"Don't ever make decisions based on fear. Make decisions based on hope and possibility. Make decisions on what should happen, not what shouldn't."

- Michelle Obama

<>

True to his word, Kakashi gave Itachi the training schedule that he'd made for his students.

They did actual training, contrary to popular belief. Sakura's body had a natural affinity for Water Style and Earth Style, so Kakashi wanted to play on that, during her fight with Temari. The girl was a Wind user, so Sakura would need a strong defense until she got close enough to engage in taijutsu. Sakura had never really felt the need to learn Earth and Water style, since she was always so proficient in the Yin type, medical ninjutsu, and her Destructive Fist technique. In reality, Kakashi spent a lot of time training her, putting her up against Naruto and Sasuke. Sometimes both. They were only allowed to use jutsu of their respective chakra natures- Wind for Naruto, and Lightning and Fire for Sasuke. Once Sakura was strong enough to beat both of her teammates with only Earth Style and Water Style, Kakashi moved on to working with Naruto and Sasuke.

Sasuke's Raiton jutsu were impressive, to say the least. Naruto had learned a couple other tricks with his Rasengan, as well. Giant Rasengan, and Rasenshuriken, as some of them. He even had combination jutsu with Sasuke's Amaterasu, which was even more impressive. It was reminiscent of the war time. Kakashi made Sakura work together with Naruto to develop a combo of her Water Style, and his Wind Style called the Typhoon Water Vortex, just in case the two of them were in a bind and needed a quick way out. Naruto had performed the jutsu with Captain Yamato before, when they were fighting an Akatsuki member named Kakuzu. Sakura and Sasuke worked together to combine her Water Style with his Lightning Style, creating a jutsu not unlike Izumo and Kotetsu's trademark. Sakura would drench the opponent or opponents in water and make them utterly delirious with her incredibly strong Water Dragon Jutsu, and Sasuke would electrocute them using his Chidori spear when he and Sakura were both far, FAR away from the water.

The four of them worked on team combo attacks during the time, and then they tried out Sasuke's Rinnegan. They saw that he'd retained a few of Pain- Nagato's abilities, such as the Almighty Push, the Shinra Tensei. He could still use Amaterasu, but he also had other abilities now, like the Amenotejikara.

"So Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked curiously as Sasuke meditated on a rock. Sakura was sharpening her kunai behind him, her feet in the river.

"Yeah, Naruto?"

"Is Sasuke's Rinnegan really a Rinnegan, or is it a Rinne-Sharingan?" Naruto asked, pointing at Sasuke, who now peeked his right eye open at this. "'Cause it has all the tomoe, and everything, and Madara said something last time about the Rinne-Sharingan..."

Kakashi frowned. "I'd been thinking about it, Naruto, and I think that it's both." His three students lifted their heads at that, confusion and curiosity evident in their faces. "Because the Rinnegan is usually created by blending the Sage of the Six Paths chakra, like Madara did. The Rinne-Sharingan, based off the vague description we got from Madara on the battlefield, is a dojutsu acquired by directly eating a God Fruit from the tree, or from being the Ten Tails Jinchuriki. That's the way that you get things like the Infinite Tsukuyomi." Kakashi pointed to Sasuke. "You got some of Hashirama's cells implanted in you from Kabuto, who got them from Orochimaru. That, and the chakra of the Sage made it possible for you to get the Rinnegan. I have a theory that since the Sage's chakra consists of both Indra and Ashura's chakra, that enabled you to activate it. The Uchiha eyes and the Senju body, is what he said was necessary. You would technically have that. I was thinking that maybe the purple eye meant you got the Sage's chakra, and the tomoe on it signified the Sharingan's abilities." Kakashi looked closer at his student. "It's truly intriguing. I'll have to study up more on it later. For now, we should start by figuring out what you can do with it."

They discovered his space/time ninjutsu on accident.

Sasuke had been trying to use Amenotejikara to escape from the solid grip Kakashi had on him, but for some reason, it didn't work. It opened a purple portal thing. Kakashi's grip lessened as he walked over to the portal. Sasuke's eye felt strange, until he realized that it was bleeding. He hadn't recognized the feeling because he never had to deal with that anymore with his Eternal Mangekyō, and it had been a while since the normal Mangekyō Sharingan was something he used. He was blessed to not have to use the painful dōjutsu as much as his brother had to, which was another source of unending guilt to him.

He still had Itachi's eyes.

Sakura took one look at him, and while her teammates went to study the portal, she walked over to Sasuke, taking his hand off his eye, and hovering her own there instead. Her glowing green medical ninjutsu flooded Sasuke's senses. She probed around his head, searching for the damaged part of his eye cells. She healed that, and their eyes met for real for the first time in a long time. They held it for a bit, Sasuke trying his hardest to get a read on her. It used to be so easy to know what she was thinking, but she wasn't an open book anymore.

"Sasuke, Sakura," Kakashi said, looking back at them. "Come look at this."

Sakura looked away first, hooking her left hand behind his arm and dragging him with her. When they got to the portal, Sakura gasped. Sasuke narrowed his eyes. The scene through the portal was of the Hokage Mountain, but without any Hokage heads on it. The village was gone. There were only trees where buildings and houses used to be.

"Holy shit," he breathed, looking closer onto the mountain. There, standing on top, were two people. One, being his ancestor Madara Uchiha, the second figure, was Hashirama Senju. They were grown up, looking to be in their early twenties. And the most stunning part of all that was the fact that both were smiling.

"How did you do that, Sasuke?" Kakashi turned to look at him, an awed look on his face.

"I honestly have no idea," Sasuke shook his head, eyes not leaving the portal. Madara and Hashirama were standing side by side as friends, talking and laughing with one another. He shook his head again, unbelieving. "This can't be real."

Naruto picked up a rock, and threw it though the portal, and the four of them leaned in to watch it fall. It landed on the far away floor with a clunk, and disappeared in the foliage. "I'm thinking it is, teme," Naruto said, looking at his friend sheepishly, as if this was somehow his fault.

"Sasuke..." Sakura looked at her teammate. "If this is real... you might be capable of space/time ninjutsu."

Sasuke shook his head, backing away from the portal. The image shivered a little, then went away. Sasuke kept backing away, staring at the space he'd just seen the old Konoha, until his back hit a tree, and he slid down on it. His head was suddenly hot and stuffy. "No way," he said.

Sakura and Kakashi were there right away, while Naruto kept inspecting the place where the image disappeared. He threw sticks into the air through there, frowning as they just hit the floor on the other side.

Kakashi knelt beside his student, while Sakura bent over to look at him. "Sasuke, are you okay?" Kakashi asked, while Sakura felt his head with her hands, before sending some more of her soothing chakra into his head. The throbbing went away immediately, but Sakura's chakra was so cool... Sasuke's breathing was coming heavily, and he met Kakashi's eyes.

"I don't want to be capable of space/time ninjutsu," he told his teacher while Sakura moved her ministrations to above his eye.

Kakashi winced. "Sorry." He told Sasuke, placing an arm onto his shoulder. "I think it was a gift from the Sage."

Sasuke scowled, upsetting Sakura's hand from his eye. "Well, the Sage can take it back."

Kakashi looked at his student and squeezed his shoulder. "Sasuke," he sighed, before just sitting down in front of his student. Sakura got down on her knees, leaning forward so she'd have easier access to Sasuke's eye. She healed the nerves and tendons that were upset by the sudden strain, before leaning back. "I'm sorry." Sasuke looked from Sakura to Kakashi, his eyes still flashing. "Maybe this could be helpful in the future."

Sasuke said nothing, choosing instead to close his eyes. He proceeded to lay his head back on the tree trunk, and allowed Sakura to finish.

When the Finals Exams came up, Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke were very much ready for their fights. Sasuke was certain that if he beat Deidara, he'd be fighting Naruto, and the two of them fought about who was going to be winning that. Sasuke hadn't touched his Rinnegan again since that day in the woods, deactivating it. Sure, the dōjutsu could come in handy, but he really wasn't supposed to be using it until he was older- way older.

Sasuke went home the day before the Finals exhausted, but happy. Training with Team Seven again really had spiritually healing factors. He removed his shoes at the door, and slid it open, stepping in. "Tadaima," he said softly.

Mikoto, who was in the next room, shouted a cheerful, "Okaeri!"

Sasuke smiled, biting his bottom lip a bit. Some days, he was struck with just how much he missed having people to go home to. "Hi, mother," he said, joining her in the kitchen. "How was your day?"

She looked over, wrapped an arm around Sasuke's neck and kissed his hair, even though she was obviously busy making dinner. "Good, darling, how was yours?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at her. Mikoto Uchiha was ridiculously selfless, and often tried to get out of talking about herself. When Itachi pointed this out to her, she simply giggled nervously, patted him on the cheek, and told him she was fine. Itachi looked at Sasuke over his dinner with an upset look on his face before Father walked in. "How are Kushina and Hizashi-sama doing today?" Itachi had figured out a way around that, though. Ask her how someone close to her is doing, and she'll talk about them for ages, eventually letting a few things about herself slip.

Mikoto then proceeded to talk to him softly about the state of Kushina's hair that she was complaining about, and Sasuke wordlessly joined her in cooking, cutting up whatever she needed him to, and stirring the pot.

"I think your brother will be getting home-" she paused and shrieked when Itachi's arms wrapped around her waist, surprising her. Sasuke had seen him sneak in, and Itachi had held a finger up to his mouth to signal silence, so he went back to cleaning the cooking dishes. When Sasuke heard Mikoto's telltale small scream, he turned around, laughing so hard, he bent over holding his stomach.

Itachi was hugging their mother, rocking her back and forth, laughing in that same quiet way he normally did. He had a genuine smile on his face that made Sasuke happy. Mikoto turned around and hugged him back, but not before hitting him on the head with her wooden spoon. "Boy!" she said, pretending to be upset. "You scared the life out of me!" Itachi looked at Sasuke, mouthing her ranting word for word, making Sasuke only laugh harder. When Mikoto looked at Itachi suspiciously, he had his wide grin on his face, but the minute she looked away, he went back to mouthing their mother's rambling.

Sasuke smiled softly, sipping water from a cup he'd pulled out of the cupboard.

"So, Sasuke, you excited about your finals?" Itachi asked, wiggling his eyebrows at his little brother. "Those are tomorrow, right?" Itachi was almost eighteen now, and already ran his own unit in the ANBU. He'd advanced from captain to having his own separate branch. Sasuke was really proud of his brother, and how ridiculously strong he'd become in his years.

"Sure." Sasuke shrugged.

"Hey, where's the Kusanagi?" Itachi asked. Sasuke looked at his brother strangely, then went and retrieved his chokutō for Itachi to see. Itachi slid the sword out of the scabbard in the kitchen and looked at it with an assessing gaze, while Mikoto eyed him disapprovingly. "Looks sharp. Good job." He told Sasuke, a smile on his face. "You gonna use it in your fight against the Iwa brat?"

Itachi and Deidara had a puzzling relationship. While Deidara previously hated Itachi, because Sasuke's elder brother had humiliated him in a fight, they still didn't like each other very much. This time, it wasn't necessarily because of the grudge match, it was actually because of Sakura.

Itachi once called Deidara out on his obvious flirting with her in front of her parents, the Hokage and his wife, their Academy graduating class, the Kazekage and his children, and Sasuke's entire family. Deidara had been called 'lover boy' by all of Sasuke's cousins, Naruto, and (not surprisingly) Sakura for months because of it. Itachi had really only done it to draw Sasuke's attention to it- Sasuke was aware that Itachi wanted him to get together with Sakura, but there was nothing to be done about that- but Deidara took offense anyway.

The blonde always made sure to make some kind of mess for Itachi where he didn't need to. Sasuke didn't do anything, because it was amusing to watch Itachi stew quietly, biting his tongue on how much the kid annoyed him. Not just because Itachi considered Sakura to be his adorable kid sister, and protected her viciously from any boys who hit on her, but because Deidara just got on his nerves.

"Probably," Sasuke replied, shrugging. "We'll see."

"Have you got a strategy worked out yet?" Itachi asked, sitting down on the pillow on the floor. Sasuke took his seat next to his aniki, and nodded. "Want to run it by me to see if it's brat-proof?"

Itachi was one of the most talented battle strategists in the village. If there was anyone Sasuke wanted to run his strategies by, it was him. They talked about it all the way through dinner, even when their father got home, and into the night.

Sasuke had decided against using any of his visual prowess against Deidara, only his Sharingan. Although, technically, he hadn't gone through an event traumatic enough to get it, they'd lied to Fugaku saying that on a mission, they'd accidentally lost a little boy that Sasuke had grown attached to. That was traumatic enough. When Itachi asked about it, Sasuke told him the story of Haku without using his name, and making the boy seem much- much younger, and more of a friend to Sasuke. More like an annoying kid brother, around the age of Tazuna's grandkid Inari. Not that he liked the brat, that was more Naruto's lane. He grabbed all the lonely kids out there like him and made them feel better, no matter who they were. Sasuke was just along for the ride.

Overall, Sasuke would use his usual techniques, pretending he'd updated them, and use more power on his Chidori and Fire style jutsu. Either way, Team Seven was going to win those exams and become Chunin, because they HAD to have more liberty so they could take down a couple of other baddies and figure out what happened with the Akatsuki, because Kakashi wasn't learning anything about them.

The Akatsuki were tricky this time around. No news whatsoever about them- although Kakashi kept tabs on some of the former members, that was all he could do alone. He'd need Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto soon, if they were going to get things done.

No mistakes. No waiting until next year.

They had to pass.

<>

Naruto thought this whole situation was odd, but was enjoying it. He'd come to get good luck ramen with Iruka-sensei, and found Neji and Hinata already on stools, digging into their ramen. His eyes lit up, and he ran up to the cousins with a happy smile on his face. "Hey! What's up guys!" He exclaimed, making Hinata drop her chopsticks and stare at him in shock. Neji flashed him a glare.

Okay, so maybe he could've given them a warning, but where would be the fun in that?

Iruka-sensei finally joined him in the stall, looking at them. "Hinata-chan! Neji!" He said, sounding pleased. "What a pleasant surprise! I haven't talked to you two since you graduated from the Academy!"

Neji nodded politely at Iruka. "Iruka-sensei, it's nice to see you again."

"O-ohayo, Iruka-sensei," Hinata said, her confidence being affected by Naruto's presence. It only worsened when Naruto sat next to her. Neji, who was on her other side, flashed him a warning glare. Naruto stuck his tongue out in return, while Iruka settled into a stool beside Naruto.

"Ojichan!" Naruto called, catching Old Man Teuchi's attention. "Two bowls of miso ramen, please!"

"Naruto!" Teuchi said, sounding happy. "It's been a while!"

Naruto winced. Apparently he'd been neglecting his favorite haunts. "Sorry, old man, the Chūnin Exam finals are coming up, and I've been training harder than normal. I'd tell Mom and Dad to drop by with me, but when I get home, I usually collapse."

Old Man Teuchi nodded in understanding. Ayame gave Naruto a friendly smile before starting on his and Iruka's ramen. The Hokage's son was such a frequent customer that they both knew what Naruto wanted right away.

"That's right, you're up in the finals, tomorrow, aren't you?" Neji asked, turning in his stool to look at Naruto with something that sounded like acknowledgement in his voice. Hinata looked at Naruto too, blushing wildly. "Are you excited?"

"Yeah, I am." Naruto said, a grin on his face. "Sakura-chan and teme are gonna beat their opponents, then I'm up. I'll probably have to fight Sakura-chan first, because like it or not, some people are just sexist." He shook his head, frowning. "Then either me or Sakura-chan are gonna win, and then we'll be fighting Sasuke. Whoever wins that, is granted chūnin status, I guess."

"S-so how a-are all of y-you going to be made Ch-Chūnin if you or S-Sakura-chan have to beat each o-other?" Hinata asked softly, her voice barely audible. Naruto, who was listening, heard her loud and clear.

"I reckon me or Sakura-chan are gonna surrender the fight, and that'll promote us. Then if whoever fights Sasuke makes the fight interestin' enough, that'll be enough to promote them as well." Naruto told her, attention focused solely on the Hyuga heiress, who blushed at it. This was an improvement, since the old Hinata definitely would've fainted.

Neji scoffed, turning back to his food. "That'll be tough. It would have to be an insane fight."

Naruto's eyes flashed. "Lucky for us, our team's always been extremely... interesting." He grinned. If he volunteered to be cut first- he thought Sakura would, because she knew how badly Naruto and Sasuke wanted to fight each other- REALLY fight each other- but if he did quit the match, Sakura'd kick Sasuke's ass, and he was one hundred percent there for it. He supposed his male best friend was tough, but if Sakura-chan broke out her Destructive Fist, the fight would be over in minutes. Maybe. Naruto highly doubted she would, because she still hadn't gotten official training from Tsunade-no-baa-chan yet. Tsunade's Destructive Fist was tough enough to land some good hits on Madara's Susanoo- Sakura's was twice as strong.

In fact, Sakura might lose on purpose to Sasuke, just to make his parents proud of him. That was just the kind of person she was. Naruto frowned down at the ramen that had been placed in front of him. He hoped to God Sakura wouldn't do that. Maybe he'd chat with her about that.

Naruto put on a smile in front of his friends and Iruka-sensei, though. After all, that was just a worse case scenario. That was only if Sakura didn't decide to forfeit her fight with Naruto early like Shikamaru did.

Naruto wasn't sure he liked that idea either. He wanted Sakura-chan to do her best, because she'd worked her butt off to get as strong as she was, and Naruto was immensely proud of her. But knowing her love for himself and Sasuke, she'd sell herself short to give them the spotlight.

Naruto decided right then he didn't like the selfless version of his friend.

<>

Sakura woke up early in the morning, got dressed, and hoisted her backpack onto her shoulders. Today was the day that Orochimaru attacked the village, and if everything went according to plan, they'd have to leave early to look for Tsunade-shishou after the battle, so she had a bag packed, just in case there was an emergency. She wasn't worried about her home, even during the last coming of Orochimaru, her house and parents had been unaffected. She didn't expect anything to be different now. She slipped downstairs, and met her mother for breakfast. She was a terrible cook, but Sakura ate everything she was given. Her father was reading the newspaper, and looked up from it with a proud smile.

"Ah, there she is!" Sakura's beloved father, Kizashi Haruno announced, "Our Finalist!"

Sakura beamed, and dropped her backpack, kissing her father on the cheek. "Thanks, dad."

Mebuki grinned from the stove. "I'm making your favorite for breakfast, honey, eat up! You'll need to make sure you've got energy for your fights!"

"Hai, hai," Sakura said, hugging her mother and sitting down. She lifted the cup of orange juice to her mouth, throwing it back. Then something drew her eyes on the table.

"Ino-chan stopped by," Mebuki mentioned. Sakura looked at her mother briefly as she talked, before looking back onto the table. There was a boquet sitting there. Every kunoichi (for some reason) was required to know the meanings behind flowers. Maybe it was for secret messages? One never knew with the curriculum implemented by the Third Hokage. Sakura wasn't all too pleased that kunoichi weren't getting the same training as the boys, but she knew that Minato probably didn't know. Maybe she'd drop some hints to the Hokage the next time she was over at their house. The flowers in the bouquet were purple hyacinth, Calla Lily's, Gladiolus' and Carnations. All four were pretty on their own, but together they were beautiful.

The calla lily's symbolized magnificence and beauty, while the red carnations meant love, pride and admiration. The gladiolus symbolized strength of character, faithfulness, and honor. The purple hyacinth was an apology.

Basically, it was wishing her good luck and telling her she was awesome in flower, while also apologizing for the distance.

Sakura teared up a little bit, averting her eyes from her father so he wouldn't see.

Ino had forgiven her.

The two of them had fallen out in their Academy days, Ino thinking Sakura had a crush on Sasuke because the two of them hung out more often than Sasuke did with any other girl. Sakura had insisted that she didn't like her teammate, but Ino wouldn't listen. So Sakura decided that they needed to take a break in their friendship. She loved her friend to death, still, obviously, but she kept her distance until Ino matured. She was so used to hanging around people who were smarter and more mature than death, that being around Ino was exhausting.

But now if Ino was ready to move on, maybe they could be friends again. Real ones.

Sakura put the flowers in a vase on the table, and got ready to leave after breakfast. She hugged both of her parents, and they wished her luck.

She left and met Naruto and Sasuke at their rendezvous point, and the three of them walked to the arena together. All three carried backpacks, and walked silently until the arena was in sight.

"So, today's the day, huh?" Naruto asked, biting the inside of his mouth nervously. Sakura felt his anxiety, and gave him a hesitant smile.

"Naruto, don't worry about it." Sakura told him, slipping her hand into Naruto's and squeezing tightly. "Your dad is going to be fine. We'll protect him with our lives." She looked at Sasuke, who was looking at his feet.

"Yeah, but that wouldn't stop him from using the Reaper Death Seal on Orochimaru's arms like Ji-chan did last time." Naruto said, squeezing Sakura's hand back. "Knowing my dad, he'd do anything to get Orochimaru away. What if he follows in Ji-chan's footsteps subconsciously? I'm so scared..." He murmured.

Sakura stopped in the street and hugged her friend tightly, giving him all the help he needed. Her presence was comforting. Naruto wasn't in this alone, and he knew that now. Naruto sank into the hug, and Sasuke wordlessly took the cue and stopped to wait for them. He didn't turn around, or say anything about it, which was nice of him. He still wasn't affectionate (at all) so hugs initiated by Sasuke were damn near impossible. There might've been one in the history of both lives, and they were sure that was an accident. He wouldn't hug Naruto for all the money in the world, so Sakura stepped up. Being the female teammate, she was also the one that made sure all the boys got the affection they needed- especially Kakashi and Sasuke, who could be subconsciously cold. Naruto was feeling a little bit better. Sakura rubbed his head, and Naruto finally relaxed.

"Naruto, everything's going to be okay, I swear." Sakura vowed, linking her arm around Naruto's and walking. Sasuke fell into step beside Naruto, offering silent support. Naruto appreciated that. "If anything happens to your dad, I'll take care of him." Sakura said. She gestured to her forehead, as they walked, a vicious smirk crawling onto her face. Naruto smirked back. Sakura had finally collected enough chakra to form the Byakugou no In around two years ago, though she kept it hidden. No one knew about it but her team. In fact, she had chakra left over, so she'd started working on a second seal.

A second Byakugou no In. Like a backup to the backup. If she activated both, there was a chance that she would be as physically strong as Eighth Gate of Death Guy Sensei, without the risk, and it would last for much longer. Hours, at least. Of course, it would be a bit draining, but she had Sage of the Six Paths chakra to fall back on. And, after months of studying, she'd come to the conclusion that it wouldn't start draining her life force to use Mitotic Regeneration until she was in her late fourties. She'd learned the technique from Lord Tobirama's sealing techniques in his journals. The seal was going to be located on the back of her neck. Sakura Haruno was going to be just as legendary as her teammates.

Sakura had gotten so strong, just like that. And her teammates were right there with her, of course, but her ascension to power from where she used to be was impressive. She had been a civilian of no ninja family, whereas Naruto and Sasuke both had prestigious bloodlines. Sasuke had clan grooming and chakra reserves, and an attentive elder brother to teach him things (before he left, anyway), and Naruto was a Jinchuriki with a never-say-die spirit, always ready to keep moving, Uzumaki regenerative healing and steep chakra reserves.

Sakura was a book smart civilian with above average chakra control. And she'd managed to become the third most powerful person, maybe in the world.

The three of them walked inside, and joined their fellow contestants, Temari and Deidara in the arena. Speaking of the arena, it was full of people by lunch time. The contestants got two hours to train and warm up, and then the whole place was flooded with people who wanted to watch the exams. The Uchiha clan had come to support their youngest heir, and every civilian who knew Sakura had come to see her fight. Shinobi, civilians, tourists, and royalty alike had all come and were gathered in this arena to see the fights.

Naruto's father, Minato Namikaze, was seated where the Sandaime had been in the last Exams. Beside him, sat Rasa, the Fourth Kazekage. Hopefully, the real one this time. Kakashi had been put in charge of security for Minato, so it would be significantly harder for anyone to pull anything.

Kushina and Mikoto were visible in the crowd, Kushina cheering the loudest of all for the three genin that she loved. Sitting beside them, Itachi, Obito and Shisui were sharing a tub of popcorn, and giving them a thumbs up and a smile. Neji was seated beside Hinata Hyuga, who was with her team. Ino could be seen in the crowd by their friends, the Konoha Twelve all sticking together. Gaara and Kankuro had come to support their sister, and were seated behind their father. Minato gave all three of them proud smiles. Kakashi was missing, probably patrolling the area, but before the fights began, he transmitted one message to the cerebral group chat.

Good luck.

Sakura looked at her teammates, and let an anxiety filled chuckle out. Naruto laughed too, and Sasuke smirked, closing his eyes.

You too, old man.

Sakura and Naruto laughed louder, until the room was called to silence. Sasuke crossed his arms over his chest and took a more poised stance, all of his attention focused on Hayate.

Up first, as expected, was the fight between Temari and Sakura.

Temari was excited to be fighting Sakura, even though the girl hadn't showed even a fourth of what she was capable of. Sakura supposed it was a bit unfair that she knew the way Temari fought inside and out from when the two of them worked together in the war and other missions, their combined efforts shattering the earth beneath the white Zetsu and blowing them away to allow more troops through.

Sakura's biggest handicap was the fact that she often liked to work close up, while Temari was a long range ninja. Of course, Sakura had picked up a few things in the war to help with that, but it still wasn't easy to avoid the cutting winds. Rumor had it, in the army, that Temari was the best Wind nature user in the entirety of Suna- maybe in the world. Better than Naruto, even, who had a bunch of ridiculously powerful wind jutsu.

When the proctor started the exam, the room went deadly quiet, even though hundreds of people had gathered to watch the fights. While most of them were there to see the Uchiha fight, or the Uzumaki-Namikaze boy fight, they probably picked up on the fact that this fight would be a sight to see, as well.

Sakura's calculating gaze was visible to Sasuke even from all the way across the room. Sasuke had his arms crossed, biting his bottom lip worriedly. He knew Sakura could take Temari with her eyes closed and arms detained, but still, he was a worrier. Naruto was jumping up and down with excitement, his nervous energy not helping Sasuke. He kept shouting encouragement for Sakura, even in the nearly quiet arena.

Sakura turned and offered him a reassuring smile, before facing her foe again. Temari started off with the impressive Sickle Weasel Jutsu, the crushing winds sweeping through the arena, while not touching the bystanders. Sakura smirked, and quickly lifted a wall to counter that. What Temari didn't notice, because of the wind, was that Sakura slipped underground. The minute the winds stopped, the wall dropped, and Sakura was gone. Temari's smile dropped, and she looked around frantically.

Up. To the left. To the right. But not down, and she was unprepared when Sakura's foot caught her ankle, pulling the Suna girl into the hole she'd dug herself, burying her up to the neck in dirt. The girl's fan clattered to the ground beside her, discarded as its user was incapacitated. Sakura looked down at Temari, but flipped away to be sure. The Headhunter jutsu. Sasuke remembered it acutely, and hated it still, but smirked anyway.

Temari was a bit tougher than just an Earth Style jutsu, because she was apparently weaving signs underneath the dirt, and shouted, "Wind Release: Air Current Wild Dance!" The ground around her splintered and shattered, and Sasuke had to commend Sakura on getting out of the way. Temari was powerful even without her fan, her chakra control was on point. She, along with her siblings, had to go through the ridiculously challenging Suna training, after all. She couldn't be anything less than perfect. Sakura's eyebrow raised, and she got into a defensive position, awaiting Temari's response to her challenge. Temari pulled herself out of the dirt, and picked up her fan, a small frown on her face. Temari loved Sakura, but Sasuke had a feeling things might be getting more serious now.

Sakura ran forward at a neck breaking speed, aiming a heel down at Temari's head in a move reminiscent of her old shishou, Tsunade Senju. Temari countered it, blocking the strong blow with her heavy steel fan. She had to be incredibly strong just to lift and carry that thing for as long as she normally did, so Sakura took that into account. As long as she kept the fight close combat, she'd be able to win this.

Then Temari surprised them with a shout of, "Summoning: Quick Beheading Dance!" spinning her fan around.

Sakura scowled, close enough to jump onto the fan and vault herself into the air, effortlessly dodging the cutting air. She had taken enough evasion classes from Tsunade to avoid anything coming at her easily. She was graceful as a dancer as she landed on the ground, crouched into a stabilizing position, looking up at Temari with a pensive frown on her face. She launched forward again, almost gauging Temari's reaction time, but before Temari could dodge it with her fan, Sakura landed a hit on her face that made the Suna girl skid back.

Even without using any chakra, Sakura was ridiculously strong. She waited for Temari to recover, and her frown furthered when she saw Temari pull off the familiar hand signs of the Kuchiyose, calling a big weasel with an eye-patch to join her in the fight.

Sakura backed off a bit, doing three back handsprings to get clear of the little animal and the destructive looking fan it held. She did her own summoning, and two panthers appeared. The entire crowd gasped as Sakura summoned a formerly extinct breed of panthers, seemingly from nowhere.

Sasuke wasn't close enough to see which was which, but it appeared to be both of the boy ones Sakura could summon. They looked at her for a few seconds, before lunging to attack the weasel. It seemed like the three of them ran on intuition, because every attack the weasel made toward Sakura, the boy panthers blocked easily - one with a defensive method, the other with a counter-jutsu that the weasel always had to jump to dodge. While they kept the weasel busy (they could somehow weave signs without hands?) with their Water Style and Wind style clashing, Temari and Sakura faced off.

So Summoning wouldn't work on each other. They each nodded, before turning to their respective summon. Sakura undid her summon, while Temari did the same. Out of respect for each other, the battle continued by themselves.

Temari summoned a particularly brutal bout of wind, and Sakura once again vaulted into the air, twisting out of the way of the painful looking shards of wind. Sasuke marveled at the grace she demonstrated, while steadily getting closer to the blonde girl. The battle was speeding up, and Sasuke noticed that his clan were using their Sharingan to watch easily. Sasuke couldn't judge, having turned on his own Sharingan to watch the fight from the beginning.

When Sakura was close enough, Temari used a Wind Cutter Technique that Sakura blocked with a hastily raised Earth wall. She jumped off the Earth Wall she'd made, toward the blonde, and landed a bruising kick on Temari as she came down from the kick. Temari winced, groaning a little, before backing up. Sakura was gaining ground, and she used more Taijutsu and a particularly strong punch with her left hand shrouded in Earth. Temari strained from the effort of dodging Sakura's punches with her own bleeding injuries.

Sakura finally washed Temari out (literally) with a Suiton: Water Dragon Jutsu that Sakura remembered practicing once with Kakashi. Temari hadn't passed out, but she struggled to get up from the force of that jutsu. She coughed violently, and Sakura was there in an instant to help out her friend.

Due to the fact that the daughter of the Kazekage was incapacitated, the match went to Sakura, much to the surprise of the bystanders. They clapped loudly, cheering for Sakura as she left to escort Temari down to the medical wing, and she flashed an encouraging smile at Sasuke as she left. His fight with Deidara was up next, and after that, a fight with either Sakura or Naruto was called for.

Sasuke grit his teeth in apprehension. Soon, he'd be able to fight either Naruto or Sakura, and measure his abilities against theirs. Their female teammate was incredibly strong, and Naruto had his own perks, he supposed. He'd only ever worked with them, in this life, never fighting against them seriously. A chance to fight shinobi of his caliber rarely came around. He was also fairly certain that a free for all between the four of them could level a small nation, depending on how bad it got. Sakura walked back from escorting Temari and stood beside her teammates, a small smirk on her face as everyone cheered at her again. This little civilian girl appeared to have gained some friends in the audience, since competition with Suna was high.

"Deidara of Iwa versus Konoha's Sasuke Uchiha!" Hayate called, making Sasuke lift a brow. It wasn't like they hadn't been warned of the fights.

He walked out to join his teammates, and Deidara on the arena floor. He ignored the pressure of all the eyes on him, instead focusing on his teammates, ignoring how the slightly insane part of his mind kept screaming, "don't look at me, don't look at me, don't look at me, don'tlookatme-"

Sakura gave him an encouraging smile, while Naruto just thumped him on the shoulder. Sasuke focused on that, which pulled him out of his muddled head. He wasn't sure why the crowd was getting to him now- he usually had no trouble performing under with audience. Like that stupid time he tried to kill Danzo by attacking the Gokage Summit like an amateur son of a- "You'd better beat him," Naruto warned his friend, a fake smile gracing his lips. "I'm still waiting for someone to get him for what he did to Gaara."

"Naruto, he hasn't done that to Gaara yet." Sakura reminded him, coming up behind the blonde. She rolled her eyes in Sasuke's direction. "You've done this before," she reminded him, "just do it again." Sasuke nodded at her, before his eyes zeroed in on his target. Deidara.

How nostalgic.

A small smirk appeared on Sasuke's face.

"Uchiha-san, if you're finished, we really should get started." Hayate Gekko said, sounding mildly impatient.

Sasuke nodded, walking in between his teammates, who promptly turned around to watch his back. He joined Gekko, and Deidara in the middle of the arena, getting ready to face off. Sasuke stood still, with his arms loose at his sides. His right hand was casually resting on his sword hilt.

"Alright. Keep this fight clean and fair, boys, no one wants to see carnage. You both know the rules. Make sure you stick to them, or you'll be disqualified." Hayate said, sounding almost bored. Sasuke resisted the urge to glare in his direction, because goddammit this was an important moment.

Deidara grinned at Hayate. "No worries, this fight will be done in a few minutes." He gloated confidently, getting into an offensive stance. Sasuke rolled his eyes at how stupid the blonde was- giving his first attack away by using a stance commonly associated with attack.

"Yes, definitely, with you spread-eagled on the ground by my feet, Barbie," Sasuke replied, his grip on his sword hilt tightening. Good old fashioned competition was good, but this was kind of... aggressive. Though neither could really figure out why.

"Not to flex, pretty boy, but you're going down."

"Hey," Hayate said, putting his hands in between the boys, as if he was planning to hold them back. "Calm down. Save the energy for the fights. Are you both ready?"

"You know it, un." Deidara crowed.

Sasuke nodded his head curtly, his fingers kneading the leather on his hilt. His face tilted upwards to the rafters, where he saw Kakashi looking at him. He nodded again more obviously this time.

"Okay, good. We'll start then." Hayate nodded in return to Sasuke's. "Ichi, Ni," he drew those words out, until his hand dropped. "San."

Sasuke and Deidara vaulted towards each other, Sasuke drawing his sword and slicing through what he thought was Deidara's midsection. He frowned as his sword went right through, and Deidara dissolved into the white, sticky substance that Sasuke recognized as his clay.

"Fuck." Sasuke muttered. He'd forgotten about that tiny detail. He backed away immediately, dragging his sword with him. He got lucky, the Clay Clone blew up a few seconds later. The Earth he'd just been standing on was now charred and black. Sasuke looked around carefully, checking up, and his two sides. Finally, he looked down, trying to see if he could detect movement from underneath. Suddenly, Sasuke saw a familiar white color flash in his peripheral vision, and saw that the blonde had started raining down the white little bugs he used for up close and personal explosions all around Sasuke.

"Shit," Sasuke whispered, before forming handsigns, and sending Lightning Needles (as he'd affectionately named the new jutsu he'd developed specifically for the purpose of fighting Deidara) crashing into the tiny little bombs exactly. The electricity resonated through the clay, dropping most of the bombs like the useless sacks they were. The small amount that Sasuke missed, appeared to want him dead. He did a graceful backflip, landing on his toes. He was smart, and circulated some electricity into his sword, slicing one of the irritating little bug things in half.

"You'll have to do better than that." Sasuke murmured.

"Oh, I can do better," Deidara's voice gloated. Sasuke frowned at the largeish amounts of clay being dropped on the floor. He still hadn't located the blonde, because he hadn't really had the time to look up without dodging aggressively to not be killed. His ears were ringing from being too close to one of the explosions.

The clay began to form grotesque bodies. Sasuke recognized them. There were three, an almost even amount to the beings Deidara had thrown at Sasuke in their past life. In fact, this battle appeared to be an almost mirror image. Sasuke backed away from one of the white things as it swung its clumsy, shifting fist at his face. He sliced a part of the being's arm off with his trusty sword, but since the electricity had faded, the white thing squirmed on the floor, trying to find a way back to its master.

Sasuke hated these things. Not because they were tough to beat, because they weren't, really (and these ones were weaker than the ones Sasuke had been assaulted with in his first life), but because they were gross. Sasuke didn't like things that he couldn't control.

He dodged attacks, channeled lightning into his attacks and sliced off limbs. He hacked all three of them to clay dust, the explosions not going off because earth is weak against lightning.

He backed away quickly, though, the minute he saw Deidara's psychotic grin and his fingers forming a handsign. His nails weren't painted (which was a weird tradition the Akatsuki kept), but his hands looked the same as the ones Sasuke remembered, if not a tad smaller. Sasuke backed away more when he saw the football sized bugs that clung to things, and had a rope attached to them.

"Fuck," Sasuke hissed as the things jumped on him. He remembered these, and remembered how much he hated them. They wouldn't get off. It was unnerving how much this fight was a mirror image of the other one.

"Katsu!" He heard Deidara shout, and the bombs stuck on Sasuke's body exploded.

Luckily, the unobservant teenager hadn't noticed the shadow clone that he'd swapped out with his real body. Maybe Sasuke made the transition a little smoother with a genjutsu, but that would never be confirmed nor denied. He ran at Deidara, swinging his sword.

Deidara's turn had gone on long enough. Now it was Sasuke's.

Deidara had created one more big white blob monster, this one almost twice the size of the other one. Sasuke pulled out two of Sakura's throwing knives, twirling them in his fingers and raising his eyebrows at the big being in a challenge.

It attacked, a little bit faster than the other ones, somehow, but it was easier to focus on one blob than three at once. Sasuke activated his Sharingan to the basic level, and twirled the knives one more time, before he lunged to meet the blob. He channeled his chakra into the blades, making them glow blue with a lightning tint. The blob swung at him, and Sasuke ducked under the low blow, sliding directly below the being and rolling to his feet at its back. His already impressive reacting time was quickened with his Sharingan on, so he turned to face the monster and ducked the second shot taken at him.

Sasuke knew if he got too close, the thing would blow up, but he didn't really have any other choice if he wanted to conserve chakra for the big fight later.

He pushed himself to be faster than he'd ever been, and lunged for the white blob, using the two, glowing knives to slice the white blob open.

The knives sliced from opposite directions coming inward, and Sasuke ditched them in the monster's skin, pulling out four more and holding them in between his fingers. Like needlework, he threaded the four chakra enhanced knives into the monster's body, while jumping and dodging the physical blows from the clay monster. The slices were precise and deadly, and Sasuke pulled two more of Sakura's knives out of his pouch, slicing vertically down the creature's body.

Sasuke flipped away, still unsure if the monster would blow up, and braced for the explosion, but the being simply hovered for a few seconds, before face planting into the dirt.

Huh, I guess Deidara's still a rookie after all.

Sasuke smirked, and tilted his head upwards at the hovering blonde, who was cowering on his bird, and formed hand signs. A spear of lightning, similar to the one he used on Gaara, pierced Deidara's flying creature's wing. Sasuke, having extended the range limit, started moving to slice the wing off.

Deidara, free falling, cursed audibly. Sasuke quickly formed the Phoenix Flower Jutsu that Itachi preferred as a little insult to Deidara, and watched the blonde flounder in midair to avoid getting hit with a smug smirk on his face. Deidara didn't have enough time to make another bird, so he used chakra to stop himself before he crashed to the ground. Naruto was whooping in the background, but was ignored by both contestants. A quick glance at Sakura revealed the girl smiling broadly at Sasuke's cleverness and shaking her head.

Sasuke was in front of Deidara in seconds (before Deidara could bring up some clay for defense), and the two engaged in a taijutsu battle. There was a reason Deidara performed better at long range- all of his jutsu were best used where the user was far away.

He was pretty good at taijutsu, but no match for a Sharingan user. A well placed kick to the chest sent the blonde flying back, hitting the wall rather hard. He stood up weakly, and attacked again.

"Using your kekkei genkai while mine's unavailable," Deidara sneered, getting back into his fighting stance. "That's practically sad. You know you couldn't beat me without it."

Sasuke snorted at the childish taunt, but refused to be called a coward, and blinked his Sharingan away. "Fine, doll, I'll play along." He retorted, extending a hand palm upward, and curling his fingers towards his chest multiple times in a 'come get me' gesture. Deidara's eyes narrowed in rage, and he attacked.

Sasuke easily weaved through the blonde's rage induced, impulsive punches, already more than used to that from Naruto. The older boy was taller, and weighed more, but Sasuke was easily faster. He swiped the blonde's feet out from under him in a move commonly used against the Hokage's son, and dropped to his knees before the blonde could recover, holding a quickly drawn blade to the blonde's throat. Deidara growled, his neck moving lightly against the blade and cutting him a little bit.

"If you value your neck, you'll stop moving." He told him, the smug smirk returning.

"Bite me," Deidara rolled his eyes, a small smile coming onto his face.

"Sasuke Uchiha's the winner of this match!" Hayate announced. Sasuke stood up, a rare smile on his face and extended a hand to help the winded blonde up. Deidara took it, and Sasuke hoisted him up. Sasuke shook his hand, putting the knife back in his pack.

"Good fight, blondie."

"You too, brat. I want a rematch soon," Deidara pointed at him, before walking away to get checked out by a doctor.

"You bet." Sasuke snorted again, before his eyes were caught by movement in the background. The crowd was going wild. Sasuke had been ignoring them, for a while, but was now stunned by how happy they seemed to be. His eyes immediately sought out his teammates. Naruto was jumping up and down excitedly, his blue eyes flashing with pride. Sasuke shook his head at him, a small smirk on his face. Sakura was grinning widely, her green eyes wide and expressive, as they usually were. She looked really happy, like she was glowing. Sasuke decided he wanted to see her look like that more often. Kakashi was slow clapping, turned to Obito and probably bragging about how his team was undefeated, based on the smug look on his (visible) face.

Itachi was watching him from the stands with a proud smile on his face. Mikoto was gripping Kushina, who was squealing. Fugaku met Sasuke's eyes and nodded at him in acknowledgement. Minato looked pleased. Sasuke's clan were going crazy, in their own reserved way.

As much as Sasuke wanted to bask in this moment of pure joy, there was still the fact that in less than twenty minutes, Orochimaru would arrive.

That took Sasuke's mood down a couple notches, needless to say.