on the battlefield, Shikamaru's eyes going wide at the rather large margin for error. With a muttered curse (which, while inaudible, was very likely said in conjunction with "troublesome") Shikamaru worked to dodge the onslaught, coming out in one piece but not unharmed.

As soon as the rain of weapons ceased, Tenten picked up a sickle and chain, aiming it towards Shikamaru as he leapt backwards to avoid the deadly weapon. She release her grip on the handle and allowed it to continue its path as she bent down to pick up a handful of shuriken and kunai, throwing them successively at Shikamaru.

Tenten didn't see it, but Naruto, from her vantage point, did.

The weapon's mistress abruptly stopped her onslaught, the last kunai dangling on her pointer finger as she was suddenly stopped mid-throw. Her eyes darted back and forth in panic before widening at the connected shadow that lead to Shikamaru.

His shadow had branched off despite the distance, and the various shadows caused by the assortment of weapons, both large and small, littered across the field proved to be an apt conduit to extend towards Tenten.

She had doomed herself with her own strategy.

Shikamaru, keeping his hold on the Kagemane, flicked his wrist and formed a fist just to the side of his neck. Tenten followed through with the motion, kunai held tightly in her hand as her own arm shifted to mirror Shikamaru's.

A few moments of silence passed as they stared at one another, before Tenten sighed in both resignation and irritation at her folly. "I forfeit."

The Kagemane cancelled immediately and Shikamaru plopped down to the ground, sighing in exasperation.

"Nara Shikamaru is the winner," Hayate shouted with a cough, looking between the two teens. "Please head back to the viewing platforms so we can proceed with the next match." Tenten complied immediately, jumping up to stand with her team, while Shikamaru just barely managed to drag himself up the stairs with a bored look.

And then, the board flickered again.

"Uzumaki Naruto and Yakushi Kabuto, please proceed to the arena."

Naruto froze, her blood running cold as she processed the words spoken. Her eyes immediately darted over to the familiar visage of the snake's apprentice, who looked every bit the cowardly failure he pretended to be at the moment.

Stiffly, Naruto walked down the stares, not sparing so much as a glance at the "Genin" until she was standing on the opposite side of the arena, dissecting his guise with a sharp gaze.

She… She hadn't even realized that he hadn't bowed out, this time.

Her eyes sharpened as Kabuto reached up to scratch the back of his nervously in a show of false meekness. He looked up at her with a weak smile. "Ahaha… Well, may the best man win, Uzumaki-kun."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "Forfeit."

A small silence descended; Naruto had said it louder than she had intended.

A look of actual bemusement flickered on the older teen's face. "… Huh?"

"Forfeit," she repeated, a frigid stare in place. She didn't know why he hadn't bowed out this time around, but previously she had figured that his initial forfeit in the past was because he had other tasks to attend to that were too important to chance ending up in the finals—for instance, organizing the Oto invasion.

Inwardly, Naruto berated herself—she had been so focused on other things that she hadn't noticed that he hadn't bowed out, hadn't even noticed that he was in the same room until now. It mortified her, because it either meant that she was far too lax, or Kabuto was more of a threat than she had expected, at this time.

Kabuto was here, participating in the preliminaries, and noticeably not doing whatever underhanded planning he had had to do last time. So what the hell was going on?

Kabuto chuckled nervously yet again, a sharper edge to the action this time, before settling into an attack position with an easy smile. "Sorry, but I'd rather not take the coward's way out. It'd be kinda embarrassing to fail another exam, don't you think?"

His smile sharpened, and Naruto could see the speculative gleam he had before.

'He's… He's here because he wants to test me,' she realized with a spark of ire. She supposed she should have expected this, after her telling stint with Orochimaru.

And yet, even then she could tell he was underestimating her.

'So be it,' she thought quietly, fingers twitching as her chakra swirled. 'You want to see what I'm capable of? Let's see if you're even able.'

Hayate stepped up, glancing between the two shinobi before calling out the start of the match.

Naruto dropped to the ground, crossed her legs and closed her eyes.

Her own chakra immediately started grasping at the plentiful Nature Chakra surrounding her, but as usual, she kept the vast majority at bay—she only wanted to gather enough for her to sense her opponent, while also keeping it minimal enough that not even the most attuned of sensors could sense the subtle shift in her chakra.

She felt Kabuto hesitate at her abrupt and strange action, her focus centered around the potentially dangerous "Genin." Naruto had no intention of revealing her own abilities to him, not when it could potentially be used against her at this point in time. Not yet.

It was his move.

Sakura had come back just as Naruto's match was called, to her relief.

She had only seen Naruto actually fight once before during wave, and even then, something told her that the blonde was holding back. (Not that she wouldn't be holding back against a Genin when she held back against a highly-ranked missing-nin, but the point was that Sakura didn't want to miss any of Naruto's battles if she could help it.)

As Naruto and Kabuto faced off quietly, waiting for the proctor to call the match, Sakura could tell that even Sasuke and Kakashi were riveted, waiting for the moment that the tenuous silence broke.

But, true to her usual nature, Naruto did something that they hadn't been expecting.

She sat down and closed her eyes, looking for all the world that she was going to meditate.

And Sakura stared.

Confusion swelled as the other spectators observed the odd blonde, and only a few individuals in the room observed her with more intensity at the action, gazes sharpening in anticipation and scrutiny.

Although Sakura logically knew that Naruto had her reasons (and, despite what people assumed, almost always had a logical reason for the things she did), she was just as confused as most everyone else that Naruto was just sitting there.

A sharp prod from her left stirred her from her confusion and she glanced to an irritable, nearly-hissing Ino. "What is Naruto-baka doing, forehead?"

Sakura didn't know exactly when she and Ino had returned to speaking terms (in fact, she recalled that the last time they spoke Ino was under the impression that Sakura still wanted to be her "love rival") but she was more focused on the match and her own confusion. She shook her head and turned back to the arena with a frown. "I… I don't know."

Sakura stiffened as Kabuto slowly eased out of his stance, head tilted to the side in contemplation. Cautiously, he walked over to Naruto, posture stiff and ready for retaliation.

The other members of Team Seven watched, and Sakura's eyes darted from Kabuto, to Naruto, to Kakashi, and back to Kabuto intermittently as the pale-haired Genin neared her seemingly oblivious teammate. Finally, her eyes settled on Kakashi and her voice fell in a whisper. "… Kakashi-sensei, what—what is Naruto doing? Why isn't—why isn't she—"

She abruptly cut off when Kabuto stopped in front of the blonde and kneeled, gaze suddenly different and dangerous. Sakura had noticed Naruto's strange tension that she had tried to hide before the First Exam (Sakura had eyes—sure, she missed these things before but now she knew Naruto and she knew what she saw), and knew that it had resulted from Kabuto. At first, she had dismissed it as Naruto being paranoid and wary, and it wasn't until their run-in with Orochimaru and those Oto-nin that Sakura realized just what it was that Naruto was worried about.

There were dangers in the exam, even more than some of the Jounin-sensei realized.

And, seeing that look in Kabuto's eyes, coupled with Naruto's odd behaviour regarding the Genin, decidedly left her uncomfortable.

Sakura noticed the Genin's hand twitch towards his kunai pouch the same time Sasuke did. Sakura was prepared to go down there and interfere herself, consequences be damned, but Sasuke's voice roared past her own deliberations.

"Naruto! Move!"

At that moment, Naruto suddenly appeared behind Kabuto in a flash of yellow and orange, and Sakura sucked in a breath at the brief but startlingly heavy pressure that pressed down on her for a moment.

Kabuto had frozen, Naruto's hand on his neck a threatening gesture for him to remain still. And…

The other Naruto, who was seated, still had her eyes closed.

"What—!" Sakura heard Ino exclaim in bafflement, turning between her own stunned sensei and the odd sight in the arena. "Is—Is that a Kage Bunshin!? But he didn't even make any seals!"

A brief glance around the room revealed that many others were in a state of similar shock, though not quite as vocal as Ino. Sakura's gaze returned to the pair in the arena, and narrowed her eyes. Kabuto wasn't moving, and even though Naruto's hand on his neck was a threatening move, he could still attempt to release himself. Why wasn't he?

"… I forfeit," Kabuto spoke up at last, his earlier smile returning. It left Sakura uneasy for some reason, however genuine it seemed.

Naruto's eyes narrowed before she turned to the proctor, who nodded.

"Uzumaki Naruto is the winner."

A brief flicker of indecision flashed through her eyes before she released Kabuto, and her Bunshin (was it?) fazed out of existence instead of a cloud of smoke. As soon as she leapt up to the viewing platform, Sakura and Sasuke (the latter of which surprised Sakura—she didn't think she had ever seen him look so agitated) approached her.

Sasuke scowled as he looked her over, apparently unconvinced that she had come away unscathed despite having seen that no blows were exchanged. "What was that?"

At Naruto's unimpressed look, Sakura sighed. She still liked Sasuke, but he wasn't exactly… "How did you do that?" She specified with curiosity. "Was that a Bunshin down there?"

Naruto turned to Sakura with a half-smile. "Yeah. It was a Kage Bunshin, just a modified version that I created by channeling my chakra into the ground. I switched out with it using Kawarimi."

"But why wasn't Kabuto moving?" Sasuke pressed, scowl still in place. "He could have."

Naruto blinked, presumably in surprise. She glanced to Sakura. "You guys noticed that?"

Sakura wondered if she should feel offended at the comment, but Sasuke remained placid, waiting for the answer. She settled for accepting it as another one of Naruto's quirks.

The impressed smile the blonde sent them both made it slightly more acceptable. "Wow. I'm pretty sure only a few others noticed it—half of the Jōnin didn't. They probably thought holding Kabuto in a threatening position really was enough to keep him restrained." At this, Sakura blinked. That was… True. She herself had realized that Kabuto wasn't quite what he seemed, and his act was rather convincing.

"Anyway," Naruto continued, turning her right hand over and pointing at a small blood inscription drawn on her palm. "This is a paralysis seal. The actual seal is a little more complex, but the rest I formed with chakra—I just channeled it into his system, resulting in him being unable to move."

Sakura went wide-eyed. "But—but doesn't that require chakra control? A lot of chakra control?" She examined the strange inscription, but she didn't know any fuuinjutsu so the endeavor to examine it and find out its secrets was soon abandoned. She eyed Naruto with a narrowed gaze. "Exactly how strong are you?"

Naruto blinked owlishly. "… What does that have to do with anything."

Sakura and Sasuke shared a glance, both wearing slight grimaces in a display of odd synchronicity.

Sasuke turned away with a huff and Sakura sighed, feeling her earlier pride at her own victorious match draining slightly.

Naruto was far ahead of their generation, and this was something that Sakura had known for a while now, ever since the mission to Wave. She still had yet to come to complete terms with it, but she certainly was close.

And honestly, she didn't know if the girl's obliviousness made her feel better or worse.

… But that was what made Naruto Naruto, she supposed.

(And she quietly cherished the fact that she had been called "Sakura-chan," as Naruto had promised.)

Seeing as her teammates had apparently fulfilled their "interact with Naruto" quota for the day, Naruto turned away to cast a cursory glance over the room. Her gaze fell on the retreating forms of Kabuto and his team, and just as the pale-haired Genin began to turn, she averted her gaze with a frown.

Naruto had already told the Sandaime what she knew of the events during the Third Exam, but it was evident that events this time around were going to be different.

He knew that. She knew that; it was a logical conclusion to her own interferences to the timeline, however minor. She had made changes, and while they would affect how trustworthy her knowledge of the future was, logically she knew that they were prepared for changes.

But she still didn't like the unease that rested at the pit of stomach.