The preliminaries started when all of the people who were coming arrived. Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto stood beside the other teams. It appeared everyone of importance had made it- Deidara and Haku had entered as solos, so they finished the second challenge alone with startling ease. Shin and Sai paired up this time, and had also joined them for the preliminaries. Sakura tilted her head at who was proctoring this test- Gekko Hayate died in the original timeline, killed by Suna people. She'd heard a rumor that it was Gaara who did it, but it had never been confirmed, that she knew of. He'd been replaced by Shiranui Genma, but since Gaara wasn't a psychopath anymore, there was no longer a need for a replacement. This was an interesting change.

For outfits, Sasuke was dressed practically the same as he was in the last exams, the only difference being the fact that he was wearing sweatpants instead of shorts. Sakura wore a long shirt with a belt tied over it around her stomach, clinging to her lithe profile, and black leggings underneath. Comfortable, and practical. She had her long hair tied up into a high ponytail so it wouldn't get in her face, and instead of irritating shoes like she used to wear, she had on boots. Naruto was still wearing the ridiculous jumpsuit, but with the jacket tied around his waist, revealing the black shirt with the Uzumaki symbol, and Jinchuriki symbol on either side of it. He was proudly showing off the fact that he was both, and his teammates smiled at each other when they saw him.

"Alright, brats, listen up." Hayate Gekko said, catching the attention of the students. The twenty three of them were all gathered in the room, standing before the giant hands that formed a jutsu. "The rules are simple. There's too many of you- twenty-three, to be precise. Now, these rounds are just to knock a few of you guys out before the finals, which will be held a month from now." He proceeded to explain the rules of the fights, and the three kids had honestly zoned out at this point, looking at the people they were about to fight.

So we don't go easy on them?

We pretend we're struggling a little bit so it isn't incredibly obvious that we're 'prodigies'.

Just saying, I'm making Chūnin this time. No way is Dad sending us on another cat mission.

Fine, dobe.

The first round immediately required one of Team 7- first up, Sasuke vs. a guy called Yoroi Akado. He worked with Kabuto in the Sound. Yoroi had fought Shino, last time. Sasuke remembered seeing him both times. Sakura raised an eyebrow at him, and he shrugged. He guessed that the exams had changed more than a little bit from last time, since they'd accidentally brought in a couple of new people. Sasuke beat him pathetically easily, and the next person was up. Shino was next- he fought a guy called Zaku Abumi, from the Sound. He won, of course. Sasuke remembered fighting this kid in the last exams, and wondered why he'd ever thought he was tough to beat at all. Next up, Kankuro went against Misumi Tsurugi, like last time, from the Sound. Kankuro (to Sasuke's relief) beat him relatively easily. Everyone else now got a look at their abilities.

Next, a more intriguing fight- Sakura versus Ino. As much as Sakura loved her friend to death, she had to knock her out. She did allow Ino the pleasure of invading her mind once, before her Inner Self kicked her out as a defense mechanism. She flash stepped behind her friend, and hit her in the back of the neck, catching her before she hit the floor too hard.

After that, another interesting fight. Tenten against Temari. Sakura always loved the girls, but she remembered that Temari won this one. Tenten truly was amazing with her weapons, though, Sakura herself had reasonable control over a few weapons, but none nearly as extensive or talented as Tenten's. Ultimately, though, Temari and her weapon, her fan, won over.

A tougher one came after. Shin, (Sai's brother) versus Shikamaru. That one went on for about twenty minutes, and just when it seemed like Shin had the upper hand, he forfeited the fight. Naruto's mouth dropped. Shin was quitting? Just like that? He was a formidable warrior! He had an ANBU's training, and the upper hand, since he was accustomed to both close combat and long distance combat, in a way that Shikamaru wasn't. He quit with a smile on his face, though, and Naruto thought he had an idea of why. Sai didn't seem too upset or surprised from where he was watching in the sidelines, so Naruto assumed the two of them had planned this out. He grit his teeth. If Sai quit mid-battle too, him and Naruto would have words.

Naruto and Kiba's fight was next, and Sakura had a feeling Naruto had this in the bag, so she went and found someone quite special- Hinata Hyuga.

Sakura had been subtly influencing Hinata's environment since they were in the Academy. She was one of Sakura's close friends, so Sakura had always kept close tabs on her. Hizashi Hyuga, the younger twin of Hiashi Hyuga, hadn't died in this timeline (due to his friendship with Kushina Uzumaki that kept the two of them quite tightly knit together- yes, she saved his life, what's it to ya??) so Neji had less of a stick up his ass and was nicer to his cousin. Him and Hinata got along fairly well, and with Neji's help, Hinata had at least a little bit more confidence and strength by the time she reached the Academy. While happy for the wholesome relationship between the cousins, Sakura knew she still needed a bit more help.

So she took Hinata aside during Naruto's fight.

"S-Sakura-chan! How are y-you?" Hinata asked, playing around with her fingers. Sakura smiled at he nervous energy the girl was throwing off.

"Just came to see how you're holding up. We haven't talked in a while, huh?" Sakura asked, a soft smile on her face at just seeing the girl. She adored Hinata, and thought that she deserved the world.

"I'm doing well, Sakura-chan, t-thank you." Luckily, Hinata stuttered decidedly less, so her words were legible.

"Awesome." She said, hooking an arm around Hinata's shoulders, and dragging her to the railing to watch Naruto fight Kiba.He'd said some ridiculously inspiring things the last time, and the being the dramatic blonde bitch he was, he said the same things, nearly quoting it from memory. Sakura sighed, smiling, and shook her head at her teammate.

Then Naruto landed a punch on Kiba, sending the boy flying back, his dog with him, and Sakura screamed, heart pumping. She jumped up and down, grabbing Hinata's hands in excitement, shouting encouragement.

When the crowd settled down, and Sakura's adrenaline rush went away, she looked at her beautiful, but shy friend. She was clasping her hands together, a stunning small smile on her face.

"Who're you rootin' for?" Sakura asked, slinging an arm around her shoulders and wiggling her eyebrows.

Hinata blushed heavily, making Sakura giggle. She loved giving Hinata grief, and loved meddling in her and Naruto's love life more. "Um... I don't know yet. K-Kiba-kun is my teammate, and I would l-love for him to win... but... um... N-Naruto-kun..."

Sakura squeezed the girl's shoulders, giving her a serious knowing look. "I gotcha, Hinata." Hinata gave her a grateful smile, which made Sakura want to go "awww" and squish her cheeks, but she just smiled back.

She saw a change in Hinata's facial expressions during the fight, and knew the girl still had a huge crush on Naruto. Sadly, her not-very-spatially-aware friend had completely forgotten about that tiny detail, and hadn't acted on it. Sakura sighed, more in annoyance this time. She'd been working hard to push the two of them together in this life, but Naruto insisted on being oblivious and stupid. She loved her surrogate brother so much, but he was an absolute pain in the ass.

She looked around the stands, and noticed a bunch of people had come in to spectate. Sasuke's mother and Naruto's mother sat next to each other and Kiba's mother, each cheering. Fugaku Uchiha sat beside his wife. Up behind them, with a journal open in front of him, Minato Namikaze watched the fights with a sparkle in his eye. Rasa sat beside the Hokage, looking intently at his children, but not making any indication of wanting one to win. His entourage sat next to him, while Minato had only Shikaku Nara and Shibi Aburame next to him. Hiashi Hyuga sat next to his twin, and two other body guards, arms crossed, and face carefully controlled, watching the fights. Sakura's stomach sank.

None of the Genin teachers were there except Baki, who lead Gaara's team. Sakura had a feeling Kakashi was somewhere with Asuma, Guy and Obito.

As Sakura had expected, the next round was Hinata versus Neji. She winced to herself, remembering how this round went the first time. She gave Hinata an encouraging squeeze of the hand.

"You can do it, Hinata-chan! Beat that asshole!" She pumped her fist into the air. Hinata looked terrified, but nodded.

"H-Hai!"

Sakura leaned forward on the rails, her hands unconsciously bending the bars as she watched the fight anxiously, ready at any time to step in and heal Hinata. But Hinata, miraculously, pulled through this time, and was knocked out at the same time as Neji. With no clear winner, both of them were disqualified. She had tied with the prodigy of her clan. Sakura's eyes widened, and her face split into a grin. The same thing had happened with her and Ino, and usually that meant they were pretty evenly matched. So if Hinata and Neji were pretty evenly matched...? She felt a grin come onto her face. Neji had trained her, she just knew it.

Naruto was stunned. "Wow, that was different."

Sakura nudged his shoulder. "Hey, you know what this means, right?" Sakura asked, smiling at him.

"What?" Naruto asked, looking at her, utterly confused.

Sakura laughed. "This means you can go visit her in the infirmary!" Sakura grinned, shaking his shoulders. "This is good news! You can go and cheer her up! She'd get a lot of confidence from you telling her how good she did."

Naruto blushed a bit. "Sakura-chan," he whined, more of an exasperated whine than a complaining one. Sakura bit the inside of her cheek, trying so hard not to laugh. He was truly oblivious. She nearly pitied Hinata that this goofball was who she was attracted to. But ultimately, she knew Naruto was the best person she knew, and perfect for the shy Hyuga heiress. He would love her and support her unconditionally, and Hinata would do the same... when Sakura finally set them up for good. She decided to get pointers from Kakashi, who was truly the matchmaking master. (He'd worked some miracles with Asuma-sensei and Kurenai-sensei, and he said he'd been making progress with Itachi and Izumi).

"Go!" She said, shoving him in the direction of the doors. He scrambled over to it, muttering something about how violent she was.

<>

Hinata sat up in her bed, moaning and gripping her head. Her chakra pathways were in terrible shape, and she'd be weak for a long time, but it wasn't something she wouldn't recover from. She'd just woken up to a nurse hovering over her, medical chakra healing Hinata's nerves and chakra pathways. Her fight with Neji had taken more out of her than ever, and her nerves were shot. Her legs were shaking from the adrenaline, still. She looked around the room briefly, her eyes aching slightly from the strain of using her Byakugan so extensively.

Neji sat in a cot across from her, stretching his aching muscles. He looked up when he felt her looking, and a small smile grew on his face. "You knocked me out of the Chūnin Exams."

Hinata blushed, ducking her head. "N-Neji-nii-san knocked m-me out as well..."

"I'm very pleased with your development, Hinata-sama," Neji said, sighing and sitting back on his bed. Hinata blushed some more. "You're nearly at my level now- if not already."

Hinata frowned at the implications. "I'm not sure anyone can reach your level, Neji-nii-san."

"With your new jutsu, you might just surpass me." Neji smiled at her, a faint undertone of pride in his expression. Hinata's cousin was her main training partner, aside from her clan members and her team. They had been working together since they were very young- Neji, Hinata, and her little sister Hanabi were incredibly close. Neji helped her work on her techniques, and was open to helping her develop new ones. He was helping her work on a new one- an idea Hinata had been thinking of. It would take years to perfect, probably, but Neji had started calling it the Twin Lion Fists.

Hinata startled when she heard the door open, and blinked when she saw a familiar blonde mop of hair.

"Hinata!" Naruto shouted as he walked in, beaming, hands shoved deep into his pockets. Hinata's face fell into a deep blush. Naruto came to a stop before both Hinata and Neji's beds. "Hey guys. Your fight was awesome."

"Yours was as well." Neji commented, eyebrows raising, remembering his fight with Kiba. "You said some inspiring stuff about not giving up."

Naruto huffed, leaning heavily on his left leg and crossing his arms over his chest. "Just comes out, sometimes, ya know?"

Neji snorted, smirking in amusement. He leaned back. "Need me to leave, so you two can talk?"

"No, no, you're injured, 'ttebayo." Naruto teased, wiggling his eyebrows at Neji. "I'm just here to check on Hinata." He said, giving her a soft look. This Hinata didn't talk to him as much, but Naruto would never forget what Hinata had pulled with Pain in their first life. Neji eyed the two of them, eyebrows raising. Hinata blushed more. "Of course, I was worried about you too, Neji, you took some pretty brutal hits." Naruto grinned, looking at Neji teasingly. "You better be treatin' Hinata right, ya know, she might snap and beat you up one day."

Neji sneered, a hint of a smile and a look at the blushing Hinata appearing on his face. "Ass." Neji muttered, making Naruto tip his imaginary hat towards the boy, before settling down to talk with the two of them.

<>

After that fight, came one of the exciting ones. Gaara versus Lee. Sakura knew Gaara wouldn't go as far as he did in her last life, but was still nervous. She found where Sasuke was standing, his arms crossed over his chest and looking down at the two of them skeptically, and since she was alone, joined him. Hinata had ditched her, and she couldn't find Ino or Temari.

The battle was interesting- the two of them battled pretty much the same way, but Gaara was obviously restraining himself from hurting Lee severely, while Lee did the same. They were courteous to each other, but eventually, Gaara won by restraining Lee with his sand. Lee went out with good sportsmanship, promising to spar with Gaara again later and 'bask in the glorious youth of their fights'.

Sakura and Sasuke stood stoically next to each other, close enough for their shoulders to touch, but they never did. The next fight was in between Choji and Dosu Kinuta. He was also an Otogakure shinobi, and Sakura frowned at the fact that there were a lot of Sound genin trying out this year. Obviously all of them were working with Orochimaru, but that didn't give any of them a hint on where he was, since Kabuto had 'quit' before the preliminaries had even started.

"Interesting, isn't it?" Someone's voice floated over, standing next to Sakura. "The ever elusive Sound Village are oddly mobile this year." Deidara looked at Sakura innocently, a big smile on his face. He was still cute. He hadn't lost his eye yet, and the matching baby blues reminded Sakura vaguely of Naruto.

"Deidara," Sasuke greeted, looking briefly at his friend, then back at the battle.

"Sasuke's still an asshat, I see," Deidara sighed, rolling his eyes, and extended a hand to Sakura. She shook it, but he surprised her by kissing the back of her hand and winking. "Lovely to see you again, Sakura-chan."

Sakura narrowed her eyes at him for a few seconds, before she smiled politely. "Hey, Deidara, it's been a while."

Behind her, Sasuke tensed, looking at their interaction out of the corner of his eye. He turned back to the fight. What Sakura does in her free time isn't my business.

They chatted, and caught up, and it was revealed that Deidara had finally gotten ungrounded by the old man Tsuchikage this year, and that was why he was here so late. Being three years older than them, he was now fifteen, and smiling sheepishly. "It was a good joke while it lasted, but the punishment kinda ruined the fun."

Sakura laughed, and Sasuke snorted, looking at his friend and rolling his eyes. "If you wouldn't do stupid things..."

"I wouldn't get stupid punishments, I know, I've heard it from you before, Sasuke-danna," He crossed his arms over his chest and laughed sarcastically.

The fight was over, and the sign changed again. Iwa no Deidara vs. Haku.

"Guess I'm up," Deidara rubbed his neck sheepishly. "See ya, Sakura-chan, Sasuke-danna."

Sakura's eyes were wide, and she stared at the screen. "Haku." She muttered flatly. "Deidara's going against Haku?!"

Sasuke looked at the screen once, and nodded, closing his eyes again. "Seems so."

"Why does it feel like we messed everything up?" Sakura asked Sasuke, turning to her teammate with a desperate look in her green eyes.

"Sakura, calm down. It can't be that bad if no one from the future has come to stop it." Sasuke smirked at the irony, making Sakura seriously consider it. "I'm interested in this fight." Sasuke confessed.

Sakura looked at it. Their feminine looking friend had joined Deidara at the bottom of the arena. "Now that I think about it, don't Deidara and Haku both look a bit girly?"

"Femme fatale, Sakura," Sasuke said, glancing briefly at his friend, before looking back out at the exams.

Sakura doubled over, clutching her stomach, laughing. She hadn't expected Sasuke to make a joke. She straightened up quickly enough. The fight was starting. Naruto ran up, looking tired. "Hi, sorry I was late, what did I miss?"

"You mean when you were in there with the Hyuga girl?" Sasuke asked, smirking at his friend.

"Oi, teme, keep your dirty assumptions away from me."

"You didn't miss much, Naruto. Gaara won against Lee- Choji against Dosu Kinuta." Sakura shrugged, before pointing down at their blonde Iwagakure friend. "Deidara dropped by to say hi." Before he was carted off to fight Haku- the Demon Zabuza's apprentice.

"And flirt with Sakura." Sasuke broke in conversationally, eyes not leaving the fight, but a smug smirk tugged at his lips.

"What is your problem?!" Sakura laughed breathlessly at Sasuke, who looked at her with a practiced confused expression on his face.

Naruto poked him, but his eyes were going back and forth between the two suspiciously. "Guys, the fight is starting!"

Haku and Deidara sized each other up, walking around each other a bit. The blonde cracked a cocky smile. Sakura bit her lip, wondering who would win this battle. Haku and Deidara were pretty evenly matched right now, and he couldn't tell who was going to pull the upper hand on this fight. Haku raised an eyebrow at Deidara, before forming a hand sign. Sakura remembered that he was able to do signs with one hand, a useful trick when dealing with a speedy bomber. Haku tended to use Ice Style, a clever combination of Wind and Water jutsu, meanwhile, Deidara's Explosion style is made up of Earth and Lightning jutsu, which are usually opposites.

Deidara was trained under the Tsuchikage Ohnoki and his pupils, while Haku was trained under the Demon Zabuza Momochi, a member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. Their fight was the most interesting one, by far, but it would be a pain to explain the whole thing. Haku had thwarted Deidara's devastating explosion attacks by defending himself with his ice, and occasionally moved on the offensive himself. Deidara was pierced through the side, and since he wasn't too bright, when he was caught in Haku's Ice Mirror Jutsu, with all of the senbon, and ended up having to skillfully dodge those where he can. Eventually, exploding his way out of that, he had to counter attack Haku's other ice jutsu. Sakura felt Sasuke tense next to her when he realized that Haku was using some unfamiliar jutsu.

Sakura looked at him, her tied up hair swinging a bit when her head turned "He wouldn't use all of his jutsu just on that little fight he had last time." She pointed out, veiling her unease at the fact that they didn't know everything about everyone.

Sasuke nodded, his eyes flickering to her for the barest moment. "He'd have bigger reserves than that. And we've all progressed since then."

"Yeah, well, that jutsu's awesome. I wanna spar with Haku later, see if he can teach me some counter attacks for that, ya feel me?" Naruto asked, almost leaning off the rail in excitement. "KICK HIS ASS, HAKU!" He screamed.

Sasuke sighed, pinching his temples. "Idiot."

Sakura nodded in agreement, pursing her lips before, turning her attention back to the fight. Once Deidara got close enough, the two of them engaged in hand to hand combat. The art was truly beautiful when one knew how to do it. Deidara and Haku gracefully attacked each other, each of their attacks holding meaning. If one got hit by it, it would be a struggle to get back up again. Deidara was on the offensive, while Haku ducked and weaved between his hands and feet easily. On the occasion where Haku did attack, Deidara had to bring both of his hands up to stop the kick or punch, and usually ended up skidding a ways away. He was strong, then. Deidara often came back with a swift kick combo, but once Haku got used to the barrage of kicks, Deidara had to change his strategy a bit to actually surprise Haku.

The fight was extremely close, but in the end, Deidara won. He'd incapacitated Haku by using two of Haku's own icicles as stalagmites that held him in place. Haku, of course, could move his icicles, but before he could, Deidara swiftly proceeded to knock Haku out, ending the round.

Sakura looked at the clock, and saw that that round had gone on for around two and a half hours. They'd both put up a good fight, but it looked like Deidara was drained, even though he won. Haku was taken to an infirmary, and Deidara stumbled along with him, carrying Haku's mask and hitai-ate for him.

"Wow," Naruto exhaled beside them. "I thought that was never going to end."

"Yeah," Sakura agreed. "Haku's strong."

"I could totally take him," Naruto shrugged confidently. Sakura raised a skeptical eyebrow at him, and Sasuke snorted.

"Whatever, moron, you'd be killed before you even knew who you were fighting."

"EH?! I'll have you know, I wasn't the one that ended up with a million senbon in me when we fought that last time."

"Well, at least I picked up the slack at the end and finished it."

"Kakashi finished it," Sakura reminded them, then her brows furrowed. "Although since it was suicide, was it really Kakashi?"

Naruto shuddered. "I don't know, but I don't like to think about Haku and Zabuza dying right now, ya know?"

Sakura looked down at where Haku was being wheeled away. "Yeah, I know."

The last fight of the day was their friend Sai versus Kin Tsuchi. "Didn't Orochimaru send her team in to try to kill Sasuke?" Sakura asked, looking at her teammate. Naruto nodded the affirmative. "Right, because Orochimaru wanted to test him to see if Sasuke was strong enough to be his next 'vessel'." Sakura continued, looking at Sasuke. "Well, they haven't come for you yet." Sai won that one fairly easily, but now the kids weren't paying attention.

Sasuke backed up against the wall, and his two friends followed him. "Orochimaru's been reclusive this time around." Sasuke told Sakura and Naruto, nodding in the direction of the beaten Oto nins in the corner furthest away from them. They were glaring in Sasuke's direction, but Sasuke was right, they hadn't made a move against him yet.

Naruto nodded. "No one's tried. Even Orochimaru didn't try too hard, when he came after us in the forest." He said, voice low.

"Weird," Sakura thought out loud. "One would think things would go the same way they did last time. Although it does make sense," she said, "because now Sasuke has more people around him. He doesn't really need revenge, so there's no reason for power from Orochimaru, so it would be harder to take advantage."

Sasuke nodded at that, keeping his eyes trained on the fight without really seeing it. "So maybe I'm just a last resort, now." He cracked a hesitant smirk. "He's probably too scared of the people I've surrounded myself with. Kakashi was legendary in our last life. He's always been a Kage level shinobi, but now, he's better. The Sage of the Six Path's chakra gives him more range, therefore more jutsu and less early chakra exhaustion. Kakashi's a machine." Sasuke thought aloud.

Sakura nodded. "I have a much larger chakra reserves this time around, too. We don't have Uchiha or Senju blood, so none of us could get what you boys have, but with the Sage's chakra, we have more power on our side." She smirked. "Enough to be a threat to anyone out there." Sasuke and Naruto tried not to be intimidated, because Sakura's destructive prowess was on otherworldly levels in their FIRST life. Now, enhanced by the Sage's chakra?

Naruto chuckled. "I'm in danger."

Sasuke snorted, while Sakura laughed. It was that sweet laugh they sometimes heard right before a tornado of power hit them on the head. Naruto subconsciously scooted a few inches away from his friend. But now that they were on that track... Naruto frowned. "Sasuke, have you been training with your Rinnegan recently?" He asked the Uchiha.

"I've figured out the basics." Sasuke said, crossing his arms and finally turning his eyes from the fight to his blonde friend.

"Kakashi has a Sharingan in this life," Sakura thought up in wonder. "I wonder if the Sage Chakra influences that, too."

Sasuke nodded. "It's probably going to be a lot easier for Kakashi to use the Sharingan now," he pointed out. "Since the Sage was an ancestor of the Uchiha, he finally has something to make up for the lack of a bloodline connection to make it more of an effortless thing. The chakra ties to the Sage would make switching it on and off possible."

"So then why does he keep his mask on?!" Naruto groaned, running his hands through his hair.

"To piss us off." Sasuke pointed out.

Sakura looked at her teammates, biting her lip. "One of these days, we should just corner him and RIP the mask off him."

"Damn, Sakura. You do that to everyone?" Naruto wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Sakura shot him an unimpressed look, hitting him in the head. "Loser." She sneered, making Sasuke nod in approval. "Anyway, I don't know. I'm just happy Obito was saved, and that whole business was sorted."

Sasuke thought about it, then a small smile came onto his face. He wasn't bothered by the fact that Kakashi had the Sharingan, since it was given to him as a gift, the dying wish of his best friend. Since the Sharingan belonged to Obito, it was his choice to give it away, but they nearly went to court over it. Fugaku finally dropped it when Obito convinced him to let Kakashi keep it. So where Kakashi had previously learned a thousand jutsu, now he knew more.

In other words, out of all four of them, Kakashi was probably the deadliest. Sure, Sasuke had the Rinnegan, Sakura had the Byakugou, and Naruto had the Nine Tails, but Kakashi had years and years of battle experience and pain that neither of his three students had access to. He was trained by Minato Namikaze. That's not to say that he was the strongest out of the four of them, just that he was the deadliest. He would be the one most likely to rip out someone's throat in under seven seconds, aside from Sasuke. When he was younger, he learned how to replicate the Hiraishin.

He never used it, because that was his sensei's technique, but he knew it, and that alone was impressive.

In other words, if there was any candidate for Hokage at any point, it would be Kakashi.

Physical strength wise, Sakura took the cake. She was also the smartest, on par with Kakashi. Strategy was often left to her. Sasuke was the fastest, and the one most likely to save everyone. He had the quickest reflexes. Naruto had the most willpower, and actual power to back up his willpower. He was the powerhouse of the group.

The kids zeroed back in on the fights, when they heard the announcer saying that it wasn't over Naruto's eye was drawn to movement on the rafters of the room, and saw two forms sitting on the roof, watching them. One had long, dark hair with eyes that glinted red, and the other had white hair, and a relaxed position. Both were wearing ANBU garb, and both weren't just there for protection.

"Heads up," Naruto said, catching his friends' attention. They both looked at him, but his eyes had never left the spies. He nodded up at them, and his friends followed his gaze. "We have babysitters." He said, once Sasuke and Sakura found what he was looking at.

"Wouldn't they be by Naruto's dad, and Fugaku-sama if they were here just to watch the fights?" Sakura narrowed her eyes at the two of them. There were enough ANBU skulking in the rafters, keeping watch. Kakashi had enough influence that the security measures were much tighter than they were last time.

"Tch." Sasuke gritted his teeth. "Kakashi's worried about something, or he wouldn't be here."

"Hm. And he's got Itachi-nii with him, too." Naruto nodded.

There was suddenly a look of anguished anxiety shared between the three of them.

"ROUND TWO!" Hayate Gekko announced, grabbing everyone's attention. "First up, Temari vs. Shikamaru Nara!"

Before they started the official fight, Shikamaru withdrew, making the three of them chuckle. "That's something that stayed the same," Naruto pointed out. Sakura giggled at the frustrated look on Temari's face, even though she was technically the automatic winner.

Naruto fought against Shino, in the next round, but took him down in twenty minutes. He'd learned a Wind jutsu that allowed him to slice atomic sized threats, so Shino's bugs were no problem, right then.

Next was Deidara versus Kankuro, which was fun to watch because both the blonde, and the puppet user were very hot headed by nature, and their arguments were reminiscent of Naruto and Kiba's. Regardless, Deidara blew up Kankuro's puppets by implanting those tiny bugs into one of them when they got too close. Sakura and Naruto exchanged glances, because in their previous life, Kankuro hated Deidara for taking his brother and assaulting his village. Deidara knocked Kankuro out soon after ward, and was declared the official winner.

"Deidara's doing well," Sakura commented, eyes widened. Kankuro looked pissed when he woke up, but still shook Deidara's hand in sportsmanship. Sasuke eyed Sakura in his peripheral vision, because of that comment, but Sakura was already looking at the billboard for the next fight.

"Next up! Sasuke Uchiha versus Gaara!"

Sakura turned to face her teammate with raised eyebrows and a smirk on her face. "Go get 'em, tiger," she giggled, and punched her teammate in the shoulder.

"GO GAARA!" Naruto shouted loudly, making the red head laugh, as he made his way down to the middle. "Hope you lose, chicken ass!" He shouted to Sasuke, even though they were right next to each other. Sasuke's eyes wandered towards his parents, and he saw Kushina and Mikoto dying of laughter. Fugaku had closed his eyes, a small smile tugging on his lips, while Minato beamed, winking at Sasuke in encouragement.

"Tch." He grit his teeth. "Chrissakes, dobe, keep it down!"

"Whatever. Stop making Gaara wait!" Naruto shoved his friend down the stairs. Sasuke rolled his eyes at the blonde, but picked up speed, stopping in front of Gaara.

He didn't look phased at all, but then again, neither was Sasuke. His Sharingan could control the One Tails if something went wrong, but even then, Naruto told Sasuke that Gaara had his Bijuu under control. He bowed respectfully towards Gaara. "It will be an honor to fight you." He said, before standing up straight. Gaara repeated the action, a small smile on his face.

He physically felt Mikoto's smile at his manners, but he hadn't even looked in her direction.

Whoever won here, would face Naruto in the finals. Sasuke and Naruto still had the ridiculously powerful rivalry, and Sasuke had been itching for a fight with his friend to see who was the strongest. Of course, it would be very regulated, without the use of their real powers, but it would be close enough. Sasuke felt his shoulders tense. Damn, I have to beat Gaara, here. Sasuke allowed his raging fire chakra to go loose, for once, the electricity that was also in his chakra crackling and charging the air. His raw power silenced everyone in the room. Sasuke practically smelled his brother's unease on the ceiling. Gaara didn't even give me a fair fight, last time, calling on Shukaku.

Gaara smirked. "You will be an interesting opponent, Sasuke Uchiha."

Sasuke nodded back, reining his chakra in. "You as well."

Hayate Gekko finally dropped his hand, saying, "Go!" and Sasuke's foot twitched, his speed sending him rocketing for Gaara.

He appeared there in seconds, aiming a good kick to the stomach, but Gaara's sand came up to stop it. Sasuke, unaffected, spun and kicked again, this time getting closer, before Gaara's impeccable sand defense came to the rescue.

Sasuke backed off, assessing the situation. Alright, this is easy. Gaara's usual tactic is to immobilize his opponents, then crush some or all parts of their body. Although I doubt he'll use such brutal methods now, he still has access to a high jutsu arsenal. If I do get close enough to attack, I still have to worry about his sand shield. Should I break through that, there's still the Armour of Sand on his body that provides extra protection from that.

Sasuke thought of all his armor piercing jutsu. I could use my Chidori Sharp Spear to pierce the top layer of his defense, then infiltrate the shell with the Chidori Current, seeing if I can get rid of the body armor. I would probably kill him, then, though, and then Naruto would kill me. I'll go with that, but make the Chidori Current at a smaller level, to see if I can just knock him out.

Sasuke nodded. He knew what he'd do, now. Sasuke activated his first level, three tomoe Sharingan, not the Mangekyo (since technically, he wasn't supposed to have it). Sasuke kept away, at first, getting a feel for Gaara's fighting style. He used taijutsu against the Sand, dodging and flipping away from the sand that wanted to trap him and crush him. He could feel the One Tails' bloody intent in Gaara's chakra, but it appeared Gaara wasn't letting that control him. He hadn't tried to crush Sasuke yet, after all.

Running forward, Sasuke dodged all of Gaara's sand attacks, leveling an impressive Katon: Gouka Mekkyaku (or Madara's Majestic Destroyer Flame, but on a smaller level so as not to destroy the whole place) as a distraction. Gaara's sand again came to his defense, covering him in the shell. While the shell fell at Gaara's command, he assaulted Sasuke with more sand to dodge, but it wasn't too bad.

By the time Gaara had fully dropped the shell, Sasuke was already lunging at him, aiming a kick to the face. Gaara's sand planted itself in front of Sasuke's foot, but that was no biggie. Sasuke did a backflip off the sand, and in midair did the hand signs for the Chidori: Sharp Spear. The spear pierced through Gaara's shell, making the rest of the sand crack a bit as Sasuke landed, stunning Gaara.

Sasuke used this to an advantage, running with the Chidori, even as it faded, before stopping in front of the shell. He put his hand through the hole, letting his Chidori Current run through the sand again. At this point, the Wind Style Gaara used to better manipulate his Sand was holding, but the Earth Style that formed the Sand was collapsing, because Lightning was strong against Earth. The lightning was glowing and cracking the sand more, inside the shell, but Sasuke had toned it down so it would effectively get rid of the Sand, but at the same time not actually hurt Gaara too badly

Sasuke eventually pulled his arm back, waiting patiently until the last of the sand crumbled. Gaara's Sand Armor was crumbling, too. He heard the crowd of students and spectators rumbling in the background, because Sasuke Uchiha had just gotten through Gaara's ultimate defense that had left even Rock Lee stumped.

Gaara was still stunned, the lightning coursing through his system, and his eyes rolled back into his head and he fell forward. Sasuke caught him, supporting him with one arm while holding him up.

"And the winner is- Sasuke Uchiha!" Hayate Gekko announced, a hint of a smile on his face.

A medic swiftly took Gaara from Sasuke. He looked up, and saw the awed students. Even his family looked a bit shocked at the prowess of the younger Uchiha brother. Sasuke looked at Fugaku, who stood beside the Hokage, now, a stunned look on his face. Sasuke tilted his chin upwards, defiantly, and smirked. Naruto, the idiot, started cheering, and then the rest of Sasuke's friends took up that cheer. Then the spectators, and the students cheered as well.

Sasuke's eyes sought Itachi in the rafters. He couldn't see his brother clearly, but just from looking up, he saw his brother had the Sharingan on. From the crinkle in his eye, he knew his brother had a proud smile on his face. Sasuke, in turn, smiled up at him, and exited the arena, bee-lining for his friends.

Sakura hugged him quickly, a smile on her face. "Ha, called it, Naruto. You thought Gaara was going to win." She said, holding out a hand. "Cough it up." Naruto sighed loudly, and pulled a twenty out of his pocket, slapping it into Sakura's hand.

"I can't believe you guys were betting on my fight." Sasuke sighed as if he was disappointed, but deep down, he was amused. Besides, he could probably weasel an ice cream out of Naruto's (now Sakura's) money, if he wanted to.

"Easy money." Sakura shrugged, earning a smile from Sasuke. "You did good, Sasuke." She said, lightly ruffling his hair. Sasuke ignored how she was treating him like a kid brother.

"You've both done good in all of your fights," Sasuke pointed out. "This is just Gaara." At one point, Deidara was able to beat him. He didn't say this out loud, but it was there.

Kakashi watched his cute little students closely during their fights- Sakura versus Sai was up next. Sakura had been learning how to better control her chakra natures, earth and water, and that came in handy for her, because she had picked up a couple jutsu from the war.

Sai attacked her with his usual long range style, Super Beast Scroll. Sakura countered those methods, showing off her impeccable aptitude for battle strategy, by using her own long range jutsu to counter that. Water missiles and Earth spikes swallowed up Sai's drawings, allowing Sakura to get closer to her friend. He had his tanto for back up, and dodging Sakura's taijutsu attacks, but Sakura was used to fighting without a weapon in a way that Sai would never know.

Besides, even without her chakra enhanced super strength, she was strong. She was known for carrying unconscious team members and beating up on idiots and perverts who tried to follow her into an alley.

A strong kick to the hand removed Sai's weapon from his hand. Sakura jumped up, grabbed the weapon, then shunshinned behind her friend, placing the blade on his neck. She didn't like the idea of rendering Sai unconscious.

"Due to Sai's inability to continue, this match goes to Sakura Haruno." Hayate announced, making Sakura's friends, the rest of their Academy friends, Kankuro, Deidara, the spectators and (loudest of all) Kushina cheer.

"Your team is doing well," Itachi commented, turning his head to look at Kakashi.

"Aa," he said. He was proud, even though he knew the Chūnin exams were probably a walk in the park to his students compared to the Fourth Great Ninja War. He got to gloat to Gai, AND make some extra money off their skills. Kakashi counted the money he had earned from his betting pools, and split it with Itachi.

Itachi wasn't usually a betting person, he was too nice, but Kakashi had peer pressured him into opening a bet with him. The mental skills paid off, in the end.

"That was the last fight for the preliminaries," Hayate announced, his voice circling the arena. "The Finals are a month from now. The fights will include Sakura Haruno versus Temari, Sasuke Uchiha versus Deidara, and whoever wins out of those fights goes up against Naruto!"

The cheers echoed around the room.

"How are you going to train them for the finals?" Itachi looked at him, curiosity in his voice. "It looks like you've already trained them quite well."

Kakashi smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "I can't take all of the credit for that, all three of them did some training and studying on their own."

Itachi snorted. "Some?" He remembered all of the Raiton scrolls he'd found piled under Sasuke's bed, and the flashlight in his drawer. He'd known that Kakashi had passed his legendary Raikiri down to Sasuke, but he hadn't known that his younger brother had mastered the studies of Change in Chakra Form enough to create two new jutsu from it. Ordinarily, that would take years and years. Itachi looked down at Sasuke and sweat dropped down his face beneath his mask. His otouto would be a force to be reckoned with, when he was older.

Itachi, himself, had invented a few jutsu, but that was always especially time consuming. Kakashi had recommended Shadow clones, and that had cut the time spectacularly. Itachi had known Kakashi was a genius, but even after knowing the man for ten years, Itachi was somehow still surprised.

His students, too, were brilliant, and everyone knew it.

Itachi looked over to his father, and wondered what he was thinking. If the man even considered turning Sasuke into a weapon, Itachi would take Sasuke and desert the clan.

Kakashi placed a hand on Itachi's shoulder. "Don't worry about him, Itachi," he said. "I'll take care of him."

Itachi looked down again at Sakura and Naruto. Prodigies were like meat to the powers of the world- the lions. If they discovered the extent of their powers, they'd be used as weapons. Have their free will taken from them. Like Kakashi and Itachi. "And them?" Itachi asked, worried for Naruto and Sakura.

"Of course." Kakashi answered.

"Okay." Itachi let out a relieved breath of air. "Thank you." Kakashi squeezed his friend's shoulder before letting go. "Are you going to be at Kushina's celebration-thing?" Itachi asked the white haired man.

"Yeah. I'll see you there, and give you a detailed agenda of Sasuke's training." Kakashi said. "And theirs, too." He knew Itachi felt responsibility for Sasuke's best friends.

"Alright." Itachi straightened up. "Better go congratulate Sasuke. I'll see you in a couple hours." He said, and Kakashi nodded.

"Bye." Kakashi disappeared into smoke, and after one last look, Itachi did the same.