"What do you make of this Kakashi?"

The man sighed. "I'm not sure, the only thing I could think of about Naruto that only you and a few people are supposed to know is his parentage... but that doesn't make sense."

The Hokage and Kakashi had been going over the little note Naruto had left for him for a while now. It annoyed Kakashi to no end that he was the one tasked to figuring it all out when it was obvious in the Hokage's face that he knew what Naruto meant.

Thinking he was being made fun of, Kakashi didn't stop to think that maybe asking him what he knew about it was the Hokage's way of finding out if there was a leak of information in his ranks that he had to take care of.

"That's because you're guessing wrong, Kakashi..." Said Hiruzen cryptically. "The only time I can recall ever mentioning Ibiki to Naruto-kun is the night of the Mizuki incident."

"The Mizuki incident?" By now it was common knowledge between Konoha's forces that the man had been found to be a traitor, none other than the people involved however were privy to the full details.

"It was revealed that Mizuki decided to impersonate Naruto in his heist. I, however, kept quiet about the fact that Naruto actually helped us track him after he attempted to flee the village. At the moment I had no knowledge of who Mizuki was working for or why he had chosen Naruto to impersonate. After Ibiki told me about Orochimaru's involvement I decided to keep it secret, hoping he never got word of this." Explained Hiruzen.

"Do you think Yakushi Kabuto is a spy?" Asked Kakashi.

"I'm not certain... it is a possibility we should definitely look into, if he is a spy, we must discover for whom he's spying." That's not to say Hiruzen doesn't have a few guesses on the matter but he thinks it best to wait until more information is available to him.

Kakashi furrowed his brow in concentration "I believe it would be best if you send an ANBU squad to shadow him for a while."

"No." Replied Hiruzen, not bothering to give the notion so much as a second thought.

"No?" Asked Kakashi, a dumbfounded look on his face.

"If he truly is a spy, we must assume he's able to detect a tail of ANBU, I doubt our forces would be able to get close enough to him to make tailing him useful..." Said Hiruzen as he looked out the window.

"However..." He trailed off. "What makes Naruto special is not common knowledge, I'm inclined to believe he is not a target."

It's true that Naruto was the one to detect the leak of information by means of his classified mission but, it just wouldn't make sense for this suspected spy to tip off his subject like that. That made him think it was most likely an accident.

What truly is concerning for the Hokage is the why, why would a suspected spy try and approach a group of random Genin? They hold no valuable information he could get out of them; was he trying to lure them into a false sense of security?

Why?

"I want you to go into the forest, monitor the exams from the tower, if you find anything suspicious I'm giving you free reign to act as you see fit, is that clear?"

"Crystal." Replied Kakashi.

"Then report to Anko in the tower at once."

"It will be done." Kakashi left the Hokage's office via Shunshin. He wasn't sure why, but he was starting to get a bad feeling about all this.

--

"Gather 'round kiddies!" Yelled out Anko, getting the attention of the Genin "You all better pay attention cuz I'm not gonna tell you twice alright?"

"This is Training ground 44 or like I like to call it... The Forest of Death." Everyone started looking a little hesitant after Anko's statement, well... almost everyone.

Naruto and Kiba were clearly not impressed by what they assumed to be the proctor's scare tactics. The whiskered boy was lucky enough to have a level headed teammate - most of the time - and a good ammount of conseling sessions on his back to stop him from saying something stupid.

Kiba wasn't that lucky.

"Like we're going to be scared by you crazy lady!" Proclaimed Kiba boldly.

His teammates didn't even have time to scold him before the 'crazy lady' decided to take action herself.

Anko threw a Kunai at Kiba so fast he didn't even have time to react, the Kunai passed right by his face, leaving a little scar over the fang mark on his left cheek.

That wasn't enough for her however, she disappeared from their view, fast enough to make it look like she vanished only to emerge embracing Kiba by the back. A wicked smile adorned her face while she slowly licked the blood from Kiba's cheek.

"You're a rude boy aren't you? Rude boys tend to leave their blood all over the f-"

Anko suddenly stopped talking and quickly grabbed a kunai from her coat, she redied her weapon without losing her hold on Kiba and quickly turned her head around.

"I was only giving you back your Kunai." Said the Kusa shinobi - who surprised Anko - still holding the blade on her sickly long tongue.

Without letting her smile leave her face Anko addressed the strange ninja.

"Thank you Kusa shinobi, I wouldn't ever get this close to me again unless you want to cut your days short." Despite her bravado Anko was immediately weary of this 'girl', there was something unnerving about her.

"I'm sorry Anko-san, I didn't mean to hurt you, it's just that seeing the blood and the way you threw your blade made me feel excited." Said the girl as she walked away.

"That doesn't make sense..." Muttered Naruto.

"What was that?" Asked Sakura.

"That girl's chakra, it's different... I remember her signature from the first test, it wasn't nearly as big and awful." Explained Naruto quietly, Sakura wasn't sure what that meant but she had learned to trust Naruto's sensing abilities, that was another person it was best to avoid.

Unbeknownst to Naruto and Sakura who weren't as quiet as they thought, Anko heard their conversation. A thoughtful look made its way to her face before she replaced it with her usual smirk and addressed the examinees once again.

"Everyone's in a bad mood today... it must be something in the air." She joked effectively getting everyone's attention.

Anko signaled some of the Chunin in the vicinity and they started handing out slips of papers to every team.

"What you're receiving now are consent forms you have to sign if you wish to participate in this part of the exams."

"What exactly are we consenting to?" Asked Sakura.

"Oh... you know, death and stuff like that." Anko was sporting a mischievous smile on her face, she is a big fan of theatrics "From this point forward corpses start emerging you know? If you don't sign your forms it would be my and Konoha's responsibility, we can't have that now can we?"

For some reason, Anko laughing after she said that made Naruto feel nervous. What was it with the Jounin in this village?

"Now I shall explain." Said Anko in a dignified manner.

"This will be a survival exercise." Anko started looking through her coat and got out a map "First let me tell you about the terrain, there's exactly 44 gates around the fenced ground, inside the fence there's a forest of course, a river and a tower. Each gate is exactly 10km away from the tower, once inside the forest, everything goes."

The implications of what Anko just said weren't lost on any of the participants.

Permission to kill.

"Each team will receive either an earth or a heaven scroll, to pass you need to get to the tower carrying both scrolls. Your whole team needs to be there, if you're missing a member or one of the members is incapable of continuing you're out, do I make myself clear?" Asked Anko, receiving yells of 'Yes' all around the clearing.

'So she expects half of us to fail here... troublesome woman'

"I almost forgot, there's a time limit for this exam. You have exactly 120 hours to get to the tower once inside the forest, 5 days if you don't feel like doing your math"

Naruto sighed 'A time limit?'

"What are we going to do about the food?"

Asked a chubby genin.

Anko smirked. "There's different flora and fauna all around this forest you can hunt to feed yourselfs, just make sure you don't turn into the hunted"

"You will now be given a scroll randomly in exchange of your signed consent forms, under no circumstance are you allowed to see through the contents of your scrolls, as chunin you will be expected to handle vital information, make sure to prove you're reliable."

Everyone started gathering around the tents set in front of the fences, after each team had received their respective scrolls they were directed to a different gate each and were now just waiting for them to open.

Naruto and Sakura had gotten an earth scroll after explaining to the chunin in charge of handing them over that they were registered in the exams as a two man cell and were now waiting on their own gate.

The members of team 7 were constantly stealing glances at the other for the better part of 15 minutes while they waited for this test to begin, it was hard not to.

They both liked each other after all.

Naruto had never really fallen out of love with his teammate, he just accepted it as something that can't be and moved on. He was a rather persistent person but even he knew when to give up.

Sakura was... complicated.

She liked Naruto, heck, she might even be in love with Naruto, but she felt wrong about it. After rejecting his advances for so long, what right did she have to feel for his teammate? Especially after how she treated him in the past?

She was truly blind.

Sakura had moved past Sasuke's death, but she wasn't sure that she moved on from Sasuke as a person. It was like Naruto had been slowly taking his place in her heart, growing on her at the same time Sasuke became just a fond memory.

Was that all Naruto truly was?

A replacement?

The whiskered blonde has a way with Sakura that she couldn't quite understand; he makes her feel safe, Naruto has a way of just naturally caring and looking after her that made her feel appreciated.

She felt valid.

And that wasn't fair to him, Sakura knew Naruto still loved her and she knew there was a chance that she loved him back, but she is also sure Naruto deserves better.

So much better.

"We're ready to begin!" Yelled a random chunin snapping Sakura out of her thoughts.

The gates all opened and both Naruto and Sakura looked at each other with a face completely serious, it was time.

They rushed in and ran for 10 minutes straight, after deciding they'd be better off moving through the trees, they climbed the tree closest to them and stopped for a moment to plan their strategy.

"Weird..." Said Naruto.

"What's weird?" Asked Sakura

"The forest, it's full of chakra... I won't be able to scout ahead for teams, don't worry though, I can still feel people approaching, it just means we'll have to track the enemy old school." Said Naruto with a smile.

"Full of chakra... I heard that this whole forest was grown by the Shodaime, the chakra you feel might be coming from the trees." Lectured Sakura earning a 'Wow' face from Naruto.

After some discussion they both decided it was best to stick to the trees while Naruto used Kage Bunshin to create decoys of them that would stick to the ground.

Everything had been going smoothly until three shadows started tailing Naruto and Sakura, waiting for a perfect opportunity to hit.

"Sakura-chan, I need to pee." Said Naruto with a sheepish smile.

Sakura looked at him irritated "Fine! Be quick, we need to get to a team fast"

Naruto went into the woods and left Sakura by herself looking around the clearing where they stopped. She might as well take the time to gather some supplies while she waits for Naruto to be over.

She walked to a nearby bush to gather some edible berries when out of the ground emerged a tall Ame shinobi dressed in a full beige bodysuit. He quickly placed a kunai on Sakura's throat and held her from the back to make sure she couldn't move.

"Give me your scroll and I might just let you live." Said the Genin with a cocky smirk behind his breather.

Sakura started trembling in his hold and the Ame shinobi couldn't hide his joy "Are you scared little girl?" Feeling confident he got even closer to Sakura only to realize there was no fear on her face, but a smirk of her own.

"Gotcha!" She said before bursting into a cloud of smoke.

"What the-"

"SHANNARO!"

From the trees dropped Sakura fist first into the Ame shinobi who managed to jump back in time to avoid the hit. Sakura landed on the floor leaving a small crater and stood up to face her opponent.

She got a kunai out of her pouch and rushed at him, taking the initiative. She swinged at him relentlessly while he did his best to dodge the continuous strikes as he walked back. He bumped into a tree and realized he had been set up when a hand grabbed his feet from the ground.

Doton: Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu

He sank into the ground and the Sakura that had been swinging at him dissipated, revealing he had been under the influence of her genjutsu. The real one emerged from the ground and sported a cocky smirk of her own.

She was about to address his buried opponent but the sound of someone charging her from behind interrupted her, she turned around with a kunai in hand only for one of Naruto's electrified staffs to come flying at him from the trees and hitting him on the back of the neck making him drop unconscious with a loud thud that made his buried teammate wince.

Naruto then walked out of the trees carrying the remaining member of the Ame team on his shoulder completely out cold, he dropped him near Sakura's captive opponent and extended his arm.

Futon: Hanpatsu Kaze no Jutsu

A small gust of wind picked up his fallen staff and brought it back to him, he put it on his back and turned to address his teammate who was looking at him with a twitching eye.

"You wanted to look cool didn't you?"

Naruto gave her a sheepish smile and rubbed his nose "Yeah... Kakashi said it looked cooler when I managed to do it without calling out the jutsu."

Sakura decided to ignore the comment and returned her attention to the genin neck deep in the ground.

"Who carries your scroll?" She asked, looking at him with the scariest look she could muster.

"I'm not going to tell you anything you bitch!" Was the kind response of her captive.

Sakura looked at him and a devious smirk formed in her face, she formed a rat seal and called out a jutsu he couldn't quite understand.

Magen: Narukami no Jutsu

All around the Ame shinobi the clearing started going dark, he somehow managed to free his hands enough to perform a jutsu that allowed him to reemerge from the ground, after he did the clearing was visible once again and Team 7 was nowhere to be seen, he walked over to his fallen teammates laying face first on the floor.

He kneeled next to them, set on waking them up only to find them both with a Kunai on their foreheads, he was shocked and started walking back without taking his eyes off of them. Suddenly, a strong presence stopped him from moving forward, he turned around to find his previously pretty captor turned into a monster.

The girl was now a head taller than him, her hair was swaying on her back and blood was dripping from her black eyes and mouth, she then gave him the sickest smile he had ever seen, showing off her incredibly large fangs covered in blood, and put her burning hand on his neck.

"She growled.

The beige-clad genin started sweating and trembling in fear, the rational part of his mind screaming at him to snap out of it completely overwhelmed by the immense fear he felt. He swiftly reached for his scroll and slowly gave it to his captor, making her smile.

His surroundings started changing again and he could see his teammates still knocked out but safe on the ground, the girl in front of him reverted back to normal and winked at the same time a strong chop on his neck sent him to the land of unconsciousness.

Sakura looked at the earth scroll she just got and sighed. "Not the one we need." She said as she pocketed the scroll on her pouch, thinking it might come in handy later.

Naruto walked towards her and said "That wasn't really necessary y'know?"

Sakura smirked at him. "I wanted to look cool too."

--

"Weak..."

"You already took their scroll Neji, no need to trash talk them even more." Said Tenten, making the Hyuga scoff.

Team 9 had found a Suna team a few hours after entering the forest thanks to the Hyuga's all seeing eye and decided to ambush them.

Beating them had been fairly easy, Lee and Tenten didn't do much other than watch as their teammate trashed their opposition around the clearing, it almost made Lee and Tenten feel sorry for them.

Lee hated how Neji treated everyone he deemed inferior, especially because that's how Neji treated him. Lee was born with a special condition making him incapable of performing Ninjutsu or Genjutsu, he was considered a failure who only had mediocre Taijutsu to rely on.

It all changed when Maito Gai discovered him training alone one day after team assignments and gave him the advice that would set his life on the right path.

Youthfulness

--

Lee dropped to the ground sweating and crying after failing to meet his own expectations... again.

"All that hard work doesn't mean anything..." Called out a voice that Lee recognized as his sensei.

"You believe that too? Am I not working hard enough? Will I never be good because I wasn't born a natural Genius like Neji?" The boy cried.

"All that hard work doesn't mean anything... if you don't believe in yourself first" Finished Gai.

Lee's trembling form looked up from the ground to meet his sensei's eye.

"Can I really do it, Gai-sensei?" He asked between sobs.

Gai gave the boy a warm smile and dropped his boisterous attitude for a moment. "I believe you can do it, yes."

Lee looked surprised to finally have someone actually believe in him for the first time in his life.

"Do you know why I think that, Lee?" The boy shook his head.

"It's because you have a gift not even Neji has..." Said Gai, surprising Lee.

"Not even Neji?" He asked.

"That's right..." Said Gai. "You have a gift not even Neji's Byakugan can beat... Perseverance."

"Perseverance?"

"Few people have the will to fight against adversity, Lee. You fight to reach your dream even against the Destiny you were imposed on at birth." His sensei's words rang deep in Lee's head as some form of realization settled in. "You persevere everyday, that makes you a true Genius... a Genius of Hard Work."

--

"Hard work can overcome any obstacle Neji, even you."

Neji turned to look at his teammate only to find him not really looking at him but the horizon.

That annoyed him even more for some reason.

"Hard work means nothing, it was their fate to meet their match in me." Declared Neji, again with full certainty.